Heraclea replay with Wars Ancient

Background
The second ruleset I am using to replay Heraclea is Wars Ancient.  I've already done an overview and a replay.  I have also posted clarifications from dialog with the author.  This report will be quite detailed so readers can determine how the game mechanics work.  I'll even include the odd dice rolls!  But as the game goes on, I'll tone it down.
 
Rules discussion
(skip this section if just interested in the replay - this is a long discussion on why I changed a couple of rules to make the game faster)
 
In my previous replay, I noted the game is perfectly suited to a 2 hour game on a 2'x2' table.  But I am looking for a game under one hour.

It takes 2 hours to play as it is hard to score a hit and you can only score one hit per melee phase and per missile phase;  for most units in melee, that is one hit max per turn.  One thing that would sped up my last game slightly is if I had played the missile rules correctly as missile units can still fire if they are in contact with the enemy (just like Bill Banks Ancients). For that battle, it would have likely shaved off 30 minutes due to the number of missile armed units.  For Heraclea, it will make little difference.
 
Why hard to hit? When you roll to hit,there are 3 pips on the d6 that will cause a the enemy to take a morale check.  If you combat value is equal, you roll 1d6, if greater, 2d6 and pick the best pip (and if double, 3d6). Assume equal combat values, 50% chance of a hit.  If rolling 2d6,then 75%.  If successful, you need to roll a morale check.  A lot of units are morale 5, which means they need to roll a 5 or less on a d10 to pass (and then not take damage).  Spears and blades are a 6.  Each adjacent unit gives you +1 to morale value, and I had quite a few in my last game.  So assume a morale value of 5 means a 60% chance of passing, and a morale value of 6 is a 70%.
 
Putting it together - a average melee has a 50% chance of a hit and then a 60% chance of a save - so a 20% chance overall of actually inflicting a hit.  While a good melee against a good enemy is 75% chance of a hit but a 70% chance of a save -  22.5% chance of damage.  Good melee and average melee - 75% hit and 50% save is still only 37.5% chance of a hit. And you only get to melee once per phase, unless you have other units on the flank, then that can attack to.
 
Flank attacks give -1 to combat value and -1 to morale value. but even then, 2d6 roll and a morale value of 5 gives only a 37.5% chance of inflicting damage.
 
And you have to inflict 2 damage points to destroy a unit.

With these low chances, you can see that with a 20% chance of a hit, it will take a least 2 turns (40% chance), about an average of 5 turns, but easily longer.

It is obviously designed this way to capture the struggle of melee, and does a good job of it - once they are in combat, they are in it for the long haul.

The system mechanics of Wars Ancient are sound and good - the command and control, melee and cards - I would love to play it but under one hour to fit what I am looking for.  The obvious choice is to allows many hits per phase.  This would help slightly but it is is rare to get a hit anyway!  So I came up with a few potential ways to speed it up:

1. Instead of the average base morale value being 5, make it 3.
2. Allow multiple hits per phase, except missile fire phase.
3. Flank attacks are -2 to morale, not -1
4. When you roll to hit, you roll 1 to 3 d6 and pick the best one.  A way to speed it up is the attacker can choose more than 1 die's results, possibly causing more than one morale check.

1 is not a dramatic change, except  units will take damage more often; neither is 2 as there are not that many multiple hit opportunities per phase; 3 rewards flanking, but may be a bit much combined with 2, as the flanker and the frontal attack both now have a chance to score a hit.  4 is dramatic, as it changes a core game mechanic.

Rules changes
To speed play, I will reduce morale values mostly by 2 and allow multiple hits per melee phase from enemy units only - the hit for unable to retreat/rout will not be applied if the unit was hit during the current melee phase. Hopefully this will bring it down to about an hour and still be a good game.

Units
Normally each side has 15 units, but I will go with my setup which has 12 for Epirots, 15 for Romans.

Format: Unit: DET type, abilities, Combat Value/Morale value
 

Romans

4 Leves: Psiloi, Javelin, 2/2

4 Hastati/Principes: Blades, Legionaries (Wall of Shields ability and +1MV), 4/5

2 Triarii: Spears, Armor and +2MV, 5/6

1 Light Infantry: Auxilia, Javelin, 3/3

2 Heavy Cavalry: Cavalry, 4-6/3

1 Light Cavalry: Light Horse, 3/3

3 Generals
 

Epirot

1 Hypaspist: Spears, Phalanx (attacked on front always great CV, +1MV), 3-MAX/5

3 Pikemen: Spears, Phalanx, 3-MAX/4

1 Hoplite: Spears, 3/4

1 Light Infantry:Auxilia, Javelin, 3/3
1 Skirmisher: Psiloi, Long range, 2/2

1 Slingers: Psiloi, Javelin, 2/2

1 Agema: Cavalry, Disciplined (as it gives +1MV), Armor (armor as it gives +1CV), 5-7/4

1 Light cavalry: Light Horse, 3/3

1 Elephant: Elephant, 5/2
3 Generals

Notes:  The extra description - Phalanx, Legionaries - are taken from the cards.  I have listed the abilities these cards give. I omitted the abilities inherent in the unit type (e.g. Cavalry are MOUNTED, CHARGE, IMPETUOUS, CAVALRY).  I have also added a few abilities here and there to reflect the unit. e.g. increased the morale value of the Triarii, added Javelin ability to some units.
 
Special note on Phalanx: PHALANX means the Epirot Pikes will always have a greater combat value (to their front) than any opponent.  This means they will be rolling 2d6 for hits, while their opponent will be rolling 1d6 with only retreat the best option - no hits possible. So the Legionaries will always lose front on with no chance of inflicting damage.  I will fudge this slightly and say PHALANX stay much the same, except enemy infantry that would normally have a greater CV than the Pikes (if they were only spears and not PHALANX) can roll 1d6 for hits (as though combat values were the same).  In Heraclea, this happens to only apply to the Legionaries.  So the Pikes will be rolling 2d6 (75% chance of a hit), Legionaries 1d6 (50% chance of a hit).  Fair enough.

Strategy Cards
I have not gone with giving each side strategy card.  As I am recreating a historical game I have already allocated out to the units what is effectively done by cards, and also the terrain is already decided.  Wars Ancient is a great ruleset for pickup games, but I believe its mechanisms are just as great for recreating historical battles.

Victory
Victory is normally 15VP with 15 DETs.  So I will make Victory for the Romans 12VP (the Epirots only have 12 DETs) and 15VP for the Epirots.

Deployment
As per my standard Heraclea deployment.  I have spread out the three generals as they are needed to command the units. Pyrrhus with the Agema and Laevinus with the Heavy Infantry (Hastati/Principes).  There are no camps.

Here is a picture:

 Deployment

I will give the Romans turn 1 initiative to simulate their getting over the river and having the slight edge on Pyrrhus for deployment.

Turn 1
Laevinus spends 4 CP (command points) to army move the Leves and heavy infantry.  Army move is a group move where 2CP can be spent on a group to move the same.  DETs must be in contact, cannot enter melee but there is no limit to the number of DETs in a group.
 
Epirot centre general moves up the two skirmishers (the overall army commander is the leader and had 4 command points, others commanders are generals and only have 3.  The pike line is in range of the other general and so I''ll move them when activating that general).

Roman left general moves up heavy cavalry and also the general (general moves last in activation) moves to a more central position so is in range to be able to activate centre units as well.

Pyrrhus moves up the Agema and the Elephant and moves them together.  There are only three movement rates in Wars Ancient - Infantry move 2MU, cavalry, elephants etc move 4MU, Artillery move 1MU.  Simple.  Oblique forwards movement within 90 degrees, with no facing change, is allowed, which is how the elephant lined up with the Agema.  He also army moves the pike block.
 
The right Roman general moves the light infantry and light cavalry.  The left Epirot leader does the same (with the Epirot light infantry and cavalry).

End of turn 1

 

Turn 2
No missile fire.
Romans win the initiative.  This turn was just a moving up of all the troops straight ahead - no real manoeuvring.  The only highlight is that the Agema and Elephant are within 4", and therefore charge range, of the Roman Heavy cavalry.  The side winning initiative will have an advantage as a straight charge by cavalry gives them +2 to CV.

No melee.

End of Turn 2

Turn 3
Missile Fire (simultaneous)
I like the simplicity of missile fire resolution in Wars Ancient - Bows are range 3 and hit on a 5-6, Javelins are range 1 inch and hit on a 6.  Psiloi and troops in cover are hit on a 6 only.  Only one hit per missile phase.  No other modifiers etc.  That is basically it.  The subtleties come in other parts - units in melee can still shoot, and unmoving missile units can be given a command to fire at moving enemies unit.
 
The only missile hit was a Leves by the Epirot Psiloi bowmen. The Leves undertake a morale check and roll a 10 - they rout (turn 180 and move 3).
 
Activation
Epirot move first and Pyrrhus charges the Agema and elephant into the opposing cavalry. And also 3 units closest to him of the battleline (possibly an outline of a plan to split the battleline into two parts to better take on the Legionaries).

Melee:
Agema is 7 (has +2 for charging and +1 for armour) Vs Cavalry of 4.  Rolls 2d6 and  gets "Defender Retreats" (they retreat 1MU).  Agema must pursue.
Elephant is 5 Vs 4.  rolls 2d6 and gets "defender hit".  Elephants force a -2 morale modifier to enemies.   Heavy Cavalry check of a 3 (remember I have reduced all values by 2), which is a modified 1.  They fail, no surprise, and take 1 point of morale damage and retreat 1MU.  Elephants must pursue.  Note I rolled an 8 - heavy cavalry would have failed morale check anyway.
Pyrrhus moves (leader moves last in activation) and attaches to the Agema (to give it +1 in melee, which will mean it has double the combat value of the opposing cavalry, and will roll 3d6 for hit chance).

Left Roman General activates and is not going to tempt fate by trying to melee with the Heavy Cavalry.  He is in range of the Triarii, and starts to more them towards the left side of the table. to protect the left flank.

Middle Epirot General moves up the remaining pike block (I am thinking that keeping the battleline together is actually a good thing).
 
Laevinus moves up the skirmishers slightly and also the battleline.

Otherwise,the other flank sees the Romans move up the Light Infantry.

End of Turn 3

VP count
Epirot: 2
Roman:0

Turn 4
Missile Fire
No hits

Activation
Romans win initiative.
Left general moves the Triarii and then moves to within 2MU of the cavalry in melee.  Why? Because a general can spend one unsaved command point to a unit in melee to increase CV or Morale by 1.  This will be handy to stop Pyrrhus getting 2:1 odds.
 
Pyrrhus attacks with attached Agema - it is 6 (4 cavalry +1 armour +1 leader - oops forgot that it not longer counts as charging so no +2 for charge) Vs 5 (4 cavalry +1 added to by roman general).  Still 2d6 though and Defender takes one hit, fails morale check and retreats 1MU.  Agema pursue.
Elephant attacks - 5 Vs 4. 2d6.  Defender takes 1 hit, fails morale check and is destroyed.  Elephant will pursue 1MU.

Pyrrhus moves away from the unit to help with the main battle line combat that is coming....

Right Roman general moves up the light infantry and light cavalry, and stops the Leves rout (takes 1 command point and the Leves about faces and can be activated next turn).

Right Epirot general activates the Psiloi bowman and retreats through the pikes. Psiloi can interpenetrate other units, but other units cannot interpenetrate Psiloi.    It then activates 2 pikemen and moves them into contact with a Leves unit.

The pikes charges the Leves.  Yellow shields are the Hypaspists, bow unit can be seen at the back.

Melee: Hypaspist is MAX CV, so rolls 2d6 for potential hits. Defender 1 hit but passes morale check.  No effect.

Laevinus moves a Hastati to behind to Leves in melee (for moral support) and also moves another Hastati up to melee the pike unit.  The two Leves on the left of the battleline are moves behind the battle line, and the two remaining Hastati are moved up, one contacting the Slinger.  Note: While writing this up I realised this is 6 command points, leaders only have 4.  My mistake - leader can do 4 commands within 6MU not 6 commands within 4MU.  I did this correctly everywhere else.  Must have been late.
 

The Romans battleline advances

Melee: Hastati Vs Pike.  1d6 only (see comment at the start of the post that gives the Hastati 1d6, rather than 1d6 but repulse best result).  Rolled a 4 but as Legionaries have Wall of Shields, this is no effect.
Melee: Hastati Vs Slinger.  5 (4 Blade +1 for flanker) Vs 2.  3d6.  Defender takes a hit and routs.  Hastati do not pursue.

Centre Epirot general stops the rout (1CP), and moves the 2 pikes and Hoplite units to melee with the Hastati.

 The other battleline meets

 
1st Pike Vs Legionaries: Pike has Max CV.  2d6. Defender takes 1 hit, fails morale check, 1 damage and retreats 1MU. Pike does not pursue.
2nd Pike Vs Legionaries: Pike has Max CV.  2d6.  Defender takes a hit and passes morale check.  No effect.
 
VP count
Epirot: 6
Roman: 1

An interesting turn.  And turn 5 will likely just be as fun.

Overview at end of turn 4. 

 
Turn 5
Missile fire

Only one firing unit has a target - a Leves in contact with the Hypaspists.  No effect. Missile armed units can fire if in melee.

Activation
Romans win initiative and Laevinus  moves a Leves behind some Hastati (Psiloi give +1 CV to DETs in contact), Moves a Psiloi towards the right flank (maybe can get an advantage there) and army moves the Triarii up.  They will likely not get anywhere useful in time.  Should have moved them from the start. Does not initiate any combats with the Pikes.

Pyrrhus activates Agema for melee, and adds a +1CV.  Turns the elephant, turns the Hoplites into the flank of a Hastati, and moves a pike up to contact the Hastati.  All for 4 activations within 6".  Pretty good.
 

Pyrrhus commanding the left flank

 
Melees:
Agema is 6 Vs 4 or 3d6. Defender takes one hit and passes subsequent morale check.
Pike Vs Damaged Hastati is 2d6 (pikes have a greater CV). Defender takes one hit and fails morale check (note they would have passed without my house rule of -2 off all morale values).   Destroyed.  Pike do not pursue a destroyed unit (but do a routing or retreating one.
Pike Vs undamaged Hastati (the one with the Hoplites on the flank). Pikes have greater CV so roll 2d6.  Defender hit and fails morale check - 1 damage point and retreats.  Pikes pursue.  Note that if a unit is attacked by both a frontal unit and has a unit in the flank, only one unit attacks but there is a -1CV and -1MV for being flanked.

Left Roman general add one +1CV to cavalry and activates the cavalry to attack.   This is a 5 to 5 attack or 1d6.  Rolls a 1 - worst result possible, attacker takes a hit and fails morale check and is destroyed. Well, at least it free up the general to help focus on the centre battle.

Centre Epirot general turns skirmisher 180 and activates 2 pikemen for melee.

Melee:
Hypaspists Vs Leves: 2d6, defender takes 1 hit, fails morale check and retreats though Hastati behind.  Hypaspists pursue into Hastati. 2d6, a hit, fails morale check.

Right Roman general activates the light cavalry and light infantry to missile fire if any unit moves into range.
Left Epirot general moves the bow skirmisher a bit to the left.

VP count
Epirot: 13
Roman: 1

Overview at end of turn 5

Turn 6
I think this turn will see Pyrrhus win - he only needs 2 more VPs.
 
Missile Fire
A few misses but the Epirot skirmisher with bow inflicts 1 damage point on the Roman light infantry.

Activation
Epirot wins initiative.  Activates Pyrrhus and charges elephant into a Triarii, moves two pikes into a Hastati and Psiloi, and rotates the Hoplites.

Pyrrhus charges the troops in (phone pic while camera recharging)

Elephants melee: Elephants CV5; Triarii are 5 +1 for neighbour (Spears get +1CV bonus for friendly spear on flanks) which is 6.  Oops.  Elephants are a less CV.  Rolled 1d6 for no effect.
Pikes with Hastati melee: Pikes are 2d6. no effect.
Pike and Psiloi melee: Pikes are 2d6. Defender retreats.

Well, it would have been nice if these type of results occurred a little earlier and so give the Romans a better chance.

Romans activate left general and activates the Triarii for melee and also add 1CV to it and moves the Triarii into the flank of the elephant.

Triarii melee.  Elephant at 4CV (flanked).  Triarii at 6.  2d6. Arrgghhh.  Defender retreats.  Elephant pursues.


Centre Epirot general activated and moves up pike into contact, activates Hypaspists for melee.

Pike melee results in Hastati taking a hit and is destroyed.
Hypaspists melee has no effect  - rolled two 4s, and a 4 is ignored by DETs with Wall of Shields ability, which the Hastati have.
 
I won't do anything with the remaining generals as Epirot has reached victory, and the Romans would be unable to get enough VP to even get close to equaling the score.


VP count
Epirot: 16
Roman: 1

End of game overview

Verdict
Still a great game system.  On the modifications, the lower morale did allow for a few more damage points than would have occurred.  On the multiple hits per melee phase - this never was possible in this game.  It can happen when one general activates a DET for melee and there is a hit; later in the turn another general activates a different DET and charges into melee and so there is a possibility of another hit.  Never seemed to get the chance to do this for Heraclea.  But I think the game was faster than the previous game.  So, at least for Heraclea, it played in about an hour.  Unmodified, it may have been 10-15mins longer.  The Epirots did have the better luck in the game but the biggest issue in the game was the Romans did not wait for the Triarii to come up and help. I underestimated the power of the Pike DETs  It would be better for the Romans to hang back and let the fact they have more battleline DETs than the Epirots and flank them - either flank would work - either the Hoplites for the right flank with the light units are vulnerable. Flanked Pike DETs are victims.  Possibly aim for the Hoplite flank to help protect from the inevitable Agema and Elephant flankers (once they have dealt with the Roman cavalry).
  
Anyway, the game worked and I enjoyed it.  Will play again.

Wars Ancient rules clarifications

Background
As mentioned in the Wars Ancient battle report, I submitted some questions to the author.  Mario Magni kindly answered my multitude of questions, mostly clarifications.  I have edited them to remove my comments but otherwise are the same as the response I received.  I have not included errata from the Wars Ancient FAQ (English version).  Note that the Italian version of the FAQ page has a couple more answers.

Clarifications
 
Question
p17 Combat:  How do units already in contact start a melee? Does a DET have to be activated to melee with another unit it is already  in contact with?

Answer
Detachments when activated before they are moved, when all DETS have moved from the general, if they are in contact with a enemy detachment, fighting. If the fight does not have a winner, the two detachments remain in contact and we can not disengage. In the next round a player can activate a general and assign a command point to activate the detachment in melee, re-roll the dice to try to resolve the melee. Important only activated detachment can roll the dice. The detachments will remain in contact until the players will not solve the melee.

Question
p19 8.4.1 Morale additional rules
This states that a DET can only sustain one Morale damage per game phase. Just to clarify, there are only 3 game phases:
Missile
Initiative
Activations (in alternating general sequence)
So, a DET can receive 1 morale damage at most in missile fire and one m orale damage at most during the activations? Or by game phase did it mean per each general activation phase?

Answer
Yes, a detachment can take only 1 damage for phase, so it can only receive 1 damage during the shooting and only 1 damage in the activation phase.

Question
Section 3.0 mentions that DETs are placed within 5MU from our side of the table. Does this mean there is no limit to how close to the side of the table a DETs can be deployed?

Answer
Yes part of your side of the table up to 5 MU, within this rectangle can deploy your army.

Question
Section 4.2..2 second paragraph (top of page 12). Can a missile unit can fire on an enemy DET if it is in contact and if in line of sight? If it can fire on a unit it is in contact with, then a javelin unit could fire on a unit contacting it in the flank or rear as it has a 360 degree fire arc.
 
Answer
A DET engaged in melee with the ability Missile can shoot at the sole DET which is in contact on the front. If that DET has the ability to short range can shoot a DET which engages the sides or rear.

Question
Section 4.2.3 readying missile fire. It says a ranged weapon DET can "readying to fire" if it does not move. If it fired, can it be "readying to fire"?

Answer
This is an order that a general can make spending a command point. The order says that a DET with the ability missile can prepare (put a counter near the DET) firing during the movement of his opponent. This order remains until that DET is not activated yet, or pulls a DET enemy.

Question
Section 6.1 DET and command points says only a single command point can be spent on a DET. But in 6.3, a command point can be given to a DET (once per game turn) for a bonus in combat. As a CP has to be spent to activate the unit, and another spent to give it a bonus, is 6.3 an exception to 6.1 only having one CP per DET per turn?

Answer
Yes. A DET can be activated only once every turn. If a general decides to keep some control points, before you can roll the dice for a melee to give the same that triggered DET (using another point did not use that command to activate DETs) a bonus of +1 MV or +1 to CV.

Question
Section 7.1 Movement. What does "taking place within 90 degrees from the centre of the unit base" mean? Can a unit move forwards, maintain it facing but move a bit to the left and right?

Answer
Yes

Question
Section 7.1 Movement. Can a unit move straight ahead and turn in the same game turn? I assume they can as nothing prohibits it, and the replay diagrams on the website seem to show you can.

Answer
Yes

Question
Section 7.2 Turning. Most unit bases are 6cm wide and an MU is 4cm. For a DET to be able to move 90 degrees it will need to move about 9cm. This means the 2MU units (infantry) cannot do a 90 degree turn in one game turn. I then note in 7.3 Battle maneuvering, under the dot point "rotation 90 degrees", that a DET can rotate to change facing and if done twice it is an about turn. I realise this is a very different maneuver to a turn - it rotating on the unit base , not a turn.
a) is it correct that a turn of 90 degrees is not possible to 2MU units?
b) if the cost of an about turn is all of a DET's MU, what is the cost of changing facing (rotation) by only 90 degrees - half the DET's MU?

Answer
There is a FAQ on the site, which says that a rotation of 90° DET spending 1 MU of movement, then a DET can rotate 90 degrees and move to a 1 MU.

Question
Section 8.2 Combat Ratio. If the active DET combat value is less, the best possible result is repulsed. What are these results?

Answer
DET (A) CV 3 attack DET (B) CV 4
dice results and effect:
--1--  (A) check morale if wrong take 1 hit.
--2-- (A) retreats
--3-- (B) retreats
--4-- (A) e (B) check morale if (B) wrong retreats, if (A) wrong take 1 hit.
--5-- (B) check morale if wrong, retreats
--6-- (B) retreats

Question
Section 8.2.1 states that DET in SWAMP suffer -1 to morale and some DET types cannot cross. Section 10 states that a SWAMP is impassable (and section 8.5 has a diagram showing SWAMP as an example of impassable terrain. Is 8.2.1 incorrect and SWAMP is impassable?

Answer
The swamp is impassable for only certain types of DET. The example is made for a special DET as chariot or elephant, Yes, the pictures can be misunderstood..

Question
Section 8.5 Impossible retreat. If blocked, a routed/retreating DET suffers a morale damage. If it has already sustained a morale damage during melee this game phase (for example, it is retreating and so has just got a morale damage), does it receive another one and so be destroyed? 8.4.1 has that a DET can sustain only one morale damage a game turn phase.

Answer
A DET take a hit, check morale, if it wrong and flee, only 1 damage will suffer , if it can not escape because its corridor of escape is blocked, can not suffer another injury because a DET suffer 1 damage in a turn.

Question
Section 8.6.1 blocked escape route - same question as above. If the DET has already suffered damage this game phase, will it receive another morale damage and so be destroyed?

Answer
No, see above.

Question
Section Attribute list (on the back page):
a) MOUNTED. The +1 to CV - has this already been calculated into their profile?
b) FRAIL. I assume this is the same as FRAGILE that is in the WAR MACHINES description?
c) SPEARS has a attribute of LANCE. I assume this is the supposed to be the attribute SPEARS.
d) FLANKERS and FORMATION. These give bonuses when on the flank. Do they also give the bonus if the DET is to the rear of the unit and in contact?
e) COMMAND, CHARISMATIC LEADER and ORDER - these are included for leader descriptions?
f) ELUSIVE is a list attribute but not an attribute for any DETs.
g) MOB state it is an irregular infantry formation not suffering flanking negative effects. Does this mean MOB acts like the FORMATION attribute, but flanking MOB DETs will add +1 CV regardless of if they are in contact with enemy units?
 
Answer
a) YES
b) YES
c) YES
d) YES
e) YES
f) No. It is in the FAQ - Elusive is a BOWMEN's ability.
g) MOB have +1 MV in contact.

Question
The DET list on back page and also the army cards. BOWMEN has a CV of 3 (6) and WAR MACHINES a CV of 2 (8). What are the values in parentheses - the (6) and the (8)?

Answer
They are values that I added to the optional rules that will come out.
 
Question
When a unit routs, can the attacking DET pursue? The rules state (section 8.6) a retreating unit has the attacking DET pursue (if it wishes or has to if impetuous). Is a routing unit treated as retreating? A retreat is only 1MU but a routing cavalry moves 5MU so would an attacking infantry pursue and remain in contact?

Answer
A detachment can pursue another detachment of the enemy only 1 MU.
 
Question
Can a DET move away from an enemy it is on contact with?

Answer
NO!

Heraclea replay with Gordian Knot

Background
I am hoping to replay the battle of Heraclea using many rules.  I used 10 rules for replaying the battle of Callinicum, a mostly cavalry action. Gordian Knot is the first ruleset I am going to use for Heraclea. I did an overview of Gordian Knot.  The deployment and background to the Battle of Heraclea may be found here - Heraclea deployment.   As per previous replays, I will have a reasonable amount of detail on how the rules work early on, including occasionally calculating the die roll.  There is so little (i.e. none) information on Gordian Knot on the internet, this will give readers a basis on the rules and its mechanisms.

Changes for a 2'x2' board
The rules are geared for a 6'x4' table, playing with 4"x2" units and measurements in inches.  So, my cunning plan: divide all by 2.5, we get 4cmx2cm units, distances in centimetres and a game eminently playable on a 2'x2' board with units being a standard WRG element (although mounted will be a bit deeper but not that important in the rules).

Troops
Each unit for Heraclea conveniently breaks down into a unit in Gordian Knot.

Romans

4 Leves: Skirmisher infantry, javelin

4 Hastati/Principes: Trained Infantry, heavy infantry, pilum, good melee troops, shield

2 Triarii: Trained Infantry, heavy infantry, spear, good melee troops, good morale,shield

1 Light Infantry: Skirmisher Infantry, good melee troops, javelin, shield

2 Heavy Cavalry: Trained Cavalry, heavy cavalry, spear, good melee troops, shield

1 Light Cavalry: Skirmish cavalry, spear, javelin, shield

1 General, no special characteristics
 

Epirot

1 Hypaspist: Trained infantry, heavy infantry, pike, good melee troops, good morale, shield

3 Pikemen: Trained infantry, heavy infantry, pike, good melee troops, shield

1 Hoplite:Trained infantry, heavy infantry, spear, good melee troops, shield

1 Light Infantry: Skirmisher Infantry, good melee troops, javelin, shield
1 Skirmisher:Skirmisher infantry, bow, shield

1 Slingers: skirmisher infantry, sling

1 Agema: Trained Cavalry, armoured cavalry, spear, good melee troops, good morale,shield

1 Light cavalry: Skirmish cavalry, spear, javelin, shield

1 elephant: Elephant.
1 General with the characteristic Popularity Inspirational (+1 to recovery/rally within 12)

Note: Light Infantry I have represented as Skirmish infantry but being good melee troops.  This gives them the same move flexibility as Skirmishers, similar evade capability and are just a bit better in melee than skirmishers.  All the other infantry troops types made no sense (untrained are slow and inflexible moves, and tribal is really for warband-type infantry)
 
Deployment
I deployed as per my Heraclea deployment.  Pyrrhus is adjacent to the Agema; Publius Laevinus is behind the Triarii.
 

Deployment.  Romans to the bottom.

I did not replace some of the units with dummies as is possible in the rules.

Missions: The army mission for each side is Battle to Win which basically means be the only one left with units on the table.

Romans will go first to reward them for getting over the river, but then it will be as per the rules - roll for it at the start.

Lastly, markers for unit status:
one green bush behind a unit = disordered
two green bushes = wavering
one brown bush = fleeing

Tactics
The Romans will try and destroy the centre.  The pilum has a 50% chance of disordering the enemy unit on contact, and this will mean the pikes will be fighting at -3 (-1 for disorder and -1 for Romans now being superior infantry to the pikes and -1 for being unshielded as pikes have been shot with pilum).  And the Leves may be able to get in a few disorders which will help.  On the Roman right, the forces are equal, and on the left the Cavalry is facing the Agema and the Elephants, so will delay engaging the flanks.

The Epirots will be focusing on the their right flank - it is where they can get a local superiority and hopefully carry this into the flanks of the Roman heavy infantry. 

Turn 1
Roman
Romans move the Leves up and move the Hastati/Principes to the flanks slightly and ahead (oblique movement is possible to Trained infantry without becoming disordered, most others are disordered).  Haven't moved the Triarii as they have to be far enough behind so that if a Hastati/Principes flees, they do not get caught up in it.
 
Epirot
Epirots move up their flanks.  Archer unit shoots at a Leves (turn sequence is IGO-UGO and each player turn is move, shoot, combat). Leves are unshielded, need a 4+ - hit - Leves is disordered. Note: disordered is a -1 in combat (as if the Leves cares) and is removed by halting and not shooting or meleeing for a turn. But a disordered unit hit again wavers, which requires a rally roll.  A hit while wavering is a flee.  Slingers move up to within range (8) and achieve a hit on a different Leves unit.

Turn 2
Pyrrhus wins the initiative.
 
Epirot
Continue to move up the right flank - Agema now in charge range of the Roman heavy cavalry.  Shooting misses.

Roman
Moved up the centre units.  Two Leves charge the Slingers, who gets a free shot as the defender and miss.  The two Leves fire - one hit and the Slingers are disordered.  Now to combat (skirmishers are immediately disordered when entering combat) and modifiers for both sides are same.  For multiple units attacking an enemy, you roll a die for each attacking unit, and use the highest die. The end result of the skirmish combat is a tie. All units are disordered in a tie, but this has no effect as they are disordered on entering combat!  Note, the Slingers could have evaded (on a 2+) but would have gone behind the pike line and had no impact on the battle - better to see if it can take some Leves with it!

Shot from the Romans side of the left flank and centre.  Disorder is marked by a green bush behind the unit.

Turn 3
Pyrrhus wins initiative again.

Epirot
Agema charges the Roman Heavy Cavalry.  Agema is +1 cavalry, +1 superior armour, +1 good melee troops, +1 superior morale grade; Romans are +1 cavalry, +1 good melee troops, +1 flank support.  A difference of +1 for the Epirots.  The opposed dice roll sees the Romans lose and they flee. Combat is fast in Gordian Knot - you lose, you run.  Fleeing units can be rallied but then are wavering, rallying wavering troops makes them disordered, rallying disordered makes then ok.  So a flee is bad.
Note that melee is done later, but makes sense to report it here.


Light infantry move to the flank of the Leves to charge next turn.  A unit charged in the flank automatically flees.
Missile fire sees the disordered Leves waver (next level of disorder).
The slingers versus two Leves ends in a Leves fleeing.
 
Roman
The fleeing heavy cavalry fail their rally roll (a 4+ required) and so disintegrate.  The remaining heavy cavalry can charge the Agema in the flank (it is actually behind the flank line and cavalry can wheel once during a charge).  This would cause the Agema to automatically flee, which is good.  But the Agema have a good chance to rally, and the Elephants would charge the heavy cavalry in the flank and cause them to flee, leaving the Roman left flank wide open.  There are no movement restrictions in Gordian Knot about moving in front of enemy units.    Let's charge them in, an elephant on the flank is slower than heavy cavalry - maybe the battle will be over by then....

The Roman heavy cavalry charges the flank of the Agema while the Elephant waits it turn. 

 
Meanwhile, the fleeing Leves continue to flee - once they are further away than 12 from an enemy, they have a chance of recovery (1 in 6), at the moment they have none.  Skirmishers rally on a 6+, in this case this is modified by -1 for enemy in 12, +1 for friendly in 12, -1 for friendly routing within 12; effectively a 7+ o a 6 sided die.  By moving/fleeing more than 12 away, the 7+ is reduced to a 6+.
The one Leves that is not disordered, wavering or fleeing moves up to within Javelin range (2) of the Skirmisher bow and disorders them.
The Triarii turn and head for the Elephant (trained infantry can turn around for the cost of 1/2 move).  The rest of the army move forwards.
 

The battle so far - disorder is one green bush, wavering is two, fleeing is a brown bush.
 

Turn 4
Pyrrhus moves first again.

Epirot
Try to rally Agema with a 3+ (4+, -1 enemy in 12, +1 good morale, +1 inspirational general within 12) - pass.  Agema is wavering and turns around to face the enemy if they pursue or charge.  Moved Pyrrhus to be with the Agema to give it a bonus to rally from wavering next turn.  Generals give no combat bonus, but do give a rally bonus if adjacent.
Elephant charges the Roman heavy cavalry, which flees.
The Slingers rally from pursuit (which means they do not have to pursue).  Units pursue fleeing or disintegrated units until they pass a successful pursuit rally, which is not the same as the rally roll used to recover from disorder, wavering or fleeing.  They then shoot at the heavy infantry (require a 5+) who shrug off the stones.
Skirmisher with bow misses the Leves.
 
Romans
Fleeing Heavy Cavalry disintegrates.  Needed a 5+, rolled a 4.  The Triarii are 12.3cm away.  If they were within 12, the Heavy Cavalry rally roll would have been a 4+ instead and it would have survived and be wavering.
One fleeing Leves disintegrates, the other passes the recovery roll and is wavering.
Triarii manoeuvre closer to the Elephant; hopefully this will possibly slow down the Agema as well.
The right 2 units of heavy infantry charge the Slingers who stand to fight, get a shot in and disorder a heavy infantry unit.  Slingers flee.
The left 2 units of heavy infantry move up behind the Leves (to be protected from the bow and also the Roman line is outnumbered 4 units to 5 units and so will echelon to delay flanking.  The right 2 units will go in, and the left ones will hold their position.

End of turn 4

Turn 5
Pyrrhus wins the initiative for the 4th time in a row.

Epirot
Agema rallies, as does the Elephant - the Epirot right flank is back in business; and there is no Roman left flank opposing them - just the Triarii blocking a rear run on the main battle line.  Shooting sees the wavering Leves flee.
Elephant turns to face the Triarii (Elephants take all there movement allowance to turn) and Agema moves towards the battleline, and also out of the fleeing line of the Elephants, just in case they do so.

Post game note: The Agema and the Elephant should have halted for an entire turn to be able to rally from wavering or disorder.  They moved last turn so should not have recovered this turn.  I did this correctly later one, not sure why I missed it here - i did play the game over three weeks (time poor at the moment) so forgetting is understandable.
  
Roman

The general moves to the rightmost heavy infantry, who then charge the pikes (I want to see what happens!).  Pila throw - both hit! Pikes are disordered and also unshielded.
Romans: +1 flank support, +1 good melee troops, +1 superior infantry (disordered pikes are inferior to trained infantry), +1 enemy disordered, +1 enemy unshielded = +5
End Pike: +1 flank, +1 good melee troops, (note that undisordered pikes would normally get a +1 for superior armour) = +2
Other Pike: +2 flank, +1 good melee troops,  +1 enemy disordered = + 4
Epirots lose both combats and flee.  The Roman heavy infantry is disordered.
If the pikes were not disordered by pila, the modifiers would have been Romans +2, Pikes +4/+6. Likely a very different outcome.

The fleeing pikes

A Triarii will charge the Elephants to see how this works. The other Triarii moves to lend flank support (rules are not clear if flank support occurs if the flankers are not in front corner to corner contact, but I'll allow it.) (the other Triarii cannot charge as trained infantry can only straight charge.  Also note that infantry cannot charge facing cavalry/chariots, but can do elephants).
Triarii pila throw causes the Elephant to be disordered (considering a pila needs 5+ to hit, the only 3 pila throws so far have all struck home.  Wow.)
Triarii: +1 flank support, +1 good melee troops, +1 superior morale grade, +1 enemy are disordered, (elephants never count as unshielded so the +1 unshielded does not apply) = +4
Elephant: Would have got a +1 for being an elephant, except it does not count against undisordered trained infantry with spears...ah well, +1 superior armour = +1
Elephant flees (no surprise).  There is no movement rate for fleeing elephants given but I assume it is the same as the equivalent infantry move.

The triumphant Triarii

Turn 6
Romans win initiative, the first time since being given it on turn 1.

Romans
Winners of melee must pursue and can only be stopped, starting before the first pursuit, by a pursuit rally roll.  Triarii  fail this (needed a 3+) and must pursue the Elephants.  They use the bonus 2 of movement for infantry charging and hit the Elephants in the rear, who continue to flee. Note, using the bonus makes you disordered if not already, but the Triarii are.

Post game note: There is nothing in the body of the rules specifically about what happens if you contact a fleeing unit in the flank or rear.  Contacting a unit on flank or rear causes it to flee, so I assumed the enemy will continue to flee.  But after the game I re-read the game report that is at the back of the rules and there is one bit where a fleeing unit is contacted in the rear and it is destroyed.  This makes more sense.  So the Elephant would have been destroyed rather than fleeing.  I did this error a couple of times later.  It did not have any effect in that the unit contacted that fled again rather than destroyed was usually destroyed the next turn.
 
The heavy infantry will only pursue if they roll a 1.  They roll a 1.  The other heavy infantry does not pursue but decides to move forwards anyway in line with the other heavy infantry. They contact a fleeing slinger, who flees.
The left heavy infantry block move sideways slightly (trained infantry can do this and not be disordered).  They do this so they can cover all three opposing pike units if they charge.  Currently the Hoplite unit would not be contacted, and would be free to flank a heavy infantry. Units in contact do not have to line up in corner to corner. Well there is nothing in the rules that says they do, so I assume they don't.
 

The Heavy Infantry after moving sideways to charge all three enemy units

Shooting - The wavering bowman flees after taking another hit (from a Leves).

Epirot
Elephant fails to rally and is destroyed (would have fled off the board this turn never to return, so it was worth trying for the '6' that was required to rally).
One of the fleeing pike units fails to rally, the other is successful.  As per elephants, they would have fled off the board if I did not attempt a rally.  The successful pike unit turns around.
The two fleeing skirmishers also fail to rally and are destroyed.
The Agema move towards the main battleline.  The Hoplite and two pike units move directly backwards 2.  Trained infantry can do this without being disordered.  This puts them 7 away from the facing Roman heavy infantry - with a move of 6, the will have to charge (and become disordered) if they want to do combat next turn.  It is a delaying tactic, that either forces the Roman's to charge and be at a disadvantage in combat, or wait another turn, which gives the Agema another turn to move up on the flank (the Agema is two moves away).

State if play at the end of turn 6

 
Turn 7
Romans win the initiative.
 
Romans
No successful rallies. Triarii stops pursuing the Elephant (needed to pass a pursue rally roll) turn and start moving towards the battleline. 

Tough choice (see above) on whether to charge into the pikes and fight disordered, or gamble that Initiative is won again, and the Agema hit the flank after the charge.  Romans charge in.  The other block of heavy infantry (on the right) charge in the wavering pikes. The general is moved to be adjacent to the leftmost charging heavy infantry.
The charging infantry melee (3 Epirot units against 2 Roman).  When a unit is in contact with two or more units, you work out the score for each contacted unit, and use the highest score.
Pila throws disorder the middle pike unit.

Left Roman unit rolls a 3, Facing Hoplite rolls a 1, as does the disordered pike (who is also counted as unshielded).  Roman modified score is a 5, Hoplites are a 5; Pikes, being disordered, will not be that high so don't bother to work it out. It is a draw.  Result is that all are disordered.
Right Roman unit rolls a 1, undisordered pike rolls a 2.  Roman modified score is 3 (flank support, good melee troops) , Pike is 6 (flank support, good melee troops, superior armour, superior infantry).  Romans flee (and the general goes with them).  The skirmishers behind the fleeing infantry also flee.
 

The battle line after the Roman unit flees

 
The other clash sees the Romans win and the pike flees off the board.
 
Epirot
The Pikes that won pass a pursue rally check so they do not need to pursue.

The Agema can reach, by using a +4 move charge bonus, the fleeing Heavy Infantry unit.  This has a two fold effect - one is the Heavy Infantry unitwill flee towards the light infantry (I was trying to hem them in but as my note earlier, the Heavy Infantry unit should have simply been destroyed when contacted by the Agema) and secondly, the Heavy infantry in contact with the hoplite/pike, if fleeing, will be destroyed instead, as a fleeing unit must flee directly away from all known enemy.
Hoplite and Pike in combat with the Roman heavy infantry results in an Epirot win. The heavy infantry must flee, but is destroyed because the Agema is blocking the flee path.

The Agema on the left, the uncontested pike line and the fleeing Heavy Infantry unit

Turn 8
Epirot win the initiative.
 
Epirot
A pike unit that saw no combat in the last Epirot turn has its disorder removed.  The other pike and Hoplite fail pursuit rally roll and move forwards.  Units will pursue a fleeing enemy, even if it is destroyed.  The only was to stop pursuit is to pass a pursuit rally roll.
Agema fail their pursuit rally roll and pursue the  Heavy Infantry unit, who are destroyed with no valid flee path.  The general passes the potential death roll for being adjacent to a destroyed unit.

Roman
General moves to Triarii. Other than fleeing units, no other units move so that disorder can be removed.

End of turn 8

 
Turn 9
Romans win initiative.

Roman
Remove disorder from all units that are disordered and move units towards the Epirot battleline.

Epirot
Hoplite and pike still fail pursuit rally (and all they need is a 3+) and are now about 2 away from a Triarii.  Agema turn around ready to flank charge Triarii.  Move up the lonely pike away from the heavy infantry behind it.

The centre mess

Turn 10
Epirots win initiative.

Epirot
Agema charges fleeing Heavy Infantry unit in the flank and they flee.  Yay, the Hoplite and Pike stop pursuing and the third lagging pike unit moves up to form a line.

Roman
Tried to rally fleeing Triarii and they fail and are destroyed (note they should have been destroyed a turn or so ago when contacted while fleeing). The General survives. The other Triarii charges the Hoplite in the flank and the Hoplite flees.  But now the Triarii can be hit in the flank by the Agema.

With nothing able to stop the Agema running into the flank of all the Roman units, I will concede as the Romans.

End of game

Verdict
An interesting game. If I wasn't taking notes, and looking up unfamiliar parts of the rules, I would say it took about 1.5 hours to play.  So it did not meet the goal of playing under one hour.  But is was a good game.  As I said in my overview, the combat is quick and unit status is a focus of the game.  I liked it although keeping track of status and trying to remember if the unit can rally or not was a bit of a chore.  The different movement options for unit types was a little hard on my brain too.  But really, these are only minor quibbles.
 
The lack of army lists is a downside, but no different to other rules I have tried, and for historical battles it is not difficult to figure out what is what.  I would recommend giving them a go - they do produce a fun game.

Gordian Knot rules overview

Background
Gordian Knot is a set of Ancient wargame rules written by Richard D Watts, copyright 2004, and published by Agema.  It is available at Agema's website, which will not tell you much at all about the rules, other than how much: 7 pounds + shipping.
 
I haven't found anything else about them anywhere on the internet.

What you get
It is 30 A4 pages stapled together with a  thick paper colour cover.  No army lists - the author thinks you could put together anything for any army so provides a comprehensive point system. Categorising units is up to you.  What I do like is the last 7 pages are a quite descriptive, blow by blow writeup of a game, from unit selection, thru terrain and deployment to game end.  It contains good detail on how the rules work, and also provides some notes on why things the way they are.  There are no terrain rules, but there is a simple terrain selection system buried in the game replay.

Base sizes, dice and measurements
Units are all based, for 15mm to 28mm, as 4" wide by 2" deep. 6mm is 2"x1". Ranges are all in inches and the two options for 6mm and 15mm/28mm are always given.  Dice rolls are all single d6.  Table size is not given, but the replay is on 6'x'4' with 28mm, was a small game and only seemed to take up 2/3rd of the table, although there were a lot of cavalry archers on each side. 

Game sequence
Game sequence is a roll for initiative (no modifiers), winner moves, shoots, combat; then other player does the same.

Units
Units are cavalry, infantry, chariots, elephants or artillery. 

Cavalry and infantry units are classed as trained, untrained, tribal or skirmish. Each class acts very differently.  The class of the unit affects movement rate, the modifiers in combat, target class for shooting, chance of pursuit, chance of evade and chance to rally.

Unit morale is good, average or poor.  A little bit of a modifier in combat, but mainly affects the chance to rally units.

Units may also have some special abilities such as good melee troops (add 1 in combat), good shooters (+1 to shoot), pike armed (affects various combat modifiers) and special training against elephants/chariots (can let these troops pass though unit rather than engage in combat).

Unit status
Unit status goes from good, to disorder (-1 combat modifier) to wavering (cannot advance into combat and not good in combat) to fleeing (running away) to rout.  A unit recovers from disorder by not doing anything for a turn while not in combat.  Units routed are lost.  Units fleeing may attempt to rally (based on morale) - pass and are wavering, fail and they rout - interesting.  Wavering units can go to disordered by doing nothing for a turn and passing a rally test.
 
These unit status's are a core component of the game.  A disordered unit suffers a -1 in combat, but also depending on the troop type, can be even worse e.g. ordered pikes are superior to any other infantry troop type, but if disorders are inferior to any other infantry troop type, and so suffer another -1 in combat.  Ordered pikes also are classed as having superior armour, so if disordered, they lose out on the +1 superior armour bonus.

Wavering troops cannot advance, and need to rally before they can do so.  A rally check is a 3+ for trained infantry, and a 6+ for a skirmisher. So wavering troops sometimes waver for a few turns.

Fleeing is worse.  A unit that loses combat flees, so combat is fairly decisive.  A fleeing unit that fails a rally check is destroyed. There is no other way to stop a unit fleeing except by passing a rally check.  A fleeing unit contacted by an enemy is destroyed.  A unit that flees is in a bad state. 

Movement
Fairly standard movement rates e.g. infantry 6", cavalry 10". There are a number of spefici rules on turning, oblique movement, stepping back etc that is specific to unit types e.g. trained infantry can go sideways without being disordered, but other units are disordered when doing so, except skirmishers, that cannot move sideways (this is probably the one with the most exceptions).  I found this actually the hardest part of the rules - who can do movement other that straight ahead and what type of movement and are they disordered or not.

Shooting
Shooting is fairly standard -  look up range and type of weapon and roll greater than a number on a d6 to hit.  If you do, enemy goes down a status for each hit.  Charged units can fire.  There is a table with 4 groups of missile types and 10 different troops types. Cross referencing gives you a score on a d6 required to hit (and also the score for an unshielded target).

Combat
Units do not have to line up corner to corner when meleeing.  When a unit charges into combat, the enemy can evade.  There is an evade roll - if you fail, you are assumed to have failed combat and flee.  Skirmishers have a evade roll of 2+, others are worse.  Charging in the flank/rear causes enemy to flee (bit strange as a skirmisher could flank charge heavy infantry and the latter would flee.  The only really weird omission I have seen by just looking at the rules).

Combat is an opposed roll.  If you lose, you flee. If it is a tie, both are disordered is not already.  So combat is harsh!  But good troops have a good chances to rally.

Units don't have specific combat factors but there is a list of about 20 combat modifiers - better armour, better morale, if cavalry, elephants Vs cavalry, enemy disordered etc.  The two modifiers that stand out as different are +1 for superior cavalry and +1 for superior infantry.  There is a list of cavalry units/status in order of superiority so lancers moving into 1st turn combat are superior to spear armed trained that are superior to spear armed tribal etc.  Disordered/wavering troops are low down the list.  For infantry, Pike 2 deep are superior, followed by pike 1 deep, but pikes disordered/wavering are lowest in the superior list.  Most units also get +1 for each friendly unit on its flank.

A unit that caused an enemy to flee must pursue.  The only way to stop pursuit is to pass a pursuit rally check (not the same as a rally check). 

Missions
Each side has one of 20 missions that are all fairly different and determine deployment and victory conditions.  Examples are destroy half of enemy, occupy with half your units the other side of the table, start game with half troops deployed and move on one unit per turn. etc.  Each side knows what the other mission is.  An interesting variation of a straight battle.

Visibility
The other difference from many other rules is visibility - units have a visibility of 24" (36" on hills).  Decoys can be placed instead of units further than this from the enemy. At deployment, you may place additional decoys (up to 1 per real unit). You may choose to place the real units at anytime (or reveal decoys), but are only forced to when they become visible.  All decoys move at 2d6" per turn - so random movement is the downside to decoys and it is impossible to maintain a battleline of decoys.

Generals
Each army has one general who, if killed, drastically reduces the number of units that can be moved.  Also, general have random characteristics that give them good/bad abilities (e.g. cannot move as far, there own visibility is enhanced/reduced).  Generals do not affect combat rolls, but do have a +1 to all rally rolls.



Verdict
A good solid set of ancient rules.  They are not simple but neither overly complex. Each ruleset has a focus, and this one is on unit status - disorder, wavering and fleeing troops rule what a unit can do.  Combat is bloody - you lose, you flee.  I like that.

Heraclea deployment and background for replay

This is a place to put the background and default deployment for the Battle of Heraclea as I start replaying it with multiple rules, aiming for less than 1 hour on a 2'x2' board.  It saves having to repeat this information with each battle.

Internet Sources
There are the internet sources I found quite easily to help on replaying the battle.

• English translation of Plutarch's Life of Pyrrhus
• The Wikipedia entry
• DBA Scenario 
• Lost Battles replay
• WAB deployment and discussion
• WAB replay
• GBoH replay
• CC Ancients scenario
• CC Ancients alternative scenario

Scaling the troops

Armed with the potential numbers of the different types of troops present at Heraclea, I could start to convert this into possible units for the replays.  The less the better!  Going by the actual numbers, and trying scale it down to manageable unit sizes, I used a first cut scale of 1200 soldiers equals 1 figure.
 

Romans

4 Legions each with:

1200 Leves

1600 Hastati

1600 Principes

800 Triarii

gives:

4800 Leves = 4 figures

6400 Hastati = 5 figures

6400 Principes = 5 figures

2400 Triarii = 2 figures

The 4 figure Leves would translate to 2 Skirmishers bases

The 12 heavy infantry would really be 3 bases but could simply make it 1 base per legion.  But in the spirt of trying to have a small number of units or the game wil take longer, I will go with 3 bases in total: 2 bases of Heavy Infantry + 1 unit of Triarii.  I can always change it back if all goes bad.

The 4 allied legions I will treat identical to the roman legions - 2 Leves, 2 HI, 1 Triarii.

Bruttians etc Allied infantry 2400 = 2 figures or 1 Light Infantry base

Roman Cavalry 1200 + 3600 Legion Cavalry = 4800 = 4 figures or 2 bases (could be one but 1 seems too little for the role they played)

Light cavalry 1200 = 1 figure or 1 Light Cavalry base.
 

Epirot

Hypaspists 3000 = about 3 figures or 1 Hypaspist base

Pike Phalanx/Peltasts 20000  = 16 figures or 3 bases Pikes and 1 base Peltasts

Heavy Cavalry 3000 = 3 figures or 1 heavy Cavalry (Agema) base - I thought about adding a second heavy vavalry base but really the Romans had 60% more cavalry, so 1 it is.
Foot Archers and Rhodian slingers 2500 = 2 figures or 1 base of skirmishers

Elephants 20 which will be 1 elephant base

Tarantine Levy Hoplites 6000 = 4-5 figures = 1 Hoplite base

Tarantine Light Cavalry 1000 = 1 figure or 1 Light Cavalry Base.

There are not enough skirmishers at this scale but the Rhodian slingers, even though only 500, get converted to base of Skirmishers, for a total of 2 Epirot Skirmishers.
 

Troop Definitions

General troop definitions to assist with converting to the various rules.
 

Romans

4 Leves: Skirmishers, open order, javelins, no armour, no shield

4 Hastati/Principes: Heavy Infantry, close order, partial armour, pila, sword, shield.

2 Triarii: Heavy Infantry, close order, partial armour, spear, shield, veteran.

1 Light Infantry: Light Infantry, loose order, no armour, javelin, shield

2 Heavy Cavalry: Heavy Cavalry, loose order, partially armoured, spear, shield

1 Light Cavalry: Light cavalry, open order, unarmoured, spear, shield
 

Epirot

1 Hypaspist: Heavy infantry, Pikes, partially armoured, phalanx, veteran/elite, shield

3 Pikemen: Heavy infantry, Pikes, partially armoured, phalanx, shield

1 Hoplite: Heavy infantry, long spear, half-armoured, hoplite, phalanx, shield

1 Light Infantry: Light Infantry, loose order, no armour, javelin, shield
1 Skirmisher: Skirmishers, open order, javelins, no armour, no shield

1 Slingers: skirmisher infantry, open order, sling, unarmoured

1 Agema: heavy cavalry, partial armour, spear, shield; better than the roman heavy cavalry.

1 Light cavalry: Light cavalry, open order, unarmoured, spear, shield

1 elephant: elephant, tower.
 

Deployment

I shall start the battle after Pyrrhus drew back the skirmisher line and the Romans had crossed the river.  It bascially means the fight is in the open with no terrain.  Also, there is no defined deployment of the troops so I have gone with a cross of the WAB replay, a bit of Richard Sides (from Ancient Historical Battles 1479BC - 378AD) a little bit of Bill Bank's Ancients and what feels ok.

Proposed deployment for Battle for Heraclea on 2'x2'.  Romans at the bottom.

Zama refight with Mighty Armies Ancients

This is likely to be my last Zama replay.  Zama, or at least my configuration of it, does not give a game under one hour, even with fast play rules!  There are lots of elements, and high quality troops so what was I thinking!  Anyway, Mighty Armies: Ancients proved to be the fastest rules of them all compared to the others I used for the Callinicum playoff. It will be interesting to see if MA:A produces a Zama game under an hour.

Troops
MA:A is not the best ruleset for differentiating Skirmishers and there were a number of proposed rule changes proposed to better reflect how Skirmishers operated.  While I agree it may not be perfect in Skirmish representation, it does a fine job in the confines of the existing mechanisms.  Skirmishers are not supposed to last long and giving them javelins on the off chance they can do a bit of damage before retiring (routing) is fine by me.  So I won't be implementing any rule changes for Skirmishers.
 
The other major discussion on troop types are support values for each troop type is the same, regardless of its morale.  So a common heavy infantry has a support value of 3, as does a veteran heavy infantry.  Yet the Vets are +2 cost for points (note that Vets do have +2 to fighting value).  As I haven't played enough games of MAA, I will not be playing around with support combat factors either (again, some rule changes proposed for this are on the forum).

Carthaginian
2 Skirmishers, Common Light Infantry, Speed: 4, Fight: 2, Support: 2, Scout, Mobile, Slave, Javelin
2 Elephants, Speed: 4, Fight: 5, Support: 1, Behemoth

4 First Line Infantry,Common Heavy Infantry, Speed: 3, Fight: 3, Support: 3
4 Second Line Infantry, Common Heavy Infantry, Speed: 3, Fight: 3, Support: 3
4 Third Line, Seasoned Heavy Infantry, Speed: 3, Fight: 4, Support: 3, Disciplined
3 Veterans, Veteran Heavy Infantry, Speed: 3, Fight: 5, Support: 3, Disciplined
1 General (Veteran), Heavy Infantry, Speed: 4, Fight: 6, Support: 3, Disciplined
2 Numidian Light Cavalry, Common Light Cavalry, Speed: 7, Fight: 2, Support: 2,  Javelin, Scouts
1 Heavy Cavalry, Seasoned Heavy Cavalry, Speed: 6, Fight: 4, Support: 3

Roman
4 Velites, Seasoned Light Infantry, Speed: 4, Fight: 3, Support: 2, Scout, Mobile, Slave, Javelin
4 Hastati, Seasoned Heavy Infantry, Speed: 3, Fight: 4, Support: 3, Disciplined, Javelin
4 Principes, Seasoned Heavy Infantry, Speed: 3, Fight: 4, Support: 3, Disciplined, Javelin
1 Triarii, Veteran Heavy Infantry, Speed: 3, Fight: 5, Support: 3, Disciplined
1 General (Triarii), Heavy Infantry, Speed: 4, Fight: 6, Support: 3, Disciplined
4 Numidian Light Cavalry, Seasoned Light Cavalry, Speed: 7, Fight: 3, Support: 2,  Javelin, Scouts
1 Heavy Cavalry, Veteran Heavy Cavalry, Speed: 6, Fight: 5, Support: 3
4 Numidian Light Infantry, Common Light Infantry, Speed: 4, Fight: 2, Support: 2, Slave, Javelin

Combat between groups is harsh as the loser always loses at least one unit.  Add up front fighting values, add up support, roll 1d6 and compare.  Winner wins the combat.  So a +3 difference before rolling the d6 is almost a clear win (1/12 chance of losing the combat). A +1 has a 10/36 chance of losing.  So the values above and the deployment of the groups did take some thinking.

Rules changes
As per my last replay I will implement the change, as discussed on the forum, to group combat where the total combat factor is the sum of all the front fighting values and rear support values (rather than lead fighter FS and all the rest as support).
I will also not use the Strike fear command.  I will be using only those commands that effect the friendly side, not the enemy.
Game will be over when the General is destroyed (and the side with the most AP losses will be the loser). This is similar of one of the two ways to win in MAA -the other is to destroy 1/2 the enemy units.  As the Generals are at the back, this will mean each side will have to fight through the lines.

Deployment
Deployment differs from the standard deployment I worked out due to group limitations.

The largest group in MAA is 6 elements, and that incurs 2MP  to command, while groups of 4 or less are only 1MP.  Groups can also be a maximum of 3 wide, so there goes a simple 4 single unit wide group for the lines.  There are advantages in combat to having support units behind you in a group.  So I did the following:
 
Carthaginian has 2 groups each of one skirmisher and Elephant side by side.  The first line has the second line behind it and they are in two groups (each with 2 first line in front, and 2 second line behind).  Same with the Third line and Veterans (although the vets are in front of each group).

Roman Velites are in two groups of 2 Velites;  Hastati and Principes are in 2 groups of 4 each - Hastati to the front, Principes in support.  Triarii is one single group of 2.
This picture shows deployment:

Overview of the game at deployment.  Romans at the right.

Numidian Light Infantry cannot move until a Carthaginian unit moves within 6".
 
The Roman Light Cavalry is going to annihilate the Carthaginian opposing light cavalry under these rules.  Need to ensure they stay out of the line battle for a while, so I will have a rules they will pursue for 3 turns before having to come back on the board.  We will see if it works. It is my game, may be longer.

Turn 1
Carthaginians will go first.  They move up the Elephant/Skirmisher line and the following combined 1st and 2nd line.
Romans Numidian Light Cavalry is 8" from opposing Carthaginian Light Cavalry (out of range with a move of 7) and use a force march command to move the extra inch into close combat.  The javelin exchange has no effect.   Carthaginians lose a unit and are driven back. (Carthaginian are FV 4 + d6 of 5 = 9.  Romans are FV 10 + d6 of 5 = 15).

Velites charge the Elephants and Skirmishers.   The javelin exchange causes one Carthaginian unit to be destroyed.  Combat sees an Elephant and skirmisher destroyed (other elephant drive back).

The first clash of troops.

Turn 2
Carthaginians turn around the elephant and light cavalry.  Their right infantry flank units move up (elephant is in the way on the left). Tempted to move some of the 1st/2nd line up to support the elephant but by itself, the elephant has a 1/3 chance of not being destroyed if it loses the combat (the ability of a Behemoth). And it does have a heavy infantry in support for an additional +3  to the combat FV.

Romans move the Numidians are far as they can in pursuit of the opposition. The two Velite groups charge straight ahead - one into the 1st/2nd line, the other into an elephant.  Both groups will receive the Inspire command (+1FV).

Javelin exchange causes a 1st line unit to be destroyed.

Velites charge into combat

Velites on the Roman left lose combat, one is destroyed, other is driven back and this is converted into a destroyed (the Slave ability causes this; Slave ability seems like a good fit for skirmishers).
Velites on the Roman right lose combat - same result as the left, both are gone.
No bad for the Velites - killed 1 elephant, 2 skirmishers and a heavy infantry. 

...and Velites gone, but caused significant losses along the way.

Turn 3
Carthaginians move the elephant over to the group that lost the heavy infantry.  This will make it a large group and require 2MP to move.

Romans roll a 1 and decide to charge with the left Hastati/Principes into the Elephant large group.  The FV of the groups is equal (14) except the Romans will get +1 for charging. Carthaginians lose, the Behemoth was the primary fighter, does not make its save and is destroyed; the rest are driven back.
 

The centre left, with the elephant missing from the group running away.

Turn 4
Carthaginians turn around the driven back infantry and move up some Veterans to bolster the group.

The elephant gap is filled by Veterans from the last line.

Romans get a 6 for MP.  Numidians charge the lone remaining Carthaginian Light Cavalry.  Javelin exchange sees the Carthaginians destroy a Roman.  There is no more contact so there is not a combat...

Hastati/Principes group charge the large group of Vets and 1st/2nd line and are also allocated an inspire command (+1 to combat).  Carthaginians win and Romans see one destroyed and driven back (but do not about face as they are disciplined).

The right side Hastati/Principes group are given an extra 1" move and charge the opposing 1st/2nd line.  Romans are at +2FV but lose.  One gone and driven back (without turning).  Not looking so good for the Romans.

The centre after the two Romans groups lose their close combats.

Turn 5
Carthaginians followup their advantage and charge in to the two opposing groups.  And allocate +1FV via an inspire command.
The Roman left suffers a defeat and driven back, the right is a draw.

Romans move back the defeated and depleted group 1" which brings then to within 1" of the Triarii.  So next turn can bring the Triarii into the group and into the front (with cost 2MP of the die to do so - one for each Triarii unit to join the group).
 
The other Roman unit in combat continues to melee with a +1FV courtesy of an inspire command.  Even though they are still one less FV than the Carthaginian group, they win and the Carthaginians driven back.

Overview of the main battle lines.

...and another Numdian clash sees the last Carthaginian light cavalry destroyed.

Turn 6
Carthaginians don't do much after rolling 1MP...and the Romans do too!

Turn 7
Carthaginian right group charges into the opposing Hastati/Principes.  Equal FV.  Carthaginians driven back.   Romans roll another 1 MP and bring the other Triarii into the group on the Roman left.
  

The driven back 2nd line in the centre.  The veterans I hope to move up can be seen at the rear.

Turn 8
Now, the trick with MAA is to ensure you have an advantage in FV for your group on the enemy.  If you have less than the opponent, you are likely to lose, and suffer a unit loss, which just makes your groups FV even lower.  So I should really get the driven back second line out the way and let the Vets of the third line take on the Hastati/Principes.  The trouble is trying to get them out the way!  MAA, while it has a lot of latitude for in group movement, has (reasonable for a fast game) decent movement restrictions for group movement.  it will take two turns to get them out the way.

The Romans roll high for MP and charge the turning 2nd line, which they Massacre.  Ah well, at least they are out of the way now.

The victorious Romans now have to face the blurry (maybe it is dusty?) Veterans.

The other group (on the left) move up to about 3 1/2" from the opposing group.  They have greater FV, but also, if you use a command to move 4" with heavy infantry, you cannot also then add another command to gain a +1 to FV.  So if the Carthaginians want to make contact, they can't gt a +1 FV via command.  Of course, the Triarii group have a large FV so could charge in with a +1" to the move next turn, they don't really need the +1 command...

Turn 9
Doing the numbers, the Carthaginian 5 unit group actually has quite a good FV - 17 - and would get an extra +1 for charging.  This would be vs the triarri group of 16 with the general re-rolling a die.  So they charge in and win, so the Triarii are driven back.
The Roman side is not looking good...except this is the turn the Numidians come back.  And as things are dire, the Roman heavy cavalry charge their opposing Carthaginian cavalry.  There is a +2 advantage to the romans - +1 for the better morale, and +1 for charging...
 

Heavy cavalry clash

Romans win and Carthaginian heavy cavalry destroyed.

Turn 10
The 2 heavy infantry groups charge the depleted opposing Romans groups (Triarii on their right, and Hastati/Principes on their left).

Elements of 1st, 2nd and 3rd line engage the Roman Triarii backed by Principes.

Third line attacking Hastati/Principes

Both units lose a unit and are driven back.

Note: in the rules a general unit can re-roll if primary fighter but the odds have been too great to make this warranted - it would still lose.  The general unit may ignore a drive back result but this may only be useful if attacked in the rear (a rear attacked group when driven back is destroyed).  So a lot of the time driven back units subsequently pursued are destroyed.  But if disciplined, driven back units do not about face, so combat is a slow grind.

Turn 11
Carthaginians roll 1MP and elect to charge the Hastati as they have a chance of doubling and destroying the whole group (it will be 16FV +1 charging versus 8). Only outscored so one more unit lost and the other driven back.

Lonely Hastati facing half the Carthaginian third line

Romans move the cavalry up and move the infantry back 1" to force the Carthaginaians to spend a command to chrge the distance, rather than spend it on +1 to FV.

Turn 12
Carthaginian infantry groups charge into their opposing groups.  The Hastati is destroyed (no roll required - the difference in FV is very large).  The Romans are massacred.  General is gone (I did chose him as the primary fighter to get a re-roll, but he re-rolled to the same low number!).

Game over, according to the rules I set at the start that it is over when a general dies.  The winner is the one with the most AP (again, according to the rules I set at the start) which is the Carthaginians.   History is changed.

Overview of board at the end of the game - Romans circled in white.

Verdict
12 turns!  About one hour of actual play! Another exclamation mark! This is a long game in MAA - normally 20 minutes is enough to complete a game. High FV and the disciplined troops really extend the game.  And about 20AP (30%) more troops than a normal game.   Of course, if using the MAA victory conditions of destroying half the enemy units, the game would have been over a couple of turns earlier. I had a great time.  This is a fun ruleset.