Armies and Enemies of Ancient Rome-Romans and Hannibal's Army in Italy

 Most of my war game armies are in 20-22mm (1\72-1\76) with many being in plastic. At some point, I discovered Newline miniatures and set about replacing some plastics with Newline-in this case Hannibal's Army in Italy.

My ancient armies are based to be versatile. I play games with Command and Colors Ancients, my version of DBA and in the not-to-distant future a set called Triumph. 

I was looking over the Triumph lists and brought my collection out. I decided to take some portraits with my iPad. Here are the results.

Newline Spanish Scutari

Newline Spanish Caetrati

Newline Spanish Long-Shield Cavalry

Newline Celts

Newline Celt Cavalry

Newline Libyan Spearmen

Newline Numidian Cavalry

This is one of the best sets HAT ever made. Libyan Spearman in captured Roman armor.

The Great Man Himself-Hannibal by Newline

Balearic Slingers, Hat and Italeri

Newline Roman Hastatus

Newline Roman Principes

Newline Roman Triarii

Hat Velites

Newline Roman Cavalry

Hat Italian Allies

Legatus and Eagle from the Hat command set

The Battle of Dertosa (Ebro)-a solo game using Command and Colors Ancients

 Dertosa was my third and final experiment converting Command and Colors Ancients to a miniatures game.

I have always liked the CCA type rules with the innovative card systems that forces a player to make a decision every turn from limited options. My goal with the conversion was to come up with a solo system that worked. With this experiment I believe I succeeded but also believe the game could just as easily be two player.

My hex system matts are from Holtz Matts (Holtz Matts gets mixed reviews so beware). Theymatch the CCA game board in the number of hexes. I use the 3' variety to accommodate my bigger stands. I use the bigger stands because it isa better visual

This experiment was a full fledged CCA scenario from their excellent website. It is from the 2nd Punic War, post Cannae, as the Scipio brothers seek to contain Hasdrubal from joining his brother. The battle was the beginning of the Roman attempt to wrestle Spain from the Carthaginians. 

The Romans were my AI while I commanded the Carthaginians.

A friend and solo gamer with far more experience than me advised me to always "set my self up" meaning the AI has got to have a a good chance of winning.

For the purposes of this game I gave the AI an extra command card every turn.  I would always choose from the most likely to be played. This worked out well as the AI always had 6 cards plus an extra draw to chose from. I had four cards thus limiting my options by nearly 1\2.

There are other ways to do this including randomizing; but for this game it worked well enough. 

I assumed the Romans would, all things being equal press on to smash through the enemy center. Those type of cards became my AI default maneuver as long as I didn't have to pay too attention to the flanks. As it turned out I did not.

Below is the CCA description followed by the CCA map followed by my pictures of the game which went 12 turns. I will attempt describe the action.

Historical Background
After Cannae, Rome struggled to rebuild its armies, but needed time. In Spain, Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal commanded an army large enough to possibly let Carthage win the war – if it united with Hannibal’s victorious veterans. Standing in his way, however, were the legions of two capable (at last) consuls, the brothers Gnaeus and Publius Scipio. Both knew of Cannae, but felt the only way to prevent encirclement was to quickly break the Carthaginian center. When the battle commenced, the Roman legions fiercely attacked the Carthaginian center, but , unlike Cannae, there was enough Roman cavalry to hold their flanks. Lacking cavalry superiority (and his brother’s tactical genius), Hasdrubal was unable to surround the Romans before they broke through his center. His cavalry joined the retreat, leaving the splendid heavy infantry to its fate. Rome was granted the time it needed to live and fight another day. Eight years later, Hasdrubal finally was able to march to Italy, but lost both his army and his life at the Metaurus. 

Taken from Ancients - Commands and Colors System website.
https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/
Page title: 008 Dertosa (Ebro) (215 BC) - Ancients - Commands and Colors System
Page link: https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/maps/60-second-punic-war-218-202-bc/261-008-dertosa-ebro-215-bc.html

Carthaginian left\center flank. From left to right in the picture you see 4 units of Spanish Aux, one unit of slingers, one unit of Libyan Hv Spears with Hasdrubal and one elephant crewed by Numidians.

Carthaginian right\center. Anchoring the left of the line is a unit of Libyan Hv Spear, then another unit of slingers and then more Spanish Aux. The placement of the two Libyan Hv Spear was not helpful but that was part of the fun of not having total control of everything!

This is the Roman right\center. On the far left is a unit of Italian Aux with the legionnaires adjacent . One unit of velites screens the legions. A unit of Md Cavalry is in deep reserve.

The Roman right\center mirrors the Romand left\center.

Initial Roman moves pushed out the light troops.

A nice picture of the Carthaginian battle line. My idea was to delay as long as possible engaging the legionaries with my Spanish Aux. The patchy lighting is due to two large skylights in my game room.

I had high hopes for the three units of Numidian Lh and things started all right. I could not quite get around the Roman line before the legions smashed into the Spanish Aux.

Waiting patiently at this point.

Once the legions get moving they are hard to stop.

The larger base has one of the Scipio brothers (on foot) as a command stand.

I thought my best bet was to get the Numidian's out there to at least slow down the Roman left\center advance.

The Roman right was in no hurry as the Numidian's advanced on the other flank. Once the Numidians were contained the juggernaught could get moving. The mounted stand is the other Scipio brother. Leaders are critical in CCA.

I had some success damaging the Italian Aux and the Roman Md Cavalry but could not make any kills in time.

I decided to press a bit on the Roman right with the elephant unit, the Md Spanish cavalry and slingers. The idea was once again to slow down the legions from crashing into the Spanish Aux.

The Numidian's on the left of the picture are starting out well but the legions are starting to move, apparently not too worried about the flank at this point. The AI stacked up a number of center type cards and as the honest AI played them when I could to close that distance even to the point of sacrificing a flank. As it turned out the AI didn't have to sacrifice anything! 

The Italian Aux gave ground but stayed in the fight! The die means they have taken two hits out of the four needed to remove the unit.

Sadly for the Carthaginians, the other flank was a bit of stalemate. One of the things I like about CCA is the fact the maps give you a logical ancient deployment. The two units of Italian Aux deployed to either flank gave an excellent account of themselves. I think in my version of DBA they would not have stood a chance. 

More stalemate as the legions get even closer. I probably should have started to back up my Spanish Aux but I never got a card that allowed me to back them up as a group (five units).

By the time the Numidian's did get around the Italian Aux and push back the Roman cavalry I had to use cards elsewhere.This may have been Carthaginian high tide!

The legions are too close to comfort now! The elephant unit held it's own.

I did manage to push back the extreme Roman right but lost the slingers in the process. Two units of legionaries are now engaging two of the Spanish units. The Romans have the dice edge, but at this point you can see damaged Roman units. I just could not put them away for good. The card system limits your options and at this point my center was in big trouble.

It was not quite hopeless at this point.

Now it's starting to look hopeless! One Roman unit is breaking through while the adjacent Roman unit has already eliminated the oppostion.

End of story, three out of five Spanish Aux eliminated plus the slingers equaled four for the loss; while taking out only one unit of Roman Md Infantry. Hasdrubal looks a bit uncomfortable at this point and the Libyan Hv Spear might just have well been positioned on Mars! 

Little Sugar Creek ACW Solo Game

During the lockdown I've continued to experiment with solo games. My friend Jim has given me pointers over the past months and I've learned to develop my own systems. Like Jim has told me; it's not like you can go out and buy a set of solo rules that fit for everything.

Frankly, I've found the experience most enjoyable. I have yet to have an argument with myself! I also have yet to win a game and that is encouraging.

For this game I modified a scenario from my collection of ACW scenarios called Little Sugar Creek or Dunagin's Farm. The battle was fought in Arkansas on February 17th, 1862.

Historically, the battle was little more than a skirmish. It factored into the Pea Ridge Campaign. One of the features of the campaign was the Confederate withdrawal from Missouri into Arkansas in the hopes of uniting the army. Federal forces followed the Confederates in pursuit and came into contact with the Confederate rearguard near Little Sugar Creek and Dunagin's Farm.

I took some liberties with the Order of Battle settling for what I simply called a Union pursuit versus a Confederate rear guard.

The rules used were based on an old set called Rally Round the Flag from the 80's. The set emphasizes a regiment/brigade scale. A second set called Rally Round the Flag was printed a number of years ago but is quite different although it did give me come concepts that I integrated into my system.

The main one was the idea of Command Points. In my system a brigade receives one command point for each unit in the brigade. A brigade consists of the brigade commander and each unit of infantry, cavalry and artillery assigned to the brigade. Most brigades will start with 3-5 command points per turn.

Command points are modified by a 10-sided die roll. This represents a certain amount of Fog of War. It costs command points to maneuver so it's possible to have an abundance of the command points to do what you want but it's also possible to end up with few thus forcing the making of priority decisions. Brigades are activated in general way with the draw of an assigned card. Jokers are included as more FOW as an individual unit will get a "free move" even if they have moved or fired before. The AI gets more Jokers than me in my system. It makes for a tough opponent!

I also eliminated single figure removal from the equation. Instead, the charts have been adjusted to remove stands. The number of stands in a unit is fixed at six. Instead of taking a figure out at a time the loss of a stand represents a step down in the unit's effectiveness. It has a bearing on their morale and combat ability. It's more of a board game concept than anything else but for what I'm shooting for it works rather well.  Well, that's enough about my rules so here is the Order of Battle I used the game.

Union

Ellis's Cavalry Brigade (3 CPs)

3rd Illinois (IL) Cavalry BLC Green
1st Missouri (MO) Cavalry (US) RM Green

Dodge's Brigade (4 CPs)

35th Illinois (IL) RM Green
4th Iowa (IA), SBM Average
4th Iowa (IA) Battery 6lb SB Average

Vandever's Brigade (3 CPs)

9th Iowa (IA) RM Average
25th Missouri (MO) Militia (US) SB Green
3rd Iowa (IA) Battery 6lb SB Average

Confederates

Herbert's Brigade (3 CPs)

14th Arkansas (AR) SBM Average
13th Arkansas (AR) SBM Average
3rd Louisiana  (LA) RM Crack

Little's Brigade (4 CPs)

1st Missouri (MO) Cavalry (CS) SBM Average
2nd Missouri (MO) (CS) SBM Average
3rd Missouri (MO) (CS) SBM Average
Clark's Missouri (MO) Battery 6lb SB Average

Historically, Ellis's cavalry went in mounted and soon retired when Ellis realized he had bite off more than he could chew. For purposes of the game I dismounted all the cavalry and assumed that the Union would press the Confederate rear guard. The Confederates were commanded by the AI.

1st MO (US) Cavalry leads Dodge's Brigade. The unit did have six stands and the pic was taken prior to the game when I was still considering a four stand unit. The figures are a mixture of Musket Miniatures and RSM.

Same as above but it's the 3rd IL screening the artillery and Vandever's Brigade.Figures are New Line Designs

Ellis and his staff checking things out. Ellis would die on the very first turn thus crippling his small brigade.

The two Union batteries moving up. My thought was to get the artillery up and pound the Confederate line of battle. Most of the Confederates were armed with SBM so I sought to outrange them. 

A nice view of Dodge's Brigade

One of the Union batteries got ahead of the other in a free move. 

This one is hurrying up. The escort are classic Airfix figures!

Little's 1st MO (CS) Cavalry screening the 2nd and 3rd MO. The unit includes Airfix, Accurate  RSM and Musket Miniatures figures.

The 2d and 3rd MO (CS). Figures are New Line Designs

13th Arkansas, again an admixture of figures and this time with a few Irregular Miniatures.

Same as above except it's the 14th Arkansas

Clark's MO Battery. The officer is Airfix and the crew are Musket Miniatures.

Part of the Confederate force withdrawing while the rear guard holds.

The 4th IA. The figures are Strelets from the Union Infantry Firing set.

The Union Artillery deploys. Airfix crews on Musket Miniatures cannon.

The 14th Arkansas routs from artillery fire but would recover. The 13th Arkansas and the 3rd Louisiana hold the line.

I counted on the Union Artillery to blow a whole in the Confederate line. It went well at first.

The Standard Bearer's in the Strelets sets leave much to be desired so you have to convert. Otherwise, the figures are excellent except that they do not mix well with other brands imo.

The crack 3rd LA. It was the only CSA unit with rifled muskets and thus had a chance of getting a hit. It was amazing how often they missed. Great FOW!

This illustrates the reasonable line of battle both sides had just before everything fell apart for the Union. The CS MO Brigade is on the left. The 1st MO (CS) cavalry have badly handled the 1st MO (US) cavalry.THe Confederate AI only needs to hold and so far the Union can't get anything going besides routing the 13th AR on the other flank. What happens next is a tribute to the FOW command system.

According the sequence Dodge's entire brigade "got their dander up" changing the CS MO brigade. The 1st (CS) MO Cavalry easily routs their Union cousins 1st Mo Cavalry. Next in the sequence Confederate artillery routes the 35th IL while the (CS) Mo Brigade also get their dander up. The way the cards fell meant that the 1st MO (CS) cavalry effectively rolled up the Union flank backed by the two MO Infantry regiments. Great day for CS MO.