Victory Results:
 43 %
Record a victory for BOTTOM ARMY  57 %
Total plays 30 - Last reported by SimSportPlyr on 2024-07-23 05:58:45

Historical Background
Hasdrubal's departure to join Hannibal in Italy left only two Carthaginian armies in Spain under mediocre commanders (Hasdrubal yes another one, and Mago). Scipio made steady progress against them, securing territory and prompting many Spanish tribes to come ver to the Roman side. Forced to give battle or give up Spain, their most valuable province, the Carthaginian armies united and took up position on the plains outside of Ilipa.
For three days both armies deployed with their heavy infantry in the  center and light troops on each wing. Scipio assumed that the Carthaginians would continue to deploy in this manner and he was correct. On the fourth day, Hasdrubal again deployed his army with the heavies in the center. Scipo this day sent light troops and cavalry to attack the Carthaginian camp and only after the Roman light screen retired did Hasdrubal see the Romans deployed with legionary infantry in both wings and Spanish troops plus lights in the center, The Roman cavalry and legions advanced and began to destroy both Carthaginian light wings. Hasdrubal was unable to send his heavies to support the wings for fear he would open a hole in the center that the Romans would pour through.
Both Carthaginian wings disintegrated and it looked grim for the heavies in the center until a providential thunderstorm allowed some of them to escape. The combined Carthaginian army was destroyed as a fighting force, and Spain now belonged to Rome. Scipo later crossed into Africa where his victories at The Great Plains and Zama would earn him the title "Africanus".
The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. Can you change history?

War Council

Carthaginian Army:
Leader: Hasdrubal
7 Command Cards 

Roman Army:
Leader: Scipio
9 Command Cards
Move First

Victory
13 Banners

Optional Rule
Compared to the Julian legions, Scipio's legions still moved slowly, but matched against the Carthaginian formations, they sped. We recommend that all Roman medium and heavy infantry units may move one hex and battle, or move two hexes and not battle. These units are not missile weapon capable.

 

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esparver73 replied the topic:
4 years 7 months ago
This was a very tied battle with both sides scoring at the same time. The terrain is flat and the armies are quite equal. The Romans must move medium and heavy units by two hexes to quickly deploy them where needed while the Carthaginians need to make good use of elephants and cavalry and press with their strong center. In our case we were up to 12-12 and the dice fell in favour of the Romans for a 13-12.
King-Billy replied the topic:
14 years 8 months ago
I have to say that I was a bit shy about the EPIC approach. I really like the normal games, and though that EPIC might be trying to push the concept a bit to hard.

When I got the Roman Civil War Expansion it included this scenario, so my son and I gave it a try.

How wrong was I!

EPIC is great. We punched and counter punched our way though the afternoon, taking far longer than we would normally take to play a game, but without realising it because the action was so intense.

In the end the Romans got the acendancy, but not after some hard slogging, and soon after the Carthaginians collapsed. It my view it played closer to my understanding of ancient battles than the standard game.

I don't think we will play it all of the time (it takes a lot of room to play) but I am looking forward to more EPIC games, including multiplayer games.