Thursday 21 June 2012

Hispilis 211 BC - Scipio and Hasdrubal fight it out for Spain

Last night Peter and I only managed to get turn 1 finished. It was a long turn with lots of mmanoeuvring and skirmishing by the light troops of both sides. As the turn closed, the close order troops of both armies began to clash. Here are some shots of what has become the most confused action of the campaign. The thickly wooded, hilly terrain has created defiles, disorder and delay.

On the Carthaginian left the Numidians skirmish with the advancing Romans......
....but they are pushed back as the steamroller comes on..... 
Whilst  the skirmishing heats up on the Carthaginian left, the Carthaginian right begins its long march from the far hill to the battle area.
The advance of the Carthaginian right is disrupted by the terrain: Units start to pile up. 

The Romans meanwhile are establishing a strong battle line that threatens to roll up the Carthaginian line.

The Carthaginians withdraw their left to form a new line, trading ground for time. But reserves are coming.




 
Not all of the Carthaginians make it.....

.........A unit of Numidian cavalry finds itself surrounded and is charged in the rear by Roman cavalry and routed. First blood to Scipio.










On arrival of Spanish reserves the Carthaginians counter -attack on the left. They are outnumbered in infantry by a considerable margin.

Do the Carthaginians now intend to trade cheap Spanish lives for time?
Carthaginians piling up on the right as they advance to the battle zone......
.....Confusion!
Peter and I can see a blood bath coming, a battle of annihilation.

During the turn Rome spent 14 morale chips (mainly due to Numidians javelins and subsequent rallies), the Carthaginians spent 7.

14 comments:

BigRedBat said...

War porn! Love it. Simon

Sgt Steiner said...

Droolworthy as ever really inspiring stuff

Anonymous said...

Honestly... It should be illegal to post one battle report this nice after the other! ;-)

Gunny Highway said...

James,
If ever there is an example of how ancients can be, this is it. Every battle has been different with different and challenging problems of command. Anyone who says ancients is just "lining em up and bashing em in the middle of the board, boring!" I will direct them to this site, Salute!
Respectfully,
Gunny

Prufrock said...

Inspiring stuff!

Gunny Highway said...

James,
As an aside, finally get to see a profile of you in this latest report. Was beginning to think you were imaginary, like bigfoot!:)
Respectfully,
Gunny

JAMES ROACH said...

Hi Gunny, that's not me you cheeky so and so; I'm a better bloody looking baby eater than that; he's the Roman.

rhingley said...

I am always jealous when I read your posts. I wish I had the time, space, skill and dedication you exhibit with your blog. Keep it up.

Gunny Highway said...

Gawd! My bad, you Celts all look alike!:)

Der Alte Fritz said...

Wonderful stuff as usual. It is really great to see someone actually playing with their armies after they have spent ages painting and collecting them. And to formulate battles around a campaign makes it even better.

Lots of inspirational stuff here, James.

Tarty said...

Great stuff......love it !

JAMES ROACH said...

Hi DAF,

When doing a project I always do so with the prospect of being able to do a big wargame campaign. That's why I collected the equivelent of 4 armies for this one (Roman, 'Carthaginian/African', Spanish and Gallic) 2100 'man' figs in total.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not mad keen on painting: I just do a lot of it - I paint to game.

I do it this way because experience has taught me that unless I go 'big' I get frustrated in my ambitions, and end up falling out with the period I have collected.

James

Jason Meyers said...

Great pics and report!

Jason

Phil said...

A wonderful table, and very nice figs too!