Friday 20 April 2012

The Battle of Arpi (part 2) and its aftermath.....

Scrotivius writes of the battle.

"The Roman right continued its advance towards the open flank of Hannibal's army and caused great fear and consternation amongst his commanders...... 
".....pinning the Africans to their 'hairy hill'......"
"...but, on the Roman left, the Romans were not so lucky, for the Gauls had rallied and began their onslaught anew....."
"....surrounding the Romans there, and slaughtering them en masse...."
"...The sound of the relentless murder carried to the rest of the field, the  courage of the Romans failed them, and they began to withdraw......
 "....but, the fighting had been so fierce, and the Carthaginian cavalry so scattered, that a determined pursuit was not possible...."  

At the end of turn 4, I gave Peter the option to make an uncontested withdrawal.
This hard fought battle was deemed to be an 8 (H: R Vs C) turn battle with a no adjustment attrition roll. Marcellus withdrew to Rome. Hannibal had lost 2 CU in the battle; Marcellus lost 5 CU in the battle and retreat.
During the next part of the campaign turn another small action occurred. Nero dashed down to Croton forcing Mago to battle. This was not a big battle and the H: R Vs C system was used to resolve it. both sides lost 2 CU, Mago was displaced.


The year 215 BC ended with this situation after the playing of the above cards.

The campaign turn (turn 5) starting 214 BC began with Fabius Maximus and Titus Longus elected to the consulship. Marcellus was, for his effort in 215, made pro-consul. Fabius was sent to Spain.

Cards were played as follows. 

Fabius made an advance into the interior of Spain.

H. Gisgo landed on Sicily with a small army.

Fearing Fabius would deprive Carthage of more Spanish allies Hasdrubal moved to intercept him at Numantia. Sharp diplomacy, "Spanish Allies Desert", deprived Fabius of his new Spanish friends before battle was joined.



































The Battle of Numantia: Hasdrubal 11 CU versus Fabius 6 CU. As the battle takes place in Spain I have decided to use arid terrain, for a change.

5 comments:

fireymonkeyboy said...

I've been following this avidly. Campaign is interesting; I want to know what happens next! Figures and table are fantastic as always.

FMB

Caliban said...

Gorgeous. And the Gauls had a good day. What more could a gamer possibly want!?

Gunny Highway said...

James,

As always, another great contest between the Ancient Mediterranean super powers! Nice of you to let Peter withdraw ;) Looking forward to the next great fight....

Respectfully,
Gunny

Monty said...

Campaign game, huge & beautiful armies, beautiful tables & terrain. Even a Carthaginian beat couldn't dampen the fun of all of this!

Der Alte Fritz said...

It seems like the Romans always leave their flanks vulnerable and then they get charged in the flank and cut down. At least that is the impression that I have had so far. I'm really enjoying this campaign so far.