Battle of Zama
Scipio vs. Hannibal

Army of Carthage

by Greg Pitts

THE ARMY OF CARTHAGE

Army Commander: Hannibal (Excellent - may be placed anywhere within Carthaginian set-up area)

The First Line

The first line consisted of Hannibal's mercenary and/or light troops. They are said to have consisted of approximately 12,000 men made up of Ligurians, Celts, Balearics, and Moors, but the exact troop types is not known.

Major Unit 1.
6 tactical units of Gallic Warriors at 8 figs each.
2 Tactical units of African Lt. Inf. at 8 figs each.
One Major Unit Commander.

Major Unit 2.
3 tactical units EACH of Ligurian Warriors and Spanish Scutarius at 8 figs each.
1 tactical unit Spanish Caetrati at 8 each
1 tactical unit of Balearic slingers at 8 figs.
One Major Unit Commander.

Major Unit 3
2 tactical units Ligurian Warriors at 8 ea
2 tactical units Gallic Warriors at 8 ea
2 tactical units Sp. Scutarius at 8 ea
2 tactical units Af. Lt. Inf at 8 ea
One Major Unit Commander.

The above forces represents the units of the first line. Some of the units listed are not found in the HANNIBAL module and are listed here. Additionally, the Major Unit organization restrictions listed in HANNIBAL are modified accordingly.

Ligurian Warriors - are the same as Gallic Warriors in all respects.

African Lt. Inf. - weapons class: 4 (javelins) Defense Class: Lt. Infantry Morale Grade: 76 Elites: No. Base Mounting: Lt. Infantry

The Second Line

It is also believed that the second line consisted of approximately 12,000 men. These forces were made up of Carthaginian Citizen Spearmen, Libyan Spearmen, and possibly Macedonian phalangites. Some authorities dismiss Livy's claim of the Macedonian presence, but for the purpose of this scenario, we shall assume they were indeed present at the battle.

Major Unit 1.
64 figures of Libyan Spearmen. They may be organized unto tactical units of 16 figures each or as otherwise outlined in HANNIBAL 2.12.
One Major Unit Command

Major Unit 2.
64 figures of Carthaginian Citizen Spearmen. Organize with the same options of Libyan Spearmen.
One Major Unit Commander.

Major Unit 3.
64 figures of Macedonian Phalangites May organize into 4 tactical units of 16 figures each or one tactical unit of 64 figures.
One Major Unit Commander.

The tactical unit specifications for the units of the second line that are not found in HANNIBAL are as f

Carthaginian Citizen Spearmen: weapons class: 3 (long spear) Defense class: C.O. Infantry Morale Grade: 80 Base Mounting: Phalangite

Macedonia Phalangites: Weapons Class: 1 (pike) Defense Class: C.O. Infantry Morale Grade: 80 Mounting: Phalangite

The Third Line

The 3rd line of Hannibal's army at Zama consisted of those veteran troops he had brought from Italy. Mostly Bruttians, these troops are said to have numbered between 6,000 and 24,000 men. We have chosen to represent these troops at approximately 11,000 men.

The forces of the 3rd line are organized into 3 major units, EACH consisting of the following:

Ten tactical units of Bruttians (Italians) infantry each consisting of one maniple of light infantry and two maniples of 'Princepes' infantry. These forces are organized exactly as Roman Allied infantry (including Morale Grade) as specified in HANNIBAL 2.26 and 3.21 (Allied portion of the Legion) except that for the Zama scenario, there shall be no maniple of Triarii for these forces. As usual, each major unit receives one Major Unit Commander.

Hannibal's Cavalry

The arm in which Hannibal had always had the upper hand was in his cavalry. Unfortunately, Syphaz had been previously defeated and then captured by the Romans. Massinissa had then taken over the Numidian kingdom and his allegiance was to Scipio. The result was that Hannibal was left with perhaps 3,000 cavalry.

Major Unit 1.
2 tactical units of Liby-Phoenician cavalry at 8 figures each.
One Major Unit Commander.

Major Unit 2.
4 tactical units of Numidian Lt. Cav. at 8 figures each.
One Major Unit Commander (Tychaeus)

The Elephants

Hannibal is reputed to have had 80 elephants (20 models) at this battle. In actuality, this was probably untrue. It would seem that rather half this number was the actual total (40) at most, and will be represented i this scenario as follows:

Major Unit 1.
5 models of African War elephants.

Major Unit 2.
5 models of African War elephants.

The above represents 40 total elephants for Hannibal. Naturally, there will be those that believe the total of 80 elephants and players may want to just experiment. If players are agreeable, feel free to double the number of major units of elephants to four, each containing 5 models, representing the full 80 elephants.

This then was the army of Hannibal. Players will notice that there are no "Sub- Commanders" listed for the Carthaginian side. This is not an omission, but rather intentional and does not limit the Cartiaginians to only one player. It is recommended that at least 3 persons constitute the players for this side and that the distribution of forces be the choice of whomever is Hannibal.

Battle of Zama Scipio vs. Hannibal


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