Gift of an Apple: Part 1 [Her. # 22]
Gift of an Apple: Part 2 [Her. # 24]

I based this series of articles on a big-battle DBA scenario. I created it to see the effects of a battle between two different types of armies. The Later Carthaginians have seven different troop types; the Gaul have only three. I have run this battle twice. Each side has won one game. Throughout this article I M// make reference to aspects of DBA, These will be put in parentheses. The game was fought on an area 48" wide by 24" deep. All terrain features, except the Rhone are approximately 6" wideby6"deep. The Rhone is 6"in width. It runs the length of one board edge. It lies on the Gaul's left flank, the Carthaginian's right.

Hanno looked out across the broad, narrow field at the Gauls, He felt that they were as numberless as the leaves on a tree. Hanno would have been surprised to find that the number of Carthaginian soldiers and Gauls was the same (36 elements). The Gauls had rested their left flank on the banks of the Rhone River. There, between the river and a small copse of trees was a small group of cavalry (three elements). Almost all of the Gauls' infantry sat in a huge block between this first woods and a second one farther down (15" separates the two woods).

This massed infantry formation (18 warbands and three psiloi set in a double row) looked formidable. The Gauls had placed a small force of light troops in the second wood (two elements of psiloi). A force of cavalry (eight elemen1s) held down the extreme right of the Gaul's line. Hanno spied the leader of this army behind the infantry block. He was racing up and down the line in his chariot (one element of chariots), exhorting his troops. Hanno did not understand the language but he understood the purpose.

Two terrain features lay between the armies. Both were close to the Carthaginian lines and both would be taken quickly by them. The first feature was a small, gentle hill that lay opposite of the Gauls'forest next to the Rhone. The other feature was a rough terrain feature. It lay opposite the center of the big block of Gauls.

Hannibal had tried to take these terrain features into consideration when setting up his line. His extreme left was secured by an area of bad going. The Gaul's cavalry would not turn his left today. Opposite the Gauls' forest furthest from the river, Hannibal had the luck to have a large, gentle hill. On this he placed a group of cavalry (five elements) and flanked them with some light horse (six elements). Hanno was with these units. Hannibal had placed his command unit in the center (one element of cavalry) next to the mounted troops. He felt that he could best see the battlefield from here. Hannibal also had an ulterior motive. He could best keep an eye on his ally from this position. He had placed his Gaulish allied troops on his immediate right. It was here that Grindoll, the Gallic chieftain, fretted over his contingent of infantry (six elements of warbands). Hannibal had stiffened this by reinforcing them with some light troops (three elements of psiloi). Hannibal then placed some auxilia in a line (three elements) opposite the area of bad going in front of his army. He felt that his auxilia would easily get to that area.

Hannibal knew that the Gauls would not dislodge his auxilia once they were in the rough going. Hannibal had placed his shock troops on his right. Here he had placed his elephants (two elements) to the right of his line of auxilia. The elephants' right flank was protected by more auxilia (three elements). Lastly came Hannibal's African veteran spearmen (seven elements). Their right rested against the banks of the Rhone.

Hannibal's plan was to crush the mounted Gauls on his left. Hanno's troops outnumbered them almost three to two on that flank. His right, the elephants and spearmen, would roll forward and crush all before them. His center force would lay back. They would stop at the area of bad going. The auxilia would take the bad going and hold it. Grindoll's infantry would hold next to them.

Hanno looked around the field one last time. "Bloody work today," he thought. Suddenly, a rider galloped up to Hanno, jerking him back to reality.

"Message from the general," he shouted.

"What is it?"

"Time to move your butt, old man. Forward to the attack." The rider grinned, saluted and sped off.

Hanno laughed. He raised his right arm and pointed forward. Immediately 20,000 riders urged 20,000 horses toward the enemy. Soon the rest of the Carthaginian army surged ahead. This brought an immediate response from the Gauls. They began to bound forward.

Hanno looked and saw the Gallic cavalry began to trot in their direction. "Brave lads, these Gauls," thought Hanno. "They know that we have them outnumbered and yet they move forward to die. What brave lads."

The two lines of mounted men smashed into each other. Numberless swords hammered on countless shields. The din of battle soon engulfed Hanno. He raced throughout the fray. Fighting here, commanding there. Hanno soon had a sense of foreboding. The Gauls were not being swept away as he had hoped. They continued to fight and die. They bent but would not break. Hanno's troops would never turn the right flank of the Gauls. Hanno would later learn that his loses on this flank had been equal to that of the Gauls (The Gauls lost five of six cavalry while Carthaginian loses were two cavalry and three light horse). This part of the Carthaginian battle plan had failed.

Things had not gone well on the Carthaginian right. The African spearmen never came to blows with the Gallic cavalry opposite them. The cavalry ran away whenever the spearmen tried to close. Also, the auxilia and elephants had managed to kill a few troops (two warbands and one psiloi). However, Hannibal had expected them to kill more troops. One of the African's auxilia units had been killed on this flank. This added injury to insult.

This left the center of the Gaulish line intact since neither of their flanks had broken down. The center of the Gaul's line, that big block of infantry, eventually marched across the field and crashed into the center of the Carthaginian line. Here it became a numbers game. The Gauls eventually surrounded the center of Hannibal's line. The bulk of the Carthaginian infantry in the center was lost (five elements of warbands).

Hanno, on the left flank, continued to race around his command. He continued to look for a way that would break through the Gauls. Gazing to his right, he was shocked. First the center and then the right of the Carthaginian line began to fall back. The retreat began in order. However, soon men were throwing down their weapons and running. Hanno knew that they were finished. He gave the order to withdraw. He and his troops withdrew in good order. Hanno lead his troops back across the countryside. They crossed a bridge about five miles behind their lines. Hanno put his troops into a defensive posture. He assigned men to positions as they streamed over the bridge. Hanno felt the army would be safe for a time; the Gauls could not break this strong position. Hanno would wait here for Hannibal and orders.

Eventually, Hanno saw his friend and fellow general, Mago. "Bad day," said Hanno.

"Worse then you think," said Mago. He dismounted, gave the reins to an aide and walked over to Hanno. He bent down to whisper in Hanno's ear. "Hannibal is dead."

Hanno's head shot up. His stunned eyes looked in Mago's. He could not believe his ears.

"Saw it with my own eyes," said Mago, spitting. "Hannibal and his command staff were surrounded by a sea of Gauls and cut down to a man. He never stood a chance. It's Grindoll's fault. The fool could have had his troops move forward and saved Hannibal. However, at the critical moment, Grindoll and his bodyguard ran from the battlefield."

Hanno screamed out an order as he grabbed the hilt of his sword. "Find Grindoll. I want to talk to Grindoll."

Mago walked back to his horse and removed something from his saddlebags. "Too late. I've already talked to Grindoll." Mago then threw Grindoll's head on the ground in front of Hanno. Hanno looked at it and kicked it as hard as he could. It landed next to some spearmen.

"Hanno, we need to move the men as quickly as possible," Mago said. "We lost about a third of the army today. That hurt the Gauls but not as much as they hurt us. They will regroup quickly and will come after is. We need to fall back to the sea. The army may need to fall back all the way to Spain. I will take up a defensive position here with the infantry. Take cavalry, find another defensive position down this road. We will move from one defensive position to another straight down to the coast."

Hanno nodded. He knew that Mago was right. The loss of Hannibal was tragic but the loss of the army would be a catastrophe. Rome was still out there. Rome needed No be beaten. He gave the orders to his adjutants to begin to move the unit down the river road.

A salute went up from the nearby troops. Hanno looked to see why the men were shouting. Someone had stuck Grindoll's head on a spear. They had then placed the spear into the ground. Grindoll's head bobbled around on the top of the spear. It turned to face Hanno. Hanno laughed a grim laugh. Someone had stuffed an apple into Grindoll's mouth. Hanno laughed again. He spit at Grindoll's head, missing by a great length. Hanno called for his horse and mounted it. He joined his troops on the road.

He settled into his saddle for he knew that he would have a long journey ahead. His mind began to drift after a few miles. Hanno began to think about Hannibal. He would deeply miss his commander and his friend. Hanno had always felt that Hannibal was destined to do great things. His end was not to occur in a field in Gaul.

Hanno thought back to that day when Grindoll had proposed this invasion of Gaul. Back to the day when they had turned away from Hannibal's original idea of the invasion of Italy. Hannibal's plan to invade Italy had seemed that it could have worked. Hanno traveled along and thought more about the plan. It wasn't perfect. It had some flaws. Hanno resolved to study it more once he was safely back in camp.

Perhaps, he thought, maybe it was Hannibal's plan and not Hannibal that was destined for success. A plan that could lead to great victories in yet unknown battles. The plan that could bring a general to have a reputation of greatness. A reputation of greatness similar to that of Alexander the Great's. Perhaps, Hanno thought, that reputation could become mine.

More Apple

Gift of an Apple: Part 1 [Her. # 22]
Gift of an Apple: Part 2 [Her. # 24]
Gift of an Apple: Part 3 [Her. # 25]