Trebia - the fight

Without further ado, here is the report of our Lost Battles playthrough of Trebia from the other weekend. SP took Rome, DS took Carthage, and I was umpire (preparatory post is here).

The battle begins with the Roman turn, but there are a few factors to note first. Hannibal, as a brilliant general, is able once in the game to reverse the turn order and take a second turn in succession to reflect his genius as a commander. The limitation with this is that no zone can be attacked out of in both turns. 

There are two obvious ways to use the 'flip-flop' (as it is termed by Lost Battles players): one is to employ it early in the battle to bring all units into contact with the enemy and attack from all zones on the flip-flop turn; the other is to declare it after a breakthrough on one or both wings, and use the flip-flop turn to get cavalry in behind the Roman line. In Lost Battles, this not only allows combat advantage when attacking the infantry but also reduces local morale (zones with enemy to front and rear or on left and right suffer a -1 in morale tests and also lose their lead unit bonus when attacking).

Legionaries are difficult to beat in these rules for a number of reasons. Heavy infantry units facing fresh legionaries lose their +1 attack bonus meaning it is more difficult to hit them. They also have a morale bonus meaning that it is harder to rout them. Facing Romans you have to look for every combat and morale modifier advantage you can get: that means trying to surround them, trying to force them out of their key zone, trying to shatter 4 and then 8 of them, and trying to reduce the units left on field until you outnumber them 2-1.

An advantage the Carthaginians have at Trebia is that the Romans are fatigued. Fatigue has no impact when units are fresh, but spent units have a -1 applied to their attack rolls. 

There is a lot for players to consider tactically in this scenario, and for the Carthaginians especially.  

With that out of the way, let us commence the commentary.

(Photo with additional info - lines, etc)

Rome begins by attacking the enemy skirmishers in the central zone. They have no success. Rome then brings the legionaries forward into all three central zones. One unit on each wing of the legions is kept in the rear zone in reserve. The cavalry units on each wing turn to face the enemy.

Carthage holds back in the centre and centre right, but advances the elephants and Libyans of the centre left into contact. On the wings the Numidian light cavalry skirmish with the enemy, with the heavy cavalry following up behind them. The right wing scores a hit on the the Roman cavalry. The skirmishers in the centre see off the Roman light infantry who retreat behind the legions, but as the Carthaginian lights have no heavy infantry support they will be extremely vulnerable themselves to attack by the Romans on the next turn.

In turn three the Romans attack in the centre and on both cavalry wings. The Carthaginian failure to support the light troops with their heavier cousins results in the Numidian cavalry on the left and the skirmishers in the centre being shattered. The Carthaginans are half the way to the '4+ shattered' morale effect and have already lost their key zone in the centre (also a negative morale effect) as the Romans advance into the pocket. On the right wing the cavalry do not advance, to buy further time on the flanks. In anticipation of the coming fight the Roman infantry in reserve turn to face the flanks.

Carthage, now realising the seriousness of the situation, uses Mago to reinforce the right centre and also bring the infantry up from the rear. The rest of the cavalry attacks on both flanks, but the -1 to their attacks for charging in from two zones away saves the Roman cavalry from any damage.

Rome attacks again, with great success. There are four successful hits across the five zones engaged in combat. The Carthaginians respond, shattering a cavalry unit on each flank. Carthage clears the Roman left wing zone and advances.

Hannibal now declares his flip flop: all zones can move this turn, but only the victorious advancing cavalry of the right can attack. The remaining Numidian cavalry turns to prepare to attack the Roman left centre next turn; the victorious cavalry attack and shatter the reserve unit of Roman legionaries, despite the minus for attacking after turning. Carthaginian prospects are improving!

In the Roman portion of the turn (we had to keep reminding ourselves that the turns were now reversed), they take their steady toll on the enemy. The single remaining cavalry unit scores a double-hit on the Carthaginian cavalry, leaving them all spent on the Carthaginian left. In the infantry battle the Romans score another two hits. The Carthaginian centre is now entirely spent and has nowhere to retreat to. The Romans just keep grinding them down. 

Carthage loads up with combat bonuses where it can and continues the attack. The cavalry gets into position behind the Roman lines to prepare to attack next turn and to affect the Roman morale. On the left the cavalry is successful (all Roman units are now spent, including the reinforcing legionaries) but they cannot quite manage to finish the job and shatter a unit. The elephants score a hit in the left centre, and the Libyans a hit in the right centre, but the centre itself is too disorganised to inflict any damage on their opposition.

The Roman efforts now begin to pay off. The cavalry scores a double hit on the Carthaginian cavalry, shattering two and routing the other. The Carthaginian left flank is defeated and opened up for the Romans to advance. Another unit is shattered in the centre, but high morale roles keep the rest of the army on the field. 

In a desperate attempt to turn the tide Mago himself leads the attack from the Roman centre right, leading his guard unit with two combat bonuses. His charge is a success, and with attacks on that same zone from the flank and the rear, the Romans there are now entirely spent. The cavalry shatter the levy light infantry holding the Roman centre, and advance into the Roman key zone, removing the key zone morale penalty that the Carthaginians had been facing.

But Sempronius is not done: an attack in the centre sees a unit there shattered, and the other routs in sympathy, as do the light infantry and the elephants. The Romans advance two units into the vacated zone. 

Carthage now has some success: they shatter two units in the Roman left centre, but the Romans remain steadfast and do not rout. The Romans advance to surround the remaining Carthaginian infantry blocks to reduce local morale, and the centre turns to drive off the Carthaginian horse to their rear, who retreat on their next turn.

The Carthaginians cannot cause another shatter and the Romans advance into space. An attack is made on Hannibal's zone: a unit is routed, Hannibal fails to rally the hit, and the zone routs. At this, the army routs.

Sempronius has won a battlefield victory!

****

In what was a profound reversal of the historical result, Rome won the field as well as winning the points victory. It was an unusual outcome, and interesting to analyse. Inexperience with the rules played a part in DS's struggles to make headway against the Romans, particularly with the early failure to reinforce the light troops, leaving them exposed to Roman attack and also preventing Carthage from being able to being force to bear efficiently in their own attacks. This was partly my fault as umpire. My approach was to give both players access to their options at all times, but not to recommend any course of action. I probably did not quite emphasise enough the potential negative impacts of leaving light troops unsupported. That said, DS did have a definite plan and I did not want to interfere with the prosecution of that plan. 

The other issue for DS in only his second Lost Battles game was how best to use the flip-flop rule. While it can offer a great advantage when used at the right time, it probably requires a little more experience to know what those advantages are. In hindsight, it might have been better to give SP the task of commanding the Carthaginians and wrestling with the nuances of flip-flop strategy. That said, SP had not yet encountered a brilliant general either, so he would also have been flying somewhat blind.

As it turned out, DS missed out on about 6 potential attack rolls with the non-reinforcement of the light troops early in the piece, and on the flip-flop turn missed out on another potential 11 attacks. 

Still, both players will now have a bit more experience with what sort of play the rules encourage and discourage, and this should stand them in good stead in the future.

It was a really good day and personally I get just as much enjoyment from acting as umpire / scribe as I do playing.  

The battle has weather effects and fatigue to worry about as well as the brilliant commander considerations, so there is a lot going on for players. We did not use the 'favour of the gods' rule but did use the revised scoring (not that it was needed!). 

Always good to get a game on the table!

Trebia preparation

It has been a very pleasant Friday evening spent setting up a Trebia battlefield for tomorrow. SP and DS are coming over for a game of Lost Battles, this time a scenario with some extra chrome - a brilliant general in Hannibal, wet weather, and a fatigued Roman army. 

Trebia as a battle of course needs no introduction from me, but the Lost Battles scenario has the following units involved:

Rome

1 x uninspired commander (Sempronius)

1 x levy light infantry (velites) 

8 x veteran legionaries

6 x average legionaries

1 x average heavy infantry (Cenomani)

3 x average heavy cavalry.

The Roman fighting value is 73.

Carthage

1 x brilliant commander (Hannibal)

1 x African elephants

2 x average light infantry (Balearics, Iberians, Africans)

7 x average heavy infantry (Africans, Gauls, Iberians)

5 x average heavy cavalry (Gauls and Iberians)

2 x veteran light cavalry (Numidians) and 1 x average leader (Mago)

2 x average light cavalry (Numidians)

The Carthaginian fighting value is 83.

Although I have made the battlefield 5 zones by 5 instead of 5 by 4, the first row on the Roman side, with the river, is just for show, to remind us all that the Romans are fatigued from having crossed it (without any weetbix) prior to the battle.

The Roman infantry, with the Cenomani in the foreground. 

The field from behind the Carthaginian line.

From behind the Roman line. 

Hopefully it will be an enjoyable and thought-provoking game, as Lost Battles usually is. If time permits we will try to play it twice, with the second time around allowing free deployment. 

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!

Upcoming Lost Battle: Tunis 310 BC

It has been a while between Lost Battle(s), but SP is coming over tomorrow so I've set up Tunis 310 BC for us to play out. It has chariots, hoplites, veterans, levies, assymetrical forces, and two poor commanders versus one pretty good one. 

A very pleasant 90 minutes was spent setting the table up: Rush on the stereo, cider in the glass, and the sound of happy offspring in the house.  

It should be another good exploration of Phil Sabin's system. 

View from behind the Syracusan left. 

And from the same position on the Carthaginian side.

(As readers may have suspected, as an experiment I asked chat GPT to tidy up the photos. Looks like it has gone for All Blacks vs Springboks under lights at Eden Park on a winter's evening!)

Asculum for beginners

As mentioned in my last post, I was fortunate enough recently to get four players together for a crack at my old favourite, Lost Battles. 

Right up until the night before I was unsure of what scenario to use. The need for Romans was obvious. But should I go with homogenous forces to cut down on rules shock - Pharsalus? No, we needed elephants. Should I go for Hannibal? Trebia? Cannae? Zama? No, these three splendid affairs need to be reserved for when players know the rules enough to savour them.

In the end, the decision was Asculum. The triple advantage of aesthetically pleasing troops, closely-matched armies (by the standards of Lost Battles), and a mix of different types to show the rules to advantage won the day.

The goal was to play a first game to run through the rules and a second to give players a chance to put their knowledge into practice. This was probably a little ambitious.

The day started with a brief outline of the armies and Lost Battles rules concepts. The best way to learn these rules is to play, so we tried to get into it as quickly as possible.

View from behind Pyrrhus's left flank after the deployment turn.

The Greeks moved first and elected to reinforce their right flank with a unit of veteran heavy cavalry, giving them a significant advantage in that area. The central zones all advanced, but not before a hit had been scored on the Roman light infantry.

The Romans refused their left and left centre, but advanced elsewhere. 

On turn three, amid command problems (low command die roll) the Greeks made the decision to not advance their right centre or right flank into contact, even though the latter had been reinforced. Battle was joined seriously in the centre and centre-left and the cavalry of the other flank exchanged charges.

Initial advances, shown from the Greek side.

These positions were maintained for the next few turns. Hits were scored on both sides, forcing players to choose which units to put into the lead, which units to give combat bonuses to, and, on the Greek stage, how best to employ the special characteristics of the phalangites. 

With the Greeks still not advancing their right, they were able to put a lot of command points into combat bonuses, which sped up the attrition on the Romans. Nevertheless, it was the Greek cavalry who gave way on the left, buoying Roman morale.

The day was racing by, and the Greeks realised the need to get their right into contact. As this was happening Sulpicius staved off disaster by rallying three hits out of four, saving the Roman right centre from rout. Pyrrhus got himself into the action in the centre, but in doing so exposed himself to risk. As the battle went on, Pyrrhus's zone broke, carrying the man himself off the field.

The Greek right flank swept the Roman cavalry away, but it was too late. 

Gleeful Romans spoke of superior tactical acumen; resentful Greeks cursed those fickle mistresses, the dice.

With neither side able to completely rout the other by the end of the tenth turn, points were tallied up. Rome this time was victorious.

As there was only an hour left, we had a quick debrief instead of the ideal second game to 'consolidate knowledge' (what was that about being too ambitious?).

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the players new to Lost Battles are keen to do it all again. 

A successful day then, and I chuckled to myself during the post-mortems: by turns they all gloated, grizzled, moaned and what-iffed like wargame veterans!

Great to get people together for some good old fashioned figure gaming. 

Tunis again with SP - a mighty clash

SP popped over today Sunday to play Tunis in our Washbourn Trophy series. An earlier post gives some information about the initial set up. 

SP took the Syracusans under Agathocles, an inspired leader. I took the Carthaginians under Bomilcar (on the left) and Hanno (on the right). We decided to play without the Favour of the Gods rule. The Carthaginians (to the right in our pictures) have first move each turn.

A high command roll gives Carthage options: they attacked on each wing but not in the centre in order to keep the levy heavy cavalry there out of the clutches of the enemy. One attack was successful, but it was rallied by Agathocles himself. 

SP then rolled a 1 for command, meaning he either could attack or reinforce, but not both everywhere. He attacked in all zones and then reinforced the centre and the right, trusting Agathocles to hold firm without further support. The attacks inflicted three hits, but two of them were all-out attacks by his hoplites (who must all-out attack given the opportunity).

After turn two. Syracuse on the left; Carthage on the right

In turn three feeble attacks from Carthage - despite another high command roll - are met with grumblings of discontent by senior leadership. They manage just one hit from thirteen attempts. 

The Syracusans roll another 1 for command. They reinforce Agathocles' wing and attack in the centre and the right. They are very successful on the right: the Carthaginian units are all left spent, but at the cost of another hoplite unit spent from an all-out attack.

At this point SP is reasonably content with his start, but is heard indicating some concerns about the centre. On my side of the table there are mutterings about being pounded.

After turn three, with the Washbourn Trophy shining at the far end of the table in all its gilded glory. In the foreground the shaky Carthaginian left is visable.

Carthage rolls high for command again. I decide to pull my left back onto the hill. With spare commands, I double-move the chariots onto the hill to their left, creating a pocket. Elsewhere we manage a solitary hit.

SP is a little non-plussed by the withdrawal of the Carthaginian left. Should he advance into the pocket? To do so will put him at a morale disadvantage and the hoplites, with enemy on their flanks, will not be as effective in attack. 

Another low command roll sees him leave things on the right as they are for the moment and press on in the other zones. In a turn up for the books all of the Syracusan attacks are unsuccessful. 

It seems that when the Washbourn Trophy is on the line even the dice start to feel the pressure... 

After turn four. The Carthaginian left retreats.

Carthage attacks. Great dice see three hits scored in the centre, leaving just one fresh unit there. On the right, another flurry of hits leaves Agathocles as the only fresh unit in his zone. Those mandatory hoplite all-out attacks have weakened the Syracusans more than expected.

Syracuse decides to advance into the pocket on the right. SP needs to shatter some units. After all the movement and fighting is done, Syracuse has five fresh units across three zones; Carthage has four. 

After turn five. Carnage in the battle line.

Turn six is more grim attrition. A unit is shattered in Agathocles' zone, but the rest hold firm. Both centres still have one unit fresh each, and the Syracusan right still has two units fresh, but the rest of the units on the field are spent.

Agathocles is faced with a choice: retreat from his zone to prolong the battle and give time for his right to clean up the levies on the hill, or stand. SP chooses to stand. He will not give up his key zone.

After turn six. Still the Carthagian levies survive!

Carthage has a royal opportunity to put Agathocles, now in the lead unit position, to the sword. Heroically, he stands firm! Did we only imagine an owl or two in the air? On the right the Syracusan hoplites shatter an average heavy infantry unit. Bomilcar attempts to rally the hit, and dies. Disaster! Two morale checks needed on d3s. Fortuitously for Carthage, the scores are 3 and 3, and even the levy light infantry refuse to rout. Disaster averted.

Agathocles strikes from the lead position: two units shattered, two units routed. Only the veteran heavy infantry remain in place to hold the zone for Hanno. But the morale check results are high enough to prevent the rest of the army from routing. 

And what is the health of the battle lines at this point? Agathocles has three units against Hanno's two. All spent. The Syracusan centre has five units all spent, against Carthage's four spent heavy infantry and one levy heavy cavalry kept - wisely as it has turned out - out of the lead position, still fresh. Syracuse has one fresh and four spent units on the right facing four spent infantry units and the Chariots mucking about on the hill.

After turn seven. Both armies out on their feet.

Hanno attacks, and scores two double hits from his zone. Agathocles rallies one, but suffers a close shave with the next, is laid low, and can do nothing to stop the second double hit. They are all shattered. Hanno advances to take the key zone and Syracusan morale will now suffer accordingly.

A succession of failed attacks by Carthage in the centre is redeemed by a final attack which does enough to shatter a unit. With morale now at a -3 (general killed, four-plus units shattered, key zone lost), the army flees.

Turn eight, the moment before the Syracusans are swept away.

Well, after a great start from Agathocles things went a bit pear-shaped for the Syracusans. The longer the game went on the more the Carthaginian position improved. SP was hampered by poor command dice. 1, 1, 2, 3, 2, 4, if my memory is correct. This meant he was unable to get his army into position as quickly as he would have liked, and nor did he have commands to spare for combat bonus purposes.

For me, the command dice were extraordinary. 5, 5, 6, 4, 5, 4, 5 or similar. This allowed me the luxury to pull back on my left, and gave the ability to load up my attackers with combat bonuses. 

In the end, I think this (and my high morale rolls at crucial times) were probably the difference.

As usual, it was a gripping game. We both felt from turn four onwards that "THIS turn will decide it!" but that feeling went on for five turns. 

We will look forward to contesting the Washbourn Trophy again soon. I will have to have a think about what battle to do - it was refreshing to have hoplites and chariots on the table. Funnily enough, the battle was quite similar to the account in Diodorus, except that it was Bomilar who died, not Hanno, and the Carthaginians managed to resist the urge to rout at that point.

Final scores were Carthage's 97 to Syracuse's 60, for Carthage to register a clear victory. On the day I had 85 to 60, but forgot to include the withdrawn Agathocles in the count. 

Tunis 310 BC, the battle.

Before we get to the action, there are two points to note. One is that for this game I am playing Lost Battles pure; that is, without the Favour of the Gods rule that allows players, when conditions are right, to demand the re-roll of an attack result. Suggested by Charles Vasey, this rule variation was adopted by Phil Sabin for the deluxe board game edition of Lost Battles. Since I am playing solo and feel there is a chance I will use the Favour rule more in aid of one side than the other I have decided this time to play pure, to reduce the chance of - shall we say - authorial intrusion.

Lines meet in a grassy area of North Africa....

The second point is that I will be mentioning lead units. Lead units are a Lost Battles game mechanism requiring one unit to be nominated to take the point position for each zone in the battle line and remain there until either the unit suffers a hit or is replaced by a different lead unit on a subsequent turn. 

This mechanism allows advantageous match-ups in attack, but as the lead unit will be the focus of enemy attacks on the other side's turn it is key in defence as well. While in attack, for example, it may seem like a reasonable idea to have a levy heavy cavalry unit in the lead position, it can seem quite unreasonable when it comes time to defend! Decisions around which class of unit to put into the lead position when are part of what makes Lost Battles such an engaging game. 

Anyway, enough of that. To the action! We have already seen in a previous post the initial deployment positions (turn 1), so let us move on from there.

Turn 2 - Carthage. 10 commands plus those of the two generals. 

In the right centre the chariots take the lead and attack the opposed Syracusan unit of veteran hoplites. Usually requiring a 9 on two dice to hit heavy infantry, the lead unit bonus and a combat bonus purchased from army commands reduces this to 7. A roll of exactly 7 sees the chariotry decide to prosecute an all-out attack (a hit to both the attacking and defending units) to hurt the precious veteran hoplites. Agathocles must attempt a rally. The rally fails, and his own veteran guard, being the only other unit currently in the zone, now takes the lead position. A Carthaginian light infantry attack follows in support of the chariots, but is unsuccessful. 

View from the Syracusan side.In the picture above a spent marker is visible next to the veteran hoplites. The Carthaginian chariots, also spent, have retired from the lead position they held at the start of the attack and are now at the rear of their zone. Since the attack the reinforcing infantry have moved up.

In the left centre no attacks succeed. The levy heavy cavalry in the central zone demonstrates only in order to allow the more defensively capable infantry to come up and move into the lead position. This was a tricky decision: if Carthage had used the cavalry to attack, they could have scored a hit on a 9, or all-out attack on an 8, but would then themselves be hittable on the Syracusan turn on a 7 (or 6 for an all-out attack) and an increased chance of a double hit (a score 4 above what is needed for a single hit). In this instance caution prevailed.

After the attacks are complete the infantry is brought up into the line in all three central zones.

View from the Carthaginian left after their turn. Each carpet tile is a separate zone.

Turn 2 - Syracuse. 12 commands plus those of Agathocles.  

The Syracusans are slow to action. Attacks by the forward units in the centre and centre right fail. On the centre left, Agathocles declines to attack so as to preserve himself fresh for later in the battle. If he had attacked, he would have been in the lead position in the next Carthaginian turn and with a corresponding increased risk of being hit or even killed. 

The rest of the infantry comes up into line. 

View from behind the Syracusan left center as the lines close. Agathocles can be seen on the left, having left the lead unit duties to some less valuable troops.

Turn 3 - Carthage. 8 commands plus those of the two generals. 

An attack in the centre yields a successful hit. The next attack roll is 12 - 3 above the required 9 - and it is converted into a double hit by an all-out attack. From five fresh units Syracuse is down to two - both hoplites - and Carthage has four of five units fresh. The Syracusans are somewhat rocked by the onslaught.

The attack from the left centre hits the Syracusan veteran light infantry. The roll is actually a double hit, but as the defending lead unit is light infantry supported by wholly fresh heavy infantry, only the first hit counts. No other attacks from this zone are successful. The veteran lights have done their job.

On the right another hit is scored against Agathocles' zone. If he had been in the lead position he would have taken the hit and been forced to attempt a rally. 

Five hits to one over the turn. Carthage is inflicting damage.

Spent markers litter the field after the ferocious Carthaginian attack.

Turn 3 - Syracuse. 9 commands plus those of Agathocles. 

Agathocles' left centre attacks, scoring a double hit on the vulnerable levy light infantry in the lead. Being levy, and with a spent unit in the zone already (meaning they are unable to ignore the second hit like the Syracusan light infantry could the turn before), they are automatically shattered rather than being able to pass the second hit to another unit in the zone. The morale roll is a 2 - safe so far.

The right centre and its formidible hoplites score three hits. The centre scores another. Six hits to none over the turn. 

The Syracusans are settling into their work, but there is more to do. Carthage still has three fresh units in its centre left and centre, and four fresh units on the right centre, where Hanno leads the veteran Sacred Band. Syracuse has four, two, and three respectively in the zones opposite.

Spent units now on both sides.

Turn 4 - Carthage. 10 commands plus those of the two generals. 

The Carthaginian left centre attacks. The average grade units are all spent, so a unit of levy grade infantry is put into the lead role. The attacks score two hits, leaving only two fresh units for the Syracusans in that zone, but the levy will be vulnerable when attacked themselves. 

In the centre another two hits see the whole of the Syracusan central zone now spent. All five units spent in just two rounds of attacks. Future hits there will cause units to shatter. Is it time for the Syracusan centre to pull back to buy some time? This will be a question for next turn.

The Carthaginian right then attacks. Tension is high, but the attack fails to score any hits. Carthage has managed four hits to none this turn. Agathocles' army is running out of fresh units, but his own zone is still relatively intact. 

Hanno and Bomilcar are in a strong position.

Turn 4 - Syracuse. 11 commands plus those of Agathocles. 

Agathocles loads up on attack bonuses where he can. His right centre attacks the lead levy heavy infantry and scores a double hit, shattering the unit outright. The morale test this causes sees the spent light infantry in the same zone rout. Elsewhere, morale holds. No more attacks on this zone succeed.

View of the Syracusan right centre on the attack.

In the left centre, Agathocles decides that it is now time for his guard to take the lead position. With his centre in danger he decides to force the issue. His guard unit is assigned a double attack bonus. He is hitting on a 6 (9 for a double hit) or 5 for an all-out attack. He rolls a 10 and a double hit is scored. The next attack also succeeds by converting it to an all-out-attack. The remaining attacks are unsuccessful, but even so there is now only one fresh unit - Hanno with the Sacred Band - left in the zone. It will be a fight between the two leaders' guard units next turn.

In the centre, the Syracusans ponder whether to stay in place or pull back. If they were only facing infantry, pulling back would be a good option. They would about-face and retreat one zone. The enemy following up next turn could move into the vacant space but would not be able to attack; in effect, this would buy a turn's grace for the left and right to try to win the battle. But in this case Carthage has fresh cavalry, and cavalry can move and attack in the same turn. Cavalry attacking spent heavy infantry from the rear would not be a happy proposition. Moreover, to about-turn and move the hoplites out of the zone would require four commands (they don't like to turn around in Lost Battles), so they decide to stay and fight it out.

Their opponents in the lead role are levy heavy infantry. Once more they are vulnerable: another double hit is scored on the lead unit, which shatters the levies outright. A poor morale test then sees the other levy units in the zone flee the field. A subsequent attack also scores a hit, shattering one of the remaining average quality units. 

The Carthaginian centre is now reduced to a single spent unit. The decision to stay in place has been vindicated!

Turn 5 - Carthage. 4 commands plus those of the two generals. 

With the centre melting away, the chance to defeat the Syracusan there is gone. For Carthage to win now, the formula is simple: Hanno must kill Agathocles. A roll of 1 for commands does not, however, give too many options for attack bonuses.

The left centre attacks first. Two hits are scored, leaving the Syracusan right completely spent. A third hit, which would have caused a unit to shatter, proves elusive.

It is now Hanno's turn. He is in the lead position and needs a 7 to hit Agathocles' guard. He rolls an 11, a double hit! Agathocles is forced to make a rally roll. A high score will cancel the hit; a low roll will kill him. The roll is high and the hit is cancelled. He makes a rally roll for the second hit. The dice are shaken in the hand... again he rolls high. Again the hit is cancelled. Fortune has a favourite! The remainder of the attacks from this zone fail.

There is just the centre to activate. The lone unit there makes its attack. Success! At last a Syracusan unit is shattered. 

Carthage is left to rue what might have been.

The field after Carthage's attacks.

Turn 5 - Syracuse. 11 commands plus those of Agathocles. 

Leading off the with right centre, Syracuse mounts its attack. A double hit is scored on the levy unit in the lead. The unit shatters. As there are four or more Carthaginian units shattered now, the morale test is taken at a -1. A 1 is rolled; there is is a catastrophic morale failure, and the entire army streams from the field.

A double six does the trick!

Results:

Carthage scores 6 points from units shattered, 38 from units spent, 18 from the handicap.

Syracuse scores 22 points from units shattered, 42 from units routed, 12 from units and leaders withdrawn.

62 vs 74 - it is a narrow victory to Syracuse. 

Thoughts:

Initially the battle seemed to be favouring Carthage, but once Syracuse had punched through the better infantry, the poor quality of Carthage's levy second-line troops told. A succession of double hits allowed Syracuse to quickly reduce Carthage's fighting fitness. The brutal dismantling of the Carthaginian centre in turn 4 turned the battle, but another key moment was Agathocles managing to rally both hits scored against him on turn 5. 

It was interesting to see how many double hits were scored across the game. When playing with Favour of the Gods, many double hits are cancelled and re-rolled. Here, playing 'pure', the double hits had a noticeable effect and the battle finished more quickly than I have been used to.

It was enjoyable to play a lesser-known battle in a lesser-known war, and to have such an interesting mix of troops on the table. Fresh hoplites are deadly against heavy infantry!

I might leave the table set up and see if SP and I can find time for a game this coming weekend. 

** with thanks to Duncan Head, the original account of the battle can be found in Diodorus, here.

Tunis, 310 BC, dispositions.

Over the past few evenings I've had that restless 'I want to play something but don't quite know what' feeling. First night I ordered a second copy of Memoir '44 so that I can stage larger scenarios; second night I did some painting; third and fourth nights I watched re-runs of The Sopranos. 

Tonight I decided to set something up.

I pulled out the Lost Battles scenario book and Tunis jumped out at me as a battle I'd not done for a long time. 

Agathocles of Syracuse. What an interesting character. I don't think I would like to have had much to do with him on a personal level, but you have to take your hat off to a fellow who would stage an invasion of Africa from Syracuse, while Syracuse was besieged!

This Lost Battles scenario gives Agathocles the advantage in army quality, 60 to 51. He has a mix of hoplites and generic heavy infantry elevated by his own inspired leadership. He has no cavalry at all, and just one unit of light infantry, but that is elite. 

Agathocles himself leads the left of his line with two units of veteran hoplites. The light infantry is on his right, in advance of the bulk of the hoplites. The centre and centre left is mainly heavy infantry. 

All of his troops are either veteran or average in quality.

The hastily-assembled Carthaginians under leaders Bomilcar and Hanno combine a dangerous mounted arm with mixed-grade infantry. The terrain does not allow the chariotry and cavalry the space to best use the advantages they offer. The light infantry is poor, and while the tip of the heavy infantry spear is strong, the iron behind is suspect.

Carthage has leaders on both ends of the line, but the leaders are of uninspired quality. It will be a hard fight for the Africans. 

Points to note: 

• hoplites have special characteristics in Lost Battles. They hit hard, and must all-out attack if the opportunity arises. Their morale is more fragile than standard heavy infantry. 
• the terrain is against the Carthaginian mounted. They could attempt to manoeuvre onto the flanks, but the command cost to do so is high. 
• Agathocles seems to have the advantage in troop quality and terrain, but nothing is assured.  

Sentinum 295 BC with Lost Battles

SP came around tonight for another session of Lost Battles. Our last ancients game was, looking at blog records, late last year, when we played Zama and SP carried off the Washbourn Trophy in triumph. This time around we would play Sentinum. 

SP elected to play the Romans. They have an advantage in fighting value, 69 as against 60 for the Samnites and Gauls, but most of that is taken up with superior Roman generalship. The armies themselves are pretty even - five units of cavalry for the Romans - one veteran, the rest average; five units of mounted for the coalition, four heavy cavalry, one chariotry.

In infantry the coalition has fourteen units of heavy infantry against the Roman ten legionary units and two levy light infantry units. The numbers favour the coalition, but the Roman legionaries have better morale and when fresh are harder to hit.

The Romans have an average commander in Fabius and an uninspired cavalry leader in Decius Mus. The coalition has Gellius Egnatius as an uninspired infantry leader.

So far there is not much between the armies, but at Sentinum the coalition is classed as fatigued: that is, their staying power is compromised. Once a Gallic or Samnite unit has taken a hit, it attacks thereafter at -1, meaning in effect that all things being equal a fatigued heavy infantry unit up against a legionary unit will need 11 or 12 on two dice to to score a hit, so the coalition troops have to try to make an impact early and keep as many units fresh as possible for as long as possible.

Looking from behind the Roman right.

As it eventuated, there was not too much need for deep strategy: it was one of those rare games when everything went right for my side and nothing for my worthy opponent. 

Our right wing engaged immediately, and the infantry in the three central zones advanced. I kept the cavalry on my left refused. They were outnumbered and I felt it was best to be circumspect at the outset.

One wing and the centre engaged. My refused left can be seen on right of the picture.

The Gauls on my right quickly made inroads and the chariots burst through after just two turns of combat, shattering one unit and routing the guard for the unfortunate Decius Mus and denuding the Roman left of any meaningful defenders.

A double hit is scored, Decius Mus is unable to rally either of them, and the Roman left is lost.

Why did the Romans not invoke Favour of the Gods and force a re-roll, Lost Battles afficionadoes may ask? The reason for this is that I had already had such frighteningly good dice in the centre that SP had invoked the gods there, and with the token now in my hands, could not do so again until I had issued an invocation of my own. 

The action continued apace.

Galvanised by the early loss of his left wing and cognisant of the need to fight fire with fire in the centre, SP put as many command points into combat bonuses as he could. This paid off with hits against the Samnite left centre under Gellius. But in doing this he neglected to make use of his cavalry superiority on the right.

 

The refused Samnite cavalry wing is left unmolested.

Gellius Egnatius leads the Samnites as the centres continue the fight. The victorious Gallic cavalry and chariotry can just be seen in the distance in behind the Roman left.

The Roman rear is now exposed and with three units to use for this purpose, the Gauls focus on getting deep in behind the Romans to interfere with their morale and prepare to strike in future turns. SP pulls two units of cavalry out of the line on his right to respond to the threat.

A double hit by Gellius on the Roman right centre sees another unit shattered and the levy light infantry flee.  

With options running out for Rome bold attacks are initiated by the cavalry, now split across two zones to meet threats from two directions, and by the legionaries in the central zones.

Black arrows show direction of Roman attacks in turn 6.

The chariots are hit, but do not break. The other cavalry fails to hit at all. In the right centre, a mighty effort smites Gellius's unit, but in a scene which epitomises SP's luck tonight, Gellius rallies the hit. There is another successful attack in the central zone, but not enough to turn the tide. 

A series of attacks by the coalition sweep away the remaining Roman cavalry and Fabius's sector of the infantry line. The rest of the army holds on for the remainder of the turn, but Gellius administers the coup de grace on the turn after.

Final attack: Gellius rolls up the Roman line, already beset front and rear, with an attack from the flank.

It was a rather unfortunate game for SP. He stuck at it but you can't do much when the dice are your enemy.

From my perspective The Gauls and Samnites were able to keep just enough units fresh to avoid the worst effects of fatigue, and seemed to manage to align their most important attacking moments with their most potent dice rolling. The luck went entirely my way, but it was interesting to see a Lost Battles Roman army unexpected defeated on the table: beat the cavalry, surround the infantry, wear them down until morale starts to fail. 

It was pretty much the historical formula.

Victory Points:

Rome: 

The coalition spent: 3 x average heavy cavalry, 1 x average chariot, 9 x average heavy infantry equates to 52 points

Samnites & Gauls:

Roman shattered: 2 x average legionaries, 2 x average heavy cavalry, 1 x veteran heavy cavalry equates to 32 points

Roman routed: 2 x levy light infantry, 8 x average legionaries, 2 x average heavy cavalry equates to 46 points

Withdrawn: 1 x average commander, 1 x uninspired leader, equates to 9 points. 

Handicap: 18 points

Fatigued: 20 points

Total points for Rome: 52; for Samnites & Gauls: 125, for a major victory.

I now get to keep the Washbourn Trophy for a spell, which makes a bit of a change!