Yet once again I am pleased to present something special for all the Commands & Colors fans. As I had chance to play already all the official C&C Ancients scenarios, I recently started to organize monthly EPIC sessions. But we quickly run out of battles so I decided to take the matter into my hands and create couple of interesting set-ups.

I choose to focus on the Roman Civil War between Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompey. As you can see on my blog, the initial session with fan-made Illerda (49 BC) battle was very exciting and close. For the second engagement in the series I have chosen Dyrrhachium (48 BC) – which proved to be one of the closest clashes of the war. The set-up was pretty specific and required some testing but in the end scenario is exciting, pretty quick to play and gives a great deal of satisfaction with all those heavy units in action. Enjoy!

PS. As always, you can click on each picture to see the details.

Some of my articles regarding C&C system:
Commands and Colors games – my 3 favorite
[REVIEW] Commands Colors Ancients
Strategy Article – Skirmishing and Evasion
Strategy Article – Breaking The Line, Holding The Line

Dyrrhachium (48 BC)

Historical background

Julius Caesar crossed the Adriatic with seven depleted legions in order to confront Gnaeus Pompey’s main army and bring the civil war to an end. Antony, with the remaining five legions, was delayed. Caesar followed Pompey to Asparagium and boldly offered battle but Pompey refused, in spite of numerical superiority, because his troops were much inferior in training to Caesar’s veterans.

Meanwhile, Antony, blown far off course, had crossed the Adriatic and landed in Pompey’s rear. Pompey, presented with the opportunity to destroy his opponents in detail, was obsessed instead about being trapped between them. Caesar moved quickly to join Antony and simultaneously threaten Dyrrhachium, Pompey’s logistical base. Pompey marched to defend it, but Caesar joined Antony and occupied Dyrrhachium first.

Caesar audaciously began blockading Pompey’s larger army against the sea by constructing a line of forts. Pompey retaliated with his own line of counter-fortifications. Pompey’s larger army began running short of supplies and (more importantly) water. He was left with no choice but to attack or surrender. He finally decided to break Caesar’s line at the southern end of the fortifications, where Caesar’s ramparts were not quite complete.

Pompey’s plan was excellent, as he landed a contingent of marines and light troops from the sea and at the same time stormed across the river with several of his best legions toward Caesar’s weak point in his line. The defenders held for some time against this combined force, but finally were pushed back.

Anthony’s arrival stopped the advance, but Pompey’s troops threw back Caesar’s vastly outnumbered veterans as they counterattacked to retake their lines. Pompey built a new camp near the shore that secured access for his large cavalry arm to the grazing lands to the south. Caesar, desperately short of supplies himself, was forced to withdraw. His army moved into Thessaly, pillaging as they went, and regaining strength.

Set-up
The disposition of all forces at one glance (definitely open in the new window). In our case I played with Kuba while Marcin with Lukasz.
The division of forces was pretty straightforward. The most interesting wing was of course area, where Pompey legions (Michal) were getting 1 VP for each MI/HI unit exiting the map, while Caesar troops (Lukasz) were trying to prevent such move.
On the other hand, Kuba and Marcin were managing center and the other wing as Overall Commanders. Despite suspicions that it will be quiet sector, it proved to be a really contested area.
Session report
The initial moves were pretty obvious – Antony rushed from central sections to prevent exiting of Pompey forces, while my legions attacked isolated caesarian units. We had hilarious situation, where First Strike was played in succession, one after another.
Caesar Left / Pompey Right after couple of turns. I am trying to push forward my grey blocks while Lukasz is preparing his red ones for counter-attack
But we should not forget the rest of the map. Caesar had enough time to reposition his wing, but instead of supporting Anthony (it was too far) he manned the ramparts and then attacked the Pompey directly!
Caesar occupied with Pompey, Anthony with exiting forces – but in the middle, the lighter troops were also struggling for points. You can see above one of the caesarian lights being destroyed. PS. camps represent watchtowers.
It was high time to act – instead of exiting the map, my forces turned left and rolled over two Medium Infantries of Lukasz.
Definitely something has to be done as at the same moment Marcin’s troops decided to launch full-scale attack directly on Kuba’s center! It was partially successful… at least this time.
Clash of Shields and two of my units annihilated with zero losses on Caesar side. That was blow from which my forces had huge problem to recover.
“The Last Charge of Pompey” they called later on brave onslaught from that leader. A moment later his two remaining units – as well as he – were laying dead on the battlefield…
“There is still hope, it is only 1 point of difference!” – we thought. But after a 3 VP super lucky ride from Lukasz the game ended in Pompey forces defeat.
Conclusion
Final look at the map – the battlefield was witness to true carnage on both sides. Action centered on the left and in the center.
Close-up on Michal/Lukasz wing with marked main areas of fighting. There was never time to exit Pompey forces.
Close-up on center and right wing – Kuba/Marcin. Also a lot of action and decisive Caesar push in the area!

Summary

Yet one more excellent EPIC Command & Colors experience, lots of fun and excitement. The Dyrrhachium scenario turned out to be very well play-able, despite its special rules and pretty non-standard initial forces disposition.

That experiment proved that transposing regular CCA scenarios to EPIC format can give great results and fantastic gameplay. I will definitely continue and post scenarios to the:

More session reports to come!