It was a dark and windy day....in Upper Hutt...gale force forecast not far from here and it was certainly blowing outside with grey clouds..
The battle was set - could the local Carthaginians match Hannibal's genius?
The Romans "set up first", Hannibal 2nd...Rome took the 1st move...the
PIPs were 0, 1, 0 and 3 (from left to right low (Varro), high, 2nd, ally (Paulus) were an immediate warning of what we could expect.
But we didn't have to wait long for the action - Carthage got 6, 6, 4
and 4, with their cavalry wings getting the 2 highest dice and the infantry centres averaging the low ones.
It only took to turn 2 for the Gallic and Iberian cavalry to smash into
the Roman cavalry, and instantly they killed an element, creating the
dreaded gap...
But for some reason the carthaginian plyer there didn't exploit it on
turn 3 - maybe it was only getting 2 PIPs?
In the centre the Punic skirmishers and the first line of Gauls advanced
to attack the Roman light screen - which struggled to retire through the
legions behind them - the formations were so deep and dense that all
sorts of moves had to be tried to get the light troops out of hteway
(basically they advanced with 2 ranks of blades to create a gap into
which they could retire) - much of the Roman PIP resource was spent
trying to bring the heavy infantry forward through the obstacle of their
own light troops! They may have been better off just fighting with them!!
On the Roman left Varro had 0, 1, 0 PIPs for the first 3 turns, and the
Numidans (with 6, 3 and 6 PIPs) promptly marched outside their flank and
lines up on the end of the more-or-less stationary Italian allied cavalry.
Contact was made between the advancing Gauls and the Roman centre on T4,
but the Italian cavalry got 4 PIPs that turn, and turned on thir
tormentors - advancing a line towards the main body of Numidians and
telling off some elements to cover their flank - but they didn't
actually kill anything.
The Roman cavalry was crumbling fast on the right....right up until the
bit where Hasdrubal got himself killed (T6)!! Over confident in his
numbers he had fought in the front rank and pursued too fat - finding
himself isolated and flanked! Oops.
However numbers and hte gaps did tell, and that was the end of the
successes for the Roman right flank as the African spearmen came up onto
the outside of hte Roman infantry....
With 2, 3 and 2 PIPs on turns 5, 6 and 7 Varro was positively racing
around the table on the left - and even managed to kill a few
Numidians.....but early casualties meant the Italians were outnumbered
in elements, and excrebal PIPs vs great ones for the light horsement
(1,1,1 T8-10 vs 5, 6, 6) meant the Italians were essentially sitting
ducks - they won a few combats, survived a few occasions being lapped
around, but were being whittled down without being able to respond.
In the middle the Roman infantry pushed forward. Gallic casualties were
mounting, but only a couple of handfuls so far...
On the right Paulus's infantry tried to turn outwards to face the
victorious mercenary cavalry and the African spearmen....tbut he newly
raised legions proved no match for the veterans, and by T10 Paulus'
command was disheartened. By the end of T11 it broke, and T14 it was
shattered and fled the table in disorder, followed by such Gallic and
Iberian cavalry who were close enough to get impetuous pursuit and who
were not controlled.
They had inflicted casualties on the Africans tho - especially where the
Carthaginians had carelessly not covered a flank properly and were
lapped by some Principes using that well known Roman manouvre the 80p
slidus......
In the centre the Romans were pressing forward and Gallic casualties
were mounting....it was fairly obvious the Gauls were going to be broken
through right in the middle....advancing them early in the game had just
bought them closer to the Romans and given them more time to be killed -
not a good move.
With a few Sp(S) dead the left wing of the Carthaginian infantry was getting close to being disheartened, and at one point Hannibal even throw his own bodyguard into the fray, attacking directly at the pro-consul ...but he achieved nothing of note (2 brilliant strokes as +2's in combat vs the Roman general....)
Back on the left....with the Roman right wing broken it was now a race
to see if the Roman left would break before the Carthaginian infantry...
The Numidians all but cleared out the Italian cavalry, but the African
spearmen found them much harder (lost 2 elements to 6-1's at 3:3!) - the
last 4 elements of Italian cavalry, incl Varro's own Extraordinarii
(thought I'd get that in...
simple refused to roll low...
On T13 Hannibal's infantry became disheartened......on T14 Mago's
infantry became disheartened....by this time the centre of Gauls had
completely disappeared...the Numidians had closed on all sides of Varro
and his bodyguards...but inspired by the Consul the Itialians forced the
lighter horsemen to retire time after time.
More Numidians arrived to harrass the rear of the Roman left...but all
this time Gauls were being cut down in the middle...the 2 pro-consuls
had turned many of their troops towards the flanks and were "running
down" the line....
Adn so to the final turn...T16.....both Carthaginian infantry commands
were within 1 element of breaking, ht Numidians were attacking the rear
ranks of the Roman left (ie the Triarii Sp(S)), Varro was
surrounded...again...and his raw legionaries were being attacked in the
front by Hanno, and in the flank (Bd (I) forvced to turn) and rear (Sp(S) that couldn't turn) by Numidians.
But hey...it's jsut a game of dice....
So the final round of combat in the Carthaginian turn - Hanno killed the Bd facing him....but the Carthaginians couldn't buy another victory anywher - the Triarii turned and faced the Numidians, refusing to give in to panic; Varro's Italians finally caught some of the nimble horsemen coming too close and killed many who were unable to get away (ie he killed the element facing), and in the centre the Romans wiped out some more of Hannibal's Gauls - so Hannibal's own command broke, and the 2 ME penalty for seeing tht broke the other infantry command - Game over, and Rome wins the day!
ANALYSIS (some thoughts)
As Varro having a death of PIPs was unbelievably frustrating - most of the time all I could do was try to get the general out of danger - half hte time when I did have 1 PIP he was stuck in close combat and couldn't move any troops anyway!
A better PIP allocation system may have been to average the 3 eligible Roman commands - this would haev given Varro extra PIPs at the expense of the 2 central commands - but they also had their generals' PIPs which they used often to get into combat.
In this case the Roman psiloi would probably have had to fight rather than attempt to withdraw.
The Carthaginians made several mistakes IMO:
1/ Advancing the gauls - no need to do this - the longer it takes for the Romans to get to them the better, and a couple more turns delay before it happened would have seen the Carthaginians probably win.
2/ Fighting with Hasdrubal - unlucky dice in some respects, but there was never any need for his extra factor
Both of htese I put down to them being a bit impatient to get into contact and not fully realising that they needed to accomplish some things in order - ie FIRST clear away the Roman cavalry wings....THEN do the infantry fight...
You may notice three's no mention of the Iberian infantry - that's because they only fought a couple of times right at the end of the game. They had been set up on the flanks of the Gauls and not been advanced with the Spearmen - so they only barely made it into combat with the remnants of Paulus's army on the Roman left, and not at all on the right.
THE SEQUEL (ie how history changed....)
With most of their cavalry intact the remnants of the Carthaginian army were able to gather back at their camp - with Varro's urging, Paulus offered battle again the next day, but Hannibal refused, then slipped away that night, leaving his wounded to be slaughtered by the vengeful Romans.
Terrentius Varro was aclaimed as the Saviour of Rome, and Fabius Maximus was reviled for having spent a year withiout inflicting any defeat on Hannibal.
Hannibal could not stay in southern Italy - no Italian cities rebelled agaisnt Rome, and he was forced to retreat back to Cisalpine Gaul for supplies. But even there the carnage among his gallic troops had made him unpopular.
A year later Varro was ambushed by Hannibal while marching without proper scouts in northern Italy, but the revenge gave only temporary relief, and Hannibal was forced to make a long and arduous reverse passage through the alps and return to Spain.
While there, his star seriously diminished and his troops exhausted, demoralised and many fewer than had left, he was defeated by the otherwise little known Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio - Carthage was forced from Spain, and the 2nd Punic War was ended on terms of Carthage losing all its territories outside Africa, having its fleet limited to 30 Triremes, and having to pay Rome a massive tribute for the next 50 years.
Just 23 years later the Carthaginians had had enough of this and went to war with Rome again - some say Hannibal was the chief instigator, but it was of no import - Carthage no longer had the resourcs to fight and had timed it's declaration badly - Rome had defeated Macedonia and Seleucia in recent wars and neither was able to offer more than encouragement - although both did declare war. After several years desultory fighting in Africa, Rome sent Lucius Aemilius Paulus to command - son of one of the consuls at Cannae. He invested Carthage, and after a seige of 2 years accepted its surrender, sold it's peoiple into slavery and destroyed the city forever.
So nothing really changed....
