On The Table - Turn One

Overview of the battlefield from behind the Egyptian lines

We dice to see who moves first, and I win 6-4.

I order every Assyrian unit to advance at heavy-infantry pace, ie two hexes.

After the Assyrian advance

Unlike in many rulesets, an army's units in the Ancients Portable Wargame do not all move and then all shoot (all that can and want to, that is).

Instead each unit is activated individually, ie it moves and shoots, or shoots and moves, or just moves, or just shoots.

There is a penalty to moving in the same turn as shooting - movement is reduced by one hex.

But there is a bonus for shooting without moving, and I will come to that later.

Pharoah's right-flank chariots could move their full three hexes, which would put them in range of the slingers in the town and of the Assyrian heavy cavalry.

But they would be unable to shoot as troops who use up their full movement allowance cannot fire.

Instead the chariot squadrons could advance two hexes, but then they would be out-of-range as chariots only have a shooting range of two hexes, which is the same as for javelin-armed cavalry and infantry, rather than the three hexes of bow-armed cavalry and infantry.

Why chariots are discriminated in this way is not explained - all we are told is that chariots (and war elephants) "are assumed to be carrying missile-armed crews," without the type of weapon being specified.

I have ideas about possibly modifying this and other aspects of the rules, but I will not go into that until after the battle - first we want to play the rules "as is."

Pharoah decides to advance his extreme-right squadron one hex, but leaves the other where it is, ensuring neither can be charged by the heavy cavalry next turn (heavy cavalry, like chariots, can move three hexes).

The spear-armed heavy infantry next to them also advance a hex, and the javelin-armed open-order infantry enter the rough ground (only light infantry and light cavalry can enter rough ground, and their movement rate is reduced to one hex a turn).

On the Egyptian left are two units of close-order archers, who count as light infantry and so have a movement rate of three hexes.

Pharoah orders the more-central archers - they happen to be marines - to advance two hexes and shoot at the Assyrian heavy infantry directly ahead, who are three hexes away (maximum range for bows).

No modifiers apply, so Pharoah rolls a die, needing 5+ to score a hit (this is always the requirement for weapon shooting), but he gets a 1.

The left-flank heavy infantry also advance two hexes, as do the other close-order archers, who fire at a camel squadron directly ahead. This time Pharoah rolls a 3 - still not good enough.

Both left-flank chariot squadrons advance onto the nearby hill, there being no penalty for hill movement.

Finally, Pharoah personally advances and joins the hex occupied by the marine archers, presumably hoping his presence will improve their aim next turn.

The Egyptians are holding back on their right, but pushing forward in the centre-left