Hit Me One More Time!

After the Roman debacle last Monday (see Fourth Battle of Trasimene), four Postie's Rejects regrouped to give the battle another go.  This time, players would swap sides.  Ray (Right Wing) and Lee (Flaminius, Left Wing) would command the Romans.  Richard (Hannibal, Left Wing) and Steve (Marharbal, Right Wing) would command the Carthaginians.

Would Richard's dice rolling turnaround from last week?  Could the Romans pull off an upset?  Read on to find out.

As a refresher, the battlefield and army deployments are,

Battlefield and Army dispositions

With Hannibal holding initiative on Turn 1, Marharbal strikes with his cavalry against the Roman Left in an attempt to seal off any chance of Roman escape to the west.  Working in tandem, two Numidian light cavalry drive off Roman velites bringing up the rear of Flaminius' march column.  Cautiously, the Gauls move up through the woods but do not attack.  Flaminius, seeing his escape to the west cut, forms up his legions and moves inland. 

Numidians attack!

Flaminius draws up his battle line.

As the range closes between the two battle lines, light infantry from both armies exchange javelin volleys.   In Richard's first roll of the session, we see three sixes on three dice.  Three hits!  Lee's light infantry wavers under the barrage of missiles.   

Devastating javelin volley disrupts Roman light infantry.

Roman light infantry returns the favor but not as effectively.

In the defile, Carthaginian heavy infantry move up to plug the exit.  The heavy infantry on the right engages auxilia but is driven off.  Quickly following up, a second Carthaginian heavy infantry attacks.  The auxilia are scattered.   

Carthaginians attack into the defile.
One attack fails but the second succeeds.

Back at the lake, the Numidian cavalry continue harassing the Roman left flank.  All of the velites are either driven into the lake or are dispersed.

Velites dispersed!

Having brought all of his infantry up into the woods and within charge range, Marharbal sends the Gauls screaming down from the hills.

The warband farthest east attacks, preceded by a hail of javelins from the light infantry to its left.  The warband strikes the already wavering auxilia.  Despite being supported upon its left by hastati, auxilia break and run into the lake.  This rout carries the hastati along with them.  The hastati remain poised and give ground slowly.  A gaping hole opens in the Roman line.  In hot pursuit, the Gauls contact a body of skirmishers but with the support of the resolute hastati, the Gauls are repulsed.  Ready to pursue, the hastati are held in check. 

Gauls rush out of the woods!

In combat, auxilia are destroyed but
the hastati make a controlled retrograde.

Pursuit fails and the warband is driven away.

Making its move down from the heights, the middle warband of three attacks.  The Gauls target the now exposed principes on the end of Flaminius' line.  With Flaminius, himself, offering encouragement, the principes stand firm.  The enemy is driven away!

Warband #2 attacks!

Flaminius and his principes stand ready for the charge.

The Gauls are repulsed!

Now time for the third Gallic warband to attack.  Flaminius and his principes are again the target of the assault.  With support to his left, Flaminius sees the charging warband off.  The enemy comes on in the same way, they are sent off in the same way.  Flaminius' line holds!   

Warband #3 attacks...

The Gauls are repulsed!

Back in the defile, heavy infantry from both armies continue to battle it out for control of the vital pathway.  First, in one clash, the Carthaginian numbers are halved.  Then the Roman numbers are halved and the Romans are forced back.  Nearing exhaustion, the Carthaginians choose not to pursue.  Quickly moving up in support, a second block of legionaries plow into the enemy.  Shocked by this sudden attack, the Carthaginian heavies fall back taking their supporting Spanish light infantry along.  The legionaries wheel to bring the retreating enemy into sight.  The pathway out of the defile is clear!

Clash of the titans!

Losses mount to both...

forcing the Romans to break off the attack.

Quickly bringing up more infantry,
 the enemy is driven back!

The way out of the defile looks clear.

While the Romans see success in the fight out of the defile, trouble continues to brew for Flaminius.

Seeing his Gauls repulsed, Hannibal quietly brings up his two bodies of Spanish scutarii through the woods.  Sensing that the enemy below has been sufficiently weakened, the Spanish go in.

Spanish scutarii take up the front line.

Charging down the hill, the scutarii strike Flaminius and his already weakened principes.  The force of impact is too much and the principes recoil taking Flaminius with them.  Flaminius rallies his troops at the lake's edge.  With its flank now uncovered from Flaminius' retreat, a body of hastati is targeted by the second band of Spanish.  Seeing Flaminius and the principes withdraw, the Roman heavies do not hold their ground.  They fall back to form up alongside Flaminius.  This time the Spanish pursue.  Overwhelmed, the hastati rout into the lake and perish.  Caught up in the exhilaration of victory, the Spanish cannot be controlled.  They plunge into the lake in pursuit.      

Flaminius attacked!

The shock of impact is too much...

Flaminius is driven back to the water's edge.

Hastati rout into the lake with the Spanish in hot pursuit.

Pushed up against the lake with his wing in tatters, Flaminius realizes that he is truly down to the triarii for salvation.  Without concern for preserving themselves, the triarii advance inland toward the awaiting Carthaginian heavy infantry.  The two bodies clash but with Hannibal's leadership, the Romans are driven off.  Following up, Hannibal dispatches the triarii as the Romans scatter into the lake.  Returning from the action in the defile, the only Roman cavalry is attacked by Hannibal's heavies.  No match for the Carthaginian's long spears and dense formation, the Roman horsemen turn and rout away.

Down to the triarii!

Hannibal makes short work of the Roman remnants.

On this day, Flaminius and his Roman legions are done for.  While a portion of the Roman army makes its way out of the defile, isolated, as in history, they will be hunted down and killed.

Victory to Hannibal and Carthage!

Congratulations to Richard and Steve for a battle well-played.  While Flaminius made a valiant stand and the outcome was close, Lee and Ray suffer a hard-fought defeat.  There were times in the battle where it looked like the Romans had the upper hand.  A Roman victory looked possible.  Alas, it was not to be.

At least this time, Flaminius was not killed in battle.  

Great game, guys!  For me, a very entertaining contest with much tension, decision-making, and even some laughter.

With that, I close the book on Lake Trasimene although with six games stuffed into the annals, I may return to reflect upon my overall impressions of this particular battle and these half-dozen games.

To read Richard's account of the battle, please visit Trasimene - The Return Match.

By the way, Richard's die rolling was much improved from last week!