Egypt 22BC>

Talk about an epic struggle!!-last night's game was that and more!!!

Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the table before any movement.-Graham was in charge of the left hand legion,Brian and I took command of the right hand legion,whilst Paul was in charge of the main Egyptian army,and Dave was guarding the Nile crossing,with reinforcements on their way(move number 7)

This shows the legions disembarking from the ships-what the Egyptians didn't
 know was that we had to leave one cohort each to guard the ships,and that a lot of the cohorts had reduced fighting and morale points due to sea-sickness and dysentery!!!!

Far from defending,due to lesser numbers,Paul and his Egyptians advanced rapidly and attacked Graham's legion before he could fully deploy!!-this threw Graham's plan into disarray,and caused a "log-jam" of troops-oh dear,how sad,never mind!!

Then,much to our surprise(myself and Brian) Dave decided to abandon his defensive line and attack Graham as well-this was bad news for Graham's hard pressed legion,but allowed us to advance over the Nile-hurrah!!-you can see the "log-jam" of troops behind Graham's first line.

Our legion has just reached the banks of the Nile(led by the "poor quality" cohorts-designed to take the brunt of any missile fire and first round of melee!!) and Dave's reinforcements are arriving-this will be tight!

Paul's first attack has "bounced" but he is using his chariots well,and inflicting heavy casualties,from bow-fire,on Graham's front line and massed troops in his rear-this is not looking good!!

Oh,oh, a second attack has opened up a gaping hole in the Roman line,and with utter confusion in the rear,no support is available-come on Graham,you can do it!!!

Our legion is across the Nile,Graham looks fed up!!!-Brian and I hope to brush aside the advancing Egyptian reserves,but what of Paul's troops??

He's still battling on,and driving the Romans back-Graham,at this point seemed to accept defeat,but the Romans are hardy chaps,and a fight back began-hurrah!!

This shows our "poor quality" cohorts brushing aside the Egyptian reserves(actually it wasn't that easy,and if Dave had thrown one or two better dice,we would have been beaten!)

Having inflicted devastating losses on Graham's legion,Paul could rightly claim a victory on his flank,but was so exhausted and also suffering tremendous casualties, he was unable to follow Graham's flight of his cohorts back to the ships!!!

One final shot,showing Paul's right flank,and the Roman retreat!
Brian and I had won our flank,so I suppose a draw was called for-it didn't really matter,it's the game,and the way it's played that matters!-well done to us all!
Roll on next Sunday-Ancient fleet action,using new ships-and then probably a Napoleonic game.