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Roman Turn 5: Roman elections - the end of turn 5 (more later)

Great AAR !!

[&o]

Thank you for the encouragement, Asty.

Turn 6: Hannibal cannot corner Fabius in Etruria and moves on to Samnia-Umbria.

Player note: Here the order of command activation is fairly important. Hannibal should try first to engage Fabius to force him into camp and passivity. Then Fabius cannot interfere later with the movements of Himilco to Pisa and of Mago from Perusia to Ancona. It also allows Hannibal to concentrate forces from Pisa before departure.(Doing this wrong used to be a standard error of mine during previous games).

Roman Turn 6 (and Carthage recruiting): The Romans storm and take back Perusia and Patavium. Even the tough militia guys from Mediolanum have to finally concede defeat.

Turn 7: Hannibal enjoys long, extended marches but ends up where he started.

Roman Turn 7: Syracuse seeks new allies

Turn 8: Raiding Sardinia and Corsica has the benefit of being able to bring back the fleet afterward. When reinforcing Italy, the ships can move there but then have to stay.

Turn 8: Naval battle in the Tyrrhenian Sea

Turn 8: Our new allies in Sicily try to encourage the remaining Romans to leave.

Roman turn 8: The Romans take back the remaining cities in Cisalpine Gaul (Turin, Genua). Hannibal has to watch helplessly from Samnia / Umbria.

Turn 9: We plan to challenge the Roman fleet a second time in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Turn 9: The Naval battle before and after

Turn 9: The victorious (in siege warfare) Hippocrates and Mago take on new Roman cities.

Roman Turn 9(and Carthaginian recruiting): Unfortunately, our hard won Ancona does not provide us with new recruits. Two Roman generals concentrate at Perusia.

Turn 10: We cannot let the naval battle in the Tyrrhenian Sea go and must try it once more - with no better results than before.

Turn 10: At first sight things seem well, Sicily is under control, cities in yet another Roman province fall or are under siege .....

The Carthaginian part of the turn ends with one new recruit in Pisa and Syracuse.

Roman Turn 10: With smart card play and much more skill at sea battles, the Romans change the situation quickly. Neapolis and Corfinium fall and our fleet is destroyed (almost). The open sea lanes are then used by Crassus to take back 2 more cities in Sicily.

The games strategy advise to not seek a prolonged sea battle with the Romans is only too true - and we pay for not following it.

The "Solidarity with Rome" card is the bane of my existence.  I think there's only two such cards in the deck but the AI must hoard them, waiting for the right time to play them.
 
 

In fact I'm convinced that the Roman AI draws that card from the deck while I'm at work such is the duplicity of Rome!

[;)]

Nicely put, Cleveland, I could not agree more.

Turn 11: We let the fleet retreat to safe harbor and send Hippocrates on a second tour of duty around the island of Sicily.