Routing, not shown: AS/VII LG h
In Pursuit: AS/XV Ex RC (w/ 4 hits)
The voting:
Option | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Move to the Epirote right flank | 2 | |
| Rally the Phalanx, take a flank missile shot | 3 | |
| Move to the HC, recover | 3 | |
| Move to the HC, attack | 2 |
I messed this vote up in a big way. As one voter reminded me, Socrates has a "Peltasts" command restriction on his counter. Which is nonsensical for this Peltast-less scenario, but I'm ruling that Socrates can only command LI and SK (I can find no scenario note telling me this, but I'm going with common sense). So no playing around with PH, HC, or HI.
Unfortunately, the command restriction isn't obvious from my maps, and I neglected to mention it last activation. My apologies to all voters. For the record, Socrates and the Praefectae Equitarum (correct?) are the only leaders in this scenario with a command restriction.
So I've got a bunch of votes for non-legal moves. What to do? The show must go on, as usual. Surely we don't want to wait another couple of weeks for Socrates to decide what to do with a single lousy SK unit? So:
Routing, not shown: AS/VII LG h
In Pursuit: AS/XV Ex RC (w/ 4 hits)
The SK performs a Close Missile Volley [9.23] and inflicts a hit on the cohort flanking the phalanx.
A few people have mentioned difficulty in visualizing the facing of the units on the maps. I'm loathe to add more "dirt" to the maps (last turn's map was already too cluttered), but I'm sympathetic to the complaint. I've tried to be very careful to make the edges of the unit perpendicular to the vertex they face. I've also tried to bias the position of the unit so that it's closer to the vertex that its facing.
As a quick review, the HC are all facing east (the single unit north of the river is facing SE, the others NE). The cohorts guarding the Roman right are facing SW. The cohorts amongst the PH are facing the flanks of the PH. The velites near the pack of Roman leaders are facing SW. The LC that Socrates just used to great effect are facing NW, as are the adjacent routed cohorts. The lonely routed cohort on the Roman left is facing NE. The remaining units are facing N (unrouted Epirotes, routed Romans) and S (routed Epirotes, unrouted Romans).
Socrates rolls for Momentum -- why not? -- and succeeds with a '1'.
Activated so far:
| Epirote: | Pyrrhus (EIO), Milon, Philocles | |
| Roman: | Plautius, Rebilus, Magnus, Drusus, Cassius |
Should the Romans trump? If so, the choices are Falco or Laevinus, and what should that leader do if successful? What should Socrates do if he does get to go?
Finally, a query of a different sort. One of you guys had a what I thought was a great idea for the next replay, namely having people each represent one of the game leaders with his units, and use restricted inter-leader communication to create some fog-of-war. My role would be restricted to combat resolution, rules interpretation, map maker, and peanut gallery. It sounded like an interesting variation to me, with all sorts of possibilities for miscommunication. But how does it play in Peoria? On the one hand, I'd expect greater commitment from folks than I do for this IR, because I'd expect very detailed instructions on what to do. On the other hand, you'd only be responsible for one leader (and his command), and moving a dozen-odd units every few months doesn't seem very onerous. What do you think?