Carthage hangs on in Sicily

Just a short report about the latest battle in our Empire campaign.  Gordon brought the figures back this evening and filled me in on what happened.  Essentially, it seems as though as consul of the day he placed the attacking Roman army slightly offset to one side.  Rather than deploy symmetrically, they put all of their cavalry on the flank nearest the mass of the legions, and all the Italian auxiliaries on the other flank to fend off attacking Carthaginian horse for as long as possible.  He also reduced the Italians to Militia Grade and uprated the Latin Principes to heavy infantry.  Apparently, the assault almost worked. Indeed, the Romans broke the Carthaginians just before their own army reached its breakpoint in the same turn.

So the result is the same as last time: a draw, although in mirror image to what happened in Magna Graecia.  Next week is the first club meeting of the month, so the usual multi-player extravaganza takes precedence.  We will resume the campaign the week after, as the Macedonians crunch their way into Persia itself. Will Persepolis burn again?

Carthage and Rome: The 1st Punic War begins

Warning: this is not historically accurate content.  More pseudo-historical (or something like that).

Explanation: we played the latest tabletop battle generated in our Empire campaign on Tuesday evening.  The Carthaginians attacked the Romans in Magna Graecia.  I did produce a map of the Roman deployment, which was predictable enough: Roman legions in the centre, with socii to either side; Italian auxiliary foot and cavalry to either flank.  William did give me a printout of his battle plan for the Carthaginians, but I can't remember the unit sizes and deployments, so this short report will be narrative only.

Basically, the Carthaginians set up against the symmetrical Roman deployment as follows:

• Left wing: strong cavalry force.
• Centre: various infantry units.  A mixture of elite and veteran spearmen; Spanish; Italians and Gauls.
• Right wing: a weaker cavalry force, mostly composed of Numidian light horse.
• Across the front: various skirmish infantry types.

Carthaginian plan: pretty obvious, really.  Big punch on the left, flank the legions and kill them before they cave in the centre.

Which is almost what happened.  The Carthaginians did break the Roman right wing and the two rightmost legions, but only just before the polyglot centre itself collapsed.  A battlefield victory of sorts for Carthage, but technically a drawn battle, which means Rome holds on to Magna Graecia. 

The Roman hydra has recruited two more legions and invaded Sicily in return; this is next week's game.  I won't be able to make it, but Gordon will borrow my legions and take them into the club.  The campaign is picking up some speed after the final demise of Alexander.  The next few turns should pass rapidly since there are no Great Captains due to appear for a while.  This means that each great power gets only one possible move per turn, so we should see movement right across the region map.

Some more photos of Zama from Carronade

Matheo on TMP has posted some photos he took of Carronade:

http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g154/matheo_sXe/Carronade%202010%20-%20Falkirk/

These are very nice indeed and show many of the best elements on display. 

The three above show some different views of our game from the ones I've already posted.  The first shows all the central infantry lines just as the initial units clash, this time from the left rear perspective of the Romans.  The second is a close-up of the initial fight from the heavy cavalry flank.  The third shows the whole table, from the same position.  Thanks to Matheo for permissions.