It ended so quickly.  What some might find to be the weakness of the Irregular Wars’ rule set was on full display during this action.

Over at Boardgamegeek, there’s a on-going (and increasingly pedantic) thread discussing fog of war and randomness.  While Irregular Wars doesn’t have much in the way of fog, it certainly can provide plenty of randomness.

First off, the tidy initial dispositions featured in the previous post were immediately disrupted by the designed randomness of the Disease and Mishaps die rolls.

Some companies pushed forward, led by over-enthusiastic Captains.  Others formed up ravaged by disease, with reduced Resolve (companies with black die).

It took a couple of turns for the attacking Sanwanians to sort themselves out and advance towards the Neons.  Their attack plan called for Archers to neutralize the Neon center, while Warriors assaulted the small ridgeline on their right.  The flanked Neons would then be subjected to a general assault.

However,  Neon archery took its toll.  After several exchanges, many Sanwanian units were wavering (red dice).  And, it only took one misplaced Company’s (left within archery range) scattering to unhinge the Sanwanian center and left.  Again, a Scattering Company reduces the Resolve of any friendly unit within 80mm (2U)by one.  Wavering companies are down to their last Resolve.  They lose that, they Scatter.  And, that’s what happened – en masse.

The companies facing to the rear are those that scattered in just one turn.  Here’s what the battlefield looked like after they were removed.

While the Sanwanian Warriors on the right made a last valiant effort to close with the Neon Archers, the latter companies were able to disengage.  The Warriors withdrew.

A notable victory for  Neo, with all due credit to the help provided by Bey Mahir of Behefe.