How do you win this?

[Chocolino]

Here is my experience which - unfortunately - will not help you much to win. I'm curious what strategies work for you.

I have played it now about 10 times at Intro level and think that I have figured out most of the game mechanics by now but I could win only once. (that time I got very lucky in some naval engagements, controlled the western Med for long periods and could reinforce Hannibal more than usual and besieged Rome successfully in the middle game).

I usually loose at Intro level because I get trapped during a siege of a Roman city by a relieve force. At Intro level, Hannibal cannot break off the siege and has to fight a city fight against two armies at once which is a big disadvantage. (why is that supposed to be easier, I find it harder not to be able to break off?).

Over the years, my navy usually goes downhill, as a result reinforcing Hannibal becomes harder, local recruits dry out and Hannibal is being worn out. (probably all historically correct).

If I move Hasdrubal from Spain to Italy with reinforcements, the Romans take over Spain. Syracuse is also hard to keep and in the last game the AI played a card that switched its allegiance to Rome it turn 20 (the last) for a victory. Smart play.

So - after a long story - how do you win this? I would love to see a winning AAR - but any hint is welcome.

[mercenarius]

Try to take control of major cities in Italy so that you can recruit new units. Different areas have slightly different advantages. Keep Hannibal in the field with a reasonably strong army. He can shield a second leader who can besiege cities with a small army. If there is no enemy leader in a city, the garrison cannot sally out. In that case you can starve it out with a small army. Really, a leader with one unit is enough - if Hannibal is there to protect him.

Use a Treachery card (if you have one) to gain control of a city. Keep Hannibal in the field in that province to prevent the Romans from moving in to recapture it.

It helps to use Treachery against a city in a province whose recruiting pool hasn't been completely reduced. You can determine this by right clicking in the province and then using the "Advanced Details" button in the Province Report dialog.

Protect your navy and keep it in port once the Roman fleets get too strong. If you have, say, 6 squadrons in port (anywhere) you have 6 transport factors to move land units by sea from any port you control.

If you get the Romans knocked down a bit in Italy, reinforce Hannibal with a new army from Carthage. That leader can garrison and protect a city and continue to recruit while Hannibal moves to another province and protects a new siege there. That means three leaders in Italy. You'll still have a leader in Spain and one additional Carthaginian leader for Africa, or Sicily, or to send to Gaul to recruit a few units.

The Numidians in Africa are your allies and you can use them to help repel Roman invasions of Africa. So you can take a few chances by sending forces to Italy.

[Chocolino]

Thank you Mercenarius!

There were some really useful nuggets of information in there for me. All suggestions were good but especially the following:

-So far I have completely neglected to have a second leader do the siege work and let Hannibal protect him. I have always circled the other leaders back to Carthage to bring reinforcements forward. Can't wait to try your suggestion out.

- Didn't know that you can check on depleted recruits in the province info (I should read the manual more carefully). That will take some guesswork out of the equation.

- I was also too careless with my fleet and had it too long in the open Med for protection of Africa. (which in the end protected nobody).