Completed Let's actually win the Second Punic War in Rome & Carthage

[ValeVelKal]

Spoiler

1. 218 BC Carthage & Rome - Hannibal moves to Italy, and Scipio to Spain
2. 217 BC Carthage - Hasdrupal gets rid of a dangerous general and Hannibal provokes the Romans
3. 217 BC Rome - The Battle of Lake Trasimeno leaves Roman allies unphased
4. 216 BC Carthage - More Carthaginians lands in Italy as the Punic fleet chases the Roman fleet
5. 216 BC Rome - A decisive victory leaves Hannibal in a Pyrrhic situation
6. 215 BC Carthage & Rome - A confused Senates send Hannibal North ; the Romans fail to assess the situation properly
7. 214 BC Carthage & Rome - Hannibal is back in front of Rome, the Romans wise up in their elections
8. 213 BC Carthage & Rome - Hannibal humiliates a Roman Consul, Rome retakes control of Cisalpine Gaul
9. 212 BC Carthage & Rome - The Carthaginians land in Italy, the Romans force Hannibal to retreat to Capua, Syracuse switches sides.
10. 211 BC Carthage & Rome - The situation reverses in one battle.
11. 210 BC Carthage & Rome - Macedonians join the fray, Hannibal and Himilco join their forces, Rome wins some minor battles
12. 209 BC Carthage & Rome - Carthage starts the conquest of Umbria and finishes the conquest of Sardinia, Valerius receives a bloody nose.
13. 208 BC Carthage & Rome - Carthage roams free with the Roman armies walled in cities, the Romans remind Carthage they still have a fleet.
14. 207 BC Carthage & Rome - Carthage finally get rid of Marcellus, the Romans fail at the little they attempt
15. 206 BC Carthage & Rome - Carthage concentrates and bring reinforcements, the Romans do minor delaying actions and sacrifice Cethegus.
16. 205 BC Carthage & Rome - Philip dies in Tarentum, Carthage avenges the Macedonian king and start the siege of Rome, the Romans elect backbench leaders.
17. 204 BC Carthage & Rome - Carthage lands more reinforcements, Rome spends the year restoring competent leaders

Spoiler

18. 203 BC Carthage & Rome - The Carthaginians gets complacent, Scipio the Younger immediately punishes them
19. 202 BC Carthage & Rome - Carthage undoes everything Scipio managed to achieve, and start the siege of Asculum, Rome stops trying
20. 201 BC Carthage - Rome gets salted

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

 

[ValeVelKal]

A small note on this - just like on the Paradox OT forum, I will take your "proposal" as a vote about what to recommend to the senate.

As I framed it there :

"Senate of Carthage, the Suffet implores you ! It is time for YOU to decide of the course of the war.
Will we :
- 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,
- Focus on defense in Carthage [allowing to recruit one more unit than usual]"

So yes, this is interactive !

 

[Andnjord]

Neat, I think we had an AAR of this here a long time ago, it really looked like a great game!

My vote goes to reinforcing Spain, we need a secure base behind us.

 

[baud]

I'm for reinforcing Spain too. Good luck


Romano delenda est!

 

[ValeVelKal]

As first answerers here, you llbe able to contribute on a very important question :


- Should I save & reload until the Senate choose what the players have chosen (=Spain massively here and on Paradox, with some dissenting opinion about beelining to Rome) or should I send the player recommandation to the Senate and do whatever they decide.

 

[Andnjord]

send the player recommendation to the Senate and do whatever they decide.

Getting annoyed at the senate is half the fun of this game.

 

[ValeVelKal]

send the player recommendation to the Senate and do whatever they decide.

Getting annoyed at the senate is half the fun of this game.

You are right indeed, but mosto f the Paradox forum people went for "We are the Senate so reload". This turn is played, I just need to write the report.

Which means you guys are also the Senate, and in true RPG Codex tradition, I propose you keep proposing to send me raid the strategical Sardinia and Corsica or have a go at the Gauls in the future

 

[Tigranes]

I'd also vote sending it to the Senate. Isn't half the fun to see what happens when you can't be in full control?

 

[oscar]

Send it to the Senate. It's an important mechanism that represents Hannibal doesn't have total control of the war effort. I vote to reinforce Italy if we're still counting.

Glad this game is getting some attention, it's a real hidden gem. I did a review of it at the time.

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...e-and-carthage-in-the-second-punic-war.84480/

 

[ValeVelKal]

So what I decided I would do is make the player votes and decide "instead of the Senate" BUT I will reroll the Senate only once if I don't have the player decisions- as if the players are only part of the Senate.

For this turn, the first Senate decision was Italy, and I rerolled to "Spain".

Also, I will try to follow as much as possible additional decisions sent by the player Senate.

Vote I considered :

Votes :

Paradox
Teep Spain
Lamahorse Italy
CyaN Spain
Andrzej I Spain
Avernite Italy
alxeu Spain
Jorlaan Spain

RPGCodex
Andnjord Spain
baud Spain

9 votes:
Spain : 7
Italy : 2


217 BC

The year is 217 BC and the Senate orders to reinforce Spain, after much debate as the debate initially wanted to reinforce Hannibal in Italy.




A new squadron is added to the Punic fleet, and Himilco takes the sea to Spain with reinforcements.
[not sure why Himilco has Spanish troops in Carthage by the way]



Before the assault, some of the Roman troops deserted so Fabius will have to defend with less forces than he expected [I played a card to remove 1 unit from 2 different armies/fleets, and I chosed Fabius and a Roman fleet]


Himilco joins force with Hasdrupal, and the storming of Emporion begins.






The first round of the assault see the destruction of the sturdy Carthaginian infantry, as of some dismounted Spanish troops. Hamilcar and Himilco run out of reserves as other dismounted troops panic. But Roman suffered losses as well, so the assault carries on :





More Spaniards, and Romans, are killed :




Finally, the city is taken. Fabius is killed, 12 000 Roman & Italics lay dead and Himilco gets promoted !




Spain is fully Carthaginian again.




In Italy, Hannibal tries once again to provoke Gracchus into battle, to no avail as Gracchus wisely refuses battle :




With a Roman army still in Cisalpine Gaul, Hannibal is in a conundrum : either move toward new Italian territories, but risk seeing Cisalpine Gaul taken from him - and thus lose also the Gallic Alliance - or maybe stay put in Cisalpine Gaul, with the risk of letting Rome reinforce.

The only solution is to split the force - keep a force strong enough in the North under Mago's command to deter Gracchus while moving with the rest of the force South.

In order to avoid Mago being engaged by a strong, combined Roman forces, Hannibal knows he needs to trigger the Senate into allocating most of its forces - if not everything - against him. For this he needs to cross the mountain into Etruria, devastate Roman estates on the way, and then force march in Latium.

Crossing a moutain is always tiring for the men, but Hannibal takes the risk - and is rewarded no losses. [I believe out that crossing mountains is actually pretty OK most of the time, I could have used a card but I had only 2, I needed to use one for the forced march and I wanted to keep a "retreat" card so I took the risk of crossing without card - which went well]






Hannibal then pretends to start a siege against Rome, putting the Roman Senate into full-blown panic.

Mago is left behind with a modicum of Punic infantry and Spanish cavalry, and all the Gallic forces.

And with this the campaigning season ends. Mago recruits troops in Cisalpine Gauls while Hamilcar does the same in Spain



EDIT : Errr, much to my horror, when I wanted to do an Intuitiu Personae to keep the thread living, I realized I did not save at the end of the Roman turn, only at the end of my own turn....​

… so everything below "Lake Trasimeno" to Hiero's death disappeared.

I will have to redo again. My apologies for this :/

Spoiler

It is time for the Romans to act. As expected, seeing the Carthaginian marching on Rome, Gracchus leaves his camp and double-time South to block the way. But doing so, he falls into the older Barcid's trap. The speed of the pursuit made Gracchus careless. I am now quoting the wikipedia article for that battle :

As Hannibal passed Lake Trasimene, he came to a place very suitable for an ambush, and hearing that Gracchus had broken camp and was pursuing him, made preparations for the impending battle. To the north was a series of heavily forested hills where the Malpasso Road passed along the north side of Lake Trasimene. Along the hill-bordered skirts of the lake, Hannibal camped where he was in full view of anyone entering the northern defile, and spent the night arranging his troops for battle.

The morning of June 21, the Roman troops marched eastward along the road running near the northern edge of the lake. Eager for battle, Gracchus pushed his men hard and hurried up the column in the rear. Hannibal then sent a small skirmish force to draw the vanguard away from the front of the line, in order to split the Roman forces. Once all the Romans had at last marched through the foggy, narrow defile and entered the plains skirting the lake, trumpets were blown, signalling the general attack.

The charge took the Romans totally by surprise, and they were immediately overwhelmed :





So sudden was the change of pace and so loud was the noise of the cavalry that the elephants on the Punic side panicked, disrupting the lines of the Carthaginians in some locations




The impact was devastating, but the Romans opposed a fierce and unexpected resistance ; wherever on the front Hannibal was not, troops panicked !




But it was all a foregone conclusion. The Romans were wiped out.

And just like that, the Roman had lost a consular army with the consul and its 30 000 men - 3 Roman legions, 3 alii legions and 4 000 cavalrymen.

Moreover, several Italic cities saw the writing in the walls, in particular Capua, that sent the keys to their city to Hannibal.

Meanwhile, Fulvius moved South with his escort (2 legions), but was blocked by Hannibal and had to retreat in a camp. [I could have attacked the camp, but I would have had lost exposing me to a sortie from Rome. Better to attack next campaigning season]



And thus the Roman campaigning season ends. The Romans could assemble only limited reinforcement - in no way comparable to their losses.





More bad news would befell on the Romans, as the old Hiero died and his 13 years old successor chosed to align with the faction on the verge of winning.




The Romans held their elections, appointing Scipio Consul. After all, he had survived battle against the Barcids ! But many said it was a ploy by his enemy to get rid of him... as he was given command of the doomed Fulvius legions.


Here is the global situation as year 217 closes :






Senate of Carthage, the Suffet implores you ! It is time for YOU to decide of the course of the war.

Will we :

- Send reinforcements to Italy !

- Send reinforcements to Hieronymus in Sicily !

- Raid Corsica and Sardinia, and thus rule the seas !







It is also to YOU that we ask to provide which troops should be recruited in Carthage next year !

 

[Grimgravy]

Send reinforcements to Hiero in Sicily

 

[Andnjord]

Send reinforcements to Italy !

Can you also send Hasdrubal to reinforce Mago in Cisapline Gaul? Doesn't look like you need so many troops in Spain now that it's been pacified.

 

[Modron]

Yeah I would Send reinforcements to Italy, really get up in there and mess shit up.

 

[Gondolin]

Neat, I think we had an AAR of this here a long time ago, it really looked like a great game!

Fucking Dakasha leaving it fucking unfinished fucking thinking I've forgotten!

 

[ValeVelKal]

Errr, much to my horror, when I wanted to do an Intuitiu Personae to keep the thread living, I realized I did not save at the end of the Roman turn, only at the end of my own turn....

… so everything from "Lake Trasimeno" to Hiero's death disappeared.

I will have to redo again. My apologies for this :/

 

[ValeVelKal]

So redoing 217 - Rome again since I forget to save

217 BC - ROME

It is time for the Romans to act. As expected, seeing the Carthaginian marching on Rome, Gracchus leaves his camp and double-time South to block the way.



It is true that Hannibal march had been quick, so quick indeed that Hannibal's elephants could not keep up the pace.



[In game terms, what happened is that Gracchus attacked Hannibal's siege. I decide to leave the siege rather than defend the camp (and face both the army from Rome and the army from Gracchus), which automatically gives Gracchus a card. It seems he draw the "Kill Elephant" card that he immediately uses, before challenging Hannibal in battle, which I was too happy to accept]


But doing so, he falls into the older Barcid's trap. The speed of the pursuit made Gracchus careless. I am now quoting the wikipedia article for that battle :


As Hannibal passed Lake Trasimene, he came to a place very suitable for an ambush, and hearing that Gracchus had broken camp and was pursuing him, made preparations for the impending battle. To the north was a series of heavily forested hills where the Malpasso Road passed along the north side of Lake Trasimene. Along the hill-bordered skirts of the lake, Hannibal camped where he was in full view of anyone entering the northern defile, and spent the night arranging his troops for battle.
The morning of June 21, the Roman troops marched eastward along the road running near the northern edge of the lake. Eager for battle, Gracchus pushed his men hard and hurried up the column in the rear. Hannibal then sent a small skirmish force to draw the vanguard away from the front of the line, in order to split the Roman forces. Once all the Romans had at last marched through the foggy, narrow defile and entered the plains skirting the lake, trumpets were blown, signalling the general attack.
The charge took the Romans totally by surprise, and they were immediately overwhelmed :



The Romans barely mounted a defense, before being wipe-out. Some soldiers were so close to each other that they could not even fight as they were mowed down by their opponents.




This decisive battle sent the Senate in panic, but to the surprise of the Punic General, none of the "allies" of Rome saw the writing in the wall, and Hannibal realized how isolated he was in Southern Italy, miles and miles and a mountain away from Mago

The Romans did some other inconclusive moves, in particular reinforcement the city of Capua. They also made sure to recruit as many soldiers as possible.
"One night in Rome could replace a full legion"



Hannibal could at least have the satisfaction to realize that even in mortal danger, Rome would consistently appoint the worst generals to face him.



Here is the situation at the beginning of 216 BC :




Hiero is still the Tyrant of Syracuse, and still a firm ally of the Romans.



Senate of Carthage, the Suffet implores you ! He asks you to forgive him for his false earlier reporting on Capua, and for relaying the fake news of Hiero's death !


It is time for YOU to decide of the course of the war.

Will we :
- Send reinforcements to Italy !
- Open a new front in Sicily !
- Raid Corsica and Sardinia, and thus rule the seas !
- Move to Gaul and recruit vigorous soldiers there ?




It is also to YOU that we ask to provide which troops should be recruited in Carthage next year !​

 

[baud]

Let's send reinforcement in Italy! It's where the action is.

 

[oscar]

Reinforcement to Italy. Looks like the re-done turn was less favourable to us.

 

[Grimgravy]

Send reinforcements to Italy

 

[ValeVelKal]

Paradox Interactive

DarkShizNit : Gauls
Avernite : Italy
Jorlaan : Sicily
alxey : Sardinia & Corsica
Andrzej : Sardinia & Corsica

RPGCodex

Baud : Italy
oscar : Italy
Grimgravy : Italy

Vote : 8
Italy : 4
Sardinia & Corsica : 2
Gaul : 1
Sicily : 1

Italy it is !

Turn incoming, possibly today.​

 

[ValeVelKal]

216 BC- CARTHAGE

The year is 216 BC and the Senate orders to push the advantage in Italy, after a very short vote.







The first thing in order is to dominate the sea enough to bring the Spanish force safely in Italy. For this, the Senate deems 8 squadrons necessary and the control of the sea in front of Rome. [We have 8 units + Hasdrupal to transport from Spain, and it is 1 unit by squadron by turn, leaders excepted].
We have currently 6 squadrons, so we need to recruit two more. We double the usual squadron production [using a card] to achieve this.





The second order of business is sinking of chasing the Roman fleet in front of Rome.

They are 4 squadrons strong, and I want to avoid losses, so some prompt sabotage put them at 3 squadrons. Some ships in Tarentum are also similarly sunk.



The Punic fleet then engages the Roman fleet :






Two Roman squadrons are lost and the last one chased in the Roman harbour.




Perfectly according to plan. Hasdrupal can now take safely his troops into transport and meet his brother in sight of Rome.

Now comes the difficult decision for Hannibal, as he had 3 choices :

- Siege Rome, with the risk of a decisive sortie, in conjonction will reinforcements from the rest of Italy
- Siege Capua,
- Siege Neapolis

Hannibal's choice is toward Neapolis : Capua is more likely to change side than die-hard Neapolis, and Neapolis gives access to a sorely needed port for the Punic (at the mercy of a storm at the moment).
The Carthaginian force is split : Hannibal will keep the field with most of his army, while Hasdrupal will siege Neapolis with a small elite Spaniard force.

Meanwhile, in the North, Mago has a similar choice between Genua and Placentia. Genua has a port and gives a quick access to Spain ; on the other hand Genua is an "ally" city while Placentia is a Roman colony, therefore Placentia will never defect to Carthage, while Genua can just fall in the Carthaginian hand without any effort. Mago consider securing a quick access to Rome more critical, so starts the siege of Genua.




As the Carthaginian campaigning season ends, let's review the Carthaginian forces & leaders - they are going to be alone for a while :

Let's start with Hannibal, currently in Latium with most of the Punic army :



His army includes the elite of Punic soldiery : War Elephants, Companion Cavalry, Carthaginian, Numidian and Spaniard cavalry, Spanish close infantry and Spaniard shock troops.


His brother, Hasdrupal, is also in Latium, sieging Neapolis with a small force of elite Spaniards.



In the north, Mago - the third brother - is sieging Genua. While numerous, is army is of poor quality, with unreliable Gallic cavalry and infantry, disciplined by a narrow core of Carthaginian infantry and some Spanish cavalry.




Finally, Himilco is in Spain recruiting - with no other force than his militia (he would recruit some Spaniards at the end of the season)




And Hanno is in Carthage, organizing the militia and waiting a more prestigious assignement


​

 

[ValeVelKal]

216 BC - ROME

The Roman plan was simple : engage Hannibal with everything they have, and destroy him in a pitched battle.

As they wanted to make really sure they win the battle, they immediately recruited 2 new legions.



Once done, their consul Servilius decided to take command personally of the Roman army and to meet Hannibal in the field.



For Hannibal, this was a difficult decision. On the one hand, the Romans will not so often accept - no, propose ! - a battle to Hannibal.

But on the other hand, Hannibal did not expect that much Romans - two more legions than planned - and did not prepare any of his Punic tricks.

At the end of the day, the fact that the siege of Neapolis must be protected and that the Roman will rarely field such a terrible commander [to hit chance of all his units : +20% due to skill difference) brings the fateful decision : Hannibal would take the field, and it would be one of the largest battles in history so far.

The Roman army was no less than 11 legions strong - 44 000 men - supported by more cavalry than the Romans ever mustered (some 7 000 horses). Luckily for Carthage, they were commanded by one of the worst commanders of the Romans : Consul Servilius.




Hannibal had less than half that number : 20 000 infantry men - heavily armored Punic soldiers and light but powerful Spanish infantry though Hannibal almost had parity on horses (6 000) - and his cavalry was without a doubt of way better quality than Servilius's. Hannibal could also rely on a generous number of elephants.

Hannibal had not prepared any traps or ambush against the marching Romans, but decided to surprise the Romans with a narrow, tempting frontline, and a screen of light horses on the wings. As the Romans, sure of their victory, broke discipline and hastily advanced toward their prey, the hidden Punic cavalry charged in a fury.





The Roman attack became a Roman panic, as isolated cohorts got surrounded and annihilated in a moving battlefield. The casualties increased, and the Roman infantry routed in panic.



But Servilius had kept his cavalry in reserve. While he knew his cavalry was weaker than the Punic one, he also knew that the Barca's cavalry was winded, disorganized and - in the case of the Spanish cavalry - loaded with loot.



[sadly, I missed my screenshoot] The disciplined Carthaginian and the skilled Numidian cavalry could break with discipline and pulled back, but the Spaniards routed in panic. In their flight, they blinded the advancing Spanish and Carthaginian infantry, who never realized that the tide had turned - until they were slain by the Roman cavalry.

The Carthaginian cavalry regrouped and reorganized around Hannibal, who shamed them for fleeing in front of inferior horsemen, and sent them back to the front.



[another screenshoot I failed]

This time, the Roman - what was left of them - fled for good. Hannibal immediately ordered a pursuit :



But so close from Rome, the Roman turned a last time to face the Punic cavalry, in the last clashes of the battle, many soldiers died on both sides :



[the Romans lost one cavalry themselves]

Carthage had prevailed. 50 000 proud Romans and allied had left Rome in the morning, 10 000 exhausted soldiers made it back. 9 legions had been destroyed, and 5 elements of cavalry too. Of course, Hannibal had lost 18 000 soldiers himself (2 elements of Punic infantry, 2 elements of Spanish infantry, the Carthagian cavalry and one element of Spanish cavalry) but they were not dead for nothing. Rome would have no choice but to surr...



Where did they pull their men from ? Will there be an end to that war ?
[in game terms, a Roman general that survives a battle with Hannibal gets promoted and get to draw a card, which was probably this one - one of the best that the Romans can get]

The Romans recruited a new army, rebuilt a new fleet and refused to surrender.



As if nothing happened, they held new elections.



Ah ! Certainly they had learned something. Otacilius is the odd one out - this time the Romans had elected somewhat capable commanders. Scipio, who survived Hasdrupal in Spain, is back.

Here is the situation at the opening of 215 BC :



And here are the Roman commanders :

In Rome, Scipio was leading a newly formed army : 5 new legions, in addition to the 2 surviving legions of Servilius.



[as you can see, having Scipio as an opponent in the beginning of the game usually triggers an attempted landing in Spain, as we have seen in this game]

As the Consul, Scipio can be excepted to lead the Roman armies, but he is accompagned by 2 Praetors : Otacilius and Livius





Another Praetor, the former Consul Fulvius, is recruiting troops in Tarentum



Marcellus, the second Consul, is recruiting in Asculum.



Finally, let's not forget Apollonidès in Syracuse. Hiero is, after all, still alive :



Despite his victory, the tide may have turned against Hannibal.

Senate of Carthage, the Suffet implores you ! He asks you to forgive him for his false earlier reporting on Capua, and for relaying the fake news of Hiero's death !

It is time for YOU to decide of the course of the war.



It is also to YOU that we ask to provide which troops should be recruited in Carthage next year !​

 

[baud]

So Hannibal has only 8000 men left? I'd say sending reinforcement in Italy is the more important choice.

 

[Grimgravy]

Yeah, Hannibal needs more men.

 

[Andnjord]

Oh boy, that was one messy victory. Surely nothing like the elegance of a Cannaes.

Of course, Send reinforcements to Italy.