EPIC01 Cannae (216 BC)

Written by GMT Games. Posted in Second Punic War (218-202 BC)

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.50 (2 Votes)

Victory Results:

63 %

37 %

Total plays 19 - Last reported by Lastall on 2020-11-17 20:36:03

Historical Background
Finally aware of the true threat posed by Hannibal, the Romans assembled a truly large army, perhaps up to 80,000 strong, lead by two consuls and two pro-consuls. When both consuls were present, Roman tradition was for them to alternate overall command from one day to the next. Unfortunately, on the day of battle, the incompetent consul Varrus held command and determined to attack Hannibal, who had posted his army in a location that negated the Roman advantage in numbers - bluffs on one flank and the Aufidus river on the other. Undeterred, Varrus simply packed his legions one behind the other into the constricted area and launched the mass headlong at the Carthaginian center. They advanced into yet another trap.
Hannibal had deployed his excellent cavalry and heavy infantry on the wings, leaving his medium infantry and Celt levies in the center. The Roman advance did indeed push the Carthaginian center back and inflicted losses, but in the meantime the Carthaginian cavalry had routed the Roman cavalry on both flanks and closed in on the rear of the Roman army while the heavy infantry advanced on both Roman flanks. Surrounded and unable to maneuver, the Roman soldiers were slaughtered by the thousands and the army was destroyed. Cannae was Rome's greatest military defeat and Hannibal's greatest victory.
The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. Can you change history?

War Council

Carthaginian Army:
Leader: Hannibal
9 Command Cards

Roman Army:
Leader: Varrus
6 Command Cards
Move First

Victory
12 Banners

Special Rules
• The Aufidus River is impassable.
• The hill hexes are impassable.

Tags: Expansion 3, Epic, Carthage, Roman, 12 banners

Posts in discussion: EPIC01 Cannae (216 BC)

esparver73 replied the topic: #3354 8 months 2 weeks ago

Rome started strong in the center and the Carthaginians advanced also in the center, which is a mistake, the Romans quickly mounted up victory banners leading 8 to 4. Then the Carthaginians switched tactics and started to hit on the wings, regaining terrain up to a 10-10 tie. But the Romans managed to break a couple more units for a 12-11 win.

Achtung-Panzer replied the topic: #1366 8 years 8 months ago

Unusual to see this battle with terrain on both flanks instead of being on a wide open plain. Does this restrict the Carthaginian cavalry in their famous encircling move?

Has anyone played it on a plain board? But perhaps this would discourage the Romans from advancing at all?

King-Billy replied the topic: #821 10 years 8 months ago

Played this against my boy Daniel today using VASSAL Epic module. While we do have enough bits to play this on the Epic Boards, we do not have a set of Epic cards, which the VASSAL module does provide.

We have played a couple of Epic games using the normal cards, but the EPIC pack centainly game it a better flavour.

I had the Romans against Daniels Carthaginians. I spend a bit of time getting my line together while Daniel pushed his centre up. I saw a chance on my right and trapped one of his heavy cavalry where it could not retreat and killed it with my medium cavalry.

The centre turned into a scrum, with us both using line command cards to cause mass combat. Daniel should have read the historic description. His centre melted under my attck, but he was not in a position to hit me in the flanks with his heavy infantry. Hanno died trying to rally the centre.

He struggled to get his light cavalry into the battle, but it was to late, the Romans reversed history with a comprehensive win.

Romans 12 Carthaginians 6.