Command & Colors Ancients: Epic Zama in 28mm

Here are some pictures and a brief write-up supplied by my friend Neil who has a wonderful set up for Command & Colors Ancients in 28mm.

Six of the North Phoenix Irregulars recently gathered at Imperial Outpost Games for another 28mm Command & Colors Ancients Epic scenario.  Our previous games have followed the career of Alexander the Great.  In this case, it was the decisive battle of the Second Punic War, Zama.  The scenario was played as written.  Two complete games were played over the course of a Saturday afternoon with players switching sides and roles (e.g., no one played the central sector/battlefield commander more than once).  While the second game was closer than the first (14 - 11 and 14 - 8), the Carthaginians were defeated in both games as their flanking cavalry tended to be out-classed and overrun while the five elephants in the center were never able to inflict sufficient damage  to fatally weaken the Roman center.  As before, a good time was had by all and we appreciate Imperial Outpost for hosting the game.

Command & Colors Ancients in Miniature: Guagamela in 28mm

On September 1, Neil put on another game of Command & Colors Ancients in Miniature using his 28mm collection.  This time he ran a slightly modified version of Guagamela.  He took out the three elephants from the Persian side in the C&C scenario and replaced them with another heavy chariot in the center and an additional medium cavalry in each wing located along the baseline.  Thus three units were exchanged for three units and the number of cards and banners needed to win remained the same.  Each side had players for each game.  I commanded the center of the Macedonian line in the first game as well as serving as overall commander; I kept feeding the right flank cards to help Alexander and the Companions crush their opposition while our left flank barely held on.  The first game ended in a Macedonian victory. 

We switched sides for the second game and I commanded the Persian left against Kevin whom had Alexander and the Companions.  Kevin is a notoriously good roller no matter the rules set and the die type, so I figured I was done for.  However, I managed to shoot both Companion units out from under Alexander!  In this game the Persians started off really well and had a comfortable lead in units destroyed then suddenly the Macedonians had two good turns in a row and they were only one unit behind.  The game ended though with Al committing the Persian heavy cavalry in the center and taking out the last unit needed for a Persian victory!

Here are some pictures from both games.  Thanks to Neil for bringing everything and for Imperial Outpost Games for hosting the game.  Until next time...

 Game 1 Deployment

 Game 1 Deployment

 Alexader and the Companions

 Persian Heavies in the Center

 Macedonian Center

 Game 1 Coming to a Conclusion

 I Hate Those Chariots!

 A View From The Persian Center

 Early In The Game

The Macedonian Center Advances

Command & Colors Ancients: Epic Battle of Chaeronea, 338 BC, in Miniature

Today I had a great time playing an "Epic" game of Command & Colors Ancients using 28mm miniatures.  There are several of us locally that really enjoy the boardgame, and a few of us have considered building armies for it using 28mm miniatures; largely due to the efforts of Neil.  Neil was the first in our gaming group to take the steps to play the game in miniature instead of a board; including building his own mat, basing troops so they are easily identified, and building appropriate terrain pieces for the hex mat.  Well today he took things a step further and put on a game of the Battle of Chaeronea, 338 BC in "Epic" scale.  The regular sized game is impressive enough, but I think it really shined in "Epic".  This was the first time I gamed using his rule variant; ideally each side has 4 commanders (one Commander and 3 generals for each sector) and the Commander doesn't move troops, but rather delegates cards and tries to orchestrate the battle with little, if any, communication.  Today we had 3 players on each side so the Commander also ran the center sector.  The first game was very close with the Thebans doing heavy damage to the Macedonian left before running into Alexander; the result was a very close 11 banner to 10 banner victory for the Macedonians.  We enjoyed it so much we reset the game, had the players switch sectors and played a second game; in it, the sides were tied at 7 banners each when suddenly things went south for the Greeks and they ended up on the losing end 12 banners to 7 or 8 I think.  All in all, it was a great time and Neil's armies are very impressive.  Thanks to Neil for putting the game on, the other guys playing, and Imperial Outpost for the table space.

Battle Deployment:  Greeks on left and Macedonians on Right

Chaeronea

View from the Macedonian Right

End of Turn 1

Theban advance on the Macedonian left



Theban breakthrough on the Macedonian left

Alexander facing the Thebans

Athenians motionless

Game 2 - Battle lines close