We played through the 'Settlement Raid' scenario for Ilium: A Game of Heroes this week. Andrew once again took control of his Achaeans (starting with Achilles [left] and Diomedes [right] on the table, with Ajax coming on later), attempting to raid a settlement allied to Troy. I started with Aeneas deployed in centre of the board around the village well, with Asteropaios and Sarpedon somewhere off-table but close by.
The settlement raid scenario gives the attacker (in this case, the Achaeans) three different objectives which the defender has to thwart, each with their own loading of kleos (glory): burn buildings, poison the well, and capture the notables (there are some ladies down there by the well). Given the limited number of promachoi on the table, the players have to make hard decisions around which objectives to focus on.
The scenario started very well for the Trojans, with Aeneas hurling his throwing spear and skewering Diomedes, causing four wounds (out of a total of seven) with the very first action of the game. Aeneas' promachoi archers stationed on the rooftops then proceeded to start shooting, killing one of Diomedes two torch bearers. Aeneas' warriors also held their ground, throwing javelins and causing further Achaean losses (including Patroklos in the contingent of Achilles).
Sadly, once the Achaeans started activating, they immediately rushed forward. Their weight of numbers (ably assisted by Achilles' wrath at the loss of Patroklos) and some good dice rolling meant that three of the Trojan promachoi warriors fell and Aeneas himself was wounded by the Myrmidon prince. One of the Myrmidon promachoi was able to force is way through to the notable ladies, seizing hold of them in readiness for the next turn.
Asteropaios and his Paionians arrived to reinforce the defenders, having to split their contingent to get through the village. The prince, one warrior and one archer went right to approach the well, while the remaining two warriors and two archers went left, to try to attack Diomedes' Argives from the rear.
Achilles pushed on against Aeneas, striking a blow that should have killed him. Instead, Aeneas was whisked out of harm's way by one of the gods. Aeneas's archers on the roof tops continued shooting down into the Achaeans, picking off another torch bearer. Meanwhile, the Myrmidon warrior with the captives started to drag them back towards the Achaean lines. At the same time, the remaining Myrmidon torch bearer set one of the buildings alight.
Asteropaios advanced and launched two throwing spears at Achilles with a single action, missing with one, and causing two grievous wounds with the other. His other flanking party arrived behind the Argives and began shooting into their rear with great effect.
Things were looking up for the defenders (if you ignore the captured women and burning house) when Sarpedon arrived with further reinforcements.
With one house burning and the captives taken, Diomedes and Achilles turned away from the fight with Asteropaios and Aeneas to charge the Paionian flanking party, slaughtering them to a man. Telamonian Ajax and his promachoi then arrived on the board, advancing slowly, but forming an ominous presence none-the-less.
Diomedes scaled the wall of the nearest house. He was met by a hail of arrows, all of which whizzed past his head or bounced off his armour.
Asteropaios and Aeneas pressed forward towards Achilles and Lesser Ajax (who had raced ahead of his namesake).
The two Ajaxes both pounced on Asteropaios, felling the the Paionian princeling, while Achilles again struck Aeneas only to find him pulled beyond striking range by the hand of some Olympian god. Diomedes took down the archer on the roof in front of him. Even though Sarpedon and his contingent were still untouched, the Trojans were now very-much on the back foot.
In the next turn, the Achaean heroes pushed forward over the prone body of Asteropaios and waded through Sarpedon's Lykians like a dolphin through the wine-dark sea.
In the final turn, Aeneas made his way back into the melee once again, joining with Sarpedon in the fight against Achilles. Both Trojan heroes hit Achilles multiple times, though his near invincibility meant that none of their blows caused the Myrmidon harm. Diomedes started to climb down from his rooftop, but was left dangling part way down.
It was at the final moment that the gods decided to intervene - first with Ares, taking the form of one of the Lykian promachoi. Not to be out done, Poseidon then strode across the board, shaking the earth with his steps, to take on the form of one of Ajax's Salamian shield-bearers.
However it was all in vain as the Achaeans broke off back to their ships, having secured a convincing victory with 5 kleos (captives +2, burning house +2, killing Asteropaios +1), against the Trojan kleos of 3 (3x unburnt houses).
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