Battle Report 05/02/05

Later Carthaginians vs. Late Imperial Romans

List Options: Hasdrubal in Spain, Eastern Romans

This is my second tournament game of the 2005 Bad Urach tournament.

Correct Enemies, but different time periods. Well.

Terrain

The invading army of Hasdrubal has been too fast for the Roman General: Obviously the Carthaginian army deployed in the very same area the Romans liked have to: There have been significant steep hills and some rough terrain also, an excellent defense position for the Romans with their Bows, Artillery and light infantry against the Carthaginians, which had just a few heavy infantry and lots of cavalry and also elephants. Yet, the Carthaginians occupied this position prior to the battle and the Romans have been forced to deploy in the open. They built up their camp directly at the road which lasted straight through the middle of the battlefield towards the Carthaginian camp. But this would never be an easy move: After half the way of the distance, the steep hills to their left would get closer and closer to the marching Romans' left until it touches the road. To their right, there was a little bit of plain until another steep hill grows high and does not reveal whether there are hidden troops behind or not. To the Romans far left there also has been rough terrain, unsuitable for fighting actions other than for light troops.

Tactics

Though Hasdrubal has been extremely happy to have the difficult terrain occupied, this has not going to be an easy battle with this landscape dividing the field into lot of sections. Hasdrubal knew that he must push forward with his horses. With his little terrain going troops, this would be a battle only at one section of that field. That section where he deploys his heavy infantry. Accordingly he massed his troops on the right section, released the psiloi from the heavy infantry in order to occupy the heights and locked the gap with his African spearmen. To the right of them he deployed all his light cavalry in column in order to move quickly around the enemy lines. The center he left more or less unoccupied, with the Gaul cavalry ready to charge into the “death valley” should the Romans dare to move in here. Hasdrubal feared a quick ride of the enemy cataphracts around the outer steep hill to clash into his flank. He therefore deployed his elephants as a flank guard on the far left. That way he could encircle the Romans right, close in with the heavy spears and let the enemy bulk forces march into nothing. His strong left would advance slowly and actively counterstrike in case of a Roman attack here.

Romans deploy

Fortunately, the Romans have deployed in a way Hasdrubal has hoped for: Their heavy troops have been in the center and the Roman line did not last too long to their left, leaving space enough to ride around. The Romans' far right has been matching to the Carthaginians left: Lot of Cavalry plus some cataphracts. An other contingent of cataphracts have been deployed in the center. However, nevertheless this has been a good set-up, anticipating a different Carthaginian deployment. And the Roman artilleries began to worry the Carthaginian generals.

Battle develops

Hasdrubal pushed forward together with the heavy spears immediately and with him the masses of Numidian horses as well. The Romans quickly realized the danger and tried to counter it by the central catafractii. They successfully moved between the two infantry lines and started a struggle with the Lybians. The Numidians meanwhile have been everywhere on the Romans' flank and no clear front could be holded by them by the superior number of these quick horses. It just has been a matter of time. The Roman general decided to draw the cavalry from his right to the left to support the endangered flank. And to send the central artillery to the right in order to support the catafractii here. That has been the signal for the Carthaginian left to charge on the left as well. They needed to be quick in order to avoid too much losses by the artilllery. But the battle would not be decided here. The Numidians in the meantime have managed to get behind the Roman lines and just a small detachment of light horses restraint them to clash into the infantry's rear. One last charge towards the enemy horses and then the way would be open. But different then expected, the Numidians have been repulsed by the Roman horses and needed to ride back to reorganize. Time to breath for the Roman infantry and time to come for the Roman cavalry from the right wing.

In order to release pressure from the wing, the Roman General ordered an advance of his central troops into the center. This put the Carthaginian cavalry under pressure, since they lost horses by constant attrition, but have been too few to commit against that line of heavy Romans. They in turn could not advance too far, since their left would have been endangered by the Numidian psiloi on that hill. So, after all though considerable troops stood against each other here, there happened little more than a show of force.

The cataphract - heavy infantry fighting on the other side of the steep hill has been a struggle for both sides. Roman auxilliarii tried to wheel in into the flank via the hill and thus have been opposed by some Numidian skirmishers defending the heights there. This developed quickly in an all-out fight about the heights: The auxilliarii have been repulsed and needed reinforcement by other auxiliarii and psiloi, so the Numidians needed to increase their number also and comitted another unit of psiloi and so forth. At the end there has been a fight over the whole line. With occasional successes by the Numidians, benefitting from their better position, the Roman auxilliarii lost on the long run and the catafractii had to fight their own way. This has been a furious melee and at the end more of the half of both sides laid dead on the plain. That finally caused the collapse of the Roman left center and they began to retreat in disorder, but the situation has been tensed until that end: The Carthaginian already have began to waver and wouldn`t it have been the Romans who quit battle, the Carthaginians would have done so soon after.

This collapse of a part of the Roman line should have been the occasion for the Numidians on the flank to charge in and finish the matter. However, in the meantime the Roman cavalry has arrived and put harsh pressure on the Numidians. A part of them began to flee and the overall disorder could not be exploited by the Numidians. The Numidian ally lord quickly built up a second line and thus secured the flank for the Carthaginians and this has been the utmost which could have done after that heavy fighting.

So, the Romans have been in a bad position, but still were on the field. The elephants and the Carthaginian nobles now had to push forward on their left wing and did so against the enemy artillery, eventually destroying it totally in close combat. Only a few light horses stood delaying them, but they did that with outstanding success. They even managed to reduce the number of the cavalry significantly and so the Carthaginian flank attack faded out somewhat. Still successful, but with less punch it has been a hard way to destruct the Romans here. At the end, the Roman losses have been too high and they finally collapsed totally.

Reflexion

This has been an extremely exciting battle. All too often there have been a situation where the outcome seems to be clear, but the opposite happened. Both sides have had local successes at exactly the places where they anticipated the enemy's success. Addressing the overall situation, this has been good strategic leadership. The terrain has been used optimal by the pleased Carthaginian general and the strategic plan proofed to have been right. There might should have been more cautioness with the Gaul cavalry opposing the bows, but this has been of little importance. Maybe a more valiant advance of the Roman center would have caused big trouble for the Carthaginians, but in this case, they would have been able to exploit the collapse of the Roman left center. So, after all, the right decisions have been made and the Romans are once more put to where they ever should have remained!