010 Castulo (211 BC)
44 %
56 %
Historical Background
Time runs out for Publius Scipio. After several years of unbroken successes, the Scipio brothers rashly divide their armies to defeat the Carthaginians in detail. As Publius’s army nears Castulo, he realizes he is facing superior Carthaginian numbers and is in danger of being surrounded. Marching all night, his troops attack a small detachment of 7500 Celt-Iberian warriors under Indibilis blocking the Roman line of retreat. They hold long enough for the Numidian Masinissa and his elite Numidian cavalry to join the fight. Scipio’s army is not strong enough to defeat both forces quickly, and now the Carthaginian armies of Mago and Hasdrubal arrive on the field, surrounding and destroying the Roman Army. Publius Scipio is killed in the fighting. Shortly thereafter, Publius Scipio’s son comes to Spain, rebuilds and retrains the Roman army, and wins the battles of Baecula and Ilipa, avenging the deaths of his father and uncle.
The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. The rest is history.
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War Council
Army: Carthagian
Leader: Hasdrubal Gisgo
5 Command Cards 
Army: Roman
Leader: Publius Scipio
5 Command Cards
Move First 
Victory
8 Banners
Special Rules
If the Roman leader Publius Scipio is lost, Carthage wins at once.
A Roman unit the exits off the Carthaginian side of the battlefield, from a center hex or a hex on the Roman right section, counts as one victory banner. The unit is removed from play.
Tags: Base Game, 8 banners, Carthage, Roman, Playable with Base Game
My cavalry charge cards proved less effective and I lost two of the three units (one to a very lucky Auxilia that happened to be next to a leader, Mago, when it battled back).
Evert added Masimissa's light cavalry into the fight on my right, which went back and forth, swapping units, though I kept Scipio protected. His surviving light cavalry drifted into the centre to skirmish with the Romans that hadn't advanced. However, Hasdrubal and his troops were still stuck at the back of the board.
I finally used a left flank card, enabling me to lose my last cavalry and an Auxilia. At least they took out Mago's heavy infantry first. With the score at 7 all, I finally got my heavy infantry into the action, killing a (damaged) light cavalry as it tried to evade this attack.
On this showing, I rather like this scenario, but I do want to play it as the Carthaginians.
Ten battles:
6 wins for Carthage
4 wins for Rome
Very interesting scenario. The Carthaginians are effectively trying to stall the Roman army and also seek out and kill Scipio. The battle started well for the Romans who had several cards that allowed them to rapidly advance to towards the Carthaginian side of the battle. This was going very well as they repulsed Mago's and Masinissa's attacks. There was some damage, but Scipio held his forces together and protected the army. The slow advance would be stopped, however, once Hasdrubal pushed his contingent into conflict. His heavy infantry sliced through the Roman line almost eliminating Scipio himself. Their final banner came when they eliminated a full strength heavy unit.
Carthage 8 - Rome 5
Rome was holding their own for most of this battle. Nearly destroying the entire Carthaginian left early in the battle. They tried to push their forces forwards again, but Carthage managed to push back any units threatening to exit the field. Mago was completely useless during the battle. His entire group managed to only inflict two blocks worth of damage. The bulk of kills again came from Hasdrubal's expertly led heavy infantry who again cut the Roman line apart. However, it required a desperate gamble of flinging his unit into the power Roman line to pull off the victory.
Carthage 8 - Rome 7
