Tunis 310 BC with Lost Battles

Tunis is an interesting battle. You have an all-infantry Syracusan and mercenary army led by an inspired leader in the person of Agathocles fighting a Carthaginian force of infantry, cavalry and chariotry under Bomilcar and Hanno: commanders who, due to an 'inherited feud', make a disfunctional pairing. The restrictive terrain and scant room for maneouvre forces both sides to go to it at once as hard as possible.

There is an entertaining description of the battle and events leading to it in Diodorus Siculus which can be read on the Lacus Curtius site here. It is well worth the read, but the gist of it is that while his home city of Syracuse was blockaded by Carthage, Agathocles conceived the madcap idea of taking the war to enemy territory. With 60 ships he made a run for Africa, succeeded in landing, and then burnt the ships on the beach as a sign of his intent (and also to prevent them falling into enemy hands). Carthage hastily prepares a welcoming committee, and before long battle is joined.

The Lost Battles scenario has Agathocles with two units of veteran hoplites on the Syracusan left, non-hoplite heavy infantry supporting this wing and centre, and hoplites and light infantry on the right. He has a qualitative edge and a fighting value of 60 versus the 51 of the more numerous, more brittle, Carthaginians. 

Two-thirds of the Carthaginian force is levy, which translates to about half of the units in the army, and the rest is average quality, barring two veteran heavy infantry units with Hanno on the right, opposing Agathocles. Bomilcar is on the left - as far a way from Hanno as possible - and the cavalry, chariotry and light infantry are deployed in front of the heavy infantry in a ploy to shock the Syracusans from the outset. Fortunately for the Greeks, Agathocles has prepared in advance a parliament of owls (owls being sacred to that most Grecian of goddesses, Athena) to release to hearten the men in the face of this violence of horses.

Rough guide to the scenario dispositions.

Battle commenced with myself commanding the Carthaginians against SP lording it as Agathocles. Our initial charges were not especially successful, but did score a hit in the centre. Here SP rather misread the memo, indulging in David Lee Roth-esque 'OWWWs' instead of the tu-whit to-whoos appropriate to the winged servants of grey-eyed Athene.

Whither the sacred OWWWs owls?

The Carthaginian levies in their masses.

The Syracusans for their part repel the charges and score hits of their own. Agathocles' veteran hoplites are a little too enthusiastic, prosecuting an all-out attack which exhausts themselves as well as the enemy. A lucky break for Hanno!

After the first combat turn: five units spent for Carthage, two for Syracuse.

Turn three sees some good work from the Syracusans as they shatter a unit of heavy infantry in the centre. This unit was spent but as it had attacked in its own turn it could not draw in behind the arriving reinforcements. Left in the lead unit position, when it was hit it a second time it shattered. There was not a lot else for Carthage to cheer about, except that more hoplite units all-out attacked in the Syracusan turn, which evened up the hits somewhat. 

Agathocles heroically rallied two hits in his zone, much to Hanno's chagrin.

After turn three. Eleven units spent for Carthage, six for Syracuse, and one shattered.

On turn four the damage really began to tell. Syracuse lost another heavy infantry unit shattered in the centre, but Bomilcar's zone lost its own best infantry unit shattered and all along the line the Carthaginian troops are spent. Miraculously, Hanno rallies a hit on his zone, while Agathocles is involved in a close shave, meaning he is not able to attempt any rallies or use command exemptions until the next turn. 

This does nothing to stop the march of the hoplites however, as they rout Bomilcar's zone and advance to outflank the Carthaginian centre.

The Carthaginian left wing has gone, and Bomilcar with it!

Turn six opens with six Carthaginian units remaining on the field. They force Agathocles into a close shave* again, but it is not enough to prevent the centre being crushed. All is lost, and Hanno and company flee for their lives.

 

The battlefield cleared!

And so to the tallying of points. Despite being driven from the field the Carthaginians showed some resilience, and all of the Syracusan units on table were spent. This, along with the two units previously shattered and the points handicap for being the side with lower fighting value, gave the Carthaginians 72 victory points.  For their part the Syracusans had shattered six units and routed the rest, giving them 74 points. A victory for Agathocles by the barest of margins....

It was another great game of Lost Battles. It resolved very similarly to the (admittedly sparse!) account in Diodorus, and gave us plenty of oohs and ahhs. SP retains the Washbourn Trophy with the win here, justifying his arrogant 'forgetfulness' in not bringing the trophy along to be contested on the day.

There will be all to play for next time!

Thanks to SP for another good battle and of course to Phil Sabin for this Olympian set of rules. 

* Note on close shaves in Lost Battles - this is when a leader of a certain class rolls a 3 on two dice when attempting to rally a hit. It is not low enough to kill him (a 2 would do that) but there are some consequences!