Spanish Gambit

[nalivayko]

Game version: 1.02
Difficulty: Normal (my 2nd game, excluding a couple of re-starts to learn the ropes).
Alternative setup: Hannibal in Spain
Objective: Roma delenda est (besides having fun, of course)

Turn 1 - Carthage
Year 596 CE (Carthage Era) or 218 BC for those who can't count.

Common wisdom suggests Hannibal moves to Italy through Gaul and Alps, establishes a foothold in Cisalpine Gaul province and awaits reinforcements from Hadsrubal. Then both brothers can concentrate their efforts on Etruria, Hadsrubal sieging and Hannibal screening his brother's army. In 5 years Hannibal est ad portas (pardon my Latin) and Rome is checked. With little luck another 2 years it is checkmate for the Republic. This strategy worked in other timelines, but what armchair general would miss a chance to perfect his strategy, even if it means losing a game or two in the process.

Thus, common wisdom is discarded and Hannibal tries something different this time. He combines his forces with Hadsrubal from the start and moves his great host across the Pyrenees into Gaul. Mago is left in New Carthage to continue recruitment in Spain. Hadsrubal tags alone, Hannibal deeming his brother to be more valuable when supervised up close. Carthaginian army suffers little attrition in Gaul (1 Numidian Cavalry and 1 Spanish Infantry). Hadsrubal remains in Gaul to enlist help of the locals during the coming winter.

Hannibal continues, forcing an extended march and capturing Turin by storm. He then proceeds to conquer Mediolanum and Patavium. The capture of 3 cities in Cisalpine Gaul allows the Carthaginian to enlist aid of Gauls in Northern Italy. Three Gallic units (1 cavalry and 2 infantry) join his cause. Inspired by news, Mago is raising 3 additional Spanish units in Spain. Romans respond with enticing African desertions, twice, costing Hannibal another Numidian cavalry and 1 African Infantry. Hannibal splits his army leaving lesser half (7 units) at Mediolanum and camping with the rest (10 units) in front of Placentia, baiting the Romans to engage him in the open field.

Meanwhile, all 5 naval squadrons are combined north of Africa - 3 squadrons have been added this year, thanks to Senate's builds and additional reinforcements. The fleet's role, for now, is to guard against Roman invasion of Africa. Hanno and Himiclo await their orders in Carthage.

Winter comes and reinforcements are being raised in Spain (1 Spanish Cavalry), Gaul (1 Gallic Cavalry) and Cisalpine Gaul (2 Gallic Infantry). Hannibal is going to have to storm some cities on his way to Rome. When he does, Gallic infantry will prove to be of great use.

[nalivayko]

Turn 1 - Rome

Meanwhile, there is panic in Rome. Reinforcements are rushed in from Southern Italy to Latium. Servilius refuses to attack Hannibal and retreats to Pisa, leaving his army behind. Fleets are positioned to screen Italy from Carthaginian naval invasions.

Elections come. Fabius and Varro are elected consults, while Servilius and Fulvius become praetors. Is it Fabius' fault that no battles take place this year? Unlikely, it must be the Carthaginian numbers that scare the Romans off the field.

The enemy raises countless reinforcements. Carthaginians prefer to turn the blind eye to the actual numbers.

[nalivayko]

Turn 2 - Carthage

Senate "decides" to reinforce Spain. Hanno, being a weaker leader than Himilco, is chosen to sail from Carthage. He joins meets up with Mago in New Carthage, steals all Mago's troops and proceeds to camp at Emporion. He ends up at the command of 8 Spanish units - 3 Cavalry and 5 Infantry.

Hannibal moves to open a second way to Italy. He conspires with citizens of Genoa, who open the gates and slaugher 2 Roman legions inside. Three remaining Roman units are no match to Hannibal. The Carthaginian combines his army and storms the city. His losses are light - 1 Spanish Infantry. Genoan route is open.

Before splitting the army again, Hannibal takes a count of his forces. They consist of 18 units - 2 Elephants, 4 Cavalry (1 Companion, 1 Africa, 1 Spanish and 1 Gallic) and 12 Infantry (5 African, 4 Gallic and 3 Spanish). Taking 10 units (half of his elephants, all of cavalry and 5 infantry) Hannibal ones again camps in front of Placentia. Roman army in Placentia is 8 unit strong and is commaded by Fabius. Is he going to refuse battle? Or will he throw his usual caution to the wind. Romans are yet to meet Hannibal in battle, everything is possible.

One may ask why Hannibal still lingers on Cisalpine Gaul, while Genoan route is open for Spanish reinforcements and Etruria lies defenseless in front of him. There is only one reason: Hadsrubal is yet to return from Transalpine Gaul with new recruits. Hannibal should have placed himself between Roman armies in Placentia and Rome. Perhaps he made a mistake taking field with such a small army - if Fabius gets reinforced from Rome the battle may be a close affair.

Additional recruitment this year gives Hanno 1 Spanish Infantry, Hadsrubal 1 Gallic Infantry and Hannibal 2 Gallic units - 1 Cavalry and 1 Infantry. One naval squadron is built in Carthage.

[nalivayko]

Turn 2 - Rome

Roman Victory at Sea - Battle of Carthage

Romans, no doubt inspired by their naval victories of the previous War, moves their fleet to engage Carthaginians near Carthage. Six naval squadrons on each side, the victory could go either way. This time, it is the Roman valor that carries the day. Carhage losses 4 squadrons, Rome - 2. The sea is closed to Hannibal now, he has to rely on overland reinforcements from Spain and only occassional blockade runs from Africa.

Battle of Placentia

Fabius refuses to move from Placentia against Hannibal, but Varro is of a different mind (and, unfortunately for Romans, of a different skillset). Raising troops in Latium, he takes command of the Army of Rome and moves to Placentia. Taking advantage of a rotating army control between the consuls, he takes command of combined consular army and marches against Hannibal. His army consists of 16 units, 10 Legionary Infanry and 6 Cavalry, evenly split between Roman and Latin
recruits.

Hannibal commands 12 units: 1 African Elephants, 5 Cavalry (1 Companion, 1 African, 2 Gallic and 1 Spanish) and 6 Infantry (3 African, 2 Gallic and 1 Spanish). Outnumbered in both cavalry and infantry, he decides to hold back his elephants from the first round of battle, instead setting up an ambush. He starts his initial attack with his almost all of his cavalry and Gallic infantry, backed by a handful of African spearmen.

The battle goes the Carthaginian way right from the start, the Roman infantry overwhelmed and offering only a token resistance. Roman cavalry tries to contain the breakthroughs, but is routed with little Carthaginian losses. The entire Roman army, all 16 units, are surrounded and destroyed. Varro is killed. Hannibal loses 1 Spanish Cavalry and 1 African Infanry units.

The name "Placentia" becomes synonymous with "Total Annihilation". The battle becomes a textbook example on ambushing enemy army on a march. Varro earns himself a name in history. It is not a name to be proud of.

Romans, faced with this apalling disaster, finally choose to elect capable consuls - Fabius and Gracchus. Three praetors are Scipio, Livius and Marcellus. Seven new legions are raised throughout Italy, all of them Latin.

[nalivayko]

Turn 3 - Carthage

After Placentia, Hannibal cannot afford to waste any time lingering around Cisalpine Gaul. For the first time in history Carthage fields a larger army than Rome - 12 to 4 Cavalry and 23 to 14 Infantry - forget about the elephants. Carthage is in position to concentrate her armies in Northern Italy, while Roman forces are thinly spread throughout the Republic holdings in Italy and Sardinia. If there was ever a good time to move on Rome, it is now.

Hadsrubal is ordered to besiege Placentia, his small Gallic army reinforced with Hannibal's veterans to the total of 8 units. Hannibal picks up his forces in Genoa and, forcing the extended march, passes Etruria and besieges Rome. Hanno travels to Genoa and, deciding that time is more important than material, risks attrition to march on Pisa. He loses a third of his army in desertions, but does manage to establish Carthaginian presense in Etruria. Three Carthaginian armies in Italy now number 26 units.

Rome is defended by Consul Fabius and Praetors Marcellus and Livius. Together they control 1 Latin Cavalry, 3 Latin Legions, 2 Urban Legions and 6 Militia Infantry. The largest Roman army outside Rome herself (and not counting Syracusan forces) is located in Sardinia (2 units).

Rome does claim superiority at sea (12 squadrons to 2) and Hannibal decides to take it down a notch. Negotiations take place with Hieronymus - a son of recently passed Hiero - a tyrant of Syracusae. Hieronymus sees in opportunity to claim all of the island of Sicily for himself and decides to betray Roman alliance. Syracusae's fleet (3 squadrons) puts out to sea and chases Roman fleet (2 squadrons) from the Sicilian waters without loss on neither side.

After Syracusae's betrayal Roman army numbers only 10 infantry and 3 cavalry. Carthaginian armies on the other hand, swell with reinforcements: 1 African infantry raised by Senate in Carthage and 1 Spanish Infantry raised by Mago in Spain.

[nalivayko]

Turn 3 - Rome

Battle of Rome

Gracchus raises two "scrapped" Latin legions in Umbria. Gathering all the forces he can find (4 Latin units total, one of them cavalry), he marches to relieve Rome. Hannibal decides to risk a battle, even though he would have to fight both Gracchus' and Fabius' armies and cannot use any of his "Punic Tricks".

Roman armies total 16 units. Again. They consist of 2 Latin Cavalry and 6 Latin Legions, 2 Roman Urban Legions and 6 Militia Infantry.

Hannibal's army composition is as follows: 1 African Elephants, 3 Cavalry (Companion, African and Gallic) and 8 Infantry (3 African, 3 Gallic and 2 Spanish). Once again he keeps his Elephants in reserve, the first punch to be delievered by African cavalry units and Gallic foot. African and Spanish infantry is slowly fed into battle to soak the damage.

As expected, the battle is a close affair. Romans do show that there is still some fight left in them. After many inconclusive rounds, 2 Roman Urban Legions face Hannibal's Companion and African Cavalry. The Roman infantry is either destroyed or routed. Victory, once again, belongs to the Carthaginian.

Romans lose half of their forces in this battle. Livius is forced to retreat to Neapolis, saving only a unit of Latin Cavalry. Rome's garrison is diminished to 8 units, including 4 Militia. The hunger takes care of another 2 later.

Hannibal's loses 4 units - all of his African and 1 Spanish infantry.

The year is 598 from the founding of Carthage (216 BC). Rome seems to be doomed for certain, the question is when. Can new consuls - Scipio and Marcellus - delay the fall of Rome for another two years - or will Hannibal force the end of the war next year.

[nalivayko]

Turn 4 - Carthage

State of Affairs

The last year of the war begins with Rome still under siege by Hannibal. Carthaginian Senate decides to reinforce Africa - Roman navy still outnumbers combined Carthaginian and Syracusan fleets 9 to 7 - there is no way to reinforce Italy with large expedition and no point in sending troops to other theatres of war. Still, Senate does manage to sneak two African units to Hannibal in Italy.


Hippocrates Campaign

Hippocrates, Syracusan general, "liberates" the rest of Sicily with minimal loss to his army and rests on his laurels. Syracusan navy decides against sailing out to break the Roman blockade, sensing the end of the war and wishing to preserve Syracusae's limited manpower.

Hadsrubal's Campaign

Hadsrubal storms weakened Placentia, takes the city and marches to collect Hanno's troops besieging Pisa. Pisa's garrison is also weakened by hunger and an assault on Pisa's walls cost Hadsrubal only a minimal loss. A march south to join Hannibal at the gates of Rome costs Hadsrubal two additional units. He arrives to greet his brother with 11 units total.



Roman Armies

Two Roman Consuls and one Praetor slowly gather forces in Apulia, Bruttium and Campania. A total of 8 units, 3 of them cavalry, do not seem to be much of a threat to the Carthaginians. Romans also have 4 additional legions in Sardinia and Corsica - a force they cannot bring to action with all their generals tied up in Italy.

Fall of Rome

Rome's garrison is commanded by mediocre Flavious and Otacilius. It consists of 1 Latin Cavalry, 2 Latin Legions, 1 Urban Legion and 2 Militia Infantry.

After the arrival of Hadsrubal, Hannibal commands 21 units total: 2 African Elephants, 7 Cavalary (1 Companion, 2 African, 3 Gallic and 1 Spanish) and 12 Infantry (2 African, 5 Gallic and 5 Spanish). Three Carthaginian commanders - Hannibal, Hadsrubal and Hanno - lead an assault on city walls.

The battle for Rome is long and brutal. Romans fight with unseen so far in this war valor. Despite their numerical advantage Carthaginians suffer a lot of losses - African and Spanish Infantry soak most of the damage, followed by Gallic and Spanish Horse. Even African cavalry is not left untouched. 9 units out of 21 are destroyed, but the rest celebrate their victory in the fallen capital of their foe.

The Year is 599 from the founding of Carthage. The war is over.

[NefariousKoel]

[8D]

I always find attempts at reinforcing Hannibal in mainland Italy, via the sea, a difficult propostion unless I get lucky and wipe the Roman fleets. Even then, they tend to bounce back a short time later. Nice job 'sneaking' a couple in. [:)]

[nalivayko]

Just got lucky with that card, that's all. Of course, reinforcement cards are quite frequent. The player needs to save them for the right moment and not waste them on alternative options. Example: Treachery card will either give you a Roman city or reinforce Hannibal with 4 Italian units. A major Roman city will give me, in most cases, an opportunity to recruit an additional units per turn... provided the province is not stripped bare of resources. I would rather go with option two, get 4 additional units, besiege the major city for one turn and storm it on another, losing, maybe, a unit or two in the process.

[citizenchip]

Well written AAR. Maybe I should adopt your strategy. Mine (flail wildly with Hannibal's army, hope Rome captiulates) does not seem to be working nearly as well.

[nalivayko]

This strategy works only on Normal, it seems. Hard introduces too a couple of variables, things go wrong with Senate most of the time and I end up flailing wildly hoping for Rome's capitulation as well... which is very historic, although I do believe Hannibal's strategy was right... while Carthaginina luck on other fronts was lacking.

Meanwhile, why did you post at your blog instead of forums (or even better, forums?) Posting it here makes it easier for other users to comment on your progress.