OT2022 Round 2

Round 2
Game 1
TTK (Rome) 8:4 DaniloelM. (Carth.)

Carthage attacked with its left flank, but there were not enough orders and Scipio stopped the pogroms of the Roman legions, at the same time he died while dodging Masinissa...

Light horsemen still had to do a lot, but naturally 8:4 in favor of Rome. Scipio survived.

Round 2 Game 1
stephent (Rome) 8
Andygor (carthaginian) 1   

Round 2 Game 2
stephent (Carthaginian) 5
Andygor (Rome) 8 
 

Game 1
Andygor Carthaginians 1
Steve Romans 8
Romans were able to refuse their left and advance obliquely to the right, catching the Carthaginan light cavalry on the rear rank and exiting two of the Roman light infantry for four of the eight medals. Tough fighting in the centre swung the Romans’ way for the victory, with the Carthaginian troops hidden in and behind the forests unable to reach the battle in time, apart from a late attack by the Carthaginian medium cavalry that was fended off by the Romans.

Game 2
Steve Carthaginians 5
Andygor Romans 8
Romans again refused their left and advanced obliquely to the right. The Carthaginian lights moved forward rapidly to fight a delaying action with shooting and evading, and after some initial success in cutting off some forward Romans troops eventually were defeated and fled, score 3-5 favouring the Romans, but now with the Roman heavy infantry in play. Hasdrubal’s troops emerged from the forests, a Carthaginian auxilia was destroyed by a Roman cavalry unit that then exited, and the two Roman Heavy Infantry were destroyed (5-7). Scipio double timed, catching a Roman Light Cavalry on the rear rank for the victory (5-.
An exciting pair of games!

Round 2
Game 2

TTK (Carth.) 8:5 DaniloelM. (Rome)

Mago paid for the victory at the cost of his life and the lives of his elite warriors

North Africa will not forget them
 

Game 1
JohnS (Carthaginians) 2
MichalK (Romans) 8

A very bloody and pretty quick battle. Romans had cards they needed, rolls they needed and aggressiveness to simply roll over the center of the map. What a carnage for Punic army.


Game 2
JohnS (Romans) 8
MichalK (Carthaginians) 4

Very tense and close game. After initial debacles of Romans it was pretty close for Carthage to take initiative - but very poor rolls destroyed all plans. In the end the game was won by Roman lights!


Thanks to John for two interesting games!

Game 1
gheintze (Romans) 8
PaulKT (Carthaginians) 2

Game 2
gheintze (Carthaginians) 2
PaulKT (Romans) 8

In the both games, the lead Carthaginian units were killed quickly, and the Roman infantry rolled up the left side, steamrolling the light cav and exiting for the win.

In the first game, there was some skirmishing on the Roman left and that was about the only difference.

Geoff

Kartigan (Roamn) 8 Banners

Rjvonline (Carthaginian) 2 Banners

This game was a tale of slow steady pressure by the Romans up their Right and Center while completely outclassing the Carthaginians in the dice department. Emblematic of this was when Mago was sniped out of the forest he advanced into by a lucky Light Infantry rolling a single die and then double leaders on the Leadership check.

Eventually, with one Roman unit already exited and at least two more threatening, Masinissa decided to lead a heroic Mounted Charge with the Light Cavalry in a last-ditch effort to buy some time (and roll as many dice as possible because it was likely the last turn) but ultimately was wiped out by the Roman infantry in their battlebacks.


I have to say, it is amazing how lopsided this round has been in favor of the Romans. Obviously modifying the Scipio rule affects the scenario balance in favor of the Romans, but I think does so in a larger way than I would've imagined. I still support the change for the reasons it was made and it all balances out since we play both sides anyway, but it is amazing how with a little luck in the cards the Romans can manage a 3 to 1 leader disadvantage just fine, due to their superior starting board position and scoring opportunity.

Game 1
PCScipio42 (Carthage) 8
DanieleC (Rome) 3

 Carthage had great cards and dice. Missile fire weakens Roman center. Mago attacks on Roman left but is over extended as Rome tries to kill it with a mounted charge that backfires and ends up killing both cavalry units to make it 4-1 Carthage. Mago continues his attack to get it to 6-2. Rome attacks in center breaks through but loses another to make it 7-3 and Carthage cav mops up a LI to end it at 8-3. Not much Daniele could do with the cards and dice in my favor.

Game 2
PCScipio42 (Rome) 8
DanieleC (Carthage) 6

  This was much closer and featured Scipio getting killed which would have ended it with the score 6-5 Carthage at that point. But tournament rule came into play and the match continued. Rome was able to get 2 units off the board for 2 banners and one of them was a LI that forced a Carthage LC to be killed off when it attacked it before exiting so that was 2 banner swing. Daniele was plagued by some bad dice again as had numerous rolls to try and kill a LI that was trying to get into position to exit and never could kill it. Rome had good cards at the end despite having 3 left cards which were useless to me at that point as I ran all Roman units from the left to stay away from Mago, Final score was 8-6 Rome. A good tense game this was and Daniele is always a fun opponent to play.   

Polonus100 (Roman) 4 Banners

KenW (Carthaginian) 8 Banners

Scipio got the Romans inching forwards towards the Carthaginian baseline, as the Carthaginians formed a skirmish line and pelted the hapless cohorts with missile fire.  A lucky counterattack by the warriors on the Carthaginian left penetrated deeply into the Roman line, felling Scipio early in the game. Deprived of his leadership, the Romans resumed their advance as the Carthaginian right slowly but surely closed.  A grinding war of attrition developed in the center.  Just before the last Eagle fell in the center, a single unit of Velites managed to escape to the baseline of the Carthaginian right.  

Note: It really was a lucky shot killing Scipio so early, and really hindered Polo as he seemed to draw a disportionate number of Leadership cards thereafter.  

KenW (Roman) 6 Banners

Polonus100 (Carthaginian) 8 Banners

Very similar flow to the first game, Scipio got the Romans inching forwards towards the Carthaginian baseline, as the Carthaginians formed a skirmish line and pelted the hapless cohorts with missile fire.  Scipio still fell, but lasted long enough to make effective use of his leadership.  After Scipio crossed the River Styx the remaining Romans were blessed by Fortuna with a bunch of center and right section cards, allowing them to more effectively skirmish in the center and advance on the right.  A swirling battle developed on the right late in the game, with a single unit of Velites escaping, but the Roman Hastati managing an effective counterattack on the distracted Numidians.  A well-timed  charge by the Carthaginian medium cavalry (heretofore held in reserve) cut down the beleaguered Auxillae and Hastati in the center, dropping the last Eagle and ending the game.  

Thank you to Polo for putting up with my rustiness at using Vassal! And apologies for the multiple vlog files for the second game, as I had to resynch several times.