My Carthaginian Army

Ninety nine percent of these figures were magnificently converted and painted by Mark Woods.  All I did was rebase then for Impetus and add one or two more units from spare figures.  Not sure I ever made a post about them (but I might have).  Here is a photo of the collection I took recently in considering them for an Age of Hannibal game.

In checking it seems I did post about them:

https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2020/03/my-little-carthaginian-army.html

SPI's The Punic Wars

One of the things that got me interested about the Carthaginians was the old SPI game The Punic Wars.  I loved this game so much I hand copied it (as you will see later).  I mentioned this to Simon and he said he had a copy.  It has taken a few months, but we finally sat down to play.  The first time in forty years!

We made a few mistakes to start with about what constituted a controlled/friendly province.

Attrition was horrific and I wasted my first few turns trying to maintain order in Corsica and Sardinia.  Thankfully I realised the key was controlling access to Sicily which my fleet promptly did.

Then it was a case of an arms build up.

Then there were cross straits incursions until finally I struck out for Rome.  It took a few goes, but eventually the Carthaginians were able to enter the city and win.

Sadly my hope of being able to use this game for a campaign was not really borne out.

Later

Armed with my knowledge of the rules I tried the First Punic War scenario again.

First turn no revolt, Carthaginians massed their forces in Sicily (avoided attrition in bringing troops over from Carthage) and attacked the Roman Fleet at 3 to 1.  It was wiped out which sealed off Sicily.  The Carthaginians then bravely attacked the Roman army in Sicily and with another good roll reduced it by 75% driving it into Messina where it was safe for a while.

The Romans elected two Level 2 leaders!  It did them no good as without a fleet they weren't going anywhere.  In another bit of good luck they were able to start building ships.

However with the second turn, Syracuse entered an alliance with Carthage.  Carthage continued to strengthen its garrisons in Corsica and Sardinia as well as build up in Sicily.

The Romans positioned their army north west of Croton in a blocking position.

Nothing was going to happen for a good while now.

The Carthaginians will move to occupy the Balearic islands.  They then need only one or two provinces to win.  However an army invading from Sicily is always going to be smaller than the blocking Roman army.  Using their fleet to invade elsewhere would create numerous attrition rolls and the subsequent losses would probably cause the Syracusans to change sides!

For the Roman fleet to attack the Carthaginians, there would be an attrition roll first and so it is unlikely to prevail.

So I am thinking that the Romans would use their fleet to block any movement up the coast from Sicily (an attack from Corsica would take a long time to build up and risk being attrited by revolts).  Eventually the Carthaginians could amass a reasonable force in Sicily and then risk an attack.

Rome could build a force of 12ASP and 12FSP.  Carthage could build up to 20ASP and 10FSP.  Eight Army Strength Points are needed to garrison the three islands and Carthage (anything less than 3 in each of Corsica and Sardinia risks being wiped out in a revolt).  In attacking the Roman fleet, the Carthaginians would want to be able to protect the ferry hexside and so probably only have eight Fleet Strength Points to use.  A 1 to 2 attack with the Fleet and assuming a superior leader has a one in three chance of success, but equally a one in three chance of defeat, all the time taking losses.  No fun!

So the Carthaginians probably need to attack immediately before the Romans build up; conversely hope that the Romans don't get to build fleets straight away.

Carthaginian versus Sassanids Again

Time to fight Mark B's Sassanids again.

 Off to a good start, the Carthaginians out scouted the Sassanids!

 The Numidians immediately rout one unit of  Sassanid light cavalry 

with a few well aimed javelins.

Turn 1.

 The impetuous Gauls fail to make an impression!

They must have been too busy laughing that the skirmishers had decide to stand against them,

and failed to swing their swords as they should have.

 The Gauls are actually repulsed!
Clearly the enemy skirmishers must have used some harsh taunts.

At least the Numidians are earning their pay.

Turn 2.

 The Gauls are given some Iron Discipline and told to charge again.

 The Sassanid elephants are being attrited away.

Turn 3.

 The Gauls are in a bad way,

but the Sassanids are not looking so good.

Turn 4.

The Numidians win the battle!

The Gauls are saved (but down to their last man).

The new Spanish have earned their red badge of courage.

Turn 5.

Both the Gauls and Spanish suffered losses when throwing sixes for Cohesion Tests.  This was at a time when the Sassanids were throwing low, but I can't complain as the better die rolls were nearly all with the Carthaginians.

Carthaginian versus Classical Indian

This time with Impetus Second Edition, 400 Points.

My Carthaginians fielded two commands.

One being cavalry and light troops.

The other the infantry.

 We advanced.

 My skirmishers are buying time till the infantry can get into position.

 The skirmishers proved ephemeral,

but the infantry is now engaged and that is what it is all about with this army.

End of the fourth turn.  

One Indian wing had routed,  

Both Carthaginian Commands were close to 33% . 

As it was getting late I felt it appropriate to call it a draw.

One of the issues with Second Edition is the VD numbers for units calculated using the Army Builder spreadsheet are sometimes different from the original lists.  Dave and I hadn't coordinated this so I am not sure we were consistent.  We also hadn't settled on the optional rule that has commands fight on till 50%.

Carthaginian versus Sassanids

This week it was the turn of Mark B's Sassanids to feel the wrath of my Carthaginians in a game of Basic Impetus 2.0.

 Deployment

 By the end of Turn One both sides were within spitting distance.

The Numidian cavalry had already had their first charge.

 Turn Two and the armies are fully engaged.

Turn Three and the fighting ground on.

Come Turn Four the Sassanids conceded after losing two of their cavalry units, including their general.  Sadly the photo op was missed.

Carthaginians versus Classical Indians

Club has reopened and my Carthaginians went to fight Dave's Classical Indians.  This was going to be interesting.

 The Indians had to deploy first and that gave me a slight advantage.

The brown terrain is broken, the blue/green impassable and the other two areas difficult.

 Any deployment advantage evaporated when the Indians won the initiative for the first three turns.

Undeterred the Carthaginians advanced.

 Turn two and the two centres had almost joined.

 The Indians used decisive initiative to charge!

The Carthaginian centre held, while the two wings were able to push forward.

 Turn four and the Carthaginian centre is still holding,

while the wings are starting to close in on the Indians.

 The battle of attritrion continues in the centre,

with both sides being worn down, but without breaking.

Turn six and the Indian morale breaks.

The Gauls did amazingly well holding off the chariots,

it pays to throw ones on the cohesion tests!

15mm Carthaginians versus Romans

Dave came round my place for an early post lockdown game before the club reopens next Wednesday.

 His Romans outscouted my Carthaginians.

This meant I had to change a few things when the battle commenced.

 Turn one I spent moving my Gauls into place.

Along with the Numidian light cavalry.

Both are disordered, but staying still in turn two will fix that.

 Turn two and my skirmishers get into action.

 Turn three and my light cavalry decisively beat their opponents.

 Turn three and the Romans are very close.  

The climax of the battle has come!.

Dave uses his Ace in the Hole.

This photo was staged, that 5 on the white was a 3.

He then used his free roll.

I then used mine and seized the initiative!

 It didn't help my Libyan spearmen,

who failed miserably on their Cohesion Test.

 But in the riposte, the Roman auxilia ran into my cavalry and got the worst of it.

 End of the climatic Turn four.

The Roman left is in trouble.

Not that the Carthaginian left is anything to write home about.

Turn five and the Romans have been definitively broken.

Great to get back into miniatures.

Only question we had was if a unit routs its opponent, but suffers more casualties, is that still classed as a win.  We were sure it was, but couldn't find it stated in the rules.

My Little Carthaginian Army

All done.

All packed up until COVID19 has gone away,

and the Carthaginians can come out to play.

Note the drawer with the extra height, 

perfect to house the pachyderms.

The Last of the Carthaginians

All rebasing finished now. 

All leftover figures accounted for. 

Smug smile of accomplishment on the dial.

 Chariots, required for the early Carthaginian army.

Some artillery, you know you need it, maybe...

Well anyway I've got some now!

But wait, there are are still more Carthaginians

The penultimate batch.

 Gallic Warriors

 Gallic Cavalry

 Carthaginian Cavalry

 I've actually added in an extra four figures that I painted to make up this unit.

 Some Generals, needed for Impetus Second Edition.

Three leftover Spanish Cavalry that can be Iberian Light Cavalry.

Three figures on a base is a bit sparse,

but I didn't want them to go to waste

and didn't have any extra to paint up to join them.

I still have artillery and chariots to rebase.  These are for Early Carthaginians.  However I have run out of tufts and plasticard for the moment.  I have also obtained more Carthaginian foot and some cavalry that I will paint up some day.