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Ever since the great new edition of Armies of Arcana (AoA) was released, Thane Morgan and I have been eagerly completing our own new armies; Marrian and Graccan respectively. After a warm-up game a few weeks ago, we were prepared for a really large game with 8000 VP per side. My Idea was a post Alexander Persian Greek Successor State with suitably fantasy overtones, of course. Thane's was pure manipular legion with a fantasy cavalry wing.

I started with lots of Hopilites; 64 in 2 units, 1 regular and 1 elite. These were formed 8 wide and 4 deep. With good armor, these units have real staying power. For extra punch the leaders were both in light chariots. For a 3rd solid infantry unit I chose 16 regular phlangites (4x4) and supported them with a general and Earth oracle. Both rode in fine new 4 horse heavy chariots..

To cover these heavies on the way in (they aren't fast with moves of 4" and 5"), I got 40 skirmishers in two units. (20+ champion with infiltration in one unit, and a child of the gods in a light chariot in the other), and a small band of slingers. The slingers doubled as an escort for a Life oracle riding in an elephant's Howda.

2 Water Oracles, one on a horse and one in the last light chariot completed my divine intervention detail. It was all these Chariots which I had just completed painting. Just to make sure I won the magic battle I bought 4 dispells to scatter among my leaders.

One unit of 20 lancers + general +champion and 15 Kentauri Knights and Kentauri heroes were added for heavy mobility. Kentauri aren't on the Graccan army list, but they fit the eastern tone of my force and Thane Graciously allowed me to field my custom converted Kentauri. For a real shock unit I put howdas and hoplites on top of 3 elephants. Those 36 ramming attacks should smash up about anything in their path, as well as 27 more attacks after impact! 63 attacks from 3 models 9 wide!

For a quick strike to prevent fleeing troops from rallying I wanted to have 5 pegasii cavalry ready but I managed to destroy two just painting them! I set them on a recently extinguished gas lamp to dry overnight and they melted. I fielded three.

Thane based his army on 5 cohorts of 22 legionaries each. 2 were elite with Legate and Life Priest, 3 were regular with legate and centurion. A unit of 20 bowmen with a fire priest covered each flank. For air mobility there were two Air Elementals an 5 hatchling wyverns with a Child of the Gods leading them. 2 Elder Wyrms were his shock unit, with 18 wounds/24 attacks on a 6 wide frontage. Nasty.

Well, I bought knowing I would never win the missile fight, but 150 enemy missile troops I wasn't sure I was ready for. His plan Appeared simple - rain death at all ranges on the approach and shed missiles like flower petals even in melee combat. That 6 missile armor in testudo is as tough as you will find anywhere.

For my part, I was still hopeful of winning the magic phase. We each had 4 wizards but mine are more aggressive. Earth hits hard given time and water is in your face right off. Plus I had more dispells. Overall I was much more mobile. Mounted in chariots and those wonderful pachyderms my characters should hit hard and last long.

The 4'x6' table was really 3 battlefields side by side. The center 1/2 was flat empty and perfectly suited for those massed cohorts to support each other. On the south was a thickly forested region dominated by a bald hill. The north as an area of broken hills, small woods and a pond. The battlefield was very symmetrical, so choosing sides was easy. I picked my objectives as defending a hill on my northern side, the sacred pond and to keep my companion cavalry alive. Thane would hold the wood in the center of his side and keep his two veteran cohorts intact. The large bald hill to the south would be a common objective.

I believe the set up phase is critically important and quite enjoyable as both players vie to draw each other into their planned traps. We both had ten formations, and after rolling Thane Placed first. Because of my Sneaky Pete infiltrators, skirmishers and other light troops, Thane had to place half of his units before I placed any heavy formations at all. As Thane committed is cohorts to the open center I overloaded my right and left a huge gap between it and my forces on my left.

A water oracle and my regular citizens and Kentauri would engage whatever Marrians they found on Bald Mountain, while the rest of my army tried to overwhelm the objectives to the North end of the table. As a strategy I would slow down the tempo, gaining time to build my magic advantage for those power 3 spells that I hoped would undermine those powerfully plated pilum pitchers' ability to support each other before I engaged them with my citizens.

 Turn1

 Turn 2

 Turn 3

Turns 1 and 2 saw development go pretty much as predicted. The Wyrms moved towards the mountain. The legion Morganicus advanced on a broad front. The Graccans pushed through the hills in the north avoiding the open center. There was one ugly learning experience - the first melee action saw the Marrian Wyverns and elementals sweep down on Babar's Guard and rout it in one turn. How I cursed and grumbled as Thane pointed out models lose their rams when charged from the air (unless they can fly too - ed.). They did destroy the Wyvern unit in a nearly perfect point exchange and ended up occupying the elementals for 3 turns. Still, all those ramming attacks were never rolled, so sad.

On Turn 3 the Kentauri charged the wyrms on the hill. They held 2 turns before breaking and cripple one wyrm enough to compel them to withdrawal before the advance of the unchallenged hoplites. My water oracle opened a pond and raised an elemental on the way. The Marrian bowmen's stock of Flame Arrows was soon extinguished by being effectively screened by the forest. They were stuck taking long range shots across the empty center. So far magic was beating missiles on the mountain.

On the North, the crowded Graccans Pushed through the hills, keeping their line anchored in the vicinity of the sacred well. The skirmish screen on that front was frightfully mauled, broken and repeatedly rallied by the Child of the Gods Achilles and the Life oracle on his elephant. Arrows fell like rain while pilums were teased out at the extremity of their range. Javelins stuck deep, but were mostly harmless, into the turtles slowly advancing armored shell.

Countless Citizens fell before the professional Marrian Mercenaries and it seemed the gods saw their blood as a suitable sacrifice. The storm grew. A persistent and violent Cloudburst followed the 2nd elite cohort, and they were hard pressed to find a grip on their Pilii. Most of the Marrian plees were ignored, though a blessing was cast on the same cohort that suffered the cloudburst. Then came a truly crushing blow as a cohort failed its unit save and nearly half of it was swallowed by a Sinkhole. It broke to never rally and left a gap in the legion's center which a fire priest tried to fill with a fire elemental. Although it threw the hoplites into disorder it was quickly extinguished. Both Hoplites and Phlangites had Courage for +2 morale.

 Turn 4

  Turn 5

The PegaCorp was actively harrassing the broken cohort as it tried to find a safe place to rally in the objective woods and then in an apparently suicidal move landed in the center Legion Morganicus, pinning a cohort. Surprisingly, it survived the round unbroken.

Turns 5 and 6 showed a darkening hour for the proud first legion. Tattered but firm the Marrians still held a lone hill top in the north and controlled the center. Sneaky Pete's infiltrators had finally charged out of the southern woods to engage the archers wyrms and elementals below Mount Baldy. Their devotion was to the last man as they were slaughtered the bowmen and their fire priest. Grievious stood the hoplites as they resisted charging into the melee. Their objective was the hilltop and there they would await the outcome of the battle in the valley below. Thane revealed after the game that the running of the wyrms was a ruse to lure me off of the hill as well as an opportunity to heal them.

In the north the pikes, spears and chariots of the heavy infantry overran one cohort and were surrounding the elites atop their stormwracked hill. A very long flank move put the companion cavalry in a position to hunt legionary and bowmen alike through the woods. They made short work of both units, and now they stood reformed looking across the beautiful open field into the back of First Legion Morganicus.

A brief survey of the board after my move on turn seven and Thane held out his hand with a hearty "good game". It was true that even though there were Marrian units with plenty of fight left in them, their end was certain. Their priests were gone save 1, 3 of my 4 heavy units were still quite strong and I held all the objectives but the elite cohorts, and one of those was sure to fall. The battle was over.

I like it when a well laid plan bears fruit. The Graccans edge in speed and hence maneuver allowed me to control the timing of the battle. Most melees occured on my terms. Long range, a covered and screened approach and a bit of luck on my saves allowed my core units to make it across the missile kill zone relatively intact. The gods had definitely favored magic over missiles with all 4 oracles nicely charged and waiting in the end game.

I regret to report the total defeat of First Legion Morganicus. All blame rests squarely on my shoulders, for improper maneuver of the legions and apparently neglecting the training of our bowmen.

My battle plan was based firmly on normal legion doctrine - a slow advance of the rank cohorts followed by the elites to support them with pilum and to cover their flanks in the casebeing out maneuvered. We deployed archers to cover either flank. Because of the presence of our wyrms and wyverns, we sent our cavalry out on another mission. On further reflection, we may have been better served deploying to cavalry units and sending one of the elite cohorts out on that other mission.

The magic balance was even, except for the presence of 3 additional Graccan leaders trained to dispel magic. Because of this difference, our priests were told to only cast level 2 and 3 spells, which are very unlikely to be dispelled by mere dispellers. This was largely an effective tactic, and at the end of the game, the Graccans had only one significant magic success. Though they did place one cloudburst on our elite legion, this was countered by blessing the same unit. Our priests are blameless in the defeat.

We deployed with a strong center and north flank, with the Wyrms and a unit of archers on the right. We immediately recognized the threat of the elephant unit and attacked it with bow fire as it moved from the center to the south. Our air cavalry were sent to take them out, and the elephants maneuvers to avoid them took them from any Graccan support, where they were run down and killed. Our priests are informing the God of War that his son died gloriously killing them.

The Wyrms destroyed the Kentauri abominations, but one was badly injured by their hero. As a large enemy unit was approaching, the wyrms were recalled to be healed. A unit of infiltrators appeared in the south, flanking our archers. The archers skirmished and were sent forward to form a new defensive line below the hill. Unfortunately, their accuracy was atrocious, and what should have been a minor annoyance turned into a critical threat. Our archers were to have thrown fire into the hoplite lines on the hill to break them or lure them down, but they ended up being defeated by the infiltrators and a summoned water elemental.

Though this was a significant failure, it would not have cost us the battle. What hurt us was my poor deployment and maneuver on the north flank. A very large unit of Graccan cavalry was deployed on the far north flank, and the bowmen on that side were not deployed to counter them properly. No other units were made available to counter that unit, so it was able to rush down that side and turn our lines. This was the undoing of the army. Though our center advanced and swung across the empty Graccan center, the elite unit that was to anchor the hinging motion kept having to turn to face the rapidly moving cavalry unit, so when the battle lines in the north were engaged, we were unable to achieve the interlocking fire to support the regular units in combat. The necessity of keeping the cavalry from flanking our elite unit also meant that the life priest in that unit was unable to rally the cohort broken from a sinkhole opening beneath them.

Thus the enemy cavalry unit was completely intact as it made it into our backfield. This was the critical failure, we had significant forces left in the field, and our center had swung into the back of the Graccan north flank. Though our north flank was certain to be defeated, they had inflicted significant casualties on the Graccan infantry, and would be little match for the two intact cohorts behind their lines.

Our forces failed to pick out the enemy commanders on chariots that led the infantry units. This was very foolish, as few armies make it so possible to pick their commanders out of units. Chariots are vulnerable to having their beasts killed, and at the very least we should have made an effort to kill them before they reach our lines.

I hope these lessons serve my successor well.