Hail Caesar! Carthage Vs Mercenaries (Mercenary War 240-238 BC)

Hello everyone.

Last Thursday Tim S and I met up to play a couple of games of Hail Caesar! using rather small armies.  We played a total of two games using what we had painted up, no points calculated.  

It was Carthage VS Unpaid Mercenaries and I gave the setting as part of the Mercenary Wars Carthage went through after the First Punic War. In this battle series a whole mess of Numidians, their elephant, and some Roman defectors (Hastati and skirmishers) all face off against a force of mostly Carthage Citizens and their Libyan and Numidian friends.

The first battle you can check out on YouTube , since I filmed it. Here is the link to that game!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Yqse-TYKY

The second battle will be posted right here on my blog!

So here it is!  Here's the details about the forces involved:

We borrowed units from the supplement army lists and gave them to unlisted units where we thought appropriate. We did not count up our points.  Funnily enough, after the game I calculated the points totals and it was 123 total for Carthage and 128 total for the Mercenaries... very evenly matched forces!

Leadership values of 8 both sides.

Forces involved:
Tim as Carthage 1 Division 1 general
1) Carthage Citizen Spearmen (Medium troops w. Spears and Javelins)
2) Lib-Phonecian Spearmen (Heavy troops w. long spears)
3) Veteran Lib-Phonecian Spearmen (Heavy Troops w. long spears, phalanx, tough fighter, elite)
4) Two small units of light infantry numidians (Javelins and spears, no armor)
5) One small Unit of Javelin Skirmishers

Myself as the Mercenaries 1 division 1 general
1) Two small units of Hastati (Heavy troops w/ swords and pilum, Tough Fighter, drilled)
2) Two units of Numidian Warriors (Medium w/ spears and javelins)
3) An Elephant ( Javelin armed crew)
4) One small unit of Javelin Skirmishers

Our Battle field was simple - Two hills and some ruins in the centre of the board.  Here's some shots of our forces and their starting formations. 

  

Here's Tim's Libyan Phonecian spearmen. I love the LBM decals !

Here are the Veterans! 

In the first battle Tim put all of his light infantry on his far left wing. This time he kept them all behind the heavy infantry. Skirmishers were naturally screening. 

Tim's forces. Heavies in the centre, lights behind them, skirmishers in the front, and a left wing of Medium Carthage citizen infantry. 

Tim had rolled lower than I so I elected him to set up first. 

My battle line.  On the far right were some Hastati defectors flanked by the elephant to the right. Right of that came my medium Numidian infantry followed by another hastati unit, then on the far right was the last medium troop.  Skirmishers screened the centre units. 

The Numidians and Elephant in my force were painted by Grant, a fellow that was going to game with us but decided to stick to painting Micro armor, his favourite genre of painting - Tim and I inherited some models off of him and I got the painted stuff, so you'll notice the basing system for my numidians and romans are quite different! 

Great ruins supplied by the local store in the centre of the field.  My Commander Sillius Maximus of Samnium behind the Numidians. 

Far right flank. Agema miniatures and more numidians. 

The first few turns the forces began to advance towards each other.. my line was pretty consistent. 

Tim had some very awesome rolls on his orders and was able to get the whole lot of his army right up the ruins by the second turn. His Veterans were caught up in rough ground the Ruins represented however. 

He ordered his left flank to break off and take the hill, a bit far from the main army. 

One bad roll for me. Nobody got an order on my next turn! 

Tim's forces draw in closer. He is able to get into javelin range of my Hastati and tries to harass them.

His Libyan Phonecian heavy unit and their light numidian buddies follow behind. 

The rest of his forces failed their orders, however, and were stuck behind rough ground. 

Stuck on the hill with no orders given! 

The Hastati charge the skirmishers, and they naturally evade, but Tim failed the order so they only moved once.  My order was initiative based so I too only moved once, but a good round of Roman short ranged missile attacks caused the Libyans to give ground with disorder. 

And of course, during that same turn the rest of my forces failed their orders! 

Tim gets ready to charge the Hastati... 

But his order falls just short, and his Heavy Spearmen stop only an inch away! 

Tim is finally able to order his men into open order to march through the Rough ground. 

And the Medium Infantry on the hill get some orders as well, despite a distance penalty. 

I order my hastati to Charge with initiative.  Next I order the elephant in but he too falls short! I decide to foolishly support the Romans, forgetting that the Elephants only have a measly Short Range of 1 !  If I had decided to not support the game may have ended up differently!   

Right away, my Hastati take the worst of it, and are shaken right off the main turn.  Libyan heavy infantry have Long Spears, which means I do not get the bonus to my rolls for charging. 

That and the elephant is no help at all as a support unit! Short range of 1!  All he is doing is trying to pick up one guy with his trunk and throw him!  Note for next game: do not send the elephant in as a support!

I was however able to maintain the lines despite losing by 1 in that fight. As for the rest of my forces, you can see that only one unit knew how to follow orders.  I pulled back my skirmishers, figuring I'd send everything forth to fight, and have them come up to support a unit... 

Tim orders his Libyan skirmishers back towards the fight, and at the sides of  my Numidians. 

And his Heavy Veterans are able to get 3 moves on the order... Finish their open order walk through terrain for the first move,  form up for the second order, then charge on the last move.. but they too were one inch off and did not connect! 

Distance again hurt the orders to the Citizens near the hill... 

Tim's Libyans get some nice shots in on the Numidian infantry, and they give ground, disordered!  They gave ground and moved diagonally back away from the corner the Libyan's were attacking from but due to proximity it may have made more sense to move back from the Veteran Carthaginian spearmen.  

Tim is able to push my Romans back , and inflict some excess wounds on my Elephant.  Since I was shaken, I constantly closed ranks every fight to try and delay any damage on the Hastati. 

Some tough choices for me. My Numidian Infantry, being disordered could not take an order.. Do I leave them on their own and try to somehow get my other Hastati unit over to help their failing brothers?

In the end I just re-positioned my battle line so the Disordered Numidians could receive more support once the Veterans charged in. 

Close ranks again!  This time it saved me from being pushed off the board! 

Tim's turn! 

He sends all his forces on to my Medium infantry.  

And leaves these fellows behind.. because they obviously don't have ears and cannot hear their General! 

In the following battle, Tim's forces defeats my Romans and they give ground , forcing them off the battlefield. Since they were shaken, they are automatically removed.  The elephant broke and that was that! 

As for this fight here... Well, to make a long story short. 

In the first round of combat, the Numidians lost badly, rolled a break test! And... 

The Hastati also rolled a 3 and a 1! They had something like -2 on their total result after subtracting combat results! So badly were the Numidian medium troops defeated.   The other supporting Numidians were able to give ground in an orderly fashion however. 

On my next turn, I just turn to face and await death to come!  My javelinmen do nothing to the Carthaginians. 

All the Veterans and their Light Numidian forces charge my Medium Numidian forces...! The final battle! 

And the general moved off to go and smack those Citizen Infantrymen into line! 

And here's the shots of the last stand! 

And..yeah! They all broke and ran ! Tim won a very decisive victory and the Mercenary forces were utterly destroyed, save Sillius Maximus who was able to escape and he swears revenge on the forces of Carthage!


And that's game!

So it was a fun little game, of fairly even forces.  We both won one of two games.   It was a very enjoyable set of games even when playing with so few units compared to what I am used to normally playing with.

I did remember that disorder does not wear off when engaged this go round, but there were still a number of mistakes made in these game though.  I forgot that shaken units that draw in a battle still take a break test.  Units on hills get an uphill advantage.  Generals and commanders who join a fight have to stay with their men until the fight is over (In the second game posted here, the Generals did not really join the battle, until the very end when Sillius threw in with his lads). 

I'd have to say these things in addition:

I've only done play testing at home, but these games were my first where I used Hastati against a real opponent... Hastati are tough little units!  Small, heavy troops.  They can take on medium troops on their lonesome fairly decently.    They only have 4 stamina, but they have pilum. They can pile up with other small units on to standard sized frontage units to get a hell of a lot of attacks in.  They can close ranks.  Ranged is not so scary since heavy troops are well protected from their fronts.  And Hastati have tough fighter.  Tim mentioned they were very formidable even against his full sized heavy units, despite their size and we both feel to take on a whole wack of them at once would be intense for the receiving end!  I've spoken to a few players who feel the Republicans are at a disadvantage due to their lack of Stamina, but I really feel they are not!  They're a very highly manoeuvrable heavy unit that can pack quite a punch if used correctly!  You can get a lot of attacks with the right support combination!

Veteran Libyan-Phonecian spearmen are also excellent units.  Long Spears stop enemy charge bonuses to the front. They too can close ranks. Tim did not have need to use it these games, but they also have the Phalanx rule. They're elite and have the chance to recover from disorder on the start of their turn, and they've also been given Tough Fighter.  They're very expensive units though, at 36 points a piece (if you play with points).  They are a well rounded, hoplite like unit...   It is no wonder so many players dread playing against hoplite armies!

For my elephant... for use in Carthage and Republican Rome I really think it makes for an excellent front line unit or flanker,  but it really needs support.  I thought there was a long range attack included with Elephants, but it seems in the punic wars there is no Bowmen in the back of the Howdah, and thus the javelin ranged attack was a mere 1!  That being said, their horrible as a support unit and really need to be in the thick of things for the Punic wars.  Against Tim's light units in the first YouTube filmed game, the Elephant did wonders   - it sent the lights with their heavy supports packing and fought off two units of light infantry on its lonesome, no problem. It caused break test re-rolls! Fun unit! But it wasn't until the second game when I used them as a supportive role that they showed how pathetic they really are if they have to support. So get those Elephants in the front line or  have them flank or rear charge!

Tim also learned in his gaming that the small units of  light infantry that Carthage has access to are very weak, but play a very, very important role.  They have a humble clash of 3, sustained 3, some javelins with short ranged attacks.. and no armor at all! In our first game, my elephant trashed them and sent them packing when they took the Elephant on directly.  However, Tim properly placed his lights behind his Carthaginian heavy troops, and they stayed as supportive units the entire game.. this is how we both feel that these crazy men with no armour are utilised. In a game with points, and restrictions, Carthage is limited to only having one Heavy unit for every 4 units in the army (I think it is infantry, too. Will have to check).  But with one unit of Libyans, followed by two or three of these cheap small units, you can have a very powerful heavy frontal assault with light supports that cost next to nothing and will be able to pile up their extra attacks on the foe!


Finally, something I learned after this game, but will apply to the next ones... our group also had a discussion on how movement properly works in Hail Caesar! and we weren't too sure on how we should work with how the rulebook states movement operates in the game...  so I ended up contacting Rick Priestly himself over the matter and he gave me a well structured answer on how one can calculate movement.  It really is interpretative and the movement system in Hail Caesar! is very liberal, but we've decided to stick with Rick's method of doing things.  I used to play where turning counts as one whole movement, but the rules do say you get to cover 6 inches in a move.. thus, as the way Rick worded it, to turn and wheel somewhat, you can measure the total distance covered in that wheel through the soldiers that would have moved the most... so if I turn and lets say the turn moves the majority of my forces an inch from a spot in the turn, I still have 5 inches to move forth with, or do whatever with that single move.   This of course is still affected by proximity and charge moves when our units get in to the charging part of the game!

That is it for now.  My next set of games will most likely be with Tim again, continuing our games with the Mercenary Wars but I do hope to see more members of the group  coming out. We're all working away at the Punic war setting and I cannot wait for all the other members of our little group to get their forces done so we can really spice things up!

Adios for now!