Commands & Colors: Ancients

Setup and victory: deploy terrain, complete units and leaders exactly as the scenario shows. A unit symbol represents the whole unit. Deal each side its listed command hand and use the specified first player and banner target. A wholly eliminated enemy unit or leader normally gives one banner; scenario objectives may add others. Victory is immediate when the required final banner is gained.

Turn: play one command card, announce eligible orders, finish all ordinary movement, resolve battles one at a time, then discard the card and draw a replacement. Only ordered units or leaders may perform the allowed actions. A unit normally receives one order, and unused section orders are lost rather than reassigned freely. Moving into another section does not cancel its existing order.

Movement: move whole units sequentially; never split blocks or merge reduced units. Units normally cannot move through other units or an enemy leader, apart from explicit light-troop card exceptions. Medium and heavy infantry normally move one hex; light infantry may move two and battle. Auxilia cannot battle after moving two, while a warrior’s two-hex charge requires adjacent close combat. Light, medium and heavy cavalry normally move up to four, three and two hexes respectively. Terrain can stop or restrict these moves.

Battle: an ordered unit normally makes one ranged or close-combat attack against one target, not a split dice pool. Finish each combat and its consequences before another. Casualties normally do not reduce combat dice, but full-strength warriors and other specified exceptions must be checked. Battles are generally optional, except for conditions such as a warrior’s two-hex charge.

Ranged combat: require a nonadjacent target in range and line of sight. A unit next to an enemy cannot fire at a more distant target. Normally roll two dice when stationary or one after moving; auxilia moving two and moving heavy war machines cannot fire. Basic ranges are two for light infantry, light cavalry and auxilia, three for bow infantry and slingers, and six for heavy war machines. Matching target symbols hit; swords and helmets do not. Flags can retreat the target, which cannot battle back or evade ranged fire.

Close combat: attack an adjacent enemy using troop, card and terrain rules. Matching target symbols generally hit, as do swords subject to troop exceptions. An attached or adjacent friendly leader makes helmets hit for eligible non-elephant units in close combat only. Ordinary light units and war machines do not score sword hits; chariots ignore one sword and elephants ignore all swords. Excess ordinary hits do not transfer to another unit.

Retreat: remove hit losses first, then resolve flags not ignored. Each flag normally requires the unit’s maximum movement toward its own baseline; warriors retreat two per flag, auxilia and elephants one. Ordinary units lose one block per required hex they cannot retreat. Two adjacent friendly units provide one ignored flag; an attached leader can provide another, with applicable sources cumulative. Elephants can support others but do not receive unit or leader support and have separate rampage and blocked-retreat rules.

Battle back and evade: a surviving defender that stayed in its original hex may normally battle back; actual retreat prevents it even if it remains adjacent. A blocked ordinary defender can still battle back after taking losses if it survives in place. Eligible light or mounted troops may declare evade before suitable close combat; eligibility depends on troop matchup and legal space. The attacker rolls first, generally scoring only matching symbols, then a surviving evader moves two hexes toward its own baseline, or one only when that is the sole available option. Evaders cannot battle back; war-machine evade is a special case.

Momentum: eligible active attackers that eliminate or force back the defender in close combat may enter its vacated hex. Warriors, qualifying mounted units and non-war-machine foot units with attached leaders can make one bonus close combat after advancing, possibly against a different adjacent enemy. No advance means no bonus. Evading defenders, lone-leader attacks and battle backs do not grant this advance. Cavalry can add one hex to its first advance, unlike chariots and elephants. A successful bonus may allow another advance, but not unlimited attacks.

Leaders and cards: a lone leader cannot fight as a unit. When its attached unit loses blocks but survives, normally check with two dice and lose the leader only on two helmets. If the unit is eliminated, check with one die; a surviving leader evades. Direct attacks on lone leaders have their own procedure. At turn end draw a replacement command card; reshuffle discards when the deck runs out. Do not delay a scenario’s immediate banner victory to give the opponent an extra turn.