Spain vs Carthage 235BC.29.7.12.

This should have been a good game,however, the way things worked out it was a bit of an anti-climax!We picked sides and Graham was in charge of the confederation of Spanish tribes,whilst Paul and I were in charge of the Carthaginians.
To be fair to Graham,he is not really an Ancients "buff",so the tactics and capabilities of the Carthaginians (especially the Numidian light cavalry) were a bit of a surprise to him,and after the first couple of opening moves the game was already lost!!
Below is the scenario,just to set the scene,based on fact, the Carthaginians did invade Spain in 235/6 BC. This is the general overview of the table with the Spanish tribes on the left and the Carthaginians on the right.Because the Spanish were a disparate group of tribes we decided that they must throw a Random movement dice, for each faction for each move,this proved to be a deciding factor,and upset Graham's battle plan.

The photo below shows the disposition of the Carthaginians at the start of the game,my command is the centre and right flank ,and Paul took the left flank,with the dreaded Numidian light cav. lurking on the far left.

This shot shows Graham's centre and left flank,consisting of a mixture of skirmishers,light inf.and heavy inf. and cavalry.

The shot below is of the Spanish right flank,this "surged" forward in the first move,against our heavy cav.and a good melee developed on our side of the stream,Paul's Numidians drove the Spanish archers,who had been left unsupported,away, which left the whole of the Spanish army "up in the air" and gave Paul free rein to cause havoc in their flank and rear!

The photo below shows what happened when we put in a concerted attack along the whole front,with Graham bravely trying to form some sort of line or defensive position,however being "squashed" between heavy cav.and heavy inf. with light troops darting in and out with the elephants as support,caused a total collapse of the Spanish army,and the game was finished!!

Here is anothe view of the "collapse" with the Elephants imposing themselves on the hapless Spanish infantry.

In retrospect,I suppose I should have picked the sides,with either Paul or I in charge of the large Spanish army,however experience is a good thing and I'm sure Graham will have learnt from this game.

I hope to be playing Dave on Wednesday,so roll on.......