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Cannae - alea iacta est

Page history last edited by Rob Brennan 15 years, 6 months ago

  It was a dark and windy day....in Upper Hut...gale force forecast not

far from here and it was certainly blowing outside with grey clouds.. :)

 

The battle was set - could the local Carthaginians match Hannibal's genius?

 

The Romans "set up first", Hannibal 2nd...Rome took the 1st move...the

PIPs were 0, 1, 0 and 3 (fron left to right low (Varro), high, 2nd, ally

(Paulus) were an immediate warning of what we could expect.

 

But we didn't have to wait long for the action - Carthage got 6, 6, 4

and 4, with their cavalry wings getting the 2 highest dice and the

infantry centres averaging the low ones.

 

It only took to turn 2 for the Gallic and Iberian cavalry to smash into

the Roman cavalry, and instantly they killed an element, creating the

dreaded gap...

 

But for some reason the carthaginian plyer there didn't exploit it on

turn 3 - maybe it was only getting 2 PIPs?

 

In the centre the Punic skirmishers and the first line of Gauls advanced

to attack the Roman light screen - which struggled to retire through the

legions behind them - the formations were so deep and dense that all

sorts of moves had to be tried to get the light troops out of hteway

(basically they advanced with 2 ranks of blades to create a gap into

which they could retire) - much of the Roman PIP resource was spent

trying to bring the heavy infantry forward through the obstacle of their

own light troops!  They may have been better off just fighting with them!!

 

On the Roman left Varro had 0, 1, 0 PIPs for the first 3 turns, and the

Numidans (with 6, 3 and 6 PIPs) promptly marched outside their flank and

lines up on the end of the more-or-less stationary Italian allied cavalry.

 

Contact was made between the advancing Gauls and the Roman centre on T4,

but the Italian cavalry got 4 PIPs that turn, and turned on thir

tormentors - advancing a line towards the main body of Numidians and

telling off some elements to cover their flank - but they didn't

actually kill anything.

 

The Roman cavalry was crumbling fast on the right....right up until the

bit where Hasdrubal got himself killed (T6)!!  Over confident in his

numbers he had fought in the front rank and pursued too fat - finding

himself isolated and flanked!  Oops.

 

However numbers and hte gaps did tell, and that was the end of the

successes for the Roman right flank as the African spearmen came up onto

the outside of hte Roman infantry....

 

With 2, 3 and 2 PIPs on turns 5, 6 and 7 Varro was positively racing

around the table on the left - and even managed to kill a few

Numidians.....but early casualties meant the Italians were outnumbered

in elements, and excrebal PIPs vs great ones for the light horsement

(1,1,1 T8-10 vs 5, 6, 6) meant the Italians were essentially sitting

ducks - they won a few combats, survived a few occasions being lapped

around, but were being whittled down without being able to respond.

 

In the middle the Roman infantry pushed forward.  Gallic casualties were

mounting, but only a couple of handfuls so far...

 

On the right Paulus's infantry tried to turn outwards to face the

victorious mercenary cavalry and the African spearmen....tbut he newly

raised legions proved no match for the veterans, and by T10 Paulus'

command was disheartened.  By the end of T11 it broke, and T14 it was

shattered and fled the table in disorder, followed by such Gallic and

Iberian cavalry who were close enough to get impetuous pursuit and who

were not controlled.

 

They had inflicted casualties on the Africans tho - especially where the

 Carthaginians had carelessly not covered a flank properly and were

lapped by some Principes using that well known Roman manouvre the 80p

slidus......:)

 

In the centre the Romans were pressing forward and Gallic casualties

were mounting....it was fairly obvious the Gauls were going to be broken

through right in the middle....advancing them early in the game had just

bought them closer to the Romans and given them more time to be killed -

not a good move.

 

With a few Sp(S) dead the left wing of the Carthaginian infantry  was

getting close to being disheartened, and at one point Hannibal even

throw his own bodyguard into the fray, attacking directly at the

pro-consul ...but he achieved nothing of note (2 brilliant strokes as

+2's in combat vs the Roman general....)

 

Back on the left....with the Roman right wing broken it was now a race

to see if the Roman left would break before the Carthaginian infantry...

 

The Numidians all but cleared out the Italian cavalry, but the African

spearmen found them much harder (lost 2 elements to 6-1's at 3:3!) - the

last 4 elements of Italian cavalry, incl Varro's own Extraordinarii

(thought I'd get that in... :)) simple refused to roll low...

 

On T13 Hannibal's infantry became disheartened......on T14 Mago's

infantry became disheartened....by this time the centre of Gauls had

completely disappeared...the Numidians had closed on all sides of Varro

and his bodyguards...but inspired by the Consul the Itialians forced the

 lighter horsemen to retire time after time.

 

More Numidians arrived to harrass the rear of the Roman left...but all

this time Gauls were being cut down in the middle...the 2 pro-consuls

had turned many of their troops towards the flanks and were "running

down" the line....

 

Adn so to the final turn...T16.....both Carthaginian infantry commands

were within 1 element of breaking, ht Numidians were attacking the rear

ranks of the Roman left (ie the Triarii Sp(S)), Varro was

surrounded...again...and his raw legionaries were being attacked in the

front by Hanno, and in the flank (Bd (I) forvced to turn) and rear

(Sp(S) that couldn't turn) by Numidians.

 

But hey...it's jsut a game of dice....:)

 

So the final round of combat in the Carthaginian turn - Hanno killed the

Bd facing him....but the Carthaginians couldn't buy another victory

anywher - the Triarii turned and faced the Numidians, refusing to give

in to panic;  Varro's Italians finally caught some of the nimble

horsemen coming too close and killed many who were unable to get away

(ie he killed the element facing), and in the centre the Romans wiped

out some more of Hannibal's Gauls - so Hannibal's own command broke, and

the 2 ME penalty for seeing tht broke the other infantry command - Game

over, and Rome wins the day!

 

ANALYSIS (some thoughts)

As Varro having a death of PIPs was unbelievably frustrating - most of

the time all I could do was try to get the general out of danger - half

hte time when I did have 1 PIP he was stuck in close combat and couldn't

move any troops anyway!

 

A better PIP allocation system may have been to average the 3 eligible

Roman commands - this would haev given Varro extra PIPs at the expense

of the 2 central commands - but they also had their generals' PIPs which

they used often to get into combat.

 

In this case the Roman psiloi would probably have had to fight rather

than attempt to withdraw.

 

The Carthaginians made several mistakes IMO:

 

1/ Advancing the gauls - no need to do this - the longer it takes for

the Romans to get to them the better, and a couple more turns delay

before it happened would have seen the Carthaginians probably win.

2/ Fighting with Hasdrubal - unlucky dice in some respects, but there

was never any need for his extra factor

 

Both of htese I put down to them being a bit impatient to get into

contact and not fully realising that they needed to accomplish some

things in order - ie FIRST clear away the Roman cavalry wings....THEN do

the infantry fight...

 

You may notice three's no mention of the Iberian infantry - that's

because they only fought a couple of times right at the end of the game.

 They had been set up on the flanks of the Gauls and not been advanced

with the Spearmen - so they only barely made it into combat with the

remnants of Paulus's army on the Roman left, and not at all on the right.

 

 

THE SEQUEL (ie how history changed....)

 

With most of their cavalry intact the remnants of the Carthaginian army

were able to gather back at their camp - with Varro's urging, Paulus

offered battle again the next day, but Hannibal refused, then slipped

away that night, leaving his wounded to be slaughtered by the vengeful

Romans.

 

Terrentius Varro was aclaimed as the Saviour of Rome, and Fabius Maximus

was reviled for having spent a year withiout inflicting any defeat on

Hannibal.

 

Hannibal could not stay in southern Italy - no Italian cities rebelled

agaisnt Rome, and he was forced to retreat back to Cisalpine Gaul for

supplies.  But even there the carnage among his gallic troops had made

him unpopular.

 

A year later Varro was ambushed by Hannibal while marching without

proper scouts in northern Italy, but the revenge gave only temporary

relief, and Hannibal was forced to make a long and arduous reverse

passage through the alps and return to Spain.

 

While there, his star seriously diminished and his troops exhausted,

demoralised and many fewer than had left, he was defeated by the

otherwise little known Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio - Carthage

was forced from Spain, and the 2nd Punic War was ended on terms of

Carthage losing all its territories outside Africa, having its fleet

limited to 30 Triremes, and having to pay Rome a massive tribute for the

next 50 years.

 

Just 23 years later the Carthaginians had had enough of this and went to

war with Rome again - some say Hannibal was the chief instigator, but it

was of no import - Carthage no longer had the resourcs to fight and had

timed it's declaration badly - Rome had defeated Macedonia and Seleucia

in recent wars and neither was able to offer more than encouragement -

although both did declare war.  After several years desultory fighting

in Africa, Rome sent Lucius Aemilius Paulus to command - son of one of

the consuls at Cannae.  He invested Carthage, and after a seige of 2

years accepted its surrender, sold it's peoiple into slavery and

destroyed the city forever.

 

So nothing really changed....:)

 

Mark Pickup adds:

It is generally the case that history is written by the victor, so as the

loosing Carthaginian commander in Mike Campbell’s recent report I feel

history would benefit from the Carthaginian point of view. Even if I was

only present in the flesh at the very beginning and end of the battle as an

unexpected family crisis took me away from the field of battle for the

middle 2 ½ hours.

Cannae is a difficult battle for the Carthaginian to win unless the Roman

player is handicapped in some manner, as in a straight up fight the roman

strength is greatly superior to the Carthaginian.

Naively I had assumed the four legions would advance, as per history, in a

block. What the Roman battle report does not make clear is that the centre

two legions advanced, while the inferior legions remained back on or near

the baseline and fought partially against the Carthaginian cavalry wings.

The two central roman commands as they advanced split from being a single

block to a line three deep of blade that advanced on the Gauls, while an

inner line formed to guard and fight on their now exposed outer flank and a

rear line of Sp(s)  remained in rear support with the withdrawn velites.

In an attempt to limit roman movement options Mike devised that the Romans

would have an inert CinC. This use of an inert commander along with

assigning low dice to the flank commands, perversely worked significantly to

the Romans advantage as these more vulnerable troops remained close to the

baseline starting position further away from the better Carthaginian troops

the Spanish Bd(F)( and African Sp(s) that were intended in the Cath plan to

destroy them

The Roman advance that effectively became a blunt arrowhead was a good

wargaming tactic to counter the historical Carthaginian deployment. It

concentrated the good Romans on a limited frontage of Gauls ensuring overlap

and a steady kill rate for minimal loss and kept the two vulnerable legions

at the back making it difficult for the Carthaginian to attack them

frontally due to the distance to be covered and made them virtually

impossible to reach in the flank.

While the Carthaginian forward movement of (some) Gauls for a single move

did not in the final analysis help their cause, this advance was never

intended to be permanent, but was intended to be an enticement for the Roman

to advance, followed by a group retire of Reg Aux(O) when the Romans

approached closer. This retirement failed when the two PIP throws in a row,

failed to provide enough PIP’s (2) for the group retirement. In my view the

withholding of the roman flank legions created the far more serious

departure from the Cannae script which made it harder for the Carthaginian

plan to bear fruit.

Another contributing issue is the composition of the commands. Each army was

divided into four commands.

The Romans had two central good legions allocated high pip dice. The roman

flank legions had the cavalry allocated to them. Allocating the roman

cavalry to the flank infantry command, meant that the quick historic result

of a rout of the roman cav stripping the flanks of the legion could not

occur, instead the combined legion and cavalry command had to be defeated.

The Carthaginians managed this on one flank (inadvertently loosing a general

in the process) but could not manage it on the other. The loss of the

general proved critical as it meant that the victorious Carthaginian cav

command was not able to successfully redeploy as it did historically. I

believe the Romans would have worked better (more historically) as 6

commands (with a house rule to allow 6), each cav command separate and the 4

legions separate, with the legions required to average pips across all four

commands.

The Carthaginians were also divided into four commands. They were deployed

as many believe the historical dispositions of the Gauls pushed forward in a

crescent, and the Africans held back at the tip of the crescent wings. The

Carthaginian cav were each separate commands, and the infantry was divided

evenly into two commands. The problem the Carthaginians faced in the

structure devised by Mike was that the size of the two infantry commands

were too big to redeploy from the historical dispositions we started in into

a better formation once the Romans deviated from the Cannae script on move

one by attacking in a blunt arrowhead with refused flanks. To respond to

this we needed to push the Africans and blade forward while simultaneously

pulling the Gauls back into a single line. Simple in theory but proved

impossible in practice with two commands allocated the average of the low

pip dice. I believe the Carthaginian would have worked better if the

Africans were made into separate spear commands, yielding again 6 commands.

Unfortunately we were using the command structure devised by the perfidious

Roman organizer of the game. We Carthaginians refer to this as Roman

treachery.

I see we missed that the inert Roman general should have moved second. Roman

treachery again! Interestingly, if the Carthaginian had moved first our

Psiloi would probably have advanced/marched into contact pinning the Roman

Velites for a possibly more accurate historical start to the battle.

One lesson I drew from this game are that large historical simulations like

this should not overly restrict the players by forcing commands that are too

large, as PIP limitations will become decisive. In this game on both sides

it was the high pip commands that out manourvered and defeated low pip

commands.

regards

Mark Pickup

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