Hail Caesar! Carthage Vs Mercenaries (Mercenary War 240-238 BC) Part 2

Hello everyone.

A week later, Tim S and I met up again to play more games of Hail Caesar! .. keeping in mind of the mistakes and rules we messed up from the last go. We played another two games.  This time I did not bother to film them, as  the forces were generally the same! 

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

In game 2 this time , Tim merges his Two small Numidian units into one Medium unit of Numidians.

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

Game 1


We set up for the first game... 

My line for the first game. 

And Tim's set up here! 

I get in some good movements on my far right, and the whole army advances as seen! The elephants and Hastati make for the hill. 

Tim's forces move up , skirmishers leading the way and the Heavy troops slowly making their way up the left. 

The battle field after Tim's turn... 

My forces move up towards the Ruins, skirmishers take the woods, and my commander moves up closer to the hill.. 

The numidians move up behind the elephant and Hastati, though the Elephant and Romans fail their orders to get to the top of the hill. 

Tim's skirmishers move in closer... followed by the Medium Citizen Carthaginians. 

Meanwhile, Tim's Heavy troops and light infantry take the hill. 

And the elites take the side. 

The skirmishers miss ! 

I reorganised my line, minding proximity with my Numidians now facing the Elite Carthage troops. 

I move up my numidians ordering them to charge the skirmishers, but they evade and I fail to catch them.  Having a foe to the front , but not facing, I had to face a foe - thanks to proximity. I decide to face the fellows on the hill instead of chug through rough ground. 

My skirmishers move up and together with the elephant's javelins, they cause disorder among the ranks of the Heavy Libyans.  Tim could have given ground ordered, but did not want to lose the hill. 

Numidian Javelins smash into 

The field and units as they are before Tim's next turn. 

Tim charges his Carthage citizens into my Numidians. 

And the skirmishers move in to harass the Romans behind the lines... 

The fighting went on. My Numidians did really well on the first fight and ended up pushing the Carthage citizens back. 

Tim orders a charge but ends up failing.. on my turn, I move away from the foe and sit adjacent to the elites, forcing Tim to have to charge two units if he dared charge with his elites. 

The Skirmishers caused a single wound to the Hastati, and the Carthaginian Citizens make a come back, and deal some heavy damage. 

My skirmishers inflicted more wounds on the Hill -camped numidians, who had by now lost their disorder. 

Tim ended up charging both units at once. 

And his Carthage citizens made a comback and wiped out the Numidians! But they were now Shaken... 

The fighting kicks off, and the first battle results in a draw. 

On my turn, I have my Elephants and my Hastati charge the hill... since the models could not fit properly, we just tried to arrange them as close as possible. My skirmishers move in to support the Elephant. 

The combined Elephant and Hastati charge force Tim's units off the hill, and the Elephant pursues. 

The fighting continues here... 

Always love the close ups. 

Tim ends up winning the fight, but both units hold. 

Tim has moved his Commander back to Rally his Citizen Carthaginian spearmen. 

But My Elephant ended up destroying the Libyans, which casued their support to give ground.. A sweeping advance became a charge and the Elephant smashed into the light infantry... wiping them out as well. 

The unit wasn't holding up well against the elites, but they held on. . . but two break tests per unit were required, as Tim won the next fight...

And the Hastati Broke! The Numidians gave ground. 

The Numidians constantly harass the Hastati from behind, dealing sufficient damage. 

Tim did not pursue, breaking off the combat... But both units were shaken, and could not charge each other. 

I order the Hastati to turn towards the Spearmen, but they fail to charge in. 

My commander takes to the hill.. the Elephant was too far away and was failing orders... He frantically waves his staff at the beast and crew. 

Tim charges my Hastati... 

And wipes them out! 

I Must have missed the pictures... but the Italian spearmen, victorious against the Hastati, took to the top of the hill, but a combined charge of the Elephant and skirmishers in support took them out! 

The whole time, these two units were just standing off.. Tim tried to order his light infantry behind the elites into javelin range, but continued to fail roders. 

Tim has his Skirmishers charge the elephant (The elephant is one model, and open order units charging get lots of bonuses against Elephants)... however, I ended up turning to face, and wiped the skirmishers out.  Elephant saw a lot of blood in this game. 

Our forces had such a long stand off... since our leaders were on the other side of the field, and we didn't use initiative... both wanting to do more than one move... finally Tim had his light infantry break into open order and move to the side, avoiding the 12 inch proximity by turning it into 6 inches, for the open order troops... my Leader gets down there.... 

And a good shot of Javelins tot he front of the elites ended up breaking them! 

And the Elephant roars triumphantly!  Tim surrendered and his light infantry quit the field!

So the first game went to the Mercenary Forces.

Game 2 

We reorganised the board.  The great thing with playing small armies is you can do about two games within two hours. It typically takes us 1.5 - 2 hours to do a 120 -150 point single division.  

I went second, and followed Tim's set up. He had his skirmishers on his far right flank so I matched with my left.  The rest you can see in the pictures. I had a very, very heavy centre to take on Tim's equally heavy centre. 

Impressive men indeed! 

Tim's Skirmishers take the hill on the first turn and his entire line advances with one divisional order. 

My line advances as well. 

The skirmishers get a separate order, to face off against Tim's skirmishers! 

Tim's skirmishers take the end of the hill while the rest of his army move forth one movement. 

And my lines stay in their battle line, taking the hill on the right, and my heavy troops sat in the valley between the two hills... 

My skirmishers move in, and punch a wound on to the Libyan Skirmishers. 

On Tim's turn he manages to charge my elephant with his medium numidians but they end up falling short... However a combined effort of javelin throws from the skirmishers and formed Numidian  end up driving the elephant back, causing disorder to it. 

The rest of his army remains still, but he moves his Carthaginian citizens further back behind the lines, away  from the forest. 

On my turn I charge home with all my Hastati.  We had a battle between these units that drew out for a number of turns.... 

The rest of my units re-positioned themselves on the hill and Tim charged in with his libyans. 

Lots of blood on both sides, but Tim's fellows with their long spears were able to win slightly.  The Romans both stood their ground in order, though. 

Roman Maniple VS Carthage Veterans... classical Punic battles at their best! 

Fighting was intense on the Libyan Heavy sides of things.. but they weren't able to crack the Numidians right away, thanks to the uphill advantage. 

The elephant was charged by the Medium unit, and did rather poorly this game. It was continuously driven back. 

Tim also ended up charging my Skirmishers and an epic fight ensued.   He ended up destroying my skirmishers in combat this round.  

The Libyans pushed back my numidians, and the Numidians behind them had to give ground. Luckily they weren't disordered by doing this. 

In the centre fight, both of our Generals joined the fight... over the entire course of the game, My general joined three times, and died three times... I ended the game with a General with a leadership of 5!!!!!! 

Got hit and died... leadership went down to 7! 

Tim's Numidians fought on.. (we spread models about on the hill, since they couldnt sit there proper...) 

He destroyed the first unit.. and swept into the unit behind them... 

But this sweep was no good! The Libyans had been wounded sufficiently enough in the previous fight.  The other numidians he swept into easily shook and defeated the weakened heavy troops.  

My victorious Numidian unit takes to the hill! 

A lot of closed ranks went on down here.. my Leadership 7 general joins in the fray... 

And in the end of it, he chose the wrong rank... and from the break test!  Out comes the Subordinate with Leadership of 6!! 

There's the 6 die to remember this horrible experience haha 

The line as is, Tim's Carthaginian citizens stand about.. 

And my Elephant is defeated! 

Tim's Numidians turn about to face the rest of the battle. 

The Leadership Commander  of 6 joins the battle!!! 

But the Romans break.. and the leader dies!! Out Pops Commander Sir Bob Nobody Remembers Or Likes! with an impressive leadership of 5!!!   My Numidians throw themselves into Tim's Carthaginians... 

And much damage is wrought upon them!  They vengefully break the citizen troop!  The daring Numidians sweep right into the Carthaginian Elite's Flank! Surely the weekend Carthaginian Veterans cannot stand the assault...  

But they do! And on Tim's turn his Skirmishers fly down the hill to support the Veterans. 

And as Tim's own Numidians approach.. my Numidians fight bravely, but the combined efforts of the flanked Veterans , General, and Skirmishers are enough to defeat and break them!  

Good game!!!

So again, Tim and I both won one game each. Our games seem fairly matched up and similar in strengths , so its been a good four initial games!

The only noticeable mistake we made this go round from what I can see was Phalanx on the last go around. Tim's veteran fellows were Shaken, at the end and had to test for drawing a battle through Phalanx, but we did not add the -2 , when we should have still (as described in the rulebook!). Still, I think in the end, he would have won.  

So that was it! Thanks for reading.

I'm working on more Hastati right now, then plan to finish some Gallic Light cavalry that will serve as much needed horsemen in the Roman Legions... Here's my latest work in progress on some more of the Romans..

Thanks for readinG!