Routing, not shown: AS/VII LG h
In Pursuit: AS/XV Ex RC (w/ 4 hits)
The voting:
Option | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Activate Cassius, attack with the remaining line of cohorts | 7 | |
| Activate Cassius, attack the weakest PH to break the line | 1 | |
| Activate Cassius, clean up the Epirote HI before tackling PH | 4 | |
| Activate Falco, blow away the MI | 2 |
A nice, clear vox populi, though a fair-sized minority wanted to pursue a more conservative course of setting things aright on the Roman left before launching into the phalanx.
Since Cassius is inside the Command Range of Laevinus, he gets to do a Line Command automatically:
Routing, not shown: AS/VII LG h
In Pursuit: AS/XV Ex RC (w/ 4 hits)
I've added several more parenthesized numbers to show Finished as well as Rallied units. Pyrrhus looks a bit less threatening with two of his seven units unable to move or attack for the rest of the turn.
The retrograde move in the center might look a little strange. The problem here is that the cohorts already in action against the phalanx are taking up most of the free spaces. So what to do with the extra units? I used them to form a strong (TQ7-8) reserve, within Line Command range of Plautius and Cassius. Alternate options are solicited (for discussion purposes; I don't want to delay the game), in particular the merits of stacking. It seemed to me that a unit joining a stack should be "behind" (i.e. underneath) the unit in melee and hence prone to rout if the top unit routs. The gain didn't seem worth the risk.
Cassius moves to the Roman right, but keeps the cohorts on the left within his command range so that they can initiate their AS shock attacks. (That's Plautius and Cassius stacked together on the routed yellow cohort, Magnus up one row and to the right, and Rebilus adjacent to the routed brown cohorts.)
The Roman missile attacks are very successful, but the Pre-Shock TQ checks brutalize the attacking cohorts. Subsequent shock breaks one of the defending phalanxes, but at the cost of many routed attackers, some of which are eliminated as routed cohorts are forced to stack up.
Cassius rolls for Momentum, but fails miserably with a '7'. So now it's Socrates's turn.
The Rout Point totals:
| Side | Current | Limit | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romans | 100 | 185 | 54% |
| Epirotes | 53 | 120 | 44% |
Activated so far:
| Epirote: | Pyrrhus (EIO), Milon, Philocles | |
| Roman: | Plautius, Rebilus, Magnus, Drusus, Cassius |
What should Socrates do? The routed phalanx is 6 MPs away from the edge of the map, so it won't count for Army Withdrawal this turn unless a Rally attempt is unsuccessful.