Trebia Refought: Lost Battles

Trebia 218BC

After quite a big push on rebasing I had the "right" troops for a Trebia refight as per the Lost Battles scenario. The troops represented should be proportional at least by the book's interpretation of the battle. Looking at the battlefield set up you can see the asymmetry between the armies. Rome with its very sturdy infantry but meagre cavalry contingent and Carthage with its brittle looking infantry line but hefty cavalry wings. The battle starts out with wet weather, which halves the available command points and the Romans are fatigued which gives a negative combat modifier for spent units. Below is a turn by turn account of the main events of the battle:   

Turn 1 

Armies deployed as per Lost Battles Trebia scenario.

Armies deployed for battle.

Turn 2 

The Roman levy light infantry all out attack the Iberian light infantry reducing themselves and their enemies to being spent. 

The Roman legions in the centre and left advance.

The Iberian skirmishers counter attack shattering the Roman levy light infantry. 

Carthaginian cavalry wings advance.

Hannibal advances the Punic left. 

The Gauls in the centre advance.

However due to the poor weather Carthage could not advance their right and the Iberians in the centre.

Roman Left and Centre advances

After dispersing the Roman skirmish line the veteran
legionaries advance to return the favour

Turn 3 

Wet weather improves giving the armies full command.  

Rome advances the the legions and shatter the unsupported Iberian skirmishers in the centre.

The Balearic Slingers are shattered by the advancing legions occupying the Punic right tile.

Hannibal leads the Punic left in an attack which fails to make any headway.

Mago with the Numidian and Iberian horse on the right flank shatter the lone unit of Roman cavalry, The Numidians advance while the Iberians prepared to threaten the Roman left.

The Iberian infantry in the centre advance.

The Gallic cavalry on the left flank advance after some fighting the leading Roman cavalry is spent.

The Punic right and Roman right battle lines clash.

Gallic cavalry wing on the Punic left support the Numidians

Hannibal leads the Punic left screened by elephants.

Mago's ambush force and the Iberian heavy cavalry
wing oppose the small Roman cavalry wing.

Turn 4 

Hannibal exerts his brilliance and flips the turn order, Carthage goes first for the remainder of the battle allowing Mago to descend on the rear of the Roman centre. 

As the African infantry engage with the Roman left the Iberian heavy cavalry appear to the Roman's rear.

Hannibal moves to the centre of the line in in the hope to rally away hits from the inevitable Roman onslaught. 

On the Roman right the Cenomani who were used as an expendable counter to the Punic elephants commit to an all out attack, causing 2 hits on the Punic left and prove their worthiness to Rome.

Punic cavalry begins to envelope the Roman army.

After making short work of the Roman cavalry
the Iberians bear down on the Roman rear.

Turn 5

Attacks took place all along the field of battle.

The Iberian heavy cavalry's attack on the Roman left's rear inflicted a double hit. 

Mago's Numidian force press an attack to inflict 2 hits on the Roman centre but Sempronius manages to rally off a hit

Rome inflicts a further 2 hits on the Punic left causing the elephants to shatter. 

The veteran legionaries in the centre cause a hit on the Punic centre line. 

Turn 6

The Iberian Heavy cavalry inflict a further double hit shattering 2 average legionaries.

On the left flank the Gallic cavalry shatter Roman cavalry sending the accompanying unit away in a rout.  The Gauls remain in preparation for a flank attack while the nimble Numidian cavalry advance in preparation to swing to the rear of the Roman right.

Hannibal manages to rally his men however the veteran legionaries still mange to inflict a hit in the centre.

The Roman right shatters Hannibal's Gallic foot, the overall army morale holds thanks to the faith Hannibal's men have in him.

The legionaries on the Roman left roll well, enough to shatter the Africans, however thanks to the rear threat and fatigue the attack falters and the Africans remain hanging by a thread.

Turn 7

The Iberians charge once more and the tired and surrounded Romans have 2 units shatter the remaining unit on the Roman left rout.

The African infantry on the Punic left inflict a hit.

The Romans counter attack the Punic left, using the last of their fresh legionaries to all out attack and shatter the African infantry, the Roman right advance to break through and away from the Gallic cavalry assaulting their right flank and the approaching Numidians to their rear.

The Romans in the centre manage to shatter the Gallic foot but again Hannibal's presence keeps the Iberian warriors in the fight.

Iberians destroy the Roman left in time to save the Punic right.

Mago and the Numidians harass the Roman rear and
the Gallic cavalry prepare to flank the Roman right

Battered and all spent the Roman right breaks through.

Turn 8

Hannibal leads a counter attack on the Roman centre causing a hit, while his brother Mago leads the Numidians in another sally. It was too much for the Romans, a unit shattered while Sempronius fell failing to rally, the remaining 5 veteran legions fell into rout although their wasn't anywhere for them to run to.

The Roman centre about to break
and Sempronius meets the ferry man

Barca brothers win the field the remaining Romans rout.

 

Rome Shattered: 1 x LLI  2 x AHC  3 x ALE  2 x VLE   1 x UC

Rome Routs: 1 x AHC 6 x VLE 1 x AHI 3 x ALE

Carthage Shattered: 2 x ALI 1 x AEL  4 x AHI 

Carthage Spent : 3 x AHI 1 x AHC 1 x VLC  1 x ALC

Rome VP 122

Carthage VP 134 Narrow Carthaginian victory

Another battle of Trebia played and another fairly historical result. Historically the Roman centre broke through the Punic line however it was the Roman right that managed this time. It was probably owed to Hannibal moving to command the centre. I may have glossed over some rules in the commanders movement, I moved him at the start of the turn then used him as normal. He managed to rally a few hits, again I had commanders rallying fresh units on both sides but I think the rules stipulate only spent units can be rallied with a commander. I was trying not to spend too much time looking through the rules. 

I made good use of some player aids from board game geek namely the combat modifiers cards. Before the game I discarded any irrelevant modifiers which helped speed up combat. Morale rolls went smoother this time also knowing that most of the troops were good quality or had good leadership along with generally good rolls. I was a bit all over trying to keep track of unit shatters and remaining fighting values as well as trying to record the battle events/narrative. I think I need to work on a more organised way of playing. My home made command point chits were helpful in keeping track of commands.

The weather improved early on in the battle which really helped Carthage and their necessary manoeuvres along with much needed attack bonus'. Unless Carthage inflicted a lot of damage quickly Rome will make short work of the opposing infantry. That's were the Iberian cavalry came into their own they inflicted most of the damage onto the Roman army and shattering lots of units put that much needed pressure on the Roman army morale.   

Overall Lost Battles provided a satisfying game that played well solo, the Trebia scenario is stacked against the Romans however its quite a close one and provided a tense battle. I wasn't sure which way it was going to go even with a early cavalry breakthrough and flip flop of the turn order. Surrounded Romans are still very dangerous and those rear attacks need to hit home.