FoG V1.0 Ancients in ITC Lisbon 2012

Later Carthaginian vs Later Seleucid

Game 1 Later Carthaginian vs Alexandrian Macedonian

Game 2 Later Carthaginian vs Later Seleucid

Game 3 Later Carthaginian vs Later Seleucid

Game 4 Later Carthaginian vs Later Republican Roman (Cassius)

Match Reports Index

After a much quieter evening the competition started again at the still ungodly hour of 830am on Sunday morning. The opposition facing Hannibal this time around was another Greek-style army, this time Seleukids.

The lists for the Later Carthaginian and Late Republican Roman from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at ITC Lisbon can be seen here in the FoG:AM Wiki.

As usual, the plan was to deploy chunks of terrain in an attempt to break up the enemy formations and hopefully allow the African Spearmen to take on enemy Pike blocks with an overlap. Not much of a strategy, but given the Carthaginians relatively mediocre toolbox that was as good as it got really.

A couple of steep hills did fall well this time, and disrupted the Seleukid line up so as they advanced they would expose a flank on either side of their main block of Phalanx. They also had some Cataphracts, which was a new opponent for the Carthaginian, and a surprisingly small force of skirmishers which Hannibal immediately directed his own skirmishers to go and attack.

The Spanish and Baleric light infantry rushed forward, as the rest of the Carthaginian army shuffled in their shoes and waited for the Seleukids to lurch into action

The initial exchange of fire saw a Baleric slinger shot down by the Seleukids, but they had no answer to the javelin-armed Spanish Light Foot and quickly retired behind their own Pikemen. The Carthaginians were now free to harass the Phalanx, and pull them out of formation.

On the left the Carthaginians had assembled loads of units, with both sets of Gallic cavalry on the extreme left racing towards an isolated unit of Seleukid light horse, and some Numidians supposed by an imitation Legion pushing back another Seleukid skirmishing horse unit. The Seleukids MF Thorakitoi were looking rather nervous as they sat marooned in a piece of rough terrain with Carthaginian troops pushing forward on both sides of them.

The Africans were starting to shuffle around as the Carthaginian skirmishers manoeuvred, unopposed, against the front of the Seleukid line.

The Carthaginians had sprung into action, splitting the Africans into three separate units and fireworked them off in different directions, practically forcing the Seleukids to respond by splitting their line into separate elements of Pike and Cataphracts, and also in the process cutting the two units of Superior Seleukid Full Fat Imitation Legions out of the game (at least for a while). Hannibal had no wish to fight more Legionaries in a hurry…

The Carthaginians were taking full advantage of the rather extreme freedom to redeploy in the current iteration of FoGAM and their Campanian Imitation Legions and African Spearmen were practically engaging in a formation motorcycle display as they swapped placed whilst hurling insults at the oncoming Seleukids

The Silver Shields were racing down the table as they tried unsuccessfully to catch the taunting Spanish skirmishers. If this wasn't the very definition of being drawn out of line, Hannibal was not sure what was

The attempt to fit over 100 units into a 6" square areas had defeated even Hannibal, and he decided to commit 8 Campanian Imitation legionaries against the endmost Seleukid pike block. The Campanians turned in and started gearing themselves up for a devastating Impact charge

On the extreme left of the Carthaginian line, the sheer overwhelming weight of numbers had allowed the Gauls and Spanish foot to pick on the Thorakitoi, who were now totally surrounded. Every possible attack was good for the Carthaginians and bad for the Greeks

On the far right as well, the Carthaginians were using their highly manoeuvrable Heavy Infantry and Elephants to outflank the Seleukid lines as the Greeks were struggling to work out how to avoid splitting up their formation in response.

Ah! The Thorakitoi passed a test and went into an Orb formation - the Carthaginians smiled smugly, not because this made their life easier, but they did know that the Orb formation was the last refuge of the incompetent, and they would never stoop to such low efforts.

The Gauls and Spaniards charged home…

On the right again the Carthaginian elephants drove off the Seleukid skirmish screen, although they had taken some shooting from them before they fled. The African Spearmen were comfortably facing off against a lone Pike phalanx, but would the Elephants be able to regain cohesion before they hopefully took on the Cataphracts… or, indeed, did they actually care?

Despite the slight advantages of Orb, the Thorakitoi were still losing to both the Spaniards and Gauls and started to lose bases and cohesion.

Hannibal stood confidently between the two armies, as his Campanians readied themselves to charge a Phalanx and the Africans steeled themselves as the second line ..

The troops on the right were inching towards each other. Dare the Carthaginian general leave the African Spearmen and help the Elephants regain cohesion? Or should he stick with the Africans and help them take on the Phalanx?

The two blocks of foot clashed, and the Africans stood firm even as the Seleukids committed a General to the fray.

The Seleukids were throwing in Generals everywhere - as the two Campanian Imitation Legions went for it, another Pike unit was fighting against a Carthaginian overlap

Ooops - the plan of taking on Pikes with Africans was not quite working, as the African Spears on the right lost bases and cohesion.

Likewise the Campanians initial charge had failed to damage the cohesion of the Seleukid phalanx. Both clever attacks on the flanks of the Seleukids were not really working…

The Seleukid Pikemen were grinding down the Africans on the right at a rate of knots, and at FRAGGED they were already past the point at which they were worth saving. The Carthaginian General decided to stick with the Elephants and prevent them losing cohesion when the Africans lost…

On the far left, the Gallic Cavalry who were not engaged against the Orb had been driving a unit of light horse before them, and finally a charge and evade combination worked in their favour and they caught the Seleukid Light Horse almost as they reached the table edge..

The right flank was scary - the Elephants had closed in on the Cataphracts, but still the risk of the damage that would inevitably caused by the rout of the Africans could unseat the plan. Or maybe the Africans would collapse too soon allowing the Phalanx to turn onto the flank of the Elephants and cancel their charge? Everything could go wrong..

The centre of the battlefield was a scattering of isolated Seleukid units chasing Carthaginian skirmishers

The Orb finally broke, and the Seleukid flank was almost entirely evaporated

And as the Gauls finished off the light horse they had caught moments earlier, there was only only one Seleukid unit left on this side of the board

The Africans lost and broke, dragging a pike unit with it. The Elephants were unperturbed by the unsurprising defeat of their infantry colleagues and continued to stare down the Cataphracts … but a unit of Roman Argyaspids were now free to roam at will, and surely the Elephants were their best target?

Oh yes….

Things were starting to go badly for the Campanians as a second unit of Argyaspids were able to move up as an overlap.

With the ex-Orb fleeing away, the Carthaginians left hook turned its attention to the only remaining unit and everyone wheeled towards the bow-armed skirmishers

The other Argyaspids had homed in on the flank of the Elephants, and were now in a position to do a flank intercept charge. The only hope for the Elephants was if the Numidians could interpose themselves in front of the Roman charge and hopefully not evade if charged…

The Campanians rolled snake-eyes after losing a round of melee, and even with Hannibal's encouragement they broke and routed.

But whilst the bravery of the Campanians was very suspect, the Numidans were at last doing something to justify their historical superiority if not their FoGAM classification. They stood firm as the Argyaspides charged and held the Romans!

Hannibal had given up on commanding the Campanians, and instead chose to join a unit of African Spearmen as they took on some more Phalngites. Hannibal wanted to be involved in the game as a winner…

The Numidians were Magnificent ! They held on manfully and did not lose cohesion either against the Argyaspides

The bravery of the Numidians allowed the Elephants to contact the rather frustrated Cataphracts ..

And this went entirely as expected - and them some. The Cataphracts lost bases and cohesion instantly!

The refused centre of the Carthaginian army was starting to cause problems, as essentially it meant Seleukid infantry could roam at will across the middle of the table. A unit of Africans decided it was time to take a huge risk and march across the back of the Campanian infantry as they sought to cut off a small unit of Argyaspides who were looking to wade into an existing melee..

The Africans started to sweat as the Campanians lost bases and cohesion…

Well, that went almost as badly as it was entirely predictable - the Campanians broke, routed through the Africans who were then almost hit by the pursuing Pike block. Almost, but not quite…

The other decent Seleukid cavalry unit was dithering at the back of the table as two units of Gallic horse converged on it from both directions

Suddenly the African spearmen were the subject to too much attention from the Seleukid army as units converged on them from all sides. Everything was breaking down as the game devolved into several separate units

What a shameful development! The DISR African Spearmen respond to the impossible situation in which they found themselves by adopting Orb formation!

The Orb regained cohesion as a General joined it in its attempt to hold off the attack from two sides.

And the Orb was proving its worth, as one of the units attacking it went DISR… admittedly that was as a result of shooting into its rear ranks from the Baleric slingers but they all count!

At least one unit of Africans were winning - whilst the excitement had been going on everywhere they had been grinding down the phalanx they were facing with simple efficiency, and had eroded 2 bases from it.

The Orb could fight in every direction, but even so once the enemy inflicted 2 hits on it, and then rolled an 11 their General was going to be dragged from his elephant and killed ! But in a truly remarkable outcome, the Orb fought back to roll a double 6 on the enemy,killing their General as well - both sides were now freed of the influence of Generals,which should make the game a bit quicker ..

Thetwo formations were now leaderless, however the Orb was more obviously lacking in a certain something without their General…

The efficient Africans were inching towards a win…

The Orb hung on, passing the test for the loss of their General, hung on again as the Carthaginian skirmishers continued to pour sling shots and javelins into the rear of the Argyaspides - and the Greek Pseudo-Romans were not responding well, dropping to FRAGGED!

The Silver Shields were now on the point of defeat against the remorseless Africans..

Having obliterated the Cataphracts, the 2 elephants were now seeking to push some skirmishers off the edge of the table - the number of AP lost by the Seleukids was racking up nicely

And here were surely 2 more AP, as the Gauls clattered the Seleukid cavalry from both sides.

The Orb was hanging on beyond all possible human endurance and had even changed formation from an Orb to a Triangle - as they hung on grimly the Spanish LF were sneaking over the mountains and teeing themselves up for a devastating flank charge on the Seleukid phalanx

And the Argyaspides were removed! Sustained shooting on the rear rank had broken the unit whilst it was engaged in combat, and with no-where to rout it simply was removed from play.

Also removed were the Seleukid cavalry crushed by the Gauls

The last AP was now in the shaking hands of the Silver Shields - and Hannibal was on hand to encourage his men to try and take that last step towards total victory. Needing one more base to break the pikemen, Hannibal personally intervened in the combat to drive his men over the finish line..

And with a slap of his open handed backhand the Greeks collapsed and died. Hannibal had won a great victory through his own efforts!

The Result is a 26-8 win

#NASTYHANNIBALA GREAT VICTORY, NORMAL SERVICE IS RESUMED, MADE ALL THE MORE SWEET AS I PERSONALLY INFLICTED THE FINAL ENEMY CASUALTY! 26-8

Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal

Buy this Seleukid appreciating tee-shirt in the Madaxeman.com Shop!

Post Match Summary from Hannibal the Later Carthaginian Commander

I am delighted to be able to return to winning ways, and even more to do so in a way which demonstrated the importance of good planning and excellent execution. My plan worked well from the moment of deployment of terrain through to the end

Even with a few unfortunate reverses along the way, both my men and my plan was robust enough to survive any upsets. The simple attempt to split the Greek line was perfectly executed and that allowed my men to trade units with the strong Greek foot. Admittedly we lost 3 foot units and only beat 2 in the middle, but this freed up resources and men to allow us to inflict some serious damage on both flanks, where our superiority in material and numbers cost the Greeks dear.

This victory now places us in a good position for future victories, as I now have a good measure of the competencies of our men and how they work together. As long as we are not forced to take on any more overly qualified Romans I am sure things will go well.

Finally I am delighted to have been able to take personal responsibility for delivering the final blow. To my mind that means it was my victory in planning, execution, and in the cut and thrust of hand to hand combat. Nice

---

Clint Eastwood's Post Match Analysis

In this world there's two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. Those Seleukids are people who dig.

Of course, there were some Carthaginian units which lost, and often when it looked like they should have won. However nothing is guaranteed in this game - if you want a guarantee, buy a toaster. God this stuff isn't getting to me - the shootings, the knifings, the beatings. Old ladies being bashed in the head for their social security checks. Nah that doesn't bother me. But you know what does bother me? You know what makes me really sick to my stomach? It's watching you stuff your face with those Portuguese Bacalau fritters! Nobody - I mean nobody puts ketchup on a bacalau fritter!

I know what you're thinking. Did those skirmishers fire six shots or only five to break those Argyaspides? Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I've kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 unit of Superior Baleric Slingers - the most powerful sling-based 6-pak unit in the world - and they would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question-- Did they get lucky? Well, did they punk! It was a death by skirmishers shooting, and I know some people around these parts don't like that shooting, but you know what I say? Nothing wrong with shooting...as long as the right people get shot.

The Elephants also were decisive - and against the right opponents they can be. They are deadly weapons, and so I have strong feelings about Elephant control. If there's an Elephant around, I want to be controlling it. You may think that this was a lucky win, but that is only your opinion. And opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.

Click here for the report of the next game in this competition

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Game 1 Later Carthaginian vs Alexandrian Macedonian

Game 2 Later Carthaginian vs Later Seleucid

Game 3 Later Carthaginian vs Later Seleucid

Game 4 Later Carthaginian vs Later Republican Roman (Cassius)

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