Iberian Campaign, Autumn 218: Cissa, part 1.

With Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus working his way down the coast, Hanno, in command north of the Ebro, sent for assistance from Hasdrubal.  The two armies combined in the autumn of 218 and attempted to bring Scipio to battle near the town of Cissa, inland from Tarraco.

Scipio perceived that he had an advantage in both numbers and quality, and decided to accept battle.

The forces were as follows:

Rome

Commander, Cn. Scipio, average commander.

6 units of veteran legionaries (3,750 men)
9 units of average legionaries (11,250 men)
2 units of levy light infantry (5,000 men)
3 units of average heavy cavalry (1,875 men)

In Lost Battles terms this equates to a fighting value of 79.

Carthage


Commanders, Hanno, uninspired commander; Hasdrubal, uninspired commander.

2 units of veteran heavy infantry (1,250 men)
12 units of average heavy infantry (15,000 men)
2 units of average light infantry (2,500 men)
3 units of average heavy cavalry (1,875 men)

In Lost Battles terms this army has a fighting value of 65.

Terrain

Clear, but Hanno has a fortified camp in his central rear zone.

Hanno has the first move.

Turn 1.

Hanno deploys out of his camp.

The cavalry are split one unit left and two units right, with Hasdrubal accompanying the stronger wing.  The veteran infantry are in the centre.

Scipio responds by deploying his veterans in the centre also, but he keeps the triarii in reserve.  He splits his cavalry to match Hanno's - two left and one right.

Turn 2.

The cavalry engage on the Punic right, and Hanno and Hasdrubal are clearly apprehensive about the coming fight.

They need not have worried: Hasdrubal draws first blood with a hit on the equites!

Elsewhere the lines close to contact.  The Roman cavalry have less success than their Punic counterparts, but the velites skirmish effectively.

Turn 3.

Hanno nominates the lead cavalryman as the Punic left gears up for the fight, but the presence of their grim commander serves only to terrify the poor men, and they make no impression on the enemy.

Despite the difficulties of the cavalry, a flurry of hits on the veteran legionaries in the centre does not bode well for Scipio's chances.

The lines engage.

View from the Roman left.

The legionaries drive off the Punic light infantry, but make no headway against Hanno in the centre.

Rueful marker placement as the legions get into their work.

The situation is even as turn three draws to a close, but the Roman right has not yet made its attack.

The attack, when it does come, is devastating.  A double hit is scored, and the Carthaginian left is shattered!!

Turn 4.

Hanno's men redouble their efforts, as time is now short.  They continue to apply pressure in the infantry fight...

Hasdrubal leads his horse in again for another charge, and they meet with success.

Three hits are scored, and the equites of the Roman left are shattered!  The Roman rear is open to Hasdrubal and his command.

To be continued... 

(the second report is here)

A Campaign: The Iberian Adventures of Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus.

In 218 BC, with the war against Carthage just begun, the brothers Publius and Gnaeus Scipio found Hannibal had bypassed their position on the Rhone and headed inland for Gallia Cisalpina via a certain mountainous path.    As consul, Publius directed his elder brother Gnaeus to proceed to Spain with the bulk of their forces while he himself returned to see to the defence of Italy.

Thus Gnaeus, in command of around 2000 horse, 22,000 foot and 60 quinquiremes, made for Emporiae, and commenced working his way down the coast securing a base for future operations.

Hanno, the Carthaginian commander in charge of the area north of the Ebro, made haste to confront Gnaeus before the latter could enlist the aid of too many of the natives.  With only 10,000 foot and 1000 horse under his command, Hanno did not have much in the way of men with him, and despite an apparent enthusiasm for a fight was soundly defeated at Cissa.  He had had assistance coming in the form of Hasdrubal with 8000 foot and 1000 mounted, but Hasdrubal was too late: Hanno's army had been destroyed by the time he arrived.


Having researched this episode recently in an attempt to put together a Lost Battles' scenario for Cissa, it struck me that we have here an intriguing 'what-if':  suppose Hanno had waited for Hasdrubal to join him before he came to grips with Scipio; how might this have affected the battle for Iberia, and the Second Punic War at large?

As I've been looking to do a series of linked encounters to give some context to Lost Battles solo games, this seemed a perfect opportunity to start an alternative history campaign that has Hanno and Hasdrubal doing just that: joining forces prior to the battle of Cissa, meeting Scipio as a combined force, and forcing him to do a bit of hard fighting.

The campaign will take the form of a series of battles - interspersed with some other events I will dice for as I go along - and will follow Gnaeus' attempt to establish the Roman presence in Spain.

Below is a stylized map of the areas in play: orange shows Roman control; yellow shows Carthaginian control; white shows no control.

Devlan Mud

I recently picked up some Devlan Mud wash from the good folk at Brookhurst Hobbies after hearing positive things about it.  A quick post to The Miniatures Page asking how experienced types used it elicited some excellent responses and tonight I tried a little experiment.

I had some Numidian skirmishers - mostly in off-white tunics, though with the odd tan or brown in there as well - and thought I'd see how the tunics would look after a wash.

My usual washes are home brew using Future/Klear, water, a drop of hand soap and a bit of paint, but the advantages of having a ready-mixed and consistent wash to hand are pretty obvious.  Some of the tunics probably turned out a little dark so I might be a little less heavy handed in future, but base coat, wash, and highlight looks to be a good quick-and-dirty way to do them.

Here are a few shots, but please bear in mind that these figures are not yet finished so don't get too shocked by any shoddiness you may be witness to!

   

Anyway, I'm looking forward to doing some more product testing.

Lost Battles Scenario for Cissa, 218 BC.

I've been putting together a scenario for Cissa, 218 BC to test whether Lost Battles can manage what is a bit of a curious battle.

Hanno, who was in command north of the Ebro, was greatly outnumbered but still elected to engage Gnaeus Scipio (uncle of Africanus) rather than wait for the arrival of Hasdrubal and his reinforcements.

Polybius (III.76) and Livy (XXI.60) both have Hanno's force at 10,000 infantry and 1000 horse, said to be taken from Hannibal's own army as he headed for the Alps. Polybius notes Hannibal's army - from which Hanno's force was detached - was 'well trained', but even so it seems ambitious of Hanno to want to take on such a superior force when help was close at hand (whether he knew that Hasdrubal was on his way is of course another matter).

The exact figure for the Romans is more problematic. The brothers Scipio had been assigned a force of two legions with the usual complement of Roman horse plus 14,000 allied infantry, 1,600 allied cavalry, and 60 quinquiremes. After Hannibal bypassed their position on the Rhone, Publius sent Gnaeus on to Spain with the bulk of the army while he himself hurried back with a small force to join the troops in Italy.

Gnaeus subsequently landed near Emporiae and began making such a nuisance of himself that Hanno felt compelled to engage him somewhere north of the Ebro, inland from Tarraco, and near a town called Cissa or Cissis.

If we allow Gnaeus 20,000 foot and 2000 horse then that leaves a small escort for Publius and a detachment for camp/port guard duty. Both Livy and Polybius mentioned Gnaeus' gathering of Iberian allies, so the numbers may in fact be higher. If we confine ourselves to the original force we still have around 16,000 heavy infantry and 4000 light infantry, if usual proportions are assumed.

At a troop multiple of 2 these would become 16 units of average legionaries, 2 units of levy light infantry and 4 units of average cavalry. Even with Gnaeus as an uninspired commander that still gives a fighting value of 81.

Hanno's force would need to be almost entirely veteran to match them, but that seems unlikely given the thrashing he got historically, so we would have to go with a split. 1 ALI and 4 AHI would leave 5000 as veterans, resulting in 10 units of VHI. Two units of average cavalry and Hanno as an uninspired commander would give a total fighting value of 64. Ten units of veterans seems too  many,but to make many more of them average would be going too far below the guideline of c.20 units per side. We could perhaps go with 2ALI, 4AHI, 8 VHI and 2 AHC to give 16 units and reduce the FV to 59. Since the battle saw 6000 Carthaginians killed and 2000 taken captive the latter might be a fairer reflection!

The Carthaginians should probably have a camp on table as its sacking is mentioned in the sources, so if we have that in the rear centre, clear terrain elsewhere, and go for an attack limit of 3 (got to throw the dog a bone somewhere...) we have a rough scenario.

One thing to consider might be to replace a couple of units of legionaries with some Iberian allies, and assume the legionaries to have been left on the coast to guard/man the quinquiremes. This would reduce the Roman FV advantage slightly and might better accord with the reality.

The biggest incongruity is the large number of veterans in Hanno's force.  Given their performance it goes against the grain to categorise them as veterans, but it must be done to allow the battle to fit Lost Battles' parameters. It could, therefore, provide a useful test of the system.

(Also posted on the Lost Battles Yahoo Group)

More Spanish

Here is my next batch of Spanish, which are about ready to be given a Klear coat, a spray of matt varnish, and then a good old-fashioned basing. 

These guys are a mixture of Old Glory and Chariot 15s figures and are also a combination of newly touched-up and freshly painted.  They are part of my ongoing project to clear the remnants of the Punic War era lead and bring older paint jobs up to speed with newer ones. 

Tomorrow night I'll do the Klear coats and (weather and family permitting, of course...) might be able to get the varnishing and basing done on Monday.

Will be nice to get them off the bench and onto the table at last (they've been staring at me for a while!).

Getting back on the painting horse

I'm a little saddle sore tonight.  After about two months with feet firmly on the ground I've clambered back onto the painting horse.  The old body is aching a little - and the equine is looking less lively than it was when last we were acquainted - but I'm warming to it again, and hopefully we'll soon be trotting around the paddock like we did last spring...

Philip Sabin's "Simulating War".

Phil Sabin's new book Simulating War arrived yesterday.  I've been browsing through it and thought I'd share some initial thoughts.

My first impressions are that it consciously positions itself within the tradition of wargaming 'overview' books such as those of Featherstone, Grant, Young, Gush and others, all of which act as introductions to the history and play of figure wargames.  In keeping with that tradition it also includes rules, information on suppliers, examples of games in play, tips on how to make up your own games/rules as well as discussion of various aspects of design philosophy.

Where it departs from the books previously mentioned is in its focus on board rather than figure wargaming (in this regard it is a direct descendant of the Dunnigan and Palmer books) and in its argument for the merit and validity of wargames as educational tools.

In Simulating War, Phil Sabin takes on the role of apologist.  If that seems a little odd or unnecessary to the converted, we must remember that while the average hobby gamer holds the value of wargames to be self-evident, the larger audience - especially the academics and military professionals within it - does not feel the same way!

At any rate, for those of us who like to tinker with rules or have ideas for games of our own, this book will be a very useful and informative guide.

As I say, I have only read a couple of the chapters from start to finish, but from what I have seen so far it seems that the torch lit and held by the giants of the past such as Wells, Featherstone, Grant, Young, Gush et al  has been taken up again, and it would be difficult to imagine a more worthy successor than Phil Sabin.

These are exciting times to be a wargamer!