ValeVelKal
Arcane
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 1,606
YEAR 2018
It is 218 BC. The Senate of Carthage has voted for war and mobilizes its fleet
Hannibal is authorized to take his divers e army of Carthaginian infantry, Numidian Cavalrian and various Spanish elements across the Alps and into Italy.
The battlefield will be small, but the fate of the civilized world is in the hand of one man.
Rome is expecting war with Carthage, yes, but Rome feels safe with its fleets of warships patroling the Medditeranean. For the Romans, there is still time.
Hannibal activates his army and cross into Gauls. The march is long and difficult [everytime an army crosses Gauls without "Gallic Aid", it risks attrition - in my case one unit of Spaniard and one unit of Carthaginian infantry is destroyed], but this is only the first part of the march. Hannibal pushes his troops to the end [I use the card Extended March] and crosses into Cisalpine Gauls.
There are two gates to Cisalpine Gauls : Turin oand Mediulanum. There is no other way than assaulting one of these cities. Hannibal chosed Turin. In the middle the night, the walls are assaulted without forewarning, and the city is seized.
Hannibal is in Italy
Moving like lightning, Hannibal then assaults and seizes Mediulanum and Patavium.
In one strike, all of Northern Italy is in Carthaginian hands. By mere luck, the cities of Genua and Placentia are home to the legions of two competent Consuls : Scipion and Fabius. They brace for the assault.
Hannibal has other plans. His bravado has impressed the Gallic tribes, and now with so many Italian cities in his control, many want to join in his glory. Hannibal meets the Gallic chiefs, and convince them to join his cause [I play the card Gallic Aid]
With this diplomatic move, Hannibal ends his campaigning season and recruit local forces [2xSpaniards in Spain, 2x Gauls in Cisalpin Gaul], while Carthage increase the size of its navy [I played one card]
it is time to the Romans to react.
Rome decides for a two-pronged strategy. Fabius, with his powerful army (3 roman legions, 3 socii legions and a significant cavalry force) is ordered to take the field, while Scipio will cut Hannibal base of operation in Spain.
But Fabius is anything if not a cautious man, and he quickly realize that the army that crossed the Alps has been significantely reinforced by Gauls. The ferocity of the Gauls, the trickery of the Punics and the horsemanship of its cavalry could prove too much for his legions, which - as Fabius realizes, was the only powerful force left between Hannibal and Rome
As Hannibal marches on Fabius and Fabius marches on Hannibal, Fabius doubts, then cracks. He cannot let Roman pride take command of his legions. Fabius falls back to an hastily mad-up fortified camp, as certainly such camp would neutralize the top Carthagian advantages : their Punic trickeries, and their powerful cavalry.
Meanwhile, Scipio takes his smaller force (2 legions of Romans, 2 legions of socii and a very small number of Roman cavaly) to Spain by sea.
Scipion arrives with his full fleet in front of the small port of Emporion... where the governor lets the fleet enter [Rome played a card to take a city without assault]. From there, confident that all the Carthagenians moved in Italy with Hannibal, Scipio marches on New Carthage.
But Hamilcar, Hannibal's brother, is there. He moves his own army in front of Scipio's. His army is limited in size, though not in quality ; and since as for quality alone Scipio believes the Roman will always prevail. Thus, the challenge is accepted.
With his lack of cavalry, Scipio has little room for manoeuvring and "hold tight and exhaust them" is his chosen tactic.
What the Romans did not know, though, was that elephants would be part of the battle. Romans knew how to defeat elephants, certainly, but any attempt to break formation to let the elephant pass harmlessly is immediately exploited by the superior Punic cavalry.
Caught in the conundrum of being mauled by elephants or being picked-apart by cavalry, the Romans break ranks and flee.
About 4000 Romans legionnaires and 200 cavalry [1 Roman legion unit, 1 Roman cavalry unit] lay dead. Luckily for the Romans, Hamilcar decides not to risk his most elite cavalry into a pursuit, and the Romans can safely take refuge in Emporion.
This ends the Roman action on the field, but impressed by the victory of Hannibal in Italy and Hamilcar in Spain, they accelerate recruitment of new legions [they play a card in addition to normal recruitment] :
As is customary, the Romans also vote for new Consuls and Praetors. Scipio is given the boot after his defeat, while for a punishment of his cowardice, Fabius is ordered to take command of the shameful Spanish expedition.
The second year of war arrives, and the Suffet considers what instruction he should "request" from the Senate.
- Send reinforcements to Spain, and maybe kill Fabius and its trained legions [killed leaders never come back, and each Roman leader has its own personality, so offing Fabius early can help]
- Send reinforcements to Italy, including troops currently in Spain
- Challenge the Romans in new fronts -Sicily, or maybe Corsica and Sardinia,
Note : This is the copy of an AAR I am doing on the Paradox OT Forum, but well since Paradox is not a shared forum I thought I could have twice the audience with no additional effort
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