Saturday, April 30, 2011

Summer, 210 BC, Spanish turn



I believe this should be a correct representation of the Med following Carthage's victory at Agrigentum.

Friday, April 29, 2011

the suddenness of defeat

The armies of Carthage and Syracuse glared at each other across the heath, while in the background the waves crashed ceaselessly on the shore. Both sides had hastened towards their foe after the Carthaginian landing, each hoping to reach and either cross or dig in behind the small creek that led down to the shore. But in the event, both armies had reached a similar distance from its broad stream at about the same time, and now scouts sought warily for a suitable crossing point while the armies held back from committing.

Carthage threw forward its light horse in the end, driving to find a ford before the Sicilians could line the river bank. Content to find a good defensive position for their main force, the Syracusans edged their foot and stone throwers forward while the horse on their right pounded forward to gain and hold the flank over the advancing Punic foot.

The Syracusan commander has dispatched spies to watch the approaching Bruttian force and warn when these allies of the Carthaginians might be close to the battlefield. But apparently his scouts had been spotted and cut down by the Bruttians, as their contingent swung over a hill an onto the battlefield at the most inopportune time possible. Racing over the crest, they surrounded and cut down the Syracusan light horse. Caught by surprise, the Tyrant wheeled his cavalry piecemeal and sought to drive off the cavalry and light foot sent by his Neapolitan rivals.

But it was the brown, pink, and vanilla horde that triumphed. Falling back before the charge of the Italian horse, they drew their enemy into a deadly trap, and after a short hand to hand struggle, the Syrcusan general was unhorsed and slain.

Without even letting loose a bolt from their ballistas at the Punic invaders, the army of Syracuse turned tail and beat a careful, methodical retreat. Agrigentum now belonged to Carthage!

Final result: 0+2G to 0. Bruttia gets 4 prestige points (2 for kills, 2 for the general). Carthage captures Agrigentum. Syracuse loses 1 Cv, 1 LH, and two other elements for losing its general.

New map to be posted this weekend.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Spring 210



There being an apparent cessation of diplomacy, we will begin 210!

Over the winter, Syracuse seems to have been the busy place to be! Emissaries from Gaul spent a great deal of time closeted with the tyrant, with the eventual conclusion that a treaty of peace and amity between Gaul and Syracuse has been announced!

Meantime, though no Bruttian emissaries were detected in the Sicilian capital, nonetheless, there is diplomatic news for Syracuse's Grecian neighbors. The Grand Panjandrum of Magna Graecia woke up one morning to find a severed horse's head in his bed (thus putting to rest some of the stories that had been going around about sheep...) War is declared, and Syracusan officers have been seen in all the markets of southern Italy, buying up all the mattresses and tinned tomato sauce they could lay their hands on.

Rome, feeling a bit neglected in their diplomatic backwater, rebuilt their mounted arm and recruited more men to the triarii. Spain trained more scutarii.

Consulting the augurs of random.org, we find that the first player to act in the turns of 210 is...Carthage!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Winter takes hold

Now, in distant Gaul, snow begins to fall. Even in balmy Carthage, the morning brings signs of frost. Winter is upon the Mediterranean.

Players can choose which elements to bring back from the reserve (in several cases, all of them). And doubtless messengers will be travelling to and fro, bearing missives of diplomatic import.

bloody battle sees balance of power sway, not stabilise

The small(er) army of Carthage, alerted that the forces of the Syracusan tyrant had finally issued forth to do battle, took up position in rough country not far from Agrigentum. They met the Syracusans near the coast, where the two armies faced each other amid a welter of sand dunes and marshes.

Carthage deployed its spear to the right, backed by skirmishers, with a column of warband standing as link between the slow foot and the faster horse on its left. Syracuse placed its spear phalanx on its left, atop a sand dune, and positioned its horse and artillery on its right, with a light horse element held back to protect the area of its camp from the Numidian scouts of the Punic invaders.

Desultory skirmishing was the order of the day for the respective cavalries, as little took place quickly but the occasional flight (and return) of Numidians who got too close to the Sicilians' bolt throwers. The fighting among the foot, however, was continuous and bloody.

It became quickly apparent that the Cartho general expected his Gallic mercenaries to do most of the heavy fighting. While spear sparred back and forth, the Gauls rushed forward, hacking and slashing. The Syracusans sent their own wild swordsmen to try to envelop the warbands' flank, but time and again fierce fighting saw the Italiots fall back and the African army push forward. The Syracusan commander's face darkened with anger as the enemy dodged one trap after another. One of his spear elements was lost and then, after more protracted struggle, another spear and the skirmishers who had reinforced it. A Punic spear band was eliminated, but still the Celtic threat menaced the Syracusans' center.

In the end, the engagement (at long last) of the cavalry proved decisive. The Carthaginian general led his horse forward and into contact with the column of enemy cavalry, charging into and overthrowing its leading portions just as the enemy finally compassed the defeat and elimination of the Gauls.

Syracuse's commander, frustrated beyond bearing by the tricky wiles of the whiskered barbarians and afraid of the damage the now fully superior enemy horse might do to his troops if they should precipitately retreat, had the trumpets sounded for an orderly withdrawal.

"What ever happened to our damn allies?" wondered the now puce-coloured Syracusan general. The wind sighed sympathetically but brought no (intelligible) answer.

Carthage wins 4-3, losing 2 x Wb an 1 x Sp but eliminating 2 x Sp, 1 x Cv, and 1 x Ps. Carthage gains 1 PP and maintains its siege of Agrigentum. Syracuse retires to either Messina or Syracuse.

What, one wonders, will Carthage do now?

ETA: Carthage continues its siege of Agrigentum, but the city stubbornly refuses to yield.