Conquerors and Kings: Battle of Callinicus

For our July game we returned to Conquerors and Kings. Once again, wahj faced Rafael; we have played several games by now, so the game went rather smoothly.

I wanted a chance for Rafael to field his Macedonian Successor army, and found a suitable battle in the form of the Battle of Callinicus.

The Macedonians and Thracian allies

The battle was unusual as it featured only light troops and cavalry, with the iconic heavy infantry from both sides - the Macedonian phalanx and the Roman legionaries- sitting out. I wanted to see how the battle would have gone on if both sides decided to commit their heavy infantry. 

Romans and Pergamene allies

I had both players deploy their light troops and cavalry as usual, then let them roll for their heavy infantry as reinforcements.

The lines clashed, with the cavalry wings coming to a standoff quite soon afterwards. In the centre, the quality of the Macedonian Agema and Thracians gave Rafael the advantage. Both sides were only able to bring on about half of their heavy infantry by the time the game ended, but the Macedonians were a little quicker on the draw and overwhelm the Roman line before it could be stabilised.

We have played enough games of C&K for me to be confident in using it for historical scenarios. We are planning to play historical scenarios with C&K for the next three months, so stay tuned.