Pocket Battles: Macedonians vs Persians

Last weekend I played this little game and I hadn't have the chance to talk about it.

 

The pic says it all, doesn't it?

 

Pocket game, in the best old school tradition. Can you remember those magnetic games you used for killing time during never-ending travels back in the '80s? Yeah, those times before phones became everything but a phone... This is not exactly that, but it's the first time in many years I see a 'portable' game :)

This time all you need are some card pieces, each one representing different units. I played the Persians, my friend Pablo played the Macedonians:

80 points (the first number, low left, sets the cost of the unit)

You divide your battlefront in left flank, center and right flank, and in two lines, front and rearguard, using remaining cards to separate the areas:

 

OK, the battlefield is absolutely not epic. Blame the wife :D

Each unit has different special skills, allowing them to act differently given the case:

Lots of info!

Each player has eight order tokens. You can give an order to a unit by using one token. If you want to give a second order to the same unit, you will need to spend two tokens...

Clash of the armies! The Immortals and the Kardaka fight the Pezhetairoi

The Immortals proved to be just a facade. Totally mortals. The Elephants charge to take their place

You attack rolling one die per card in your unit. You need to roll any of the numbers shown in the upper part of the card to hit the enemy.

 

The Kardaka needed 4, 5 or 6 to hit the Pezhetairoi.  Ahem.

Alexander the Great charges and...

...shows off why he is Alexander f****ng the Great

 

If you get a hit on a unit, it receives a wound. The blood drops on each card depict how many wounds has that unit. If the unit has only a wound, it is immediately taken apart. If it has several wounds (as the Elephants in the pic above), flip an order token to show the wound marker. But beware! You don't get new order tokens, so if you have many wounded units, your army will be stuck without being able to receive orders!

 

Looks like the units are using camouflage on table... Modern tactics!

On my right flank the Scyted Chariot and the Sparabara fight the Heitairoi

In the meantime, the Elephants smash Alexander

The Chariot and the Median Cavalry advance on my left flank

While the center of the battle is taken by the Macedonians, who kill my last Elephant

With my cavalry engaged on my left and only the archers remaining, it looks clear that the field belongs to the Macedonians

 

What you have just seen took us about half an hour. Easy to deploy, easy to play. And when you are done, the box fits in your hand. So a real nice option for travelling or quick battling wherever you have the opportunity!