The Battle of Ariminum

 

The Carthaginians draw 9 Army Characterisation Deck cards. They draw 75 morale chips, a 'deft cavalry, command' card and a 'stratagem' card for which an '8' was drawn for definition - 'Rally again'. 

Carthaginian right. Numidian cavalry, Gallic cavalry and elephants.

We decided to define the hill as a 'type I + cover' hill. This means that it is fairly easy to traverse but not that easy to fight on.

The wood is a 'type II + cover' terrain feature.

The stream is 'type I + firm bed'.

The Carthaginian centre. Two commands comprising Gallic warriors and Spanish / African troops. 

The Carthaginian left. Elephants, Numidians and Spanish cavalry.

The ridge is 'type I'. The boggy ground is 'type III'.

The Romans draw 6 Army Characterisation Deck cards. They draw 46 morale chips, a 'look sir, army morale' card and a 'like hail, missilery' card.

The Roman left: Allied cavalry. 

 The Roman centre: The legions.

Roman right: Roman cavalry.
















Some Campaign Rules

OK. There are the forces deployed. Now here are some rule of thumb rules that we have come up with for CU and officer quality conversion for an Ager Proelii table-top battle.

CUs are fairly easy. The unit integrity value of a Roman consular army (68) plus any for special allied units is divided by the CU total. This is the multiplier for Carthaginian unit integrity - CU x multiplier - plus any elephants.

Officer quality is dealt with in the following way. We think this might work well, but it does need some testing.

Battlefield quality 1: D8 C-in-C plus D8 sequence deck. No Roman troops count as armoured. Spanish troops are not swift, Gallic troops are not fierce, Numdians are not specialist.
Battlefield quality 2: D10 C-in-C plus D10 sequence deck. Triarii count as armoured. Roman (not allied) infantry are stubborn.
Battlefield quality 3: D12 C-in-C plus D12 sequence deck. Triarii and principes count as armoured, Roman (not allied) infantry are stubborn. Spanish troops (for Carthage) are veteran.
Battlefield quality 4: D12 C-in-C plus D12* sequence deck. Triarii and principes count as armoured, Roman (not allied) infantry are stubborn. All Italian troops (for Rome) and all Spanish / African formed troops (for Carthage) are veteran.

ACD cards are dealt as standard except that the command quality of the commanders is compared. The commander with the lower quality reduces his card draw by 1 per the difference to a maximum of -2. Any further diference is added to the higher - E.g. Qualty 1 fights Quality 4: Quality 1 reduces draw by 2, Quality 4 increases by 1.

Hannibal always adds 1 ACD card, as do commanders with an ability relating to battle under Hannibal R Vs C.

Map moves for end 218 BC and 217 BC

The situation following the Battle of Nemausus 

Campaign card play following the battle. Scipio returns to Rome - he's been hurt and he wants his mummy.

Longus marches north to cover the north of Italy.

Hannibal wastes time foolishly around Massilia, losing a CU in the process.

218 BC draws to a close.

Truce has been played (but not enacted) so the deck is reshuffled.

Turn 2: 217 BC

Carthage recruits as standard, 2 CU in Spain for Hasdrubal, 1 CU for Hanno in Carthage, and 1 CU is given to Hannibal.

Rome recruits 5 CU in Rome. Scipio, for services rendered, is made pro-consul. The elections bring Fabius and Varro to the consulship. Varro goes to Rome to join Scipio. Fabius takes over from Longus at Faesulae.

Card play for 217 BC.

Carthage starts the turn by playing card 31. Hannibal uses it to cross the Alps (between Druentia and Taurini) taking 2CU loss attrition as he does so. Mago is left in Massilia with 1 CU.

Fabius activates on card 9 and moves to cover the soft route into Italy at Mutina.

Hannibal recruits Gallic troops on card 14.


Rome uses card 29 to gain political control of areas.

On card 62, Hannibal seeks to advance into Italy but Fabius, as is his want, tries to avoid battle until he is in Italy proper. Hannibal and Fabius will come to grips at Ariminium. Hannibal plays card 59 to reduce his enemies army and increase his own.

The map situation (above) and the CU situation (below).

The next post will be the Battle of Ariminium set up and some rules dealing with CU conversion and Leadership conversion from map to table. Peter and I discussed this last night, and we think we have come up with something a little more defined. We don't know that it will work, but we shall see.