Demo di MA! al circolo "Quarta Dimensione" di Udine

Ieri pomeriggio scenario dimostrativo di "Magna Acies!" su cortese invito degli amici del circolo "Quarta Dimensione" di Udine (via Ermes di Colloredo 14), nel contesto dell' evento "L'altra dimensione del wargame".

La manifestazione ha riscosso un buon successo di partecipanti e le "tematiche ludiche" affrontate negli spazi del circolo sono state assai variegate: dallo storico tridimensionale e fantasy, al boardgame, ai giochi per pc. 

Tanto interesse attorno al tavolo di "Magna Acies!" (per la cronaca, battaglia classicissima Romani vs Cartaginesi) e ottima accessibilità al bar interno munito di birra alla spina ...

Vi propongo qualche foto del tavolo che ho approntato per l'evento e dei partecipanti alla demo:

 

Grazie a tutti per l'invito e per la partecipazione al tavolo; mi auguro vi siate divertiti!

A "small Cannae", but with a different outcome!

Some days ago Gianni and me have fought a classical "Romans vs Carthaginians" battle, this time with my 20mm little soldiers.

Roman Army (15.500 men):

10.000 Roman and Italic Legions - Heavy infantry (10 bases in 3 divisions)

3.000 Skirmishers (6 bases, attached to the heavy infantry divisions)

2.500 Italic and Roman Medium cavalry (5 bases in 2 divisions)

Carthaginian Army (19.500 men):

4.000 African Phalanx (4 bases in 1 division)

4.000 Iberian Medium Infantry (4 bases in 1 division)

4.000 Celtic Warbands (4 bases in 1 division)

3.000 Skirmishers (6 bases, attached to Iberian and Celtic divisions)

3.000 Celtic, Iberian and African Medium cavalry (6 bases in 2 divisions)

1.500 Numidian Light Cavalry (3 bases in 1 division)

While the Roman "consul" choosed a very conventional deployment, with hastati and principes in the common central two lines and the cavarly at the wings, the dodgy Carthaginian choosed a different scheme, with Celts and Iberians in the centre and the phalanx at the rear.

I suppose that this remembers to me a certain battle fought in 216 BC ... Do you remember the same???? 

The battle starts with the predominant Celtic and Iberian cavalry charging the Italic allied cavalry at the right of the picture.

So, let's go, with the Carthaginians at the top of the picture and the Romans at the bottom:

The Celtic warbands charge the Roman infantry at the right wing, while the Carthaginian phalanx follows and the Iberians hold the ground at the left of the picture:

 

At the very right side of the Roman army, the Iberian and Celtic cavalry clashes against the outnumbered Italic allied cavalry: 

At the very left side of the Roman army, the Numidian light cavalry begins to shoot against the side of the Roman cavalry ...

... while the Carthaginian an Celtic cavalry waits until Roman cavalry has taken enough losses before charging:

At the centre, Celtic and Iberian infantry are approaching the Roman legions; skirmishers will start to shoot very soon for both sides:

At the rear of the Carthaginian army, the phalanx begins its move to storm the side of the legions:

After the shooting of the skirmishers, the melee begins: Roman and Italic legions against Iberians and Celts: 

At the very right, the Italic cavalry begins to take heavy losses from the enemy cavalry and retreats:

The situation after few game turns: Iberian and Celtic infantry retrats under the pressure of the legions, while the Carthaginian phalanx moves toward the right side of the Roman infantry; the Roman cavalry at the wings retreats or takes shoots:

This is an important stage of the battle: Iberian infantry routs and collapse under the strike of the Roman and Italic legions:

At the very right, the Italic cavalry takes the flight, while the Celtic and Iberian cavalry follows up until the end of the battlefield:

The situation: the Roman infantry is winning, while the Roman cavalry is loosing (as usual...):

Having defeated the Iberians, the central Roman legions are free to pivot and to strike the side of the surviving Celts, who are fighting against another legion on the front:

This is the right time: at the very left of the battlefield, African and Celtic cavalry charges against the Roman cavalry, which has taken many casualties from the shooting of the Numidians. 

Roman cavalry flees, but the winners are under the shooting of the Roman skirmishers of the legion which is coming back after the victory against the Iberians:

The phalanx follows its side move ... 

... and then pivots, facing the side of the Italic legion which is fighting against the Celts:

The last stage of the battle: the Celts are pressed from two sides by the legions, but now the phalanx is ready to fight after its long march:

The Celts collapse, and so do the Italic legion crushed by the phalanx; but for the Carthaginians it's too late: they have lost 4000 Iberians, 4000 Celts, 3000 Skirmishers, 500 Celtic cavalrymen; so 11.500 losses, more than half of the army (19.500 men).

The Romans have lost 3000 Italic legionaries, 1000 Skirmishers and 2500 cavalrymen, so 6.500 losses out of an army of 15.500. 

So, different to Cannae, the Roman is the winner.

Why?

Probably mainly because, different to Cannae, the phalanx was just one, while at Cannae it was splitted in two halves on both sides, and because the move of the phalanx has been too slow.

The Iberian infantry (4000 medium infantry and 2000 skirmishers) has had to face 7000 Roman legionaries and 2000 skirmishers, so the task has been a bit too challenging for them ...

The screen of Iberians and Celts was quite weak, so the phalanx should have been a bit faster.

This is the reason why some scholars say that, at Cannae, Hannibal acted like "a clock"!

Thank you for your interest!

Romans vs Carthaginians

A couple of days ago another test for my new improvements to the rules with Gianni.

This time the focus was on the manipular tactic, so the choice was almost mandatory: Romans against Carthaginians!

The composition of the armies was quite typical: medium iberian infantry, gallic warbands, heavy african phalanx and lots of medium and light cavalry for the Carthaginian, massive heavy legionary infantry, few medium cavalry and some light cavalry for the Roman.

Carthaginian army

Roman army

The deployment of the armies was also quite traditional: the Carthaginian general placed the Iberians and the Celts slightly forward, in order to get the first strike, and he left the phalanx just behind for the second hit; the medium cavalry was massed on the left, skirmishers and light cavalry on the right, near the small hill (Carthaginians left in following picture).

The Roman general followed the same tactical concept and placed the two lines of legionary infantry (hastati and principes) in the centre, and cavarly and skirmishers at the wings in order to face their african counterparts (Romans right in picture).

The battle began with the African cavalry charging the Roman medium cavalry, the latter heavily outnumbered.

Near the hill, the opposite skirmisher began to fight each other, while the Carthaginian light cavalry decided to move toward the opposite wing, in order to support the medium cavalry.

In the centre, the first line of the legions moved against the Iberians and the Gauls and, after a short while, the clash happened; the first contact was balanced, with the barbarian heat causing some problem to the Roman first line.

At the left wing of Roman army, the Roman cavalry was very soon disbanded and routed by the Iberian, African and Celtic cavalry.

 

While the Carthaginian cavalry tried to regroup after the victorous battle, in the centre the legions began to do their job: the maniples in the second line rushed in battle one by one and for the Iberian and the Celts there was no escape and they began to retreat.

 

The Carthaginian phalanx moved against the Roman lines, in order to avoid the total collapse of the centre in the hope of a quick arrival of the victorious cavarly against the back of the roman lines.

For a short while, the phalanx tried also to extend its front in order to avoid surrounding, but in the very centre the Iberians and the Celts didn't resist anymore, so the legions were able to pivot to their left and to attack the flank of the phalanx.

This was the end of the phalanx and of the battle.

Oppositely to what normally happened in the first part of the Second Punic War, here the Romans were able to break the centre of the Carthaginian army before the returning in the field of the African cavalry.

As you can see in picture, the cavarly was very near to arrive, but just a bit too late ...

Another very balanced battle, with the Romans that won but not without fear; they lost some important units (the whole cavalry and some legionary units) and the Carthaginian too was very near to win.

During the battle, the balance of the rules concerning the manipular support has been a matter of debate between Gianni and me; probably I will slightly modify the rules in order to make less effective the support of the second roman line.

But the system is working very well: now deploying an army in two lines makes sense!

04.02.2011: Roma contro Cartagine

Ieri sera grande evento in 1/72 a casa di Giuseppe: Romani repubblicani contro Cartaginesi.

Il tutto, tra l'altro, condito da un sapiente "mix gastronomico" del padrone di casa tra insaccati veneti e verace "pasta al forno" alla Sicula maniera ...

Tornando a noi, io ho fatto l'arbitro, con Giuseppe (Liort il Bardo) che faceva il Cartaginese e Brasidas che faceva il Romano (non troppo convinto a dire il vero, date le sue non celate simpatie celtiche!).

La battaglia è stata sui canonici 150 punti/esercito, con tavolo di dimensioni da 1/72 (quindi basette doppie, cioè cm. 8 x 4), cioè cm. 180 x 100 (meglio sarebbe stato 180 x 120, ma va bene lo stesso).

I due Generali al termine dello schieramento

Abbiamo iniziato a giocare molto tardi, verso le 22.00 circa.

Lo schieramento volutamente libero ha originato una battaglia abbastanza disordinata e convulsa, dove tutti gli schemi "classici" sono saltati e dove ha prevalso la logica "torneistica" del fronte lungo e dello schieramento sottile.

Il regolamento, comunque, ha fatto ugualmente il suo dovere e non ci sono state grandi problematiche da risolvere, nonostante il notevole agonismo dei due Generali.

Errori? A parte gli schieramenti iniziali disordinati e privi di un piano preciso  (ciò dovuto anche alla ancora limitata conoscenza del regolamento), il  Cartaginese ha tentato un po' di giochetti con i leggeri che, però, il regolamento non premia, mentre il Romano ha dato poca importanza al recupero della cavalleria vittoriosa, che è stata invece lasciata libera di perdere il suo tempo all'inseguimento e alla preda del nemico.

Per la cronaca, dopo circa due ore e mezza di partita (e molte "ciaccole"), il Romano ha vinto ai punti causa sfinimento dell'arbitro, che il giorno dopo doveva recarsi in ufficio!

Comunque un'altra bella serata e un altro test positivo per il nostro "Magna (e stavolta "magna" sta benissimo ...) Acies!".

L'impatto visivo dell' 1/72, tra l'altro, è stato davvero eccitante; le immagini credo parlino da sole.

Grazie Giuseppe e grazie Marco; la prossima volta, comunque, invece che pasta al forno dosi massicce di bromuro, così l'arbitro campa più tranquillo ...