Slitherine

OK, but I shall need an update at the deadline this evening please so we can adjudicate.

With 7 wins and a draw from his 9 matches, deve and his Samnite army have won automatic promotion to Division A of Classical Antiquity. Well played deve!

Weekly round-up
A seventh straight win for ruskicanuk (Romano-British) means he has won Division A already despite still having 2 matches to play. In Division B, rexhurley (Numidian/Moorish) moved closer to the leader devoncop (Jewish Revolt) with a win and further down the table Triarii (Kingdom of Soissons) still has a chance to make a challenge having won 3 of his first 4 matches. We have another winner, this time in Division C, where sunnyboy secured his eighth victory in a row to overtake the long-time leader cromlechi (Scots-Irish). In Division D, lydianed (Gepid) has finished second after registering his seventh win this week.

Unbeaten runs of 3 matches or more
pantherboy (Division A) 4 matches
ruskicanuk (Division A) 7 matches
Morbio (Division B) 6 matches
rexhurley (Division B) 3 matches
sunnyboy (Division C) 8 matches and finished
lydianed (Division D) 4 matches and finished

Match completion rate (45 matches in total to be played in each division)
Division A - 33 out of 45 matches completed
Division B - 37 out of 45 matches completed
Division C - 37 out of 45 matches completed
Division D - 38 out of 45 matches completed

These are excellent match completion rates.

Player of the week
ruskicanuk (Division A) and sunnyboy (Division C) both with 2 victories this week to win their respective divisions.

Division B

MikeMUC (Assyrians) defeats Barrold713 (Corinthians) 48-14

Assyrian cavalry in the flanks and back helped to win this one.

With 7 wins from his first 7 matches, ruskicanuk has won Late Antiquity Division A with his Romano-British army. Well played ruskicanuk!

After losing his first match, sunnyboy went on a winning run of 8 games with his Ostrogoth army to win Late Antiquity Division C ahead of cromlechi (Scots-Irish). Well played sunnyboy!

Weekly round-up
Not a great deal to report in Division A this week but there were important wins for Cunningcairn (Viking) and NikiforosFokas (Arab Conquest) in the relegation battle. The relegation fight is the main focus in Division B where important wins for rbodleyscott (Frankish) and IMC (Viking) saw them climb to safety, leaving sunnyboy (Byzantine) almost certain to be relegated now as he has finished his fixtures. In Division C, deve (Dailami) continues his pursuit of Karvon (Bedouin) after they shared a draw this week. batesmotel (Khorasanian) is currently in second place but has no more matches to play.

Unbeaten runs of 3 matches or more
harveylh (Division A) 3 matches
ruskicanuk (Division A) 3 matches
Geffalrus (Division B) 3 matches
IMC (Division B) 4 matches and finished
deve (Division C) 5 matches

Match completion rate (45 matches in total to be played in each division)
Division A - 25 out of 45 matches completed
Division B - 39 out of 45 matches completed
Division C - 38 out of 45 matches completed

Division A is a bit slow, but Division B and C have excellent match completion rates.

Player of the week
No-one this week.

Many congratulations.

Well deserved !

Weekly round-up
Nothing much to report in Division A this week, but in Division B 2 wins for desertedfox (Egyptian) means that he needs to win his last match with 4 pts against Ulysisgrunt (Cypriot) to gain automatic promotion.

Unbeaten runs of 3 matches or more

desertedfox (Division B) 7 matches
devoncop (Division B) 6 matches

Match completion rate (45 matches in total to be played in each division)
Division A - 29 out of 45 matches completed
Division B - 36 out of 45 matches completed

These are good match completion rates.

Player of the week
desertedfox (Division B) with 2 wins this week.

Division D

Rob123(Romano British) defeated bomber 23 (Ostrogoths) 43:10

Morbio will be away for 2 weeks until July 28th.

Division A

harveylh - Ptolemaic 166-56 BC defeats dkalenda - Lysimachid 320-281 BC, 50-21.

A large water feature mitigated somewhat the Lysimachid lancers and elephant. A good game as always.

Division D

uneducated (Jewish 163-111 BC) beats Barrold713 (Pergamene 190-129 BC) 65-46%

Rubicon

I stood beside this general again, and when I stand, I stand beside a fast horse with 3 days of provisions. This is what I saw that day.

The General woke terrified he would lose. The North and South were divided by a river, Rubicon. The Jews found themselves to the South, and the General felt they would all be slaughtered in battle. South of the Rubicon, to the East, were some hills. Since an offensive was out of the question, the General instructed his troops to form a perimeter along the slopes of the hill and prepare a defence.

Fear quickened the troops, and in terror, they prepared their line as though preparing their own graves. The Pergamene advanced from the North West, seeing the weakness in the corner of the Jewish defences. Pergamene cavalry took position across the Rubicon on Elephanta Obscura, ready to race behind Jewish lines the moment the right was weakened to reinforce the brunt of the fighting. By some extraordinary good fortune, divine providence even, an intrepid Jewish skirmisher ventured onto the brow of Elephanta Obscura and, to the horror of the Jewish commander, revealed an entirely unseen wing of the Pergamene army, replete with elephant! Though troops were in dire need on the Jewish left, the horror of this masterfully concealed army kept the fanatics still on the Jewish right, unable to help their desperate brethren on the left.

The Jews, foreseeing certain death, refused to approach the Pergamene on their left, and endured arrow after arrow as warband gradually eroded the Jewish wall. Due to an initially terrible first contact with the enemy, the Jewish corner held turn after turn of fighting, surrounded by warband just waiting to pounce when the Jewish nerve failed.

Then the Pergamene surprised the Jews yet again. Using the terrain to obscure his movements, the lately arriving Pergamene light foot poured through the woods protecting the South of the Jewish position. The fanatics were desperate to leave the right to assist, and eventually they were able to defeat the medium foot brought to oppose them. The fanatics turned their attention to the forest and only just in time to reinforce the collapsing West wall.

The general survived. The troops who lived thanked the river, Rubicon.
Thank you very much, Barrold713. The battle could have gone either way. If you had only been luckier with your first attack against the corner, the battle would have been yours.

ruskicanuk beat my Arabs convincingly! Well done!