Zama by email

This refight of the battle of Zama is being played out over email by members of the Lost Battles Yahoo group.  Both sides have three players, each of whom commands a portion of the battlefield (left, centre, right) and one of whom is nominated as the commander-in-chief.  The commander-in-chief allocates commands to his team members and nominates the order in which they will perform their actions.  The sub-commanders then write up their orders and send them to the umpire who resolves the actions, posts the results via email, and notes any changes to the board situation using the Cyberboard programme.

For those who don't know Lost Battles, here is a brief guide to the abbreviations on the Cyberboard map:

BC - Brilliant commander (Hannibal and Scipio here)
AL - Average leader (Masinissa here)

AEL - African elephant unit (representing around 30 elephants and 1500 supporting light infantry)
VHI - Veteran heavy infantry unit (representing 1500 men)
AHI - Average heavy infantry unit (representing 3000 men)
LHI - Levy heavy infantry unit (representing 6000 men)
AHC - Average heavy cavalry unit (representing 1500 cavalry)
ALC - Average light cavalry unit (representing 1500 cavalry)

ALI - Average light infantry unit (representing 3000 men)
LLI - Levy light infantry unit (representing 6000 men)
VLE - Veteran legionary unit (representing 1500 legionaries)
VHC - Veteran heavy cavalry unit (representing 750 cavalry)

We are using the free deployment option in this game and depending on how events unfold the battle may last up to ten turns.  The Carthaginians move first in this scenario (they are army at the top of the screen, with red/brown units), followed by the Romans.

Here then is the situation at the end of the deployment turn (clicking on the images should enlarge them):

By way of contrast, here is the 'historical' deployment from the Lost Battles scenario:

Here is the situation after the Carthaginian moves of the second turn:

At this stage there have not yet been any attacks as both sides are still jockeying for position.

Here is the situation after the Roman moves of turn two:

Two attacks were made by the cavalry on the left wing, but no hits were scored.

Here is the situation after the Carthaginian moves of turn three: 

Attacks were made from two zones, but only one hit, on a veteran heavy cavalry unit, was scored.

Here is the situation after the Roman moves of turn 3:

Three hits were scored in this turn.

Here is the situation after the Carthaginian moves of turn 4:

Again, only three hits were scored, but all on the one zone. 

Here is the situation after the Roman moves of turn 4.

This turn four hits were scored.

Here is the situation after the Carthaginian moves of turn 5:

Four hits, including one double hit and a shatter, were scored this turn.

Here is the situation after the Roman moves of turn 5:

The Romans scored seven hits at a cost of one hit to themselves, shattering one unit and routing three others.  The Carthaginian fighting value has taken a bit of a reduction, and is now down to 67.

Here is the situation after the Carthaginian moves of Turn 6:

Five hits were scored, including three shatters.  The Romans now have four units shattered in total, and their fighting value is accordingly reduced by 14 to 79.

Here is the situation after the Roman moves of turn 6:

Two hits were scored this turn.


Here is the situation after the Carthaginian moves of turn 7:

No hits at all were scored on this turn.

Here is the situation after the Roman move of turn 7:

One hit was scored this turn and another was saved by a successful rally.  The Carthaginian fighting value is now down to 63.

Here is the situation after the Carthaginian moves of turn 8:

One hit was scored.  Both sides are struggling to make much impact on the attack.

Here it the situation after the Roman moves of turn 8:

And it was victory for Rome as Hannibal died in a rally attempt, leading to the rout of the army.  The victory margin was 127 to 96, giving Scipio and friends the win by 31 points.  Thanks to all for a very interesting game!