Commands and Colours Ancients - Scenario X and Army Lists

Introduction
The aim of Scenario X is to provide more enjoyment for players of the Commands and Colours Ancients game once they have explored all of the historical scenarios available. It allows for the quick match up of two armies chosen by the players using historically appropriate force compositions, and using appropriate blocks from those available. These rules have formed the basis of several popular themed tournaments.
Version 8.0 adds all of the special rules and new unit types from all of the expansions up to and including expansion 3. It also adds the option to deploy the second leader after command cards have been drawn and seen. There have also been some small amendments to the Barbarian armies to ensure they conform to the official interpretation of their troop types.
To fight a Scenario X battle both players simply choose an army from the army lists, then follow the simple deployment procedure given below.

About the Army Lists

Each entry consists of an army number and name (with an indication of location or origin in brackets), its active dates, its home terrain, its initiative factor, the army numbers of some plausible historical enemies, links to informative historical articles, special rules, and its composition in CCA unit types (list of abbreviations below).

Abbr.	Unit
HCh	heavy chariot
HC	heavy cavalry
HCC	heavy cataphract cavalry
LCh	light chariot
BCh	Barbarian chariot
LCB	light bow cavalry
MC	medium cavalry
MCm	medium camelry
MCCm	medium cataphract camelry
LC	light cavalry
HI	heavy infantry
MI	medium infantry
War	warriors
Aux	auxilia
Bow	light bow infantry
LI	light infantry
LWM	light war machine
HWM	heavy war machine
El	elephants

The word ‘or’ between types means any combination of the two types may be used. If types are grouped by brackets all units in the brackets must be used if any are used. ‘(G)’ means a general is attached to this unit.

Optional Rules

1. ARMY SPECIAL RULES: Special rules, where an army has them, add historical depth and flavour. However, if players feel they are unbalancing they may be considered optional.

2. SECOND LEADER DEPLOYS AFTER COMMAND CARD DRAW: See deployment rules.

3. THREE-RANGE MISSILE-CAPABLE UNIT RESTRICTION: Some players find armies with a high number of 3-range, missile-capable units to be overly powerful, or to distort the normal pattern of the game in an undesireable way. As an optional ‘fix’, allow only 4 bow, slinger, or light bow cavalry units to be fielded as a maximum, with any excess being replaced by LI or LC units as appropriate.

4. CALTROPS: From 331BC onwards caltrops may be used by any defending army. The defender must declare that his army is equipped with caltrops after deployment, and before the battle begins. In this case, the defender now needs one more banner to win the game, i.e. 7 banners instead of 6.

5. CAMPS: Prior to deployment, both players place a camp hex on their baseline row of hexes. If an enemy unit ever enters the camp hex, the camp hex is immediately removed and the enemy player gains 1 victory banner.

Deployment Procedure

1. Both players roll a die and add the score to their army’s initiative factor. If initiative is tied then no terrain is deployed, and the players should dice to decide who will be the attacker/ defender for purposes of troop deployment - go to step 4 and continue (skip steps 2 and 3). Otherwise, the side with the higher total initiative is the attacker and the other side the defender for all purposes - go to step 2 and continue.

2. Each army has a home terrain type. According to their home terrain type the defender now places compulsory terrain, plus as many of the optional terrain hexes as they wish, anywhere on the board – see ‘Placing Terrain’ below. Note that rivers must start at the board edge. They may be any length and may stop anywhere. They are fordable along their entire length.

3. Roll a die. The attacker gets to choose which long side to set up on with a roll of green, blue, or red. On any other roll the defender chooses. This potentially provides a small advantage for the defender, more often than not the least aggressive army, which might reasonably be assumed to have scouted out defensive positions before the battle.

4. The defender now deploys their troops within two hexes of their base edge, placing a second general with any one of their units (optionally, the second general may be deployed after the drawing of command cards). Light troops and leaders may deploy within three hexes of the base edge. Additionally, if a town hex is on the board the defender may deploy any infantry unit from their army in that hex regardless of where the town is.

5. The attacker then sets up on the opposite board edge following the rules in step 4, but may not deploy infantry into vacant town hexes beyond their deployment area.

6. The defender may now redeploy any two units to anywhere within two hexes (three hexes for light troops) of their own base edge. For this purpose a leader counts as a unit.

7. Both sides receive 5 cards. The attacker draws first.

8. Victory is 6 banners, and the attacker begins.

Placing Terrain Hexes (NOTE: Town hexes are played as Fortified Camp hexes.)

Coastal
compulsory – a fordable river any length
optional – one woods, one town, two hills of 1-2 connected hexes

Cultivated
compulsory – nothing
optional – one town, one hill, one wood, a fordable river any length

Wooded
compulsory – two woods of 1 hex
optional – one hill, two woods of 1-4 connected hexes

Hilly
compulsory – two hills of 1 hex
optional – one wood, one town, two hills of 1-4 connected hexes

Steppe/ Desert
compulsory – nothing
optional – two hills of 1-2 connected hexes

Tropical
compulsory – two woods of 1 hex
optional – two woods of 1-4 connected hexes, a fordable river any length

The Army Lists

For complete Army List details see other articles in this section.
If you are searching for a single PDF files that groups all of them, please CLICK HERE.

Acknowledgements

De Bellis Antiquitatis, Wargames Research Group, February 2001.

http://www.fanaticus.org/

Contributors

Bill Bennett – additional deployment rules;
Aaron Bell – Samnite army list (69) and historical notes;
Peter Donnelly – Late Imperial Roman army (65);
Alessandro Crespi - Dacian (70), Cretan (71-72), Paphlagonians (73), Villanovan Italian (74-75), Cyrenzican Greeks (76-77), Paionian (78), Lusitani (79).