2nd Hispilis and the end of the 2nd Punic War

The Roman onslaught in full swing..... 

...and isolated Punic units become surrounded....

....and then calamity strikes Hasdrubals ranks. An outflanked elephants rout through three units of Spanish infantry - they cause untold chaos and casualties....... 

....The Romans quickly exploit the situation.....  

....the Carthaginian centre crumbles under the constant pressure despite some gallant resistance..... 

The Carthaginian centre is almost destroyed..... 

....and their right is looking flakey and vulnerable to combined infantry and cavalry charges......












The following shots show the position of the remaining Carthaginian units at the end of turn two. Hasdrubal has run out of morale chips and is handing them, hand over fist, to Scipio.

Hasdrubal is beaten. The game is ended and Hasdrubal accepts a defeat by 'double envelopment'. The battle, in 'battle time' had lasted less than two hours. Consequently, battle casualties were remarkably light. But woe worth the day, Hasdrubal's force of 13 CUs was totally destroyed in the following retreat. Carthaginian resistance in Spain is all but ended at a single stroke.

The Last two campaign cards are immediately played to take political control. Hannibal is especially sneaky, and manages to take control of another province in Italy with political guile!

At the end of the campaign turn this is the situation.

Carthage controls much of Italy and Sicily but is about to lose control of all Spain - she simply does not have an army to prevent its fall without evacuating from Italy. Neither Rome or Carthage has the will to pursue the war and deputations are dispatched to seek an honourable peace.

The following photo shows the peace agreement. Scipio evacuates Spain in return for Hannibal evacuating from Italy. Sicily is ceded by Rome. In return, Campania (Capua and Neopolis) are to be excluded from any alliance with Carthage - they must go it alone and Rome will surely take its revenge upon them! Carthage gives up its right to expand into Massilia. Carthage gains the Balearic Islands. The biggest sticking point in negotiations was the fate of Corsica Sardinia; possession being nine tenths of the law, Rome kept her mid Mediterranean islands.

The Second Punic War is over, but..............

The 2nd Battle of Hispilis 204 BC

Hasdrubal opened hostilities with an attack on his right wing.....

...and an attack on his left. 

The cavalry attack on the right was inconclusive; that on the left was largely a matter of skirmishing by Numidians.

Scrotivius (aka 'The Old Scrote') writes of the battle's next phase: 

"Scipio gave the order. The Roman infantry, with blare of trumpet, went forward, en masse, without regard for themselves or the Gods: They went to do or die."

The Roman centre reaches its mark 

The Carthaginians launch several devastating countercharges along the line. 

Scrotivius again:

"But the enemy, undaunted, charged with war cries so fierce, and the ground beneath the feet of the elephants shook so violently, that the bravado of the legionaries wavered and several maniples broke at contact."

I rolled three maximum 12s in a row whilst Peter struggled to get a 2 in reply. 

On the right, supporting African infantry begin to tilt the balance. 

The battle becomes general all along the line. Casualties mount on both sides. 

Another shot of the Romans getting stuck in.















Six shots of the battle, from the Carthaginian left to right showing the state of play after the first nights play. The first shot shows the 'Carthaginian hope' - a vulnerable flank. In the centre the Spanish infantry and elephants, despite initial successes are looking decidedly flaky - they are simply no match for Scipios well trained 'veterans'.

Two further shots of the battle. In a moment of madness, I actually counted up the number of figures in this battle. I said that there were less than 1500 men: Quite a good guess, there were 1482 men.

Hopefully, we will will fight this battle to a conclusion next week. The battle has lasted only one turn so far (4 to go) but both sides have already lost 50+ morale chips each. The battle is, to say the least, bloody, very bloody.

2nd Punic War Campaign: The End Game.

This was the campaign position after Hannibal's great victory. There now followed a long run of map play.



Rome - Card 3 - Used to assert political control of three areas.

Carthage - Card 2 - Used to assert political control of three areas.

Rome - Card 64 - Used to assert political control of two areas.

End of turn. New consuls were elected. Nero to Sicily. Paulus to Rome.



Rome: Card 39. Nero moved by sea to Praeneste via Rome and picking up troops en-route. Scipio moved to Segobriga.

Carthage: Card 19. Marcellus was dismissed by the Senate.

Rome: Card 12. Political control asserted over 2 areas.

Carthage: Card 58. Cato councils Rome not to send any troops to Africa.

Rome: Card 4. With the arrival of Scipio in the region, Celtiberia revolts!

Carthage: Card 46. Political control asserted over three areas in Celtiberia.

Rome: Card 56 . Political control asserted over two areas in Celtiberia.

Carthage: Card 22. Regional political control wrested from Rome in Sicily.

Rome: Card 43. Slave legions raised in Rome - 4 CU!!!

Carthage: Card 20. Hannibal to Bruttium.

Rome: Card 41. Scipio to Toletum.

Carthage: Card 47. Mago by sea via Croton to reinforce Hannibal with 5 CU from Africa.

Rome: Card 5. Scipio wrests regional control of Celtiberia.

Carthage Card17. Hannibal moves to Paeneste, trying to bring another Nero to battle but Nero is able to avoid battle by withdrawing to Rome.

Rome: 15. Scipio moves to Hispilis and brings Hasdrubal willingly to battle. Hasdrubal plays card 6 as a battle card to improve his army characterisation hand.

The 2nd Battle of the Hispilis

Scipio brought 12 CU to the battle whilst Hasdrubal brought 15 CU, which might not be the largest CU battle, but it must come close.  We have fought some quite sizable engagements in this campaign but we have always kept something under the counter, but as the campaign is nearing the end game, Peter and I decided to make it the largest figure battle yet. We got out all of the Romans and scaled from there. After working out the unit integrity count we dealt characterisation cards (Rome on the left):

 

Then we deployed. Here are some shots of the armies massed on the plain ready to do battle next week.

Now that looks like a cast of thousands - but I think it is actually less than 1500. 

And the punches keep on coming!

The situation map after the Battle of Faleri 209 BC. During the next two years a lull ensued. During the lull both sides sought to gain advantage through diplomacy and sneaky tricks until.............

Rome: Card 57: Hannibal councils Carthage - No troops may leave Africa until after the next reshuffle. 

Carthage: Card 49: Hannibal moves to Paestium.

Rome: Card 21: Mercenaries desert - Hannibal loses 1 CU.


Carthage: Card 13: Hannibal recruits 2 CU in Bruttium.

Rome: Card 53: Nero moves to Rome.

Carthage: Card 36: Diplomacy in Spain - Rome no longer has possessions south of Idubeda.

Rome: Card 12: Assert political control over 2 areas.

Carthage: Card 12: Assert political control over 2 areas.

Rome: Card 43: Rome raises slave legions, promising freedom for service.

Carthage: Card 17: Assert political control over 1 area.

Rome: Card 7: Nero gathers the strength of Rome. He marches south and brings Hannibal to battle on a plain near Paestium.

Rome musters 12 CU, Carthage musters 9 CU.  

  The situation at the end of the map phase - Summer 207 BC. Rome, it would seem, is insistent that Hannibal should leave Italy.

The Battle of Faleri 209 BC - I could lose the war.......

....with one more victory like this!

This battle had all the makings of a straight attack Vs defence game. The Romans clung to their hill whilst the Carthaginians positioned themselves in the valley.

 

It soon became clear that Hannibal was trying to force the issue on his left. The Romans quickly moved reserves to bolster this flank.

 

The Romans withdrew some their cavalry in the face of the advancing Carthaginian phalanx, whilst launching a probing attack and extending the flank with others.

A furious cavalry battle started to develop.

 

The Romans got the better of the first round but Hannibal was ready with his reserves.



....these managed to stabilise the deteriorating situation.

 

On Hannibal's right things were not going much better. Velites were holding off superior numbers of Numidian cavalry from what became known as 'the grassy knoll'.

Back on the Carthaginian left, Hannibal's cavalry were soundly beaten.

Had it not been for a unit returning from pursuit and the action of Balearic slingers the flank might have been lost.

The Roman cavalry was spent and finally defeated. But the cost was very heavy to the Carthaginians and their cavalry attack ceased to exist. The Roman cavalry had performed extremely well.



The battle for this flank now became an infantry battle.

The advantage of the high ground evened things up against Hannibal's veteran troops, and several attacks were beaten off. The day was drawing to an end. The Romans were running on empty (no morale chips) and it would only be a matter of time before they cracked - but would they crack before nightfall brought an end to the battle? 

On the last turn, almost the last card of the battle, the bulk of Roman army broke, and what was left was left shattered.

It was a very narrow Carthaginian victory. Nero retreated with a loss (loss to Probe attack -2 DRM) of 3 CU. Hannibal held the field, but had lost 3 CU as well.

Scrotivious wrote:

"After Faleri, it was oft heard in Hannibal's camp that these were not the same old Romans."