Empire: Campaign win for Carthage

Or, I lost again and I don't care.  It's about time the Carthaginians finally conquered Iberia; I think this is their fourth try.  I set up the defending forces of freedom against Punic aggression.  The game basically came down to which side would turn the enemy's infantry line first, with some added spice thrown in by the presence of Celtiberian mercenaries in both armies.  Unfortunately for us, those fighting for Carthage fought well, while ours didn't.

Above, you can see in the foreground the forces on our left, me in charge.  A powerful mix of cavalry  and Caetrati to the left of our Celtiberian foot.  I have more force than the enemy (Gordon).

The infantry centres of the two armies.  Ours is composed of Scutarii at the bottom of the photo (my old Minifigs Romans standing duty).  Theirs is a mixed bag of Celtiberians, Scutarii, Libyan spearmen and a small unit of elite African heavy spears.

The third photo shows the enemy overlap on our right.  There is a piece of rough ground just off the photo to the right, which is infested with more of our Caetrati.  Beyond them we have some light cavalry.

Both armies lead with their left, trying to swing round onto the enemy infantry before the same is done unto them.

We leave one unit of Scutarii to old the high ground as a flank guard for the rest of the line.  We'll see how long they last...

A side shot of the far side of the table from my position at our left.  David's massed Caetrati and light horse await the enemy (Bill).  However, they have enough force here to be able to mask the rough ground and send cavalry in at an angle toward our Scutarii.

The melee on our left.  I an trying to smash my way through here to help out against the enemy infantry.  

Just to the right of my cavalry, our Celtiberians attack.  Rather weakly, as they fail to make a proper impression on the steady spears of the opposition (i.e. no Impetus bonus).  To the right of the shot above you can see Scutarii fighting Scutarii.

The fight develops to the right of our infantry line.   Unlike ours, their Celtiberians go wild. The enemy commander (Billy) sends his cavalry to help; you can just see them arriving at the right hand side of the photo above.  This section of the field will be where it is all decided, and the Carthaginians want to make it swing their way as soon as possible.

The Carthaginian cavalry arrives and makes very little impression.

On our far right, David surges forward from the rough and starts to destroy everything in front of him.

Above: the whole infantry fight.

Above: David's success on our left.  But our centre collapses anyway and it's game over.

This game was always going to be a fifty-fifty fight, and I always lose those.  I used to have role-playing character called Avrin, who was a sneak thief.  He was rubbish and failed most things while his scores were below fifty per cent.  He survived somehow, and when his important abilities got to sixty per cent he never failed anything.  he became a Master thief.  Ever since then, I've had the superstition that a fifty-fifty is an automatic fail for me, while anything better isn't.  I know it's not true; it just feels that way...

Anyway, next up is the Romans in Sicily again.  If they finally take it, we are replaying history and shaping up for the arrival of Hannibal soon.