Romans and Carthaginians

 A few weeks ago, lockdown in NSW was called....so we had a few hours to get a game in before it all began at 11:59pm.....I drove to the East- we set up and played between 7:45 and 11:22. 

Then I raced home!

My early Carthaginians vs Ross' Romans. I always like the early Carthaginians as they don't have the same reputation as Hannibal's mob- and I am reminded of Phil Barker's comments in the old WRG DBM  army lists-  "The tactics of early Carthaginian armies were uninspired. Without Hannibal's genius to make optimum use of different capabilities of their varied mercenary troops, the heterogeneity of their forces was a liability rather than an asset. .... no doubt wargames generals, however,  will supply the necessary genius to lift this army out of its tactical rut"

So- naturally I chose to field an early Carthaginian force- extra elephants, a number of Numidians, a splash of Spanish, a grab bag of Gauls, a smattering of spearmen  (see what i did there with the alliteration?) and a handful of hoplites- Greek Mercenaries. 

Paul (unimpressed with my literary skills- he thinks I can't speak English) commanded my right wing - I held the centre and the left.

Ross chose a Roman force. Of course he chose loads of f*cking legionaries, some Thracian allies, the regular useless Roman cavalry and a few other bits and pieces.

My elephants- looking to stomp Romans!

The main action took place on the flanks where Paul and I tried to overcome the assorted rubbish that Ross had assembled to protect his legionaries. 

It looked like we might actually win, but Ross fought well- and when his Legions slammed into my spearmen, the game was over very quickly. I should have kept them back and out of reach of those damned legionaries!!

Carthaginian spearmen.

Ross' auxiliary allies- light troops to take out my elephants

My army deployed.

Ross, looking particularly happy with his deployment! His terrain selction was pretty obvious- nothing except some rough ground on his left. You can clearly see his Legions in the middle. Lights and Cavalry on the right and a similar mob on the left.

Bloody Roman Legionaries- these guys are tough under any set of rules.

My centre

My very heavily weighted left flank

Fighting on the left flank- Elephants vs Roman cavalry- this was my favourite part of the game- stomping the Equites Romani!!

The middle- my spearmen- wary of those legionaries!

Ross' Thracians vs my Spanish

Numidians vs Thracians

Ross using his skirmishers to neutralise Paul's elephants.

The Roman left

The centre

Ross' Roman Cavalry against Elephants- the Roman cavalry were quickly turned into toejam.

Roman consul directing the Legions!

Roman skirmishers against Carthaginian Elephants.

Swirling confused melee on the Cartho left.

The left centre of the battlefield. Romans moving against the Punic spearmen.

Greek hoplites in depth- advancing into contact with the Roman Cavalry.

The Legionaries crash into my Carthaginian Spearmen.   
The spearmen were tough, disciplined, motivated....and very quickly dead. 

The melee on my left (Cartho) flank. Those are my elephants, and the light cavalry at the top- Ross' Roman cavalry and light infantry are in the middle of the screen.

WTF????...five dice..what a god awful roll.

Ross' response. Shit.

The Roman's took the day's honours.
We shook hands, threw a few punches and left before the restrictions began!!