Second Battle of Beneventum, 214BC

The Carthaginian lines

Carthaginian cavalry try to turn the Roman flank

I apologise in advance for the jumbled-up photos, but the technology is quite beyond me...

For our December game we had a new player Rafael join our group. I planned on running a Punic War scenario using a scenario from Across the Alps, the scenario book with Little Wars TV. I initially wanted to run the Battle of Metaurus, which had a more interesting terrain, but when I learned that Rafael had a large Spartacus' Revolt army, I switched to Beneventum instead. Now I understand that the Roman slaves and convicts probably wore Roman uniforms for the battle, but I wasn't about to let the opportunity for a guest's army to grace my tabletop.

The battlefield

Rafael and I played the Romans. Having had some experience with the rules, I decided to consciously stack the odds in my favour for combat. Playing conservatively, I deployed my half of the army deep, both to protect my flank from the Numidian light horse, and to support the units in the front rank. After some skirmishing, where both sides attrited their skirmisher units, the Romans charged up the slopes. My front units managed to gain a toe-hold, but immediately faced Carthaginian counter-attack on three sides. The dice rolled in my favour, and the Romans managed to fend off all attacks. This was enough to allow a second wave of attack to push the whole Roman line onto the high ground. The Carthaginians rolled poorly to rally, and after flanking attack by the cavalry was repelled, the game was up for them.

Rafael's Slave Revolt army

This was the first game we played using a scenario instead of the random terrain set-up we had used previously. I was also more deliberate in the army lists generation, choosing a mix of units that would allow each side to capitalise on their Battle Tactics.

I think both sides played well, and a large part of why the Carthaginians lost was due to them failing their General movement and Battle Tactics activation rolls at critical points in the battle.

I am now planning for another game of C&K this month, to hopefully let wahj and I finally put our Warring States China armies onto a table. Stay tuned.

Critical point of the battle, when the Roman attack, surrounded on three sides, manage to fend off the attacks and secure victory