Hannibal Crossing the Alps

Amazingly one of my projects is at last coming together!  Some time last year Tim introduced me to the Piqet derived Pulse of Battle set of Ancient rules.  He also had in his possession a copy of a scenario booklet called Hannibal Ad Portas which covers the period from Hannibal leaving Spain to advance into Italy to the Battle of Zama.  I have a painted Republican Roman army, a Gallic army and various Spanish, Numidians and Africans.  By using some of my Grek and Macedonian figures to pad out a bit I pretty much had enough figures to play the scenarios for just a bit of painting and some rebasing.  The main area of difficulty was having enough Roman figures to do the bigger battles.


The first scenario is the only what if and depicts a contested River Crossing as the Carthaginians moved into Gallic territory.  It assumes Roman cavalry support which is a bit of a problem as I would need about 50 cavalry figures at least 20 more than I had.  I decided to bypass that as the second scenario is Hannibal crossing the Alps.  The Gallic side was already available and completing the Carthaginian side would give me 90% of the figures that I would need for the Carthginian for most of the rest of the battles.


I am not a quick painter/rebaser but a deadline is a wonderful thing and I managed to get them all near enough for the battle.  The board was a very unusual affair with a path snaking its way from one side to the other between mountains and in the centre a forest.  One of the issues was that the scenarios were written for a different set of rules so there was an element of improvisation as we went through the game.


The set up has the main Carthaginian force advancing down the path parallel to  one side of the table with multiple snake like bends to traverse,  Some light forces hold the heights covering the exit points.  The Gauls come on randomly on either flank when the appropriate card is drawn. Given the length of the column there is always likely to be a Carthaginian unit capable of being ambushed.  However the Carthaginian units are generally of better quality than the Gauls.
Some Pictures

The Carthaginian Column as it advanced into the Pass

Ambush!

Nearer the end of the game with the Carthaginian column strung out but the Gauls unable to stop the relentless advance



  I ran the Carthaginians and Doug the Gauls.  In the end the weight and power of Hannibal's troops were too much for the opposing tribesmen, much as the case in history.  There were casualties inflicted however including a pushed back elephant that we agreed had gone plunging down the Apline slopes to it's death.  At least someone was dining on elephant steaks that night!
A most unusual game.

Games 62

 Rules played 25 New 10
Places played 10 New 0

12 games 12 sets of rules

I have had a good start to my wargaming year so far, managing to play 12 games.  Variety is something I enjoy and I have been quite chuffer to have a run of playing different rules, with 7 of them being new to me.  The balance has been 7 historical and 5 not which is also good.  The sequence will be broken on Monday as I am plying a game with the new GW Battle Companies expansion.  Allthough the name of the rules have changed this is essentially Lord of the Rings which was my first game of the year.


The last game of the sequence was a Pulse of Battle game against Doug, hosted by Tim.  Thanks to Tim by the way as 4 of the games have been at his house using various incarnations of Piquet rules.  They tend to attract a rather narrow playing base as the flow of games can be very unpredictable and many find them rather frustrating.  A heavy dose of Fog of War and the inability of generals to get their troops to act when needed is not everyone's cup of tea.


The game used the same armies as the Archon game the previous week.  This time I took the Ancient Britons and Doug took the Romans.  I had the advantage in both games in that the Romans were markedly superior under Archon and much less so under Pulse of Battle.  In both games I benefitted from poor combat dice being rolled by my opponent and won the games as a result.  The picture below shows my left flank where my 'Ancient British Panzer Division' (who remembers that quote?) won the day for me.

Games 12

 Rules played 12 New 7
Places played 3 New 0

 

Second game of Pulse of Battle

Apologies for forgetting to take a photograph until the figures were just about put away again!


Another rout - appalling luck.  My opponent went first every time and I am sure that I managed to throw a 1 in combat on a D4, D6, D8, D10 & D12!  I may be exaggerating but if so not by much.


Still it looks as if the system may provide at least a few games next year and may stimulate some painting which is always a good thing

Test game of Pulse of Battle

My successors got a run out this week with me taking Lysimacids against Tim with Seleucids.  It was a run through the Pulse of Battle rules.  The photo shows a Thracian warband running away- soon to be followed by a number of other units.


I managed to kill an elephant but that was about it!