Punic Wars BatRep - Impetvs

The guys gathered a couple of weeks back for an Impetvs game set during the Punic Wars.  This meeting gave me a chance to get the 28mm Punic Wars collection out onto the gaming table and introduce several of the guys to Impetvs.  Tabletop deployments also provided and opportunity to assess the state of the project.  Once set out, enough figures were available to provide four battle groups of almost identical size.  While I moderated, Jake and Kevin commanded the Carthaginians while Scott and Dylan took command of the Romans.  Of the four players, only Jake had any experience with Impetvs beforehand.

For the Carthaginians, Jake commanded the left wing and Kevin commanded the right.  For the Romans, Scott commanded the Roman left while Dylan took command of the right.  All commanders had a combination of foot and horse at their disposal.  "Disposal" is a good term to describe the carnage about to happen! 

The two combatants were arrayed in two battle lines with the Carthaginians on the left and the Romans on the right.

Ready for battle

Roman battle line with Roman cavalry
 already in disorder

Aggressive Carthaginian right advances

Numidian cavalry strike!
Against the odds, no fear here!

Celts advance behind skirmish line while
Roman cavalry on the far right
 charge into the Spanish cavalry.

Roman cavalry defeat the Spanish horse
 with heavy casualties to both.

Passing through the skirmish screen, the Celts
 charge into the Italian allies and push them back

Carthaginian heavy infantry in center advance

while the Roman line awaits...

Clash of shields!
With Roman cavalry success on the right,
 the Roman heavy foot on the right wing close

and the Libyan heavy foot are driven back

Battle line view from the left flank

Celtic cavalry charge and repulse

Cavalry locked in combat

Libyans counterattack, driving the Romans back

while Carthaginian heavy foot advance in the center

Battle rages all along the line

Celtic cavalry outlast the Roman cavalry
on the Roman left while the Celtic
 infantry advance.

With flank threatened, the Roman
 infantry wheels back.

Carthaginian heavies prepare for battle

With the Italians on the far right refusing,
Roman infantry in the center go on the attack.
A scrum develops in the Roman right-center.

Hacking in the center continues until the Roman
 right wing has reached its break point.
The Roman right begins to disengage as the Spanish
 outflank the position.

Slash and hack in the center as the Romans close in an
 attempt to stabilize the situation.

The race is on.  Romans attempt to destroy
the Carthaginian right before Spanish help arrives.

And the winner is...Rome!

Victory goes to Rome by the slightest of margins.  Casualties were heavy across the board.  Only Scott's Roman infantry on the left and a few of Jake's Spanish on the right maintain any offensive punch.  With the Carthaginian right in tatters, the carnage halts as the Carthaginians disengage.

The fight on the Roman right was much closer than it looked.  Jake's Spanish were nearing their break point as Dylan's Romans exceeded theirs.  I used the expedient of giving each Battle Group its own break point rather than an army break point.  The latter would have allowed the Roman right to continue fighting.  No matter; the game was hotly contested and we reached a conclusion within about three hours. I say, most participants were pleased with the outcome.

With no prior experience with Impetvs, Scott, Kevin, and Dylan picked up the mechanisms quickly and the game progressed at a rapid pace.
All agreed it was a fun contest and that Impetvs provides a very entertaining game.  All are looking forward to more such action.

For the 28mm Punic Wars project, I need to field more Roman legions and an elephant or two would be most useful.