Classic Rome Vs Carthage Matchup

Today I got to play a rousing game of Sword and Spear with two of my mates. We were celebrating the completion of Zack painting his Romans and Carthaginians. The figures are mostly Newline 20mm with a few standard plastic figs as well. We have played many straight up fights and decided to try an attack on a prepared defense scenario. The Romans attacked with 500 pts and Carthage defended with 400 pts.

Romans:


3 Captain
2 Veteran Hastati
6 Hastati
3 Cavalry
3 Velites
1 Cretan Archer

Roman Deployment

Carthaginians:

1 General
1 Captain
3 Veteran African Spearmen
2 Warband HI
2 Spanish Scutarii MI
2 Spanish Cavalry
2 Javelinmen
1 Balearic Slinger
1 Elephant

Carthaginians on the hill

Both armies took the Resupply Strategem.

The Carthaginians had the advantage in terrain and deployed a river on their right flank and a long ridge to deploy their infantry on. They had to set up first and set all their foot in a line on the ridge and 3 units of skirmishers forward. Their elephant was on the right and the cavalry was on the left.

Close up of nice painting

The Romans set their heavy infantry in a line 2 deep facing the ridge. 2 Velites deployed on the left to oppose the Elephant and 3 Cavalry and 2 skirmishers deployed against the Carthaginian cavalry on the right.

Carthaginian left

Both sides advanced their flanks. The Roman Velites tied up and routed the Elephant that advanced unsupported. The 2 Carthaginian Cavalry were overwhelmed by the greater Roman numbers opposing them after several rounds of combat. The Carthaginian Skirmishers in the center were destroyed but not before damaging a unit of Hastati in hand to hand.

The Cavalry thunder forward

We agreed to call the game after 4 turns. Carthage was one unit away from retiring from the field and the Romans had only lost a Velite unit.

The Elephant in the room

We discussed the game afterwards and concluded that Carthage should have held it's flanking forces in reserve and used its terrain advantage to fight the front lines. Throwing in reserves when the heavy foot were embroiled. It takes a patient wargamer to resist attacking and let the enemy come to you.

The Romans fell the mighty beast

 I have played S&S 6 times or more and have not seen the successful use of skirmishers deployed in front of the heavy infantry. They perform much better on the flanks.

Two lines of Cavalry battle to the death

Thanks for an excellent outing boys. Looking forward to the next gathering.

Battle Royale

Here are the highlights from last nights Sword and Spear game with Martin. The Romans faced off against Mithradate's Pontic army.

We tried out the terrain placement rules for the first time. This resulted in a hill and swamp in the centre front of the Roman deployment zone. The Pontics had a woods in their rear and a hill and field on their left and another field on their right. This was a fair bit of terrain for an ancients battle and had quite a bit of influence on the battles outcome.

The Romans were out scouted and deployed their heavy infantry on the hill with their flank anchored against the swamp. Cavalry deployed on the right and archers with light cavalry formed a screening force and reserve on the left.

The Pontic Army set up opposite the Roman heavy infantry and cavalry. They had a larger army and were able to stack the flanks with extra light units. to try and win on the flanks.

Deployment

Setup

The Roman plan was to attack with a refused left flank. The cavalry clashed on the Roman right resulting in a quick loss of a Pontic skirmisher and cavalry unit. The remaining units on that flank settled into a seesaw battle.

Cavalry battle

The Pontic Army invested their initiative in moving their flank attack on their left but found themselves hampered by the swamp and cultivated field as well as low troop discipline.

The Romans advanced the right of their heavy infantry toward the Pontic Imitation Legionnaire line, hoping their cavalry would hold long enough to avoid getting flanked. The Pontic responded by attacking the partially committed Roman heavy infantry.

Heavy Infantry closing in the Centre

The Romans spent the next few turns sending in more troops into the centre until their two sides were engaged in a major press of shields.

It became apparent that the Pontic flanking maneuver would not arrive in time to alter the outcome in the centre. The Romans were slowly winning the cavalry fight on the other flank. In the centre, Roman armour and discipline wore down and eventually defeated enough of the Pontic heavy infantry to clinch the win.

End Game

Martin and I talked at length after the game to decide what could have happened differently. Rome did very well in the terrain set up by getting a defensive spot to launch their attack from. The terrain deployment system in Sword and Spear has a random element that can see terrain move around or disappear and the Romans were lucky to have their gamble pay off.

The Pontic heavy infantry could have deployed further back, anchoring their flank against some heavy woods. If the Romans pursued, the Pontic could have more easily picked at their exposed flanks and Roman flankers would have been impaired by terrain. The Pontic cavalry might have faired better if they led with their melee cavalry and supported them with skirmishers in the rear.

The game was set up and played in 4 hours including a couple of coffee breaks. A very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon and a chance to try out our luck as Armchair Commanders.

Bad Activation Roll!

Literal Inspiration

I am recently returned from a holiday. During my break, I read two books of historical fiction based in Julius Caesar's Rome. The first book was about the Roman Civil War up to Caesar's death. The second book covered the slave revolts and the Pontic revolt in Greece. Mithridates was a cool character and so I have elected to have a Roman vs Pontic battle using Sword and Spear. I will need to do some rebasing of my newly acquired Greeks and look forward to seeing them in action on the table top. Mithridates was beaten by the Romans but the point system in S&S will give him a fighting chance of turning back the Roman invaders...

1 General - Mithridates VI
3 Captains

8 Imitation Legionnaires - Shield Wall and Thrown Weapons
2 Heavy Cavalry - Armored and Undisciplined
2 Archers - Medium Foot - Undisciplined
1 Sarmation Cavalry - Armored, Impact and Undisciplined
1 Thracian - Medium Foot, 2H Weapon and Undisciplined
1 Bastarnae - Medium Foot, Unarmored, 2H weapons and Undisciplined
1 Skythian Horse Archer - Light Horse
2 Javelin men - Light Foot
2 Light Horse - Javelin

Army Value 69

1 General - Pompey
2 Captains

1 Veteran Legionary - Thrown Weapons and Armored
6 Legionary - Thrown Weapons and Armored
2 Cavalry - Armored
1 Lancer - Armored and Impact
1 Horse Archer - Light Horse
1 Light Horse
2 Auxilia Archers - Medium Foot

Army Value 52

I have a shaky hand tonight and my pics are a little blurry. I rebased a few Greeks to fill out Mithridates' army. I added some height to the bases to help the smaller figs blend in with my existing troops:

Archers

Thracians

Light Horse

Heavy Horse

Bastarnae

Challenging Game

Have you ever tried out a scenario and it did not quite work out? That was the case for our gaming group at our event last night. We played a game of Sword and Spear last night with the Romans taking on the hated Carthaginians. Rather than play the usual game of line em up and charge, we tried a scenario from the rule book and played Attack on a Prepared Position. The Romans were defending and set up  behind a river as there defensive terrain. We put a forlorn hope of skirmishing Velites and Numidian Cavalry over the river with a captain to make sure they followed orders.

 Roman Deployment

Carthaginians on the left

The Carthaginians as the attackers had the option to send an attack on the flank which they elected to do. They flankers were put aside and the remaining Carthaginians set up with an plan of eradicating our Forlorn Hope to get an early advantage and then attack the river defenses.

Roman Deployment

The first couple of turns saw the Carthaginians slowly advance the heavy infantry while their skirmishers dueled with our advanced skirmish screen. Unfortunately for the Carthaginians, their best skirmishers had joined the flank attack and the Romans were able to win the initial engagement between the skirmishers.

Skirmishers mix it up in the centre

The Carthaginian flank attack appeared on turn 4. The Romans had guessed that the flank attack would appear on their left as this had the most open terrain and would be most easily supported by the main force of Carthaginians. The Carthaginians achieved surprise by turning up on the opposite flank led by Hannibal himself. The Romans scrambled to form a line to defend against this new threat and were able to do so due to the Generals presence and the presence of a forest that slowed the Carthaginian advance. The Carthaginian Cavalry charged forward bravely but Roman Legionaries on the defense were able to see off the attackers and even managed to unhorse Hannibal and remove him from the battle. Below is an after shot showing the victorious Romans chasing the flank attackers off the board.

Victorious Romans regroup

The Carthaginians continued to advance toward the river line but with the loss of their flanking force, they would not have the ability to defeat superior Roman infantry defending a river line. The game ended with the Carthaginians continuing their pursuit of the Roman skirmish screen with no luck. The Carthaginians lost an elephant to bow and javelin fire in the last turn.

Roman missiles fell an elephant

Carthaginians approach the Roman held river line

The game ended in a lopsided victory for the Romans. We learned some lessons from this scenario. 
1)This scenario should have had the attacker having a 10-20% advantage in troops. 
2)The two sides should have started closer together the picture above shows the Carthaginian main battle line approaching the defended river line. After 8 turns they were still 3 or 4 moves away from engagement. 
3)Roman Heavy Infantry are a tough nut to crack!
4)The river gave too much advantage to the Romans and should have been downgraded to a stream or fords and bridges should have been added.

Excellently painted figures and beautiful terrain and playing space provided by Zak. My newly acquired Greeks from Ross MacFarlane made their first game appearance as stand ins for Carthaginian African Spearmen.

Veterans

Thanks to Brent, Martin and Zak for the good company and fun game. Credit goes to Martin for Roman success in fending off the Carthaginian flank attackers.

A Clash of Shields

I had some good company last night and I put on a game of Sword and Spear for them and I tried my hand at Game Mastering the game. I made 2 400 point lists as follows:

Mid Republican Romans
1 General
2 Captains
5 Hastati/Principe- armored
1 Triari
1 Cavalry - armored undisciplined
2 Velites

Vs

Gauls

4 Warriors - Large
1 Warrior
1 Gaestati
2 Well Equipped Cavalry
1 Slinger
1 Archer

Deployment

The Gauls lost the scouting and set up their large heavy infantry on their left with their flank anchored to the tower there. The regular warrior, the Gaeseti and the 2 cavalry set up near the woods on the other flank. The light foot were set up in the centre.

The Romans set up their heavy foot in a line opposite the large w
Warbands with a hill between them. The lone Cavalry held the flank of the line and the Velites set up to counter any flanking plans the Gallic cavalry might bring.

The Roman battle plan was to capture the hill with his heavy foot and assess from their whether to press the attack against the large Warbands opposite him. The Roman Light Foot and Cavalry were assigned to stall or eliminate any flanking maneuvers from the Gauls.

Romans on the left Gauls on the right

The Gallic plan was to refuse the flank with their large Warbands until the flank attack was successful and then surround the smaller Roman army.

The Gallic General struggled to maneuver his flanking force around the forests but did manage to crush the two Velites sent to oppose him. The timing was not good as the Romans were able to close the range with the Gallic Large Warbands before the victorious Gallic Cavalry could come to their aid.

The Gallic Archers was frustratingly effective against the Roman Heavy Foot as it advanced, inflicting three hits on one of the Hastati.

The initial charge by the Roman Heavy Foot was devastating and the Large Warbands were quickly too damaged to benefit from rally rolls. One of the Large Warbands fell out of the battle line to chase the Roman Cavalry that was threatening the flank after it chased down and evading Light Archer. The Large Warband defeated the Roman Cavalry but was badly missed in the clash between the main battle lines. 

Losses were even with both sides losing their two Light Foot and a Cavalry. The Romans were able to gain the upper hand in the scrum between the heavy foot and force the Gallic army to retreat when 2 of their Large Warbands routed.

After battle discussion concluded that the flank attack from the Gallic Cavalry arrived to late to be effective. The flanking Gallic Heavy |Infantry were to slow to contribute to the battle, except to destroy the stalling force of Roman Light Foot.

Armored Roman Heavy Foot with a general attached are hard to kill. The Gallic Heavy Foot did not get to use their Impact ability as they feared charging against the Roman Pilum.

The Gallic player was new to the game and I think he would enjoy playing a more disciplined army next time.

Thanks for a fun game Jonathan and Martin!

Large Heavy Gallic Foot set up next to the tower

Gallic battle line

Roman Heavy Foot advance up the hill

Gallic Slingers stand off Roman Cavalry and Heavy Foot!

Roman Heavy Foot try to keep their formation as they advance

Gallic Flank attack with two Heavy Foot, two Cavalry and two Captains emerge from the forest and are met by two Roman Velites

The last stand of the Velites

Gallic Cavalry threaten the Roman rear. The Hastati turn and pin them before they can cause to much trouble.

The Romans close with the Gallic battle line and dismantle it!

Late game

Rome vs Carthage

I played a solo game of Sword and Spear with my 28mm figures (Old Glory). This game is played with figures based on 100x50 mm bases representing one unit, Each unit has a discipline rating and a strength rating. Discipline ratings are 3 or 4 and used to determine how easily a unit can take an order and maintain good order. Lower is better. Attached leaders improve a units discipline by 1. Strength determines how many dice you can roll in combat and how many hits you can take before being eliminated with a range of 2 to 4. For example, Roman heavy infantry have a good discipline rating of 3 and 4 strength. By comparison, Roman Velite light infantry have a worse Discipline of 4 and Strength of 2.

The armies were selected based on a point system and were built to represent typical armies as I understand them through my research and not built to "power game".

I tried using the free program "Battle Chronicler" but need more practice. Maybe next report I can get it going.

For now, I will have to rely on pictures and game notes.

Carthaginians had the following units:
                                                                                  Discipline/Strength
1 general and 2 captains
1 Veteran African (HI) spears, armored                                    3/4                                                        
2 African Heavy Infantry (HI) spears, shieldwall                    4/4
2 Scutarii Medium Infantry (MI) thrown weapon                    4 /3
2 Numidian Light Cavalry (LC) javelins                                  4/2
2 Javelinmen (LI)  javelins                                                       4/2
2 Spanish/ Gallic Cavalry (MC)  armored, undrilled               3/3
1 Elephant (El) impact, armored                                               4/3
1 Baelric Slinger (LI)  slings                                                    3/2
1 Camp

 Republican Rome had the following units:

1 general and 2 captain
1 Triari (HI) spears, armored                                                     3/4
4 Hastati/ Principe (HI) armored. thrown weapons                   3/4
3 Velites (LI) javelins                                                                 4/2
1 Slingers (LI)                                                                            4/2
1 Cavalry (MC) armored, undrilled                                            3/3
1 Allied Cavalry (MC)                                                                4/3

In Sword and Spear, movement alternates between armies. For each unit in the army, a dice is put in a bag (both armies dice in the same bag). 7 dice are drawn every phase. The army with the most dice is the active player. He rolls his dice and assigns the them to units in his army. The die roll must equal or exceed a units discipline rating to be used. To do more than a simple move the die must exceed the unit discipline rating. After the dice are assigned the units move with the lowest die rolls going first. This gives lots of opportunity to make decisions about where to attack or defend against threats.
 every turn.

The Roman plan was to get their elite Heavy Infantry engaged as soon as possible

The Carthaginians planned to win the flanks and keep their weaker infantry out of the fight until the flank attack was successful.

Turn 1

Romans on the right, Carthaginians on the left.

The Romans rolled well and advanced their whole army. Carthage advanced aggressively on the flanks.




Turn 2

 The light horse on the Carthaginian left charged the Roman slingers. Velites came to the slingers aid and routed the Numidian horse. This rout shook up the supporting Carthaginian LI causing lost cohesion (routing units cause discipline test to nearby units).

On the Roman left, the Romans send in their cavalry in a spoiling attack against the Carthaginian cavalry on the hill. The second Roman cavalry unit moved out of the charge arc of the elephant.

Carthaginian slingers shot and routed the victorious Velites. A second unit of Carthaginian light horse charged the Roman slingers ending in a drawn fight.


Turn 3

Phase one of this turn saw the Carthaginian cavalry rout the Roman horse on the hill. This caused the supporting Velites to take a hit from the sight of their horsemen being slaughtered Both Carthaginian cavalry pursued into the second Roman Cavalry on the hill causing a hit. Roman infantry slowly advanced in the centre.

The elephant charged the Roman Hastati Heavy Infantry, having lost it's juicy cavalry target. This resulted in one hit on each unit.

The Carthiginian light horse and slingers advance past the flank of the Roman line on the Carthaginian left. The Velites guarding the camp move to counter this.

Turn 4

Carthage got the initiative this turn and ordered its cavalry and elephant to attack. The Roman Heavy Infantry gave the Elephant a beating living it one hit from routing.

The Carthaginian cavalry succeeded against the Roman horse on the hill, leaving it badly damaged. On the Carthaginian left, the Javelinmen, Slingers and Light Horse turned to threaten the Roman rear and flank. The Roam Heavy Infantry closed to within one move of the Carthaginian centre.

Final positions for turn 4...

Turn 5

This turn saw the Roman Heavy Infantry throw their pilum and clash with the Carthaginian centre. The Roman unit fighting the Elephant routed it and damaged the Scutarii behind during the stampede. The Roman army was in it's element and inflicted significant casualties on the Carthaginian centre.

Cathaginian left

and right.

The one bright spot for Carthage was the cavalry on the hill dispersed the last Roman on that flank and turned to threatend the Roman Heavy Infantry in the flank.

The Roman Velites guarding the camp moved forward to oppose the light units on the Roman right.

Turn 6

The dice bag was getting lighter with so many loses. The Romans Heavy Infantry started the turn well by routing a unit of Scutarii and then pursuing into a unit a unit of Javelinmen and routing them too! The Velites guarding the camp got a lucky shot with their javelins and dispersed the Balearic Slingers. The victorious Carthaginian Cavalry on the hill redeploy in preparation for a flank charge next turn.

End of turn 6 positions.

Turn 7

The clash of shileds continued between the infantry in the centre. The Romans routed a unit of African Spear and Carthage's cavalry charge routed a unit of Roman HI. Both sides were near breaking...

Turn 8

The next unit to rout would break either army, The Romans were able to turn and fight the Numidian Cavalry that had been fighting it from the rear and disperse it, ending the game in a Roman narrow victory.

After thoughts

I enjoyed this game. Both armies were able to execute their battle plans. Rome was able to delay the powerful Carthaginian cavalry long enough for the Heavy Infantry to crush the centre.

The game worked as a solo game and not all rules do. My next game may be a scenario other than "line uo and fight" to see if the rules can handle that flexibility.

Tomorrow I am going to the game club to play Napoleon's Battles. Stayed tuned for pictures and summary.