Routing, not shown: AS/VII LG h
In Pursuit: AS/XV Ex RC (w/ 4 hits)
The voting:
Option | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Philocles recovers and sets up a defensive line | 1 | |
| Philocles moves vs the Roman infantry | 5 | |
| Philocles hits Falco's cavalry | 1 | |
| Philocles moves to the HI to cause mischief | 1 | |
| Socrates moves to attack with the HC | 2 | |
| Socrates recovers/rallies the SK/PH on the left | 1 | |
| Leonatus does an Active Player Trump and recovers the PH | 1 |
Given the wide range of results, the voting this turn makes me think that multi-commander GBoH might be interesting.
Actually, the intent of the moves are all similar. Everyone recognized that the Romans are threatening to rout the phalanx. The question, then, is the best way to deal with this, either shoring up the PH or hitting one of the flanks.
Usually I prefer to activate Philocles after Falco, rather than before, since the first one to move gives a positional advantage to the other. However, the MI at the banks of the river are effectively blocking Falco, and the Falco's cavalry has a lot of cohesion hits. So moving Philocles now is safe:
Routing, not shown: AS/VII LG h
In Pursuit: AS/XV Ex RC (w/ 4 hits)
(I've removed a few hex columns to save some disk space.)
The cavalry with four hits is clearly in no shape for shock, so Philocles has it recover. The LC next to it can actually make it to the flank (it was facing SW, not NE) and shocks both the routed cohort and another cohort pinned by the HI. The remaining LC can't reach the cohorts, so it positions itself (and Philocles) for Momentum.
Pre-Shock rolls are truly bizarre, as the routed unit holds, the Epirote LC rolls the dreaded '9' and gets four hits, and the "good order" cohort rolls an '8', gets enough hits to rout, and as eliminated because it's surround by ZOC!
At this point, Ye Olde Game Master has a confession to make. For some reason, I've had it firmly in my head that attacks on routed units are automatically Attack Superior. Yet I can't find any justification for that in the rules. Is this a leftover memory from some other game (I checked Deluxe Alexander, too, and failed to find such a rule there, either) or have I suddenly gone blind?
It's hard to believe that routed units are less vulnerable that units in column, but that's how I'm resolving the combat. It's not a DS attack, because the routed units don't have missiles, but LC vs LG frontally is a dismal column 4. There's a 1R shift for sizes, but the result is still a 3(2). That eliminates the routed unit and puts the LC over it's TQ limit, but since the enemy was eliminated it's now at TQ - 1. (This is my interpretation of [10.35] and [10.36], anyway.)
The LC advances after combat, rotating so as not to expose a flank to the LG, which are likely to be activated soon. There is no Reaction Fire possible, because the Romans are Missile No.
Philocles tries for Momentum (as per the instructions of those voting for him), and succeeds with a dieroll of '1'. So, now:
Activated so far:
| Epirote: | Pyrrhus (EIO), Milon, Philocles | |
| Roman: | Plautius, Rebilus, Magnus |
The Rout Point totals:
| Side | Current | Limit | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romans | 76 | 185 | 41% |
| Epirotes | 49 | 120 | 41% |