On The Table - Turn Five

Situation at the end of turn four

Pharoah wins the dice-off 6-2 to decide who moves first.

He starts on the Egyptian right by advancing the one-base chariot squadron, which then shoots at my Assyrian cavalry. A hit is scored, but I am able to resolve it by falling back a hex rather than losing a strength point.

The other right-flank chariots shoot at the slingers at the rear of the town, but with no effect.

The blue-shield Egyptian infantry advance a hex and attack the other slingers in the town. In the melee that follows, both sides score a hit. I take the option of letting my men retreat onto the hill behind the town, but the Egyptians have no such choice and so lose 1SP.

That reduces Pharoah's army to 26 strength points, which means it is exhausted and can no longer take offensive action - in other words "it will continue to fight to defend its existing position, but will not continue any movement towards the enemy."

Pharoah switches attention to the Egyptian left, where the three-base archers shoot at the camelry directly ahead., but with no effect.

The forward chariots on the hill shoot at the same target, but also miss.

The continuing melee in the centre of the battlefield sees both sides score a hit. The Egyptians are able to fall back a hex, but my men have to lose 1SP.

Thanks to the melee having ended, the marine archers are able to fire at my same infantry. Thanks to a +1 modifier for having not moved, a hit is scored, but I am able to choose the option of falling back a hex.

The Egyptians are officially exhausted, but still form a sizeable army

My slingers in the town shoot at the one-base chariots to their left, scoring a hit that finishes off the enemy unit.

My cavalry advance three hexes and attack the remaining right-flank Egyptian chariot squadron, but fail to score a hit, while suffering one, which proves to be a compulsory strength-point loss.

The other Assyrian slingers enter the town, which puts them adjacent to the Egyptian blue-shield heavy infantry. But are they allowed to shoot, or do they have to engage in close combat? The rules are not clear, but Reg and I agreed the former makes more sense. However the point became somewhat academic when I roll a 2, meaning a miss.

I switch to the Assyrian right, where the far-right Bedouin camelry mount the hill and attack the forward Egyptian chariots, choosing to shoot rather than melee, but without effect.

The other camelry shoot at the marine spearmen directly ahead, scoring a hit that causes the loss of 1SP.

My armoured archers shoot at the same target, scoring a hit that removes the final base of the marine spears.

My elite chariots, who have the general with them, shoot at the red-shield infantry, scoring a hit that is resolved by withdrawing the infantry.

My chariots next to the town shoot at the one-base Egyptian infantry, but without effect.

My third chariot squadron shoots at the same target, but again without effect.

Finally my one-base heavy infantry drop back a hex to get out of range of the Egyptian archers.

It is definitely 'Advantage Assyria'