In the Footsteps of Hannibal
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
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In the Footsteps of Hannibal
This is another series of games I'm planning to play roughly following Hannibal's career with perhaps a few what-ifs tacked on, depending on my time and interest. We'll be starting in Spain and making our way east.
We found the rebellious Spanish occupying a hilly pass. This would make flanking difficult and a straight on assault would be challenging with them likely having higher ground. We decided on a combined arms assault of lights screening cavalry and elephants supported by our medium and heavy foot.
The Spanish opted for a lot of light and medium foot supported by a few warbands and a token amount of horse, so they had a significant advantage in numbers to add to their positional advantage. This was going to be a lot harder than we hoped.
Our horse and elephants, supporting our light screen soon swept away a large portion of the Spanish lights and horse. However, their extended pursuit of the survivors taking them far from the following foot. This led to a very long and painful infantry fight where our outnumbered men were slowly ground down and eventually flanked, leading to the destruction of most of our foot.
Yet, our returning horse and elephants managed to see off enough of the weakened and now somewhat scattered Spanish to eek out a victory, narrow though it might be.
Final score: Carthaginians 60 - Spanish 54.
We found the rebellious Spanish occupying a hilly pass. This would make flanking difficult and a straight on assault would be challenging with them likely having higher ground. We decided on a combined arms assault of lights screening cavalry and elephants supported by our medium and heavy foot.
The Spanish opted for a lot of light and medium foot supported by a few warbands and a token amount of horse, so they had a significant advantage in numbers to add to their positional advantage. This was going to be a lot harder than we hoped.
Our horse and elephants, supporting our light screen soon swept away a large portion of the Spanish lights and horse. However, their extended pursuit of the survivors taking them far from the following foot. This led to a very long and painful infantry fight where our outnumbered men were slowly ground down and eventually flanked, leading to the destruction of most of our foot.
Yet, our returning horse and elephants managed to see off enough of the weakened and now somewhat scattered Spanish to eek out a victory, narrow though it might be.
Final score: Carthaginians 60 - Spanish 54.
- Attachments
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Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
- Posts: 1987
- Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:36 pm
- Location: Osaka, Japan
Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 2 in our series takes us into Northern Spain to face the Celtiberians.
2. Assaulting the Celtiberians
The Celtiberians responded to our incursion into their lands by drawing up their forces to face us on a wide U shaped ridge lying in the center. A pond and a small wooded hill narrowed the approach on their right flank. Some rough and scattered woods masked their left.
We divided our forces into four basic groups. Our medium foot we placed on our far right with the task of clearing the rough and woods. A division of mixed horse and elephants screened by light foot led the way there. Our heavy foot formed up in the center with the plan of following up behind the medium foot to turn the enemy left. Another division of mixed horse screened by a few lights formed up on our left with the plan of turning the enemy right and/or delaying them in the center.
The Celtiberians deployed their massive warband along the slopes of the central hill, screened by a few lights and with some horse covering their right. We advanced per our initial plan, threatening both flanks with our horse and shifting our foot divisions right, leading with our mediums.
On our left, we saw off the enemy horse with our elephant supported attack, but some of the Celtiberian warbands, in turn, flanked and routed our elephant and our surviving horse was scattered in pursuit. On our right, our medium foot chased off some screening lights and began wheeling beyond the woods to turn the enemy left.
The Celtiberian warbands descended the slopes around the rough and woods to swarm our less numerous spears and a couple of supporting mediums. This began a long and grinding fight, that we eventually lost due to their superior numbers.
We were saved by a combination of the return of our victorious horse and the rallying of several of our routers, our right wing elephant in particular. This elephant helped our flanking mediums take down an isolated warband and our horse caught and saw off several fragmented lights to push the Celtiberians over their limit and the survivors streamed off the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 60 Celtiberians 52.
2. Assaulting the Celtiberians
The Celtiberians responded to our incursion into their lands by drawing up their forces to face us on a wide U shaped ridge lying in the center. A pond and a small wooded hill narrowed the approach on their right flank. Some rough and scattered woods masked their left.
We divided our forces into four basic groups. Our medium foot we placed on our far right with the task of clearing the rough and woods. A division of mixed horse and elephants screened by light foot led the way there. Our heavy foot formed up in the center with the plan of following up behind the medium foot to turn the enemy left. Another division of mixed horse screened by a few lights formed up on our left with the plan of turning the enemy right and/or delaying them in the center.
The Celtiberians deployed their massive warband along the slopes of the central hill, screened by a few lights and with some horse covering their right. We advanced per our initial plan, threatening both flanks with our horse and shifting our foot divisions right, leading with our mediums.
On our left, we saw off the enemy horse with our elephant supported attack, but some of the Celtiberian warbands, in turn, flanked and routed our elephant and our surviving horse was scattered in pursuit. On our right, our medium foot chased off some screening lights and began wheeling beyond the woods to turn the enemy left.
The Celtiberian warbands descended the slopes around the rough and woods to swarm our less numerous spears and a couple of supporting mediums. This began a long and grinding fight, that we eventually lost due to their superior numbers.
We were saved by a combination of the return of our victorious horse and the rallying of several of our routers, our right wing elephant in particular. This elephant helped our flanking mediums take down an isolated warband and our horse caught and saw off several fragmented lights to push the Celtiberians over their limit and the survivors streamed off the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 60 Celtiberians 52.
- Attachments
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Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 3 in our series takes us across the Pyrenees to face the Gauls.
As our army descended along a river bank from the mountains, scouts reported a large Gallic force moving to intercept our march. The river, though fordable in a couple of places, effectively masked off our left. A series of small hills ran along the river. A large ridge ran from the center at an angle off to our right corner. A pond and woods lay below it, anchoring the right. Large woods lay along the river, anchoring our left. Several large patches of rough lay beyond the ridge a bit off to our right.
We decided to advance our infantry to seize the ridge behind a screen of our lights. Our horse would attempt to cover our flanks, supported by our elephants. Depending on the enemy response, our medium foot might move on to secure the rough on our right to threaten the enemy left flank.
The Gauls deployed off to our left closer to the river bank initially. They had a large mass of close order warbands in the center, with a smaller wing of loose order warbands on their left. Two small divisions of cavalry covered their flanks, and a token number of light foot screened their advance.
We advanced our infantry and secured the hill and our lights and horse pressed forward supported by our elephants. We advanced a couple of our Spanish into the rough beyond. The Gallic cavalry aggressively pushed forward on both wings and quickly engaged our own horse with our supporting lights. Their loose order division swung out very wide and began marching along the edge on a flanking move.
Our right wing horse dispatched the opposing cavalry and disappeared in a long pursuit. Our left wing horse got a bit mauled and fell back to cover the flank. The Gallic horse pursued, and our light foot jumped them and, over a few hours, shot them to pieces while our own cavalry rallied.
The Gallic warbands shifted left as they approached the hill, sending several warbands in a flanking move. We refused our left flank along the slopes and plugged our elephants into the line to help extend our front. The loose order warbands marched into the far woods as they continued their flanking thrust. We dispatched some of our light foot to skirmish and attempt to delay them while some of our spear and Spanish shifted to cover the slopes of the hill overlooking the woods. We redirected our Spanish holding the rough to come in behind the warbands on our right and to reinforce our troops on the hill.
The Gauls surged up the hill into our awaiting troops. Several warbands fragmented and fell back to be replaced by fresh ones. The loose order warbands drove our light foot out of the woods on our right and rolled on to the face of our troops covering the right flank of the hill. They left a mass of older warriors which valiantly held off our pursuing Spanish for a couple of hours.
The battle on the hill degenerated; our troops were slowly ground down by superior numbers, though we managed to see off a few warbands in the struggle. Our long lost cavalry finally returned, but most of it had run off too far and couldn't reach the hill in time to save our beseiged foot and elephants. Dusk fell with the battered Gallic warbands holding the hill and our surviving horse and foot scattered in a loose ring around them.
Final Score: Carthaginians 52 Gauls 56
As our army descended along a river bank from the mountains, scouts reported a large Gallic force moving to intercept our march. The river, though fordable in a couple of places, effectively masked off our left. A series of small hills ran along the river. A large ridge ran from the center at an angle off to our right corner. A pond and woods lay below it, anchoring the right. Large woods lay along the river, anchoring our left. Several large patches of rough lay beyond the ridge a bit off to our right.
We decided to advance our infantry to seize the ridge behind a screen of our lights. Our horse would attempt to cover our flanks, supported by our elephants. Depending on the enemy response, our medium foot might move on to secure the rough on our right to threaten the enemy left flank.
The Gauls deployed off to our left closer to the river bank initially. They had a large mass of close order warbands in the center, with a smaller wing of loose order warbands on their left. Two small divisions of cavalry covered their flanks, and a token number of light foot screened their advance.
We advanced our infantry and secured the hill and our lights and horse pressed forward supported by our elephants. We advanced a couple of our Spanish into the rough beyond. The Gallic cavalry aggressively pushed forward on both wings and quickly engaged our own horse with our supporting lights. Their loose order division swung out very wide and began marching along the edge on a flanking move.
Our right wing horse dispatched the opposing cavalry and disappeared in a long pursuit. Our left wing horse got a bit mauled and fell back to cover the flank. The Gallic horse pursued, and our light foot jumped them and, over a few hours, shot them to pieces while our own cavalry rallied.
The Gallic warbands shifted left as they approached the hill, sending several warbands in a flanking move. We refused our left flank along the slopes and plugged our elephants into the line to help extend our front. The loose order warbands marched into the far woods as they continued their flanking thrust. We dispatched some of our light foot to skirmish and attempt to delay them while some of our spear and Spanish shifted to cover the slopes of the hill overlooking the woods. We redirected our Spanish holding the rough to come in behind the warbands on our right and to reinforce our troops on the hill.
The Gauls surged up the hill into our awaiting troops. Several warbands fragmented and fell back to be replaced by fresh ones. The loose order warbands drove our light foot out of the woods on our right and rolled on to the face of our troops covering the right flank of the hill. They left a mass of older warriors which valiantly held off our pursuing Spanish for a couple of hours.
The battle on the hill degenerated; our troops were slowly ground down by superior numbers, though we managed to see off a few warbands in the struggle. Our long lost cavalry finally returned, but most of it had run off too far and couldn't reach the hill in time to save our beseiged foot and elephants. Dusk fell with the battered Gallic warbands holding the hill and our surviving horse and foot scattered in a loose ring around them.
Final Score: Carthaginians 52 Gauls 56
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Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 4 in our series continues in our fighting our way through Gaul.
After resting our army and receiving some replacements from Spain, we pushed on through Gaul, but found the Gauls had likewise raised new forces and drawn in other tribes to resist our advance.
Battle was joined on a plain broken up by several woods and hills. The edge of a large forest masked off our left corner. A fair sized woods and village along our edge divided our left sector from our center. Another smaller forest encircled a small village in our right sector, bordering our center. A small, steep hill in our center sector looked down on that. A large rough patch and a pond lay further to the right of those trees. A long, gentle ridge ran along the right edge from about the center, widening out into a plateau on the Gallic side. A small woods lay at the foot of this towards the center and a small gentle hill rose beyond this facing the small, steep small hill across the plains. Finally, a bit of scattered woods formed a fairly large forest between the Gallic center and their right.
Uncertain as to what sort of force the Gauls had mustered, we opted for a conservative and defensive deployment initially. We deployed most of our spear deep along our edge with the right woods covering their flank. We deployed a couple of spear out of sight behind these woods. We deployed one elephant and a couple of our horse on the right of these woods in ambush. The other half of our horse and elephants formed up to cover the left flank of the spears. We deployed our mix of medium foot in the woods on our right and in the village. Our light foot deployed along the edges of the woods on our left and right, and our Numidians formed a loose screen across our front as scouts.
Our initial plan was to lure the Gauls in to fight our smaller number of spears and then flank them with our medium foot and horse from our right.
The Gauls deployed a massive line of close order warbands in the center, screened by a few light foot and supported on the flanks by a few horse and light chariots. Nothing we saw gave us pause in following our plan. We pushed forward our light horse along the front and brought forward our left wing horse and elephant to challenge his advance. Our phalanx advanced slowly, keeping the woods on the right. We kept our forces in the woods hidden.
The Gauls pressed forward fairly aggressively in response to our mounted advance. Their cavalry and chariots drove back our Numidians, but our skirmishing took it's toll on their horse. His warband surged towards our phalanx. We advanced our light foot out of the woods on our right in support of our Numidians and shot up his opposing horse. We also brought out our cavalry and elephant. These combined with our lights to see off his horse and chariots covering his left. 2-3 warbands wheeled left in response, while the rest marched on in the center. On the far left, our horse and elephant supported our lights in driving off his opposing mounted, but this degenerated into a game of hide and seek for the most part.
At this point, we pushed a few of our Spanish foot out of the woods and up onto the slopes of the small, steep hill. This position threatened the flanks of both his main advancing body of warbands and the detached ones chasing off our lights. Our phalanx about faced, and began marching towards the rear of the woods covering the right. Our spear behind the woods we sent around the right to support our horse and medium foot facing off against his detached warbands. In response, the Gauls detached a few more warbands to shore up their left and pressed on after our phalanx with the rest.
We moved some more of our mediums out the woods to threaten the scattered warbands on our right. In combination with our mounted, we flanked and saw of several of these, and used our horse and elephant to pursue them well clear of the action. The supporting warbands were pinned by the threat of our Spanish on the steep hill and mostly unable to intervene very promptly.
With a diminishing number of warbands pursuing us, our phalanx turned to face them with the woods covering their right. We dressed our lines and began redirecting some of our victorious medium foot and horse from the area of the steep hill to come to their support against the flanks and rear of the approaching warbands. With our still hidden spear, we actually had a slight advantage in numbers, which could prove decisive if we could survive the initial impetuous charge. Positioning our general in the midst of the line where he could have the most influence, we awaited. The Gauls line was a little ragged, and they came in piecemeal. Our line held, thankfully, but we did get pushed back on one end. A grinding melee ensued.
On the Gallic left, their warbands engaged one of our spear near the foot of the steep hill, in the process exposing its flank to our Spanish on the hill, and neighbors charged up the gentle slope along the right edge to tackle our Spanish. We survived the onslaught and our returning horse and elephant moved to flank.
On the Gallic right, we finally ran down their last chariot with our horse and lights fragmenting it. Our elephant stomped into a lone opposing warband disrupting it. Some of our lights skirmished with the last surviving Gallic horse.
In the center, our spare spear moved in and was able to fall on another exposed flank, disrupting yet another warband. One of our horse arrived in the rear and disrupted a third and fell back. Though one did rally, the rest were quickly broken, and the Gauls streamed off the field, shortly before dusk.
Final Score: Carthaginians 43 - Gauls - 2.
After resting our army and receiving some replacements from Spain, we pushed on through Gaul, but found the Gauls had likewise raised new forces and drawn in other tribes to resist our advance.
Battle was joined on a plain broken up by several woods and hills. The edge of a large forest masked off our left corner. A fair sized woods and village along our edge divided our left sector from our center. Another smaller forest encircled a small village in our right sector, bordering our center. A small, steep hill in our center sector looked down on that. A large rough patch and a pond lay further to the right of those trees. A long, gentle ridge ran along the right edge from about the center, widening out into a plateau on the Gallic side. A small woods lay at the foot of this towards the center and a small gentle hill rose beyond this facing the small, steep small hill across the plains. Finally, a bit of scattered woods formed a fairly large forest between the Gallic center and their right.
Uncertain as to what sort of force the Gauls had mustered, we opted for a conservative and defensive deployment initially. We deployed most of our spear deep along our edge with the right woods covering their flank. We deployed a couple of spear out of sight behind these woods. We deployed one elephant and a couple of our horse on the right of these woods in ambush. The other half of our horse and elephants formed up to cover the left flank of the spears. We deployed our mix of medium foot in the woods on our right and in the village. Our light foot deployed along the edges of the woods on our left and right, and our Numidians formed a loose screen across our front as scouts.
Our initial plan was to lure the Gauls in to fight our smaller number of spears and then flank them with our medium foot and horse from our right.
The Gauls deployed a massive line of close order warbands in the center, screened by a few light foot and supported on the flanks by a few horse and light chariots. Nothing we saw gave us pause in following our plan. We pushed forward our light horse along the front and brought forward our left wing horse and elephant to challenge his advance. Our phalanx advanced slowly, keeping the woods on the right. We kept our forces in the woods hidden.
The Gauls pressed forward fairly aggressively in response to our mounted advance. Their cavalry and chariots drove back our Numidians, but our skirmishing took it's toll on their horse. His warband surged towards our phalanx. We advanced our light foot out of the woods on our right in support of our Numidians and shot up his opposing horse. We also brought out our cavalry and elephant. These combined with our lights to see off his horse and chariots covering his left. 2-3 warbands wheeled left in response, while the rest marched on in the center. On the far left, our horse and elephant supported our lights in driving off his opposing mounted, but this degenerated into a game of hide and seek for the most part.
At this point, we pushed a few of our Spanish foot out of the woods and up onto the slopes of the small, steep hill. This position threatened the flanks of both his main advancing body of warbands and the detached ones chasing off our lights. Our phalanx about faced, and began marching towards the rear of the woods covering the right. Our spear behind the woods we sent around the right to support our horse and medium foot facing off against his detached warbands. In response, the Gauls detached a few more warbands to shore up their left and pressed on after our phalanx with the rest.
We moved some more of our mediums out the woods to threaten the scattered warbands on our right. In combination with our mounted, we flanked and saw of several of these, and used our horse and elephant to pursue them well clear of the action. The supporting warbands were pinned by the threat of our Spanish on the steep hill and mostly unable to intervene very promptly.
With a diminishing number of warbands pursuing us, our phalanx turned to face them with the woods covering their right. We dressed our lines and began redirecting some of our victorious medium foot and horse from the area of the steep hill to come to their support against the flanks and rear of the approaching warbands. With our still hidden spear, we actually had a slight advantage in numbers, which could prove decisive if we could survive the initial impetuous charge. Positioning our general in the midst of the line where he could have the most influence, we awaited. The Gauls line was a little ragged, and they came in piecemeal. Our line held, thankfully, but we did get pushed back on one end. A grinding melee ensued.
On the Gallic left, their warbands engaged one of our spear near the foot of the steep hill, in the process exposing its flank to our Spanish on the hill, and neighbors charged up the gentle slope along the right edge to tackle our Spanish. We survived the onslaught and our returning horse and elephant moved to flank.
On the Gallic right, we finally ran down their last chariot with our horse and lights fragmenting it. Our elephant stomped into a lone opposing warband disrupting it. Some of our lights skirmished with the last surviving Gallic horse.
In the center, our spare spear moved in and was able to fall on another exposed flank, disrupting yet another warband. One of our horse arrived in the rear and disrupted a third and fell back. Though one did rally, the rest were quickly broken, and the Gauls streamed off the field, shortly before dusk.
Final Score: Carthaginians 43 - Gauls - 2.
- Attachments
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Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 5 in our series finds us facing off vs the Romans in Northern Italy.
After descending from the Alps and resting up briefly, we found a Roman army blocking our path through the foothills. The Romans were in a strong position along a long ridge with woods covering each flank. Furthermore, lots of rough was scattered along and around the ridge. On our right was a fair sized wood with a large rought patch beyond that and to the right.
We fully expected the Romans to deploy along the ridge and use their lights and mediums to secure their flanks in the rough and woods. We deployed our phalanx of half-a-dozen spears just short of the woods, using that to anchor our right flank. We deployed our medium foot hidden in the woods on our right with a few light screening the edge. The rest of our light foot we deployed across the front of our phalanx. We put a couple of light horse on our far right to probe the enemy left. Half of our horse we hid behind the woods initially. The rest of our horse and light horse were on our left.
If the Romans were tempted to come down from the hills and tackle our small phalanx, our mediums and horse were well positioned to flank and encircle them. If they stayed up on the ridge, we would push forward on the flanks with our horse and mediums and shift our phalanx to support whichever flank seemed to offer the better opportunity for exploitation.
Alas, the Roman consul was quite cautious and content to sit on his ridge, so we pushed our lights and horse forward on both flanks and moved a few medium foot out on our right to seize the large rough patch as a jumping off point. The Romans responded by judiciously shifting his light foot into woods and rough to block our probes and harass our horse.
On his right, he did bring out his small horse command to support his lights and counter our horse. This led to an extended cat and mouse skirmish with our lights and horse chasing each other about for a while. With our superior number of horse and complete superiority in light horse, we eventually destroyed one of his horse and badly mangled the other, which retreated to the safety of the legion in the center. Due to the rough patches held by some of his mediums and lights, our horse was blocked from effectively exploiting this.
On our right, our mediums secured the rough patch and a couple pushed on to the woods covering his left beyond. The Romans responded by refusing his flank along the slopes of the hill and shifting his legions left as well. We advanced out the far woods into the rough along the base of the hill to pin down his units and threaten the flank. We detached a couple of our spears from our center and marched them around the woods to support our mediums. The Romans marched a portion of his legionaries down the hill to overwhelm the couple of mediums we had in the rough. We marched a few more mediums out of the woods and into the rough to counter that and he sent a couple of his foot on a wide march around the rough to flank them. The Romans shifted a couple of raw legion units from his reserve to bolster his left, flanking our foot in the rough at the foot of the hill. We held our ground as best we could as the legions attacked us. The Romans tried to storm the large rough patch but we fended them off. The Roman flanking effort on their far left we managed to contain by sacrificing a medium foot to slow them down till our spears could arrive. We flanked and dispatched these after a bit of a hard fight.
The rest of our phalanx advanced along the woods and caught and destroyed a lone legionnaire, then shifted right behind the rough patch to support the flanks of the embattled mediums.
Our left wing cavalry destroyed one or two of his lights after chasing of his horse and then spent the time harassing his heavy foot to keep them from supporting the battle on our right.
As dusk fell, the Romans were still securely arrayed along the ridge and opposite our rough patch. With more time, we perhaps might have encircled the latter forces with our horse and spear, but that would have to be another day.
Final Score: Carthaginians 39 Romans 34
After descending from the Alps and resting up briefly, we found a Roman army blocking our path through the foothills. The Romans were in a strong position along a long ridge with woods covering each flank. Furthermore, lots of rough was scattered along and around the ridge. On our right was a fair sized wood with a large rought patch beyond that and to the right.
We fully expected the Romans to deploy along the ridge and use their lights and mediums to secure their flanks in the rough and woods. We deployed our phalanx of half-a-dozen spears just short of the woods, using that to anchor our right flank. We deployed our medium foot hidden in the woods on our right with a few light screening the edge. The rest of our light foot we deployed across the front of our phalanx. We put a couple of light horse on our far right to probe the enemy left. Half of our horse we hid behind the woods initially. The rest of our horse and light horse were on our left.
If the Romans were tempted to come down from the hills and tackle our small phalanx, our mediums and horse were well positioned to flank and encircle them. If they stayed up on the ridge, we would push forward on the flanks with our horse and mediums and shift our phalanx to support whichever flank seemed to offer the better opportunity for exploitation.
Alas, the Roman consul was quite cautious and content to sit on his ridge, so we pushed our lights and horse forward on both flanks and moved a few medium foot out on our right to seize the large rough patch as a jumping off point. The Romans responded by judiciously shifting his light foot into woods and rough to block our probes and harass our horse.
On his right, he did bring out his small horse command to support his lights and counter our horse. This led to an extended cat and mouse skirmish with our lights and horse chasing each other about for a while. With our superior number of horse and complete superiority in light horse, we eventually destroyed one of his horse and badly mangled the other, which retreated to the safety of the legion in the center. Due to the rough patches held by some of his mediums and lights, our horse was blocked from effectively exploiting this.
On our right, our mediums secured the rough patch and a couple pushed on to the woods covering his left beyond. The Romans responded by refusing his flank along the slopes of the hill and shifting his legions left as well. We advanced out the far woods into the rough along the base of the hill to pin down his units and threaten the flank. We detached a couple of our spears from our center and marched them around the woods to support our mediums. The Romans marched a portion of his legionaries down the hill to overwhelm the couple of mediums we had in the rough. We marched a few more mediums out of the woods and into the rough to counter that and he sent a couple of his foot on a wide march around the rough to flank them. The Romans shifted a couple of raw legion units from his reserve to bolster his left, flanking our foot in the rough at the foot of the hill. We held our ground as best we could as the legions attacked us. The Romans tried to storm the large rough patch but we fended them off. The Roman flanking effort on their far left we managed to contain by sacrificing a medium foot to slow them down till our spears could arrive. We flanked and dispatched these after a bit of a hard fight.
The rest of our phalanx advanced along the woods and caught and destroyed a lone legionnaire, then shifted right behind the rough patch to support the flanks of the embattled mediums.
Our left wing cavalry destroyed one or two of his lights after chasing of his horse and then spent the time harassing his heavy foot to keep them from supporting the battle on our right.
As dusk fell, the Romans were still securely arrayed along the ridge and opposite our rough patch. With more time, we perhaps might have encircled the latter forces with our horse and spear, but that would have to be another day.
Final Score: Carthaginians 39 Romans 34
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Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 6 in our series finds us facing off vs the Romans in Central Italy.
6. Into the Hills
We next found the Romans in a hilly and wooded region. A chain of hills ran across the field with a large steep hill dominating the center. Big bodies of woods lay on both our left and right flanks, facing the hills. A large hill sat in our center rear, facing the steep central hill. Another large forest lay beyond the steep hill and to our right. The Roman central approach was broken up by scattered woods and patches of rough. This was hardly good ground for our horse, but was great for our medium foot.
We deployed our spearmen in two lines, one along the crest of our hill and another hidden on the reverse slope. We placed most of our Spanish mediums in the woods on our left with a couple of light foot screening the far edge. Our Illyrian and Italian foot we deployed at the foot of the central steep hill, reinforced by a single Spanish unit and screened by most of our light foot. A couple of our cavalry we deployed on the right as a potential flanking force on the right. The rest of our cavalry and light horse we deployed hidden in and behind the woods on our left.
We expected our mediums and lights could quickly secure the central hill and fairly easily hold off any Roman assault, given our superiority in medium foot. Our Spanish division was in a position to either flank any advance past the central hill towards our spear, or advance wider left and threaten flanks through the scattered rough and woods beyond. Our spear was to serve primarily as bait to attract the Romans to advance in the center. Our main cavalry body on our left could either swing wide out left around the woods and threaten flanks or move in on flanks of troops that attacked our spear on the hill. Our small right wing horse group might push around the steep hill on the right to flank, or fall on flanks of troops that moved against our spear on the hill.
Given the terrain, the Romans didn't have a lot of viable options and deployed in their center and right sectors with their front screened by their light foot. Surprisingly, they brought only a token amount of medium foot and scattered it between their legionaries, rather than concentrating it as an assault force to clear a rough area. Their small cavalry contingent initially deployed as a central reserve.
The Romans advanced in the center behind their lights, and we aggressively attacked their screen with our light horse, driving it back through their heavy foot pretty quickly and seeing off a couple we managed to catch. The Romans sent forward their cavalry, which drove off our light horse, but then found themselves far in advance of their own lines beyond the central steep hill.
We surrounded the cavalry with our lights and managed to shoot them up pretty well, and brought our right wing cavalry up to finish them off, only to have them flee, rather than stand, when charged by the lower grade Roman horse. This considerably extended our game of cat and mouse as we regrouped and continued to pelt the Romans with javelins.
In the meantime, the Romans set their lights to skirmish with our lights and mediums along the slopes and crests of the central hill. With their superior numbers, they wore down our lights over time and did some damage to our mediums as well, but failed to dislodge us. A couple of their medium foot attempted to storm the hill from different angles, but got bogged down in a drawn out, inconclusive fight.
The Roman legionaries advanced resolutely in the center past the steep hill towards our waiting spear. The Roman right wing shifted left to follow up in support. Once this first line reached the foot of our position, we moved some of our Spanish to the edges of the left woods to threaten their flanks. We shifted some of our cavalry out as well to support this assault and move behind the spears to envelop the left flank of the Roman line. We sent a single horse wide around the left edge of the woods to threaten the Roman rear and supported that by some Spanish. We moved up our second spear line and extended some out to the right to envelop the Roman line.
On our far right, we finally ran the Roman horse to ground and saw them off after a brief melee. The skirmish losses and our flanking light horse were the decisive factors, as the cavalry themselves fought pretty poorly, despite their better quality.
On our left, our horse and Spanish fell upon some raw legionaries who quickly turned tail and ran.
In the center, we flanked the Roman front line on both ends, and though they fought hard, they were overwhelmed before their reserves could fight past the blocking Spanish.
Final Score: Carthaginians 43 Romans 6
6. Into the Hills
We next found the Romans in a hilly and wooded region. A chain of hills ran across the field with a large steep hill dominating the center. Big bodies of woods lay on both our left and right flanks, facing the hills. A large hill sat in our center rear, facing the steep central hill. Another large forest lay beyond the steep hill and to our right. The Roman central approach was broken up by scattered woods and patches of rough. This was hardly good ground for our horse, but was great for our medium foot.
We deployed our spearmen in two lines, one along the crest of our hill and another hidden on the reverse slope. We placed most of our Spanish mediums in the woods on our left with a couple of light foot screening the far edge. Our Illyrian and Italian foot we deployed at the foot of the central steep hill, reinforced by a single Spanish unit and screened by most of our light foot. A couple of our cavalry we deployed on the right as a potential flanking force on the right. The rest of our cavalry and light horse we deployed hidden in and behind the woods on our left.
We expected our mediums and lights could quickly secure the central hill and fairly easily hold off any Roman assault, given our superiority in medium foot. Our Spanish division was in a position to either flank any advance past the central hill towards our spear, or advance wider left and threaten flanks through the scattered rough and woods beyond. Our spear was to serve primarily as bait to attract the Romans to advance in the center. Our main cavalry body on our left could either swing wide out left around the woods and threaten flanks or move in on flanks of troops that attacked our spear on the hill. Our small right wing horse group might push around the steep hill on the right to flank, or fall on flanks of troops that moved against our spear on the hill.
Given the terrain, the Romans didn't have a lot of viable options and deployed in their center and right sectors with their front screened by their light foot. Surprisingly, they brought only a token amount of medium foot and scattered it between their legionaries, rather than concentrating it as an assault force to clear a rough area. Their small cavalry contingent initially deployed as a central reserve.
The Romans advanced in the center behind their lights, and we aggressively attacked their screen with our light horse, driving it back through their heavy foot pretty quickly and seeing off a couple we managed to catch. The Romans sent forward their cavalry, which drove off our light horse, but then found themselves far in advance of their own lines beyond the central steep hill.
We surrounded the cavalry with our lights and managed to shoot them up pretty well, and brought our right wing cavalry up to finish them off, only to have them flee, rather than stand, when charged by the lower grade Roman horse. This considerably extended our game of cat and mouse as we regrouped and continued to pelt the Romans with javelins.
In the meantime, the Romans set their lights to skirmish with our lights and mediums along the slopes and crests of the central hill. With their superior numbers, they wore down our lights over time and did some damage to our mediums as well, but failed to dislodge us. A couple of their medium foot attempted to storm the hill from different angles, but got bogged down in a drawn out, inconclusive fight.
The Roman legionaries advanced resolutely in the center past the steep hill towards our waiting spear. The Roman right wing shifted left to follow up in support. Once this first line reached the foot of our position, we moved some of our Spanish to the edges of the left woods to threaten their flanks. We shifted some of our cavalry out as well to support this assault and move behind the spears to envelop the left flank of the Roman line. We sent a single horse wide around the left edge of the woods to threaten the Roman rear and supported that by some Spanish. We moved up our second spear line and extended some out to the right to envelop the Roman line.
On our far right, we finally ran the Roman horse to ground and saw them off after a brief melee. The skirmish losses and our flanking light horse were the decisive factors, as the cavalry themselves fought pretty poorly, despite their better quality.
On our left, our horse and Spanish fell upon some raw legionaries who quickly turned tail and ran.
In the center, we flanked the Roman front line on both ends, and though they fought hard, they were overwhelmed before their reserves could fight past the blocking Spanish.
Final Score: Carthaginians 43 Romans 6
- Attachments
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- 2024 03 carth vs rome 01.jpg (124.61 KiB) Viewed 555 times
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
- Posts: 1987
- Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:36 pm
- Location: Osaka, Japan
Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 7 in our series finds us facing off vs the Romans in Southern Italy.
7. Another Fight in the Hills.
The Romans stuck to the hill country, and we found them in a broad pass bound by two large steep hills and mixed woods. A small hamlet lay in the pass.
We decided to maximize our superiority in mediums and deployed a large division led by our Spanish on our right facing the massive hill screened by our light foot. We deployed our spear in the center. We deployed a small horse command on our right as a reserve, and the rest of our horse to cover our left, along with our sole elephant. Our plan was a massive assault on the right hill, then a turning move against the Roman left from there.
The Romans deployed some Italian foot on the large hill on our right, screened by a few lights. Their heavy foot deployed in the pass, screened by more of their lights. A few Italian foot were deployed on their right near the woods.
Our right wing surged forward and up the slopes of the massive hill. Our lights led the way, tangling with the few velites screening the Italians. Our spear shifted left to advance, abet slowly, behind the medium assault force. The cavalry moved forward to delay and distract the Roman center.
Seeing the overwhelming wave approaching them, the Italians about-faced and retreated to refuse the Roman left. Our lights finished off most his after a stubborn resistance with the help of our Spanish, and our wave continued across the hill to its further slopes. Our spear gamely followed along slowly behind.
Some of our cavalry and light horse in the center charged to drive in his skirmishers and followed through gaps deep into the enemy infantry line. This proved a mixed blessing; they were hopelessly trapped, but tied down a lot of his central foot for several hours as they grimly held on, even after being repeated flanked.
Some of our left wing horse and our elephant, rode around the woods securing the Roman right and positioned themselves to threaten the Roman rear. This distracted a few more Roman foot, who wheeled to counter these.
Our medium foot formed up along the slopes of the hill on our right, looking down on the somewhat jumbled Roman center. We extended our mediums off the hill to threaten their rear and assaulted the hamlet, anchoring their line and held by a detachment of legionaries. Our spear continued their slow march across the hill and began to reach the far side.
The Romans sorted out their foot in the center, shifting to support the hamlet and secure their rear, withdrawing forces from the right end of their line facing the hill. We countered by extending out our left with both mediums and a couple of spear, and a couple of our light horse began to make harassing attacks against the rear of his foot line.
Predictably, the fight for the hamlet went badly for the Romans, as two of our mediums led by a general disrupted, then drove out the defending legionaries, and then they fragmented and broke, leading to some disruptions among neighboring Italians, who in turn, got smashed into by our fresh mediums and broke.
On the left end of our line, we swarmed the defending legionaries and flanked them in several waves, leading to a quick collapse.
These losses, shattered the Romans, and they fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians - 49 Romans - 18
7. Another Fight in the Hills.
The Romans stuck to the hill country, and we found them in a broad pass bound by two large steep hills and mixed woods. A small hamlet lay in the pass.
We decided to maximize our superiority in mediums and deployed a large division led by our Spanish on our right facing the massive hill screened by our light foot. We deployed our spear in the center. We deployed a small horse command on our right as a reserve, and the rest of our horse to cover our left, along with our sole elephant. Our plan was a massive assault on the right hill, then a turning move against the Roman left from there.
The Romans deployed some Italian foot on the large hill on our right, screened by a few lights. Their heavy foot deployed in the pass, screened by more of their lights. A few Italian foot were deployed on their right near the woods.
Our right wing surged forward and up the slopes of the massive hill. Our lights led the way, tangling with the few velites screening the Italians. Our spear shifted left to advance, abet slowly, behind the medium assault force. The cavalry moved forward to delay and distract the Roman center.
Seeing the overwhelming wave approaching them, the Italians about-faced and retreated to refuse the Roman left. Our lights finished off most his after a stubborn resistance with the help of our Spanish, and our wave continued across the hill to its further slopes. Our spear gamely followed along slowly behind.
Some of our cavalry and light horse in the center charged to drive in his skirmishers and followed through gaps deep into the enemy infantry line. This proved a mixed blessing; they were hopelessly trapped, but tied down a lot of his central foot for several hours as they grimly held on, even after being repeated flanked.
Some of our left wing horse and our elephant, rode around the woods securing the Roman right and positioned themselves to threaten the Roman rear. This distracted a few more Roman foot, who wheeled to counter these.
Our medium foot formed up along the slopes of the hill on our right, looking down on the somewhat jumbled Roman center. We extended our mediums off the hill to threaten their rear and assaulted the hamlet, anchoring their line and held by a detachment of legionaries. Our spear continued their slow march across the hill and began to reach the far side.
The Romans sorted out their foot in the center, shifting to support the hamlet and secure their rear, withdrawing forces from the right end of their line facing the hill. We countered by extending out our left with both mediums and a couple of spear, and a couple of our light horse began to make harassing attacks against the rear of his foot line.
Predictably, the fight for the hamlet went badly for the Romans, as two of our mediums led by a general disrupted, then drove out the defending legionaries, and then they fragmented and broke, leading to some disruptions among neighboring Italians, who in turn, got smashed into by our fresh mediums and broke.
On the left end of our line, we swarmed the defending legionaries and flanked them in several waves, leading to a quick collapse.
These losses, shattered the Romans, and they fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians - 49 Romans - 18
- Attachments
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Last edited by Karvon on Mon Apr 22, 2024 1:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
- Posts: 1987
- Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:36 pm
- Location: Osaka, Japan
Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 8 in our series finds us facing off vs the Romans in hills of Southern Italy.
8. Yet another hill battle.
The Romans once more arrayed themselves in very hilly country behind a deep stream in an attempt to reduce the threat of our mounted forces. A deep stream wound its way across the center of the field, flowing through a small marsh near the center on our right and then into a larger one a bit further downstream. A massive, steep hill ran from almost the Roman rear to a bit past the center on our left and stretched out across the Roman center and left as a gentle plateau with a few gentle hills scattered across it. A steep hill looked down on the stream on our left, opposite the larger one. A couple of smaller steep hills continued this chain toward the rear of our left. A small, gentle hill sat in the center of our deployment area. A large wood filled the right corner of our side, masking off that flank.
We placed a large medium foot command on our left, screened by most of our lights. Our spearmen, we deployed in the center on the small hill, with a small horse command covering their right flank. We posted a smaller medium foot command in the woods on our right along with a light foot screen. A couple of light horse served as pickets on the far right in front of the woods. We hid a small mounted command of horse and light horse in the woods on the right.
Our plan was a massive assault on our left, with our medium and light foot storming the massive hill. Our spear would hold the gentle hill as bait for the main body of Roman legionaries. Our token horse in the open would serve as a delaying force and try to draw Roman attention towards the center. Our troops hidden in the woods would sally forth, once the Romans had committed themselves more fully to the actions on our left and in the center.
The Romans deployed a large body of their Italian allies and velites on the massive hill, which made that fight look a lot more challenging. The legionaries deployed in the center, supported by a few Italians and screened by a few velites. We stuck to our initial plan, moving our left wing assault forward quickly, and our visible horse up to contest the crossing of the stream in the center and on our right.
The Romans advanced steadily across the front, and we quickly engaged on our left, with our Spanish leading the way. We managed to get a foothold on the summit with most of our line, but were forced to fight velites along the slope in a couple of places, which really slowed us down. Our Spanish did their job though and punched through some of his Italians and saw off the opposing velites. We extended around the left with our Ligurians and lights. The Romans detached a legionary from their central advance to support the fight.
The Romans advanced across the stream in the center with their legionaries and on their left with their Triarri. We sortied out of the woods with our foot and horse sweeping wide to our right. We rather quickly drove off the token velites and flanked his Triarri. He wheeled a legionary to march to rescue these. Our horse rode deep around his left and he detached some legionaries to counter, further stripping his central advance.
Our spears advanced down the hill to face his reduced legion line and quickly flanked it.
His Triarri collapsed before his legionaries could effectively intervene, and the flanked legionaries in the center broke, leading to the general collapse of the Romans.
Final Score: Carthaginians 45 Romans 17
8. Yet another hill battle.
The Romans once more arrayed themselves in very hilly country behind a deep stream in an attempt to reduce the threat of our mounted forces. A deep stream wound its way across the center of the field, flowing through a small marsh near the center on our right and then into a larger one a bit further downstream. A massive, steep hill ran from almost the Roman rear to a bit past the center on our left and stretched out across the Roman center and left as a gentle plateau with a few gentle hills scattered across it. A steep hill looked down on the stream on our left, opposite the larger one. A couple of smaller steep hills continued this chain toward the rear of our left. A small, gentle hill sat in the center of our deployment area. A large wood filled the right corner of our side, masking off that flank.
We placed a large medium foot command on our left, screened by most of our lights. Our spearmen, we deployed in the center on the small hill, with a small horse command covering their right flank. We posted a smaller medium foot command in the woods on our right along with a light foot screen. A couple of light horse served as pickets on the far right in front of the woods. We hid a small mounted command of horse and light horse in the woods on the right.
Our plan was a massive assault on our left, with our medium and light foot storming the massive hill. Our spear would hold the gentle hill as bait for the main body of Roman legionaries. Our token horse in the open would serve as a delaying force and try to draw Roman attention towards the center. Our troops hidden in the woods would sally forth, once the Romans had committed themselves more fully to the actions on our left and in the center.
The Romans deployed a large body of their Italian allies and velites on the massive hill, which made that fight look a lot more challenging. The legionaries deployed in the center, supported by a few Italians and screened by a few velites. We stuck to our initial plan, moving our left wing assault forward quickly, and our visible horse up to contest the crossing of the stream in the center and on our right.
The Romans advanced steadily across the front, and we quickly engaged on our left, with our Spanish leading the way. We managed to get a foothold on the summit with most of our line, but were forced to fight velites along the slope in a couple of places, which really slowed us down. Our Spanish did their job though and punched through some of his Italians and saw off the opposing velites. We extended around the left with our Ligurians and lights. The Romans detached a legionary from their central advance to support the fight.
The Romans advanced across the stream in the center with their legionaries and on their left with their Triarri. We sortied out of the woods with our foot and horse sweeping wide to our right. We rather quickly drove off the token velites and flanked his Triarri. He wheeled a legionary to march to rescue these. Our horse rode deep around his left and he detached some legionaries to counter, further stripping his central advance.
Our spears advanced down the hill to face his reduced legion line and quickly flanked it.
His Triarri collapsed before his legionaries could effectively intervene, and the flanked legionaries in the center broke, leading to the general collapse of the Romans.
Final Score: Carthaginians 45 Romans 17
- Attachments
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- 2024 04 carthaginians vs romans 01.jpg (256.39 KiB) Viewed 477 times
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
- Posts: 1987
- Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:36 pm
- Location: Osaka, Japan
Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 9 in our series finds us facing off vs the Romans in the hills of Southern Italy.
9. Yet more Romans in the Hills.
Determined to minimize our superiority in mounted troops, the Romans again arrayed themselves for battle in the hills. A chain of steep hills ran along the left side of the center sector, with a stream cutting through the middle of the field. Another steep hill rose in the Roman left sector, looking down on woods masking their left flank. Three gentle hills were scattered in our center and right sectors, and woods masked off our right corner.
Given our superiority in medium foot, we decided to focus our attack along the steep hill chain on our left. We formed a three wave assault of mediums, led by our Spanish and screened by our light foot. Our spears formed up to cover the right flank of this assault, with mounted commands covering each flank.
The Romans deployed their lights across the center, with a few mediums defending their end of the steep hill chain. A few heavy foot were deployed to cover their right, but the bulk were placed in the center, with the steep hills anchoring their flank. A token horse supported each flank.
We pressed forward aggressively with our lights and mediums on our left, with our horse moving out to extend our front and threaten flanks. Our spears moved more slowly, as I wanted to draw his main body of foot well forward. Our right wing horse swung out wide and begin working around the Roman left.
The Romans advanced full speed down the steep hill chain, leading with the velites, followed up by a few mediums. Their heavy foot kept pace, covering the flanks on each side of the hill. Consequently, the battle began with a heated skirmish between our lights on the steep hills. We had a numeric advantage and took the first shots, but the Romans velites had better armor and were uphill, so held firm. Our Spanish drove some of them back, but a tough fight developed along the slopes and summit between our mediums and lights. As we pushed them back, we pivoted our reserve mediums along the right slopes to keep the advancing Roman foot at bay, as they continued to push forward in the center past the ongoing battle on the hill.
At this point, we turned our spear line and shifted left behind the hills and then wheeled right, advancing to face the few Roman heavy foot on the left side of the hill chain. We used our right wing horse to threaten and delay the Roman center, and our light horse harried the lone Roman horse. They continued doggedly ahead, though a couple of units peeled off to cover their right flank and face off against our mediums on the slopes above. One of their overly aggressive Spanish wandered a bit too close, and we pinned, flanked and broke it. The Romans wheeled most of their heavy foot to face our position along the slopes, and a few pushed on around the base of the hill.
On our far left, our horse worked around the flank and drew off some Triarri, and, with the help of our light horse, saw off the lone Roman cavalry. The other Roman heavy foot intervened in the hill fight, but weren't very effective due to the difficult ground, but slowed down our advance.
On our left, our spearmen arrived on the flanks of the embattled Roman heavy foot promptly flanked them seeing off a couple of them. The elite and heavily armored Triarri fought to the last man though, holding up further progress.
Our light horse and cavalry chased the last Roman horse up onto the steep hills, where our waiting mediums flanked and routed it. A couple of disrupted velites were swept away about this time as well and that tipped the Romans over their breaking point.
Final Score: Carthaginians 40 - Romans 15.
9. Yet more Romans in the Hills.
Determined to minimize our superiority in mounted troops, the Romans again arrayed themselves for battle in the hills. A chain of steep hills ran along the left side of the center sector, with a stream cutting through the middle of the field. Another steep hill rose in the Roman left sector, looking down on woods masking their left flank. Three gentle hills were scattered in our center and right sectors, and woods masked off our right corner.
Given our superiority in medium foot, we decided to focus our attack along the steep hill chain on our left. We formed a three wave assault of mediums, led by our Spanish and screened by our light foot. Our spears formed up to cover the right flank of this assault, with mounted commands covering each flank.
The Romans deployed their lights across the center, with a few mediums defending their end of the steep hill chain. A few heavy foot were deployed to cover their right, but the bulk were placed in the center, with the steep hills anchoring their flank. A token horse supported each flank.
We pressed forward aggressively with our lights and mediums on our left, with our horse moving out to extend our front and threaten flanks. Our spears moved more slowly, as I wanted to draw his main body of foot well forward. Our right wing horse swung out wide and begin working around the Roman left.
The Romans advanced full speed down the steep hill chain, leading with the velites, followed up by a few mediums. Their heavy foot kept pace, covering the flanks on each side of the hill. Consequently, the battle began with a heated skirmish between our lights on the steep hills. We had a numeric advantage and took the first shots, but the Romans velites had better armor and were uphill, so held firm. Our Spanish drove some of them back, but a tough fight developed along the slopes and summit between our mediums and lights. As we pushed them back, we pivoted our reserve mediums along the right slopes to keep the advancing Roman foot at bay, as they continued to push forward in the center past the ongoing battle on the hill.
At this point, we turned our spear line and shifted left behind the hills and then wheeled right, advancing to face the few Roman heavy foot on the left side of the hill chain. We used our right wing horse to threaten and delay the Roman center, and our light horse harried the lone Roman horse. They continued doggedly ahead, though a couple of units peeled off to cover their right flank and face off against our mediums on the slopes above. One of their overly aggressive Spanish wandered a bit too close, and we pinned, flanked and broke it. The Romans wheeled most of their heavy foot to face our position along the slopes, and a few pushed on around the base of the hill.
On our far left, our horse worked around the flank and drew off some Triarri, and, with the help of our light horse, saw off the lone Roman cavalry. The other Roman heavy foot intervened in the hill fight, but weren't very effective due to the difficult ground, but slowed down our advance.
On our left, our spearmen arrived on the flanks of the embattled Roman heavy foot promptly flanked them seeing off a couple of them. The elite and heavily armored Triarri fought to the last man though, holding up further progress.
Our light horse and cavalry chased the last Roman horse up onto the steep hills, where our waiting mediums flanked and routed it. A couple of disrupted velites were swept away about this time as well and that tipped the Romans over their breaking point.
Final Score: Carthaginians 40 - Romans 15.
- Attachments
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Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
- Posts: 1987
- Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:36 pm
- Location: Osaka, Japan
Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 10 in our series finds us facing off vs the Romans in the woods of Southern Italy.
10. Ambush from the Woods.
A new Roman force tracked us down, and we offered battle on a wooded and bramble-filled plain. Trees covered most of our left corner, and more lay in our center left. A steep hill rose along the edge on our left, further constricting that flank. A small village sat in about our center. Behind the village, lay a large rough patch running almost to our back edge. Another huge rough patch blocked off our right corner, and a fair-sized forest sat in our right center, to the left of the rough. A smaller rough patch lay on the left side of that forest towards the center, with another village just to the left. More forests grew on the Roman side; a large one filled most of the far left corner, and another a large part of their center. A necklace of rough patches ran from the forest in the far left corner down towards the left center of the field. A medium-sized rough patch lay on the Roman side of the center section, a bit beyond the central village. A small pond and a few small rough patches were scattered in the far right corner. In short, it was a very broken up field.
We opted for a typical Carthaginian gambit; We presented a token force visible of our spears visible on the open ground to the right of the forests on our left, a bit behind the village with the rough area masking our right. We deployed a few Spanish to hold the rough patch. A token horse helped cover our right. We threw out a couple of light horse as scouts along the front. The rest of our forces were hidden in and behind forests on both flanks. On our left, we placed several more Spanish and Phoeni medium foot, with a couple of lights screening the edge of the woods. Half of our spear hid on the edges of left woods a short distance behind our front line spear. A couple of horse hid on the far left side of the woods. On our right we hid a mounted command in and behind the woods with a few light foot screening the edge of the woods. Our plan was to lure the Romans into a central attack and then envelop them, once engaged, with our mediums and mounted.
The Romans deployed in the center of their sector, resting their right flank on the large forest. Heavy foot formed up in the center with some mediums on their right and horse on their left, screened by a few light foot. They cautiously rolled forward towards our waiting spear line. Our light horse slowly fell back to avoid getting mobbed by his light foot and drew them on towards the center.
As the Romans got closer, we dropped our front line back a little more to narrow the open ground to between the forest on our left and the rough on our right. We refused our right, dropping back the Spanish to face the oncoming Roman legionaries. We sortied out of the woods on our left with some lights supported by a single medium foot and a couple of our horse and quickly saw off the velites who'd attempted to scout the woods. On our right, our mounted command, supported by a few lights swept out and overwhelmed the velites sent to scout the woods and their supporting horse.
The Roman heavy foot smashed into our narrow front of spears and also attempted to tackle our Spanish in the rough covering our right. One of our spears got disrupted and forced back, but we then flanked the advancing legionaries, disrupting them as well. The spear collapsed, but our others held, and the Roman broke as well. The Romans pushed around the rough on our right and fragmented one of our mediums attempting to block them. We plugged one of our reserve spears into the gap and managed to retire and rally the medium in the safety of the forest as the battle raged on.
With the lines engaged, we brought our Spanish out of the woods and enveloped the Roman right, quickly disrupting a couple of his heavy foot. Our mounted returned from their pursuit of the defeated Roman velites and fell upon the rear of the battling Roman legionaries and the Roman center collapsed and the survivors fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 61 - Romans 27.
10. Ambush from the Woods.
A new Roman force tracked us down, and we offered battle on a wooded and bramble-filled plain. Trees covered most of our left corner, and more lay in our center left. A steep hill rose along the edge on our left, further constricting that flank. A small village sat in about our center. Behind the village, lay a large rough patch running almost to our back edge. Another huge rough patch blocked off our right corner, and a fair-sized forest sat in our right center, to the left of the rough. A smaller rough patch lay on the left side of that forest towards the center, with another village just to the left. More forests grew on the Roman side; a large one filled most of the far left corner, and another a large part of their center. A necklace of rough patches ran from the forest in the far left corner down towards the left center of the field. A medium-sized rough patch lay on the Roman side of the center section, a bit beyond the central village. A small pond and a few small rough patches were scattered in the far right corner. In short, it was a very broken up field.
We opted for a typical Carthaginian gambit; We presented a token force visible of our spears visible on the open ground to the right of the forests on our left, a bit behind the village with the rough area masking our right. We deployed a few Spanish to hold the rough patch. A token horse helped cover our right. We threw out a couple of light horse as scouts along the front. The rest of our forces were hidden in and behind forests on both flanks. On our left, we placed several more Spanish and Phoeni medium foot, with a couple of lights screening the edge of the woods. Half of our spear hid on the edges of left woods a short distance behind our front line spear. A couple of horse hid on the far left side of the woods. On our right we hid a mounted command in and behind the woods with a few light foot screening the edge of the woods. Our plan was to lure the Romans into a central attack and then envelop them, once engaged, with our mediums and mounted.
The Romans deployed in the center of their sector, resting their right flank on the large forest. Heavy foot formed up in the center with some mediums on their right and horse on their left, screened by a few light foot. They cautiously rolled forward towards our waiting spear line. Our light horse slowly fell back to avoid getting mobbed by his light foot and drew them on towards the center.
As the Romans got closer, we dropped our front line back a little more to narrow the open ground to between the forest on our left and the rough on our right. We refused our right, dropping back the Spanish to face the oncoming Roman legionaries. We sortied out of the woods on our left with some lights supported by a single medium foot and a couple of our horse and quickly saw off the velites who'd attempted to scout the woods. On our right, our mounted command, supported by a few lights swept out and overwhelmed the velites sent to scout the woods and their supporting horse.
The Roman heavy foot smashed into our narrow front of spears and also attempted to tackle our Spanish in the rough covering our right. One of our spears got disrupted and forced back, but we then flanked the advancing legionaries, disrupting them as well. The spear collapsed, but our others held, and the Roman broke as well. The Romans pushed around the rough on our right and fragmented one of our mediums attempting to block them. We plugged one of our reserve spears into the gap and managed to retire and rally the medium in the safety of the forest as the battle raged on.
With the lines engaged, we brought our Spanish out of the woods and enveloped the Roman right, quickly disrupting a couple of his heavy foot. Our mounted returned from their pursuit of the defeated Roman velites and fell upon the rear of the battling Roman legionaries and the Roman center collapsed and the survivors fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 61 - Romans 27.
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- 2024 05 carth vs rome 01.jpg (307.9 KiB) Viewed 324 times
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 11 in our series finds us facing off vs the Greeks amid the woods and hills of Sicily.
11. In the Hills of Sicily
After the series of defeats inflicted upon the Romans, their survivor sought shelter behind the walls of their cities and refused to be tempted out by our raids and skirmisher. So, we decided to cross over into Sicily and disrupt Roman control and influence there. Several of the Greek cities banded together to oppose our advance in the hills at the north end of the island.
Our scout reported the Greeks formed up along the slopes of a long ridge which ran across the center and then dog-legged down along the right side of the field. Scattered woods lay in our left and right corners, as well as in the far left corner beyond the ridge. A medium-sized hill, with a few rough patches, in the center of our lines faced the long ridge. A small hamlet lay at the foot of the hill and another one sat a bit off to the left near the edge of some woods.
We formed up our spearmen along the slopes of the hill with some Spanish anchoring our right in the rough. We placed some Italians to garrison each village and the balance of our mediums hidden in the woods on our left near the edge. We stationed our light foot hidden in woods on our left supported by half our mounted, some cavalry and light horse. The rest of our mounted we deployed to cover our right.
The Greeks opened by shifting heavy and medium foot out to each flank to support their lights and inferior number of horse. Despite getting a good opening skirmishing opportunity on both flanks, our lights were unenthusiastic and the Greeks stoically stood up to our barrage and then ran down most of our lights and scattered our horse. When we rallied our horse and had a chance to run down his opposing lights and horse, we pursued half-heartedly and they sprinted or galloped well-clear in virtually every case. We did run one off the board, and naturally followed off ourselves, leaving the battle. Our surviving horse was scattered to the winds in pursuit in a couple of cases where we did catch our evaders.
Infused with confidence, and with our screening horse in the wind, the Greek shifted left to advance along the slope with the aim of turning our right and begin to shift his extended right back towards the center.
Leaving our mediums as a blocking force in the village and rough on our right we marched our spears left to face his smaller and still somewhat scattered infantry on our left, using the village we garrisoned near the woods as a new anchor for our right. A couple of our surviving light foot harried his advancing mediums and drew them into an ambush on our left. Our mediums pounced on his and one of our horse flanked these once engaged. Again, our troops simply did not show any elan, failing to win, and even losing, melees, resulting in a slow drawn out grind, rather than a quick decisive destruction.
Our spears wheeled on the village and engaged the smaller number of enemy mediums and heavy foot led by a pair of our generals. Again, the Greek endured numerous losses without blinking, and one of our generals died, disheartening some of our troops. We managed to flank, and still the Greeks hung on.
The Greek left converged on the central hill and hamlet held by our mediums, who fought hard and managed to see off a couple of the attackers, but those on the hill were quickly flanked and folded. The right village garrison also threw in the towel after a very brief resistance.
On our left, we finally saw off the ambushed foot and our horse ponced on the exposed flanks of the Greeks fighting our spears. Again, the Greeks held.
We managed to rally some of our cavalry in the Greek rear and overrun a lone stone thrower, but night fell before our horse could fall on the now open Greek rear.
Our exhausted and demoralized troops gladly sought refuge and refreshment in camp, surviving a defeat by the skin of our teeth.
Final Score: Carthaginians 37 Greek 56
11. In the Hills of Sicily
After the series of defeats inflicted upon the Romans, their survivor sought shelter behind the walls of their cities and refused to be tempted out by our raids and skirmisher. So, we decided to cross over into Sicily and disrupt Roman control and influence there. Several of the Greek cities banded together to oppose our advance in the hills at the north end of the island.
Our scout reported the Greeks formed up along the slopes of a long ridge which ran across the center and then dog-legged down along the right side of the field. Scattered woods lay in our left and right corners, as well as in the far left corner beyond the ridge. A medium-sized hill, with a few rough patches, in the center of our lines faced the long ridge. A small hamlet lay at the foot of the hill and another one sat a bit off to the left near the edge of some woods.
We formed up our spearmen along the slopes of the hill with some Spanish anchoring our right in the rough. We placed some Italians to garrison each village and the balance of our mediums hidden in the woods on our left near the edge. We stationed our light foot hidden in woods on our left supported by half our mounted, some cavalry and light horse. The rest of our mounted we deployed to cover our right.
The Greeks opened by shifting heavy and medium foot out to each flank to support their lights and inferior number of horse. Despite getting a good opening skirmishing opportunity on both flanks, our lights were unenthusiastic and the Greeks stoically stood up to our barrage and then ran down most of our lights and scattered our horse. When we rallied our horse and had a chance to run down his opposing lights and horse, we pursued half-heartedly and they sprinted or galloped well-clear in virtually every case. We did run one off the board, and naturally followed off ourselves, leaving the battle. Our surviving horse was scattered to the winds in pursuit in a couple of cases where we did catch our evaders.
Infused with confidence, and with our screening horse in the wind, the Greek shifted left to advance along the slope with the aim of turning our right and begin to shift his extended right back towards the center.
Leaving our mediums as a blocking force in the village and rough on our right we marched our spears left to face his smaller and still somewhat scattered infantry on our left, using the village we garrisoned near the woods as a new anchor for our right. A couple of our surviving light foot harried his advancing mediums and drew them into an ambush on our left. Our mediums pounced on his and one of our horse flanked these once engaged. Again, our troops simply did not show any elan, failing to win, and even losing, melees, resulting in a slow drawn out grind, rather than a quick decisive destruction.
Our spears wheeled on the village and engaged the smaller number of enemy mediums and heavy foot led by a pair of our generals. Again, the Greek endured numerous losses without blinking, and one of our generals died, disheartening some of our troops. We managed to flank, and still the Greeks hung on.
The Greek left converged on the central hill and hamlet held by our mediums, who fought hard and managed to see off a couple of the attackers, but those on the hill were quickly flanked and folded. The right village garrison also threw in the towel after a very brief resistance.
On our left, we finally saw off the ambushed foot and our horse ponced on the exposed flanks of the Greeks fighting our spears. Again, the Greeks held.
We managed to rally some of our cavalry in the Greek rear and overrun a lone stone thrower, but night fell before our horse could fall on the now open Greek rear.
Our exhausted and demoralized troops gladly sought refuge and refreshment in camp, surviving a defeat by the skin of our teeth.
Final Score: Carthaginians 37 Greek 56
- Attachments
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- 2024 05 carth greek 01.jpg (246.81 KiB) Viewed 275 times
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 12 in our series finds us facing off vs the Greeks on a lightly wooded plain
12. The Double Ambush on the Plains
After a bit of a rest and refit, our army sortied out our Syracusian allies lands and met the Greeks on a broad plain. A small steep hill rose along our back edge near the left-center with a small patch of rough at the foot of the hill and a small village. A medium-sized wood and hamlet lay in our right-center area, with a fair-sized rough patch beyond along the right edge. A large rough patch lay in the Greek center-right sector with some scattered woods beyond in the far left corner. Some woods and rough lay along the edges in the far right corner as well.
We deployed a small division of medium foot hidden behind the steep hill on our left and in the village below to cover our left flank. Our spears we deployed offset a bit to the right so that the forest could mask their flank if we advanced. We deployed another division of medium foot in the village and that forest on our right. We placed one mounted command covering the open space between our spears and the steep hill on our left. The rest of our mounted we hid in and behind the woods on our right. We hid our light foot along the edges of the forest on our right. We hoped to draw the Greeks in on our spears and then flank them with our mediums and mounted.
The Greeks deployed a lot of hoplites in the center, with a few mediums to cover the large rough patch on their right. In their rear, they had a reserve of raw hoplites and a stone thrower, which I suspect they'd drug along to counter any elephants we might have. A few lights screened their battle line.
We slowly advance our spears, shifting a little to the right. We rode across our front to the right with our mounted command and drove off his skirmishers. He shifted his hoplites more to the center to drive those back, and we brought out our right wing mounted and rode wide around his left, causing him to wheel and dispatch a fair amount of his reserve and left wing to contain these.
We sortied out of the woods with our light and shot up some of his remaining left wing hoplites, then swept out with our Spanish and finished them off. Some of our cavalry doubled-back and helped further disperse these.
The Greeks shifted his mediums out of the rough to support his advance in the center with his hoplites. We then brought our mediums out of hiding and shifted some of our horse out to help flank the extended Greek right.
The lines clashed in the center without any real initial advantage. However, our mediums came in on both flanks and his mediums on the right quickly collapsed and several neighboring hoplites soon joined the rout and the Greeks fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 40 Western Greeks 8.
12. The Double Ambush on the Plains
After a bit of a rest and refit, our army sortied out our Syracusian allies lands and met the Greeks on a broad plain. A small steep hill rose along our back edge near the left-center with a small patch of rough at the foot of the hill and a small village. A medium-sized wood and hamlet lay in our right-center area, with a fair-sized rough patch beyond along the right edge. A large rough patch lay in the Greek center-right sector with some scattered woods beyond in the far left corner. Some woods and rough lay along the edges in the far right corner as well.
We deployed a small division of medium foot hidden behind the steep hill on our left and in the village below to cover our left flank. Our spears we deployed offset a bit to the right so that the forest could mask their flank if we advanced. We deployed another division of medium foot in the village and that forest on our right. We placed one mounted command covering the open space between our spears and the steep hill on our left. The rest of our mounted we hid in and behind the woods on our right. We hid our light foot along the edges of the forest on our right. We hoped to draw the Greeks in on our spears and then flank them with our mediums and mounted.
The Greeks deployed a lot of hoplites in the center, with a few mediums to cover the large rough patch on their right. In their rear, they had a reserve of raw hoplites and a stone thrower, which I suspect they'd drug along to counter any elephants we might have. A few lights screened their battle line.
We slowly advance our spears, shifting a little to the right. We rode across our front to the right with our mounted command and drove off his skirmishers. He shifted his hoplites more to the center to drive those back, and we brought out our right wing mounted and rode wide around his left, causing him to wheel and dispatch a fair amount of his reserve and left wing to contain these.
We sortied out of the woods with our light and shot up some of his remaining left wing hoplites, then swept out with our Spanish and finished them off. Some of our cavalry doubled-back and helped further disperse these.
The Greeks shifted his mediums out of the rough to support his advance in the center with his hoplites. We then brought our mediums out of hiding and shifted some of our horse out to help flank the extended Greek right.
The lines clashed in the center without any real initial advantage. However, our mediums came in on both flanks and his mediums on the right quickly collapsed and several neighboring hoplites soon joined the rout and the Greeks fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 40 Western Greeks 8.
- Attachments
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- 2024 06 carth greek 02.jpg (242.09 KiB) Viewed 242 times
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 13 in our series finds us facing off vs the Greeks in Sicily
13 Battle of the woods and Hills.
We next met the Greeks in the foothills of Sicily. A long ridge ran along the right edge, partially sprinkled with rough. A medium-sized wood lay at the foot of the ridge in our right sector. A small, steep hill rose along our center edge.
We deployed a strong division of mediums in the woods screened by our lights. We hid a division of our horse behind the woods. A smaller division of mediums, we hid behind the steep hill. Our spears we deployed beside the steep hill with a division of our horse covering the flank.
The Greeks deployed in the center with a large body of hoplites. A few mediums and horse were scattered behind the line in support. A line of lights screened their front.
We planned to draw their hoplites in on our spear and then shift behind the woods and take them on their left flank as our mediums held the woods and rough ground on the ridge. Our horse and lights would hopefully deal with his lights and mounted and then envelop.
Our lights and mounted clashed pretty quickly with his along the ridge on the right. We overwhelmed and drove off most of these due to our superior numbers of horse, but took some losses, before chasing off after the broken enemy. We shifted a few mediums out of the woods and secured a defensive position in some of the rough along the ridge. We advanced our spear to just short of the woods. We marched most of our smaller medium foot division hidden behind steep hill behind the spears and into the woods to bolster our numbers there. We left a token delaying force on the hill to distract the Greeks.
The Greeks pressed the bulk of their forces towards our spear and to mask the woods, but detached a few hoplites and mediums to oppose our forces on the ridge. We wheeled our spear line and marched behind and around the woods to expand our position on the ridge and engaged the opposing Greek foot there.
The Greeks tried to push through the woods with lights and mediums, but found ours lurking there, and a prolonged battle ensued in and around the woods. We ambushed and broke several of his mediums there, and he was forced to use some of his hoplites to contain us. Some of his hoplite continued pressing past the woods to drive off some of our horse and to catch our spears; the others reversed and marched back to support the battle on the ridge.
Leaving just a couple of mediums to delay the Greeks in the woods, we sortied out of the woods, taking the engaged Greek foot in the flank. Our returning cavalry and light horse fell on the exposed flanks and rear of the Greeks struggling along the ridge as well. In spite of a few setbacks, we managed to overwhelm the Greeks on the hill over the next couple of hours. The Greeks managed to finally clear the woods, but by that time, their army had enough and collapsed.
Final Score: Carthaginians 66 Greeks 55.
13 Battle of the woods and Hills.
We next met the Greeks in the foothills of Sicily. A long ridge ran along the right edge, partially sprinkled with rough. A medium-sized wood lay at the foot of the ridge in our right sector. A small, steep hill rose along our center edge.
We deployed a strong division of mediums in the woods screened by our lights. We hid a division of our horse behind the woods. A smaller division of mediums, we hid behind the steep hill. Our spears we deployed beside the steep hill with a division of our horse covering the flank.
The Greeks deployed in the center with a large body of hoplites. A few mediums and horse were scattered behind the line in support. A line of lights screened their front.
We planned to draw their hoplites in on our spear and then shift behind the woods and take them on their left flank as our mediums held the woods and rough ground on the ridge. Our horse and lights would hopefully deal with his lights and mounted and then envelop.
Our lights and mounted clashed pretty quickly with his along the ridge on the right. We overwhelmed and drove off most of these due to our superior numbers of horse, but took some losses, before chasing off after the broken enemy. We shifted a few mediums out of the woods and secured a defensive position in some of the rough along the ridge. We advanced our spear to just short of the woods. We marched most of our smaller medium foot division hidden behind steep hill behind the spears and into the woods to bolster our numbers there. We left a token delaying force on the hill to distract the Greeks.
The Greeks pressed the bulk of their forces towards our spear and to mask the woods, but detached a few hoplites and mediums to oppose our forces on the ridge. We wheeled our spear line and marched behind and around the woods to expand our position on the ridge and engaged the opposing Greek foot there.
The Greeks tried to push through the woods with lights and mediums, but found ours lurking there, and a prolonged battle ensued in and around the woods. We ambushed and broke several of his mediums there, and he was forced to use some of his hoplites to contain us. Some of his hoplite continued pressing past the woods to drive off some of our horse and to catch our spears; the others reversed and marched back to support the battle on the ridge.
Leaving just a couple of mediums to delay the Greeks in the woods, we sortied out of the woods, taking the engaged Greek foot in the flank. Our returning cavalry and light horse fell on the exposed flanks and rear of the Greeks struggling along the ridge as well. In spite of a few setbacks, we managed to overwhelm the Greeks on the hill over the next couple of hours. The Greeks managed to finally clear the woods, but by that time, their army had enough and collapsed.
Final Score: Carthaginians 66 Greeks 55.
- Attachments
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- 2024 06 30 Carth vs Grk.jpg (185.37 KiB) Viewed 200 times
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 14 in our series finds us facing off vs the Romans in Africa.
14. In a Desert Valley.
While we were subjugating Sicily, the Romans rallied and raised a new army. In a change of strategy, they dispatched this to North Africa, and we were recalled by the Carthaginian senate to deal with the invaders. After reorganizing our forces, we marched out and met them in a shallow desert valley southeast of Carthage. Long gentle slopes ran along both sides of the field. The one on our left ran from about the center to just short of the Roman right sector. The one on our right ran from short of our right sector all the way to the far side of the field, with small higher knolls at each end. A large patch of rough lay at the far end of the slope on our right. Two other large patches of rough sat on either side of our center sector.
We deployed mixed mounted commands supported by a few light foot and an elephant on each wing. We initially our small heavy foot division in the center a bit short of the rough patches. We deployed medium foot divisions in each of the rough patches.
The Romans deployed their legion in the center, with a token horse covering each flank and a screen of light foot and a few light horse. A couple of medium foot supported the flanks. A lone elephant supported their left.
We pressed hard on the wings with our mounted commands, driving in his lights, and shifted our foot to our left to secure the slope. We left a few medium foot to hold the large left patch of rough. The Romans advanced and then wheeled to face us as we scaled the ridge and worked our way down it. Our right wing mounted tangled with and chased off the opposing Roman horse and supporting lights. We reversed direction and shifted that elephant and some of our light to help mask our right flank as we shifted left behind the rough.
Our skirmishers on our left shot up the opposing Roman horse and a medium foot defending the rough at the foot of the slope. Our horse pushed on around the rough, pursuing the fleeing Romans to prevent them from rallying. Our lights continued to harry the surviving medium and the Romans moved up some Triari to support it and block our flanking move.
A legionary and the elephant tried to drive one of our Spanish out of the rough to turn our line, but ended up disrupted and locked in melee.
The Roman legionaries attempted to storm the left slope and were stopped cold by our veteran infantry. We worked the flanks with our mediums and elephants and punched several holes in the Roman line. The rampaging elephants took out more foot as they crashed down the end of the line in a domino effect.
As our light horse cantered up on the Roman rear, with more of our cavalry following behind them, the Romans lost heart and fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 42 Romans 7
14. In a Desert Valley.
While we were subjugating Sicily, the Romans rallied and raised a new army. In a change of strategy, they dispatched this to North Africa, and we were recalled by the Carthaginian senate to deal with the invaders. After reorganizing our forces, we marched out and met them in a shallow desert valley southeast of Carthage. Long gentle slopes ran along both sides of the field. The one on our left ran from about the center to just short of the Roman right sector. The one on our right ran from short of our right sector all the way to the far side of the field, with small higher knolls at each end. A large patch of rough lay at the far end of the slope on our right. Two other large patches of rough sat on either side of our center sector.
We deployed mixed mounted commands supported by a few light foot and an elephant on each wing. We initially our small heavy foot division in the center a bit short of the rough patches. We deployed medium foot divisions in each of the rough patches.
The Romans deployed their legion in the center, with a token horse covering each flank and a screen of light foot and a few light horse. A couple of medium foot supported the flanks. A lone elephant supported their left.
We pressed hard on the wings with our mounted commands, driving in his lights, and shifted our foot to our left to secure the slope. We left a few medium foot to hold the large left patch of rough. The Romans advanced and then wheeled to face us as we scaled the ridge and worked our way down it. Our right wing mounted tangled with and chased off the opposing Roman horse and supporting lights. We reversed direction and shifted that elephant and some of our light to help mask our right flank as we shifted left behind the rough.
Our skirmishers on our left shot up the opposing Roman horse and a medium foot defending the rough at the foot of the slope. Our horse pushed on around the rough, pursuing the fleeing Romans to prevent them from rallying. Our lights continued to harry the surviving medium and the Romans moved up some Triari to support it and block our flanking move.
A legionary and the elephant tried to drive one of our Spanish out of the rough to turn our line, but ended up disrupted and locked in melee.
The Roman legionaries attempted to storm the left slope and were stopped cold by our veteran infantry. We worked the flanks with our mediums and elephants and punched several holes in the Roman line. The rampaging elephants took out more foot as they crashed down the end of the line in a domino effect.
As our light horse cantered up on the Roman rear, with more of our cavalry following behind them, the Romans lost heart and fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 42 Romans 7
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- 2024 07 carth rom 01.jpg (125.83 KiB) Viewed 184 times
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
Part 15 in our series finds us facing off vs the Romans in Africa
15. The Fight in the Hills.
We pursued the defeated Romans, who turned to fight us in the hill country. A large chain of hills, with scattered rough, ran down the center and left side of the field, rising to a steep and rugged plateau just beyond our center. A small oasis with a large rough patch nearby blocked off the right flank.
Our plan focused on the steep mastiff. With our superior numbers and quality of mediums and lights, I felt we could seize and hold this, then use it as a source of flanking attacks. We assigned a large block of mediums, behind a screen of lights to this task. Our small division of heavy foot we sent around the left of the hill, supported by a few horse. We placed a horse command on the right to delay and harry Romans advancing along that flank.
The Romans sent their velites to secure the hill, followed up by a few medium foot. Most of their heavy foot initially started on their left. A smaller number were sent to block their right. Their horse were concentrated on the more open area covering their left flank.
On our right, our horse skirmished with his, but due to the support of his neighboring heavy foot, weren't able to accomplish too much.
On our left, our veteran spears turned back his opposing heavy foot, seeing off some raw and average pretty quickly, before shattering a veteran unit. Some of our light horse worked around the flank and pursued the fleeing Romans to prevent rallying.
The main action was in the center. Our lights and mediums saw off most of his velites after a bit of a fight. His supporting mediums proved more difficult, but our superior numbers and quality saw us slowly grinding these down. A couple of heavy foot attempted to scale the slopes to support his mediums, but we caught and destroyed these with a combo of our lights and mediums. Our cavalry came in on the flanks from our left and helped see off another unit or two, and the Romans had enough and fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 50 Romans 12.
15. The Fight in the Hills.
We pursued the defeated Romans, who turned to fight us in the hill country. A large chain of hills, with scattered rough, ran down the center and left side of the field, rising to a steep and rugged plateau just beyond our center. A small oasis with a large rough patch nearby blocked off the right flank.
Our plan focused on the steep mastiff. With our superior numbers and quality of mediums and lights, I felt we could seize and hold this, then use it as a source of flanking attacks. We assigned a large block of mediums, behind a screen of lights to this task. Our small division of heavy foot we sent around the left of the hill, supported by a few horse. We placed a horse command on the right to delay and harry Romans advancing along that flank.
The Romans sent their velites to secure the hill, followed up by a few medium foot. Most of their heavy foot initially started on their left. A smaller number were sent to block their right. Their horse were concentrated on the more open area covering their left flank.
On our right, our horse skirmished with his, but due to the support of his neighboring heavy foot, weren't able to accomplish too much.
On our left, our veteran spears turned back his opposing heavy foot, seeing off some raw and average pretty quickly, before shattering a veteran unit. Some of our light horse worked around the flank and pursued the fleeing Romans to prevent rallying.
The main action was in the center. Our lights and mediums saw off most of his velites after a bit of a fight. His supporting mediums proved more difficult, but our superior numbers and quality saw us slowly grinding these down. A couple of heavy foot attempted to scale the slopes to support his mediums, but we caught and destroyed these with a combo of our lights and mediums. Our cavalry came in on the flanks from our left and helped see off another unit or two, and the Romans had enough and fled the field.
Final Score: Carthaginians 50 Romans 12.
- Attachments
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- 2024 07 cath rom 02.jpg (145.39 KiB) Viewed 158 times
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.
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- Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
- Posts: 1987
- Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:36 pm
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Re: In the Footsteps of Hannibal
With the destruction of the Roman expeditionary force, the Romans were forced to accept a new peace treaty recognizing Carthaginian successes. Sicily reverted to the control of Carthage and her ally Syracuse. The cities of Magna Graecia regained their independence. The Roman fleet was scrapped.
Final results: 12 Wins 1 Loss 2 Draws.
Thanks to everyone who picked up the open games.
Regards,
Karvon
Final results: 12 Wins 1 Loss 2 Draws.
Thanks to everyone who picked up the open games.
Regards,
Karvon
Chaos Tourney and Little Wars Organizer, TDC VI Early Medieval Coordinator. WTC US Team Hell on Wheels Captain.