Thursday 29 April 2010
New Scenarios Page: Medievals
I have finally managed to finish off a full description of the Callinicum scenario we ran last year for the Scottish Society of Ancients Battle Day. I've been doing parts of this every so often, and it is good to see it in completed form. I decided to make this one the first on a new medieval scenarios page, "medieval" being understood as anything that comes after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. I don't know how often I'll be able to add to this page; most of our games at the club are in the classical period because of availability of figures.
Labels:
Callinicum 531 CE,
Scenarios
Empire: Carthage prevails
This post shows the second half of the battle for Sicily. It is stalemate all across the front, except on our (Sicilians, in blue) right flank. Here the Numidians are beginning to press in on the flank of our Peltasts. In the left centre, our general has joined our leftmost unit of Hoplites, anticipating the demise of the Italians to their right, in the hopes of shoring up the Hoplites' morale.
The second image shows various units being destroyed on both sides. Our commander-in-chief has failed to stop the rot as the leftmost Hoplites go disordered due to a failed morale test on seeing a unit of Italians break. This means that the Hoplites will be unable to exploit the demise of the enemy to their front, leaving it up to the leftmost Italians to try to come round on the flank of the Gauls and Carthaginian heavy infantry. On our extreme left wing, the Carthaginan heavy cavalry have finally managed to struggle through our first wave of units, partly exhausted.
The third map shows the Carthaginian cavalry in trouble against our left wing supporting trooops, and the Italians moving into position to threaten the flank of the Gauls. On our right wing, the Peltasts finally disintegrate. It's going to be very close; the large unit of Spanish is itself starting to degrade as a result of continuous pressure in combat.
Now the Gauls break, and the rest of the enemy cavalry are in trouble. Both units of Gallic heavies failed on two occasions to retire in front of our advancing second wave, and are about to pay for not obeying the order. On our far right, John's skirmishers continue to enact a toll on the Numidians. He even manages to start hurting one of the elephant units.
On our left, we destroy both Gallic cavalry units, while losing our second unit of light cavalry. The Italians just don't quite reach the flank of the Carthaginian heavy infantry, and the rest of our centre collapses. John's heroic Rhodians and Cretans destroy more Numidians and a unit of elephants but it's game over, as Carthage wins by four figures.
On our left, we destroy both Gallic cavalry units, while losing our second unit of light cavalry. The Italians just don't quite reach the flank of the Carthaginian heavy infantry, and the rest of our centre collapses. John's heroic Rhodians and Cretans destroy more Numidians and a unit of elephants but it's game over, as Carthage wins by four figures.
There were three moments of crisis in this battle. The first came on our side, when our Italians were severely damaged by the initial onrush of wild Celts. The second came when the opposition failed to capitalise, rolling really badly in multiple melees for several turns in a row. They missed destroying four of our units each by a single figure. The third crisis was when our general failed to shore up the Hoplites' morale. They were in a better position to flank the enemy heavy infantry, but could not do so. The leftmost Italians were just too far away to win the game for us.
So Carthage has finally taken Sicily at the fourth attempt. Their scouts are now eyeballing Romans across the straits of Messana. Next game: the Macedonians press on into Mesopotamia, hopefully in a couple of week's time. That will end the turn; we have no idea what will happen after that. The big question is whether or not Rome and Carthage will immediately come to blows.
Labels:
Empire,
Phoenix Nights
Wednesday 28 April 2010
Empire Campaign: Carthage lands in Sicily
This is the first of a pair of posts describing the Carthaginian invasion of Sicily. Simon constructed and deployed the Carthaginian army (in red above). Their right wing was composed of:
- Two units of 12 Elite Noble Heavy Cavalry
- Two units of 12 Veteran Gallic Cavalry
- Two units of 8 Veteran Numidian Light Cavalry
In the centre was massed their heavy infantry:
- 48 Gauls deployed in four ranks
- Two units of 48 Heavy Infantry deployed in four ranks
- 48 Spanish deployed in four ranks
- 10 skirmish slingers
Their left was composed of:
- Two units of 8 Veteran Numidian Light Cavalry
- Two units of 2 African Elephants
- Two units of 8 Veteran Numidian Light Cavalry
- Two units of 10 skirmish javelins
Simon played their right wing and Mark the left; they shared command of the centre. I constructed and set up the Syracusan army. Our left (me in charge):
- Two units of 8 Veteran Light Cavalry
- 12 Veteran Greek Medium Cavalry
- 12 Veteran Peltasts
- A large unit of 18 Veteran Peltasts in three ranks
- The Tyrant's Guard: 24 Elite Hoplites in three ranks. These set up behind the first of the centre command's units, intending to move wide against the expected heavy Carthaginian cavalry presence.
Our centre (Billy in command):
- Three units of 36 Veteran Hoplites in three ranks, interspersed with:
- Three units of 32 Veteran Italian medium foot in four ranks
- and 14 skirmish javelinmen out front
Our right (John):
- 18 Veteran Peltasts deployed wide in two ranks
- 12 Veteran Greek Medium Cavalry
- 8 Veteran Rhodian Slingers
- 8 Veteran Cretan Archers
The battle began as follows:
The third image, above, shows the advance of the entire Carthaginian army, with some of their heavy cavalry peeling off to face our potential flanking movement.
The fourth map shows the initial contacts. The Carthaginians were planning to use their large central infantry units to win through, while masking them with a large number of small cavalry units and elephants. On our left, the performance of the Carthaginian heavy cavalry was miserable, much to our relief. Unfortunately, however, one of our Italian columns was caught by a ferocious Gallic warband charge, rendering our centre immediately vulnerable. To our right, John sent in the medium horse at an angle to inflict as much damage as possible on the Spanish Infantry before being crushed themselves. His skirmishers were meanwhile continuing to enjoy themselves immensely.
The final image shows stalemate across the entire front as most of the Carthaginian army ground to a halt, inflicting very little damage at all. Our left and centre continued to hold firm as a result. The only real movement was the large mass of Carthaginian troops on their left, although half of their skirmishers were by now defunct.
Labels:
Empire,
Phoenix Nights
Saturday 24 April 2010
Zama: The Romans Triumph
First photo: on the Roman right, the Triarii take care of the impudent City Militia. A lone unit of Hannibal's veterans charges the Principes. The next photo shows the situation at the other end of the field, where the veterans of Hannibal's campaigns line up against the weak Socii legion:
But it is all to no avail. The Carthaginian centre crumbles and the Triarii gang up on the lone veterans at the far end:
For Falkirk we will tweak the Roman pilum rules and upgrade the City Militia to Veteran, although still equipped as Medium Infantry. We want to get the game to a very close match when the Carthaginian third line goes in, so a couple of incremental improvements should help to do that. Let's see if Hannibal wins next time.
Thanks are due to Willy for the venue and hospitality, and to all of the players.
Labels:
Zama
Zama: The Veterans Clash
Towards the Roman right wing, Triarii clash with Militia, and Hannibal's veterans move up to attack the Principes. To the right of this first picture, the surviving Numidians under Masinissa stay out of range of the remnants of the Balearic slingers. Tychaeus did well to get a draw here. Next photo: the last unit of Carthaginian cavalry has a bad time against the Triarii:
Labels:
Zama
Zama: Towards the Final Stages
In the first photo (above) the Romans contact the Carthaginian City Militia. Not enough damage has been done to the Hastati, so the Carthaginian third line is apprehensive. Below: on the far left of the Roman line, the Triarii have seen off one unit of enemy cavalry, and another is about to be caught by more Roman infantry:
Labels:
Zama
Zama: The Struggle Intensifies
Although we didn't know it at the time, the action in the photo above was crucial to how the battle turned out. The last of the Roman heavy cavalry has been destroyed, but the Carthaginian horse has got itself into a muddle in pursuit. This has given the leftmost legion time to move out some Triarii and deploy them into line. This is a risky thing to do because the main infantry fight is not over; indeed, Hannibal's veterans have still to enter the fray. It removes the important third line from this portion of the Roman army. The Romans decide to take this action because otherwise the Carthaginian cavalry will get time to recover its formation, and flank the entire Roman left. Which would be a disaster. The Carthaginians are well aware of this, so they have started shooting up the Triarii with the remnants of their skirmish infantry, the Velites having been chased off. Meanwhile the Hastati on the other side of the field are handily disposing of the Celtiberians. This shot shows gaps appearing; it is taken from behind the Carthaginian lines:
Next up is a picture of the same area, slightly more to the left. Some of the City Militia have moved out to counter the Roman Triarii we saw going wide earlier. This is not something I intended to happen, but I was at the other end of the table and it was too late to do anything about it. Sub-commanders not doing what you expect! The figures in this unit are some of my old Italians, pressed into service as militia:
Labels:
Zama
Friday 23 April 2010
Zama: the main forces clash
The heavy cavalry mix it in the photograph above. The Ligurians and Celtiberians go into the Hastati, who have all recovered their order by now. Note the distinct lack of elephants by this point:
Labels:
Zama
Zama: the tempo increases
Things move on apace as the Carthaginian infantry lines advance (above). Next photo: the loan routing elephant disorders some Hastati.
Labels:
Zama
Zama: The Battle Develops
Above: the Carthaginian infantry spaces out into the familiar three lines. Below: the Celtiberians continue their advance. One lone unit of elephants looks as though it might meet some Romans:
The third photo is of the swirling mass of Numidians. The elephants that threatened Massinissa have been efficiently dealt with by the Velites:
Labels:
Zama
Thursday 22 April 2010
Zama: The Opening Phases
In the shot above, the Carthaginian right wing cavalry have all successfully retired to reform. The shot below is of the other flank. One unit of elephants is moving out to threaten Masinissa's Numidians, forcing them to break up their advance. This gives much needed respite to Tychaeus:
Labels:
Zama
Zama: The Battle Begins
In the first photo, above, the heavy horse on the Carthaginian right retires, albeit piecemeal. In the next photo, the Romans begin to advance their own heavies. The centremost unit has dropped back, a bit wary of advancing Carthaginian elephants (which you can just see at the top right of the shot):
Labels:
Zama
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