Trasimene, Again

Tuesday saw the Roman and Carthaginian armies take to the field at Lake Trasimene.  Unlike last week's battle with four players in a battle played remotely, Tuesday's action was a two-player F2F contest with me taking command of the Carthaginian Army.  Vol (A Miniatures Hobby Room) made the drive from far across town to join me in a home game.

As a reminder, the battlefield looks like this,

Battlefield with armies deployed.

Vol had read the earlier battle report and formulated a plan to thwart the initial Carthaginian, first turn onslaught.  Would he be afforded an opportunity to execute?  Let's see.

Carthaginian heavy infantry guard the mouth of the defile.

Carthaginian center waits in silence
under cover of the woods and mist.

Having initiative on Turn 1, the Carthaginian Right springs into action.  Down from the hills come three Gallic warbands.  Warband 1 hits Roman auxilia as it screams out of the mist.  Surprised, the auxilia have little chance.  They rout into the lake but the Gauls fail to pursue.  Warband 2 comes out of the hills but stops short of the enemy.  Warband 3 runs down the hill and hits one of Flaminius' Principes.  The Roman heavy infantry withstands the initial attack and drives the enemy off.  The warband retreats back into the cover of the high ground.

On the Roman first activation, Vol chooses to activate Flaminius in an effort to bring some order to his line pinned against the lake.  While the Roman Left forms up and advances inland, the second Principes attacks the center warband that failed to reach the Roman line.  Unfortunately, the Hastati are repulsed and they rout into the lake.  Fortunately for Flaminius, the victorious Gauls fail to pursue.  Still, a gaping hole has opened in Flaminius' line.    

The Gauls come screaming out of the hills.

Flaminius forms up the Roman Left and marches inland.

Seeing the hole in the Roman Center, Hannibal leads his heavy infantry forward to cut Flaminius' escape route.  Slingers lead the way down toward the lake.

Fortune smiles upon Flaminius again.  On Turn 2, Rome wins the initiative and Flaminius activates his legion still hugging the lakeshore.  Now, Flaminius follows up and presses forward against the warband that he sent away only moments before.  Still wavering from its earlier defeat, the warband bolts to the rear having suffered heavily.  

Flaminius attacks!

The Gauls are driven off!

Flaminius wastes little time in bringing up the Triarii into the fight.  The Triarii advance into the Gauls and scatter both slingers and warband alike.  This battle is not progressing as Hannibal expected.

Gauls are ejected from the valley as the Triarii move up.

In the defile, the battle is only now being joined.

As the two forces close, fighting intensifies.  The clash of heavy infantry reverberates through the canyon.  First, the Romans waver and retreat.  The gap left by the retreating Romans is quickly filled by more Roman heavy infantry.  The fresh infantry push the Carthaginians back as the fighting continues.    

Romans find the defile blocked!

Fighting in close quarters. 

First Romans give way and then the Carthaginians
retire as the melee ebbs and flows. 

Not pleased with the direction of battle, Hannibal advances down into the valley with his center.  His medium cavalry on the right charge down and into Flaminius and his legion.  The Principes are overwhelmed and break and run.  Unfortunately, the Principes are caught in pursuit and destroyed.  Flaminius narrowly escapes with his life.  

Hannibal advance into the valley...

as his cavalry slams into Flaminius.

Caught in pursuit, the Romans are scattered
 as Flaminius narrowly escapes.

Back in the defile, the battle rages as casualties mount.  Slowly, the Carthaginian heavies are being pushed back out of the defile.  Carthaginian infantry suffer plenty as the Romans continue to bear down upon them.  Finally, the infantry block gives away and it retreats exposing a flank to its companion.  Without hesitation, the legion attacks.  Unprepared by an attack from this direction, the Carthaginians waver and then break.  The path out of the defile is open!     

Heavy fighting in the defile.

Carthaginians pushed to the breaking point.

Pursuit carries the legion into an enemy exposed flank.
The enemy routs!

Back at the lake, Hannibal leads his heavy infantry in against Flaminius' Triarii.  Shockingly (to Hannibal anyway), the Triarii stand firm and Hannibal is repulsed.  What!

Hannibal attacks!

Seeing Hannibal retiring, the nearest warband attacks!  This time, the Triarii are overwhelmed and scattered.  Flaminius' army has been split. 

The Triarii's last stand.

Flaminius' army is split!

Not knowing how Flaminius is faring beyond the defile, the legions continue pressing on out of the defile.  Retreating Carthaginians are pursued and cut down.  The defile is wide open. 

Romans exit the defile.

Romans pursue stragglers.

With Romans pouring out of the defile and most of Hannibal's Army out of position, Hannibal concedes defeat as he is unwilling to risk his cavalry to root enemy legions out of the woods on the heights.

Romans ensconced upon the hills.

This battle is over.

Great job by Vol in the way he directed the battle.  Although the points on the Army Breakpoint Clock were close, there is no doubt that Flaminius and the remnants of his Roman Army are better positioned than Hannibal and his remnants.  Hannibal's Left is completely destroyed and the Romans have a clear path into Hannibal's rear.

The key to a Roman victory was activating Flaminius' Wing at first opportunity and then forming them up and marching away from the lakeshore.  Gaining initiative on Turn 2, ensured that Flaminius' Wing would not be completely shoved into the lake early on.  The heavy lifting was once again seen in the defile where the Romans pushed the enemy out of the canyon and then cut them to pieces in pursuit.

Very exciting game and fun to get a chance to play again.

Even in victory, Vol wants a rematch to see if he can win the battle from the Carthaginian side.

Wish me luck...

As a bonus, the game motivated me to paint nine Disorder markers just in time for the game.  Figures are by Mirliton.