Sentinum refight

[Prufrock]

Over the weekend I played through the Lost Battles Sentinum scenario solo and it was a most enjoyable affair. I've played Lost Battles/Strategos for about ten years and in that time there have been a few small changes to the rules, some of which I have not adopted. One of the ones I initially ignored was the 'favour of the gods' rule, which allows the holder of the 'FOTG' token to call for a combat dice re-roll for either player. Once used, the token passes to the other player.

It's a simple rule but one which I thought was unnecessary.

Recently, however, I've been trialling it in solo games: the problem being that I often forgot about it in all the excitement, so one side or the other usually got the rough end of the stick.

This was the first game when I made a habit of reminding myself to think about using it. And I tell you what, it really added to the decision making and the drama for this battle. I think I can now say that I'm a convert

Anyway, for anyone who may be interested, the report is on my blog. The first part is a background to Sentinum and includes a few shots of the armies deployed. The second part is the battle itself.

part 1: http://prufrockian-gleanings.blogspot.jp/2016/03/sentinum-refight-background.html

part 2: http://prufrockian-gleanings.blogspot.jp/2016/03/sentinum-battle.html

[Jim Webster]

I've used that rule in Impetus instead of the dice of fate rule and I think it does add depth for the players. Normally they start off with the intention of hoarding the dice because it'll punish the other player, and end up using it as fast as they can 

[Patrick Waterson]

Interesting that Jim's and Aaron's observations about the way this rule is used seem to coincide.

One small question about casualties towards the end of the battle:

Coalition has seven spent units, four routed and six shattered/19. Romans have eleven spent units, four routed, five shattered/17

This gives the coalition 17 units affected out of 19 (2 units presumably remain fresh) and the Romans 20 out of 17.  Is there some overlap between the 'spent' and 'routed' categories, or have the pesky Romans been cheating again?

[Prufrock]

Coalition has seven spent units, four routed and six shattered/19. Romans have eleven spent units, four routed, five shattered/17

This gives the coalition 17 units affected out of 19 (2 units presumably remain fresh) and the Romans 20 out of 17.  Is there some overlap between the 'spent' and 'routed' categories, or have the pesky Romans been cheating again?

Good spotting Patrick - a too hasty copy and paste job ;-) Thanks for picking that up!

[Chris]

Thanks for posting Aaron.

An interesting and picturesque report.

It's a battle with which I am unfamiliar.

Perhaps I'll add it to my list and try it . . . eventually.

Regards,

Chris