Well, that is about it for the basis of the rules, and what follows is a brief account of them in action taken from a game played as part of my own Punic Wars-type campaign. To set the scene, 269 BC was a year of great turmoil, with several wars under way to keep me busy. One such was between Carthage and Galatia. During the spring, the Carthaginian army and its allies from Seleucia and Ptolemaic Egypt invaded Galatia. Cartagamus, the Galatian king, had called for his allies to send assistance. The western Celts, Romans and Macedonians all responded by sending a small contingent to assist the Galatian king. Rome and Macedonia were themselves at war against each other, which was to lead to a strained relationship in the Galatian camp. The armies met in battle at Gupia and Cartagamus was sorely defeated and forced to retreat north. Haggabul, the Carthaginian general, continued to suppress the southern provinces and in the summer turned north, deeper into Galatia. Cartagamus had by now rallied his army and was determined to expel the invader from his lands. A major factor in his earlier defeat had been the large number of elephants that the enemy deployed. The Galatian alliance had none of these beasts and the elephants caused havoc in Cartagamus’ cavalry ranks and effectively eliminated them from the battle before turning upon the infantry flank and rear. Thus, when I was considering Cartagamus’ battle options I had to give careful thought to these powerful animals. In addition I also had to make sure that his Roman and Macedonian allies were positioned where they would not be required to support or aid each other. Thus it was that Cartagamus deployed his horse on his left and protected them from the enemy elephants with his infantry, hoping, no doubt, to break the elephant charge upon his superior quality warbands, which were deployed in depth. The Carthaginian general decided to repeat what had been a winning formula for him in the spring, and so his elephants were deployed in a single line to the right of centre of his main battle line. The main battle line was composed of his heavy infantry deployed in a double line. On his right was his cavalry with their general, Macro, the best general on the field. The left was held by Philipicus and the allied troops, whose main concern was to stave off any attack by the Galatian Roman allies, who held a hill to their front. The leadership ratings of the leaders were as follows: CARTHAGINIANS Haggabul (A) 0/9 Macro (B) -1/10 Philipicus (C) +1/8 GALATIANS Cartagamus (X) 0/9 Carvix (W) 0/9 Drucian (Y) 0/9 Lucian Senitus (Z) 0/9 The initial rota of activation was thus: Turn 1 2 3 B 4 A C W Y Z 5 X Battle The battle began on Turn 3 with Macro (B) advancing with his cavalry along the ridge. Macro had joined the heavy cavalry leading the column and the entire force moved as a group with the Numidians to the rear. Since the Numidian cavalry were irregular and Macro was with the group, he required a score of 10 or less to move the force followed by a second roll of 9 or less to continue. This was easily achieved. I then decided that that was enough movement, not wishing to advance too far at this early stage, and guessed that as Macro was a -1 leader he would soon get another chance. He could afford to wait. As Macro had no combats to decide, I now rolled the d5 and subtracted -1 (his rating) to give a total of 3. Macro’s code was struck off for turn 3 and included in turn 6. On the next turn, Turn 4, everyone other than Macro and Cartagamus (X) was able to activate. I rolled to determine which faction would steal the initiative and go first in the turn; it was the Carthaginians. I determined that they would advance one turn along the entire battle line, primarily in order to create some manoeuvring room for troops in the second line. This is because I had already decided that Haggabul would fight a defensive battle initially, allowing the enemy warbands to break themselves upon the Carthaginian line of elephants and foot and then be mopped up by the cavalry. The limited forward movement was easily carried out, and as there were no combats to resolve, I rolled for the commanders’ next turn of activation, which resulted in Haggabul’s next move being Turn 8. Philipicus, who had a +1 rating, rolled a 4 to total 5, and thus Turn 9 was to be his next. All of the Galatians were activated in Turn 4 except for Cartagamus himself. However, I did not wish to move Lucian Senitus, who was quite happy where he was, defending the small hill. I immediately rolled for his next turn, which was 6. I now decided to take a calculated risk with Carvix’s western Celtic warbands, knowing that Cartagamus would be able to come up and join the attack on the next turn and before any other movement by the enemy. I took the plunge and sent the tribesmen on their own against the Carthaginian left centre, hoping to drive it back and force a gap between the Carthaginians and their allies holding the left. Carvix led the attack, having attached himself to one of the warbands. The whole group surged forward. The distance was three moves, which, since Carvix was leading the force and it was irregular, required results of 9, 8 and 7 to succeed, which it did. Drucian moved up to fill the gap that Carvix had vacated and was then given a next turn roll. Carvix, having closed with the enemy, resolved combat with them, failing to make an impression on the line. The move ended with his being given a new activation turn. We now come to Turn 5, when only Cartagamus was entitled to activate. He was not attached to any unit, as I wished, if possible, him to join Carvix’s attack with the infantry and move the cavalry to counter Macro’s move towards the left. The warbands required 3 moves to cross the intervening ground and to come to grips with the enemy (I do not allow myself to pre-measure and had miscalculated the distance). As irregulars the warband would require scores of 8, 7 and 6 to succeed (Cartagamus had a rating of 9 for initiative, but was unattached). This was a tall order, but they made it. However, the cavalry would now only be able to move if they threw 5 or less since they were also irregulars; they failed. I then determined the outcome of combats between Cartagamus’ warbands and the enemy they had contacted. The warbands successfully rolled back the elephants but did not break them. The warbands automatically followed up but were unable to maintain contact. Note that I did not conduct combats with Carvix’s units, who were still in contact with enemy units, as he was not activated in this turn, and nor was his opponent. However, had a unit of Carvix’s command been in an overlap position to assist Cartagamus’ units then it would have counted its support. Having completed the combats I rolled a 3 for Cartagamus’ next activation turn. It was now Turn 6 and all troop leaders had had a turn in which they had been activated (if desired), and each now had had his next activation turn recorded. The Turn Rota now looked like this: TURN 3 (B crossed off) 4 (A C W Y Z crossed off) 5 (X crossed off) 6 B W Z 7 Y 8 A X On Turn 6, yet again both sides have leaders that may activate, Macro for the Carthaginians and Carvix and Lucian Senitus for the Galatians; Macro won the ‘steal’. I was now faced with an interesting decision that could win or lose the battle for the Carthaginians. Macro’s cavalry was on the ridge, nicely positioned to swing down upon Cartagamus’ open left flank. The main drawback to this move was that if Macro failed to complete the destruction of the enemy the Galatian cavalry would have time to come up and attack his open flank. However, Cartagamus was not due another activation until Turn 8, two turns away, and Macro was a -1 leader, so it was conceivable that he could get in an extra move before Cartagamus could bring up cavalry. I decided that it was worth the risk. It transpired that Macro required three movements to close with the enemy (another miscalculation). Since the Numidians were irregulars but Macro was attached to the force he needed 10, 9 and 8 to cover the entire distance. He failed on the 8 and so ended his turn just short of the target. He rolled a 3, and with a -1 for initiative it meant that he would next activate on Turn 8, the same turn as his target, Cartagamus. Carvix and Lucian Senitus now completed their turns. Carvix, already engaged with all his troops, required no movement and went straight to resolving his combats, and Lucian once again decided that the view was just fine from where he was standing. And so the battle continued. I will not bore you with a blow by blow, but will pass on to what happened next, with Macro’s attack towards Cartagamus’ flank. Both Macro and Cartagamus were each due to activate on Turn 8, and a dice throw determined that the Carthaginians would steal the initiative. I made the error of not attaching Haggabul to his elephants so as to increase their chances of closing with the enemy, but other things were happening on the left of his line that required his attention. Needless to say his initiative roll was high and the elephants did not advance. Macro was on his own. The Carthaginian cavalry swept down upon the open flank with the Numidians in support to their right. This was done with one roll, the Numidians coming up from the rear of the heavy cavalry. Remember that a group does not have to stay together on a successful initiative roll, and so the Numidians did not require a second roll to gain position in support. With the failure of the elephants to close with the enemy, the warbands were unengaged to their front and so turned to face the attacking cavalry. The Galatian warband’s superior (S) rating saved them from the initial charge combat outcome, which totaled one below the enemy, but with the ‘S’ grading adjustment to the result the deficit was increased to equality and so they held, a narrow escape. If they had recoiled they would have had nowhere to go except into the side of the other warband still facing Haggabul’s line, a circumstance which would have destroyed both warbands. It was now Cartagamus’ turn. As yet unattached to a unit he joined the cavalry group and raced to bring them forward against Macro. His second roll of 10, however, was well above his adjusted initiative and so his move ended short of the target. Since it was Cartagamus’ turn and the warbands engaged by Macro were also part of his command, Cartagamus had to fight another round of combat with them. Their luck did not hold a second time, they were forced to recoil and were therefore destroyed, along with the troops to their rear, who were facing the wrong way. So the battle continued to a conclusion that saw the Galatians pull a victory from what looked like certain defeat. The Carthaginian collapse came about in a spectacular turn of fortune for them. Haggabul joined his hard-pressed left and fell to the swords of the western Celts, leaving his command virtually paralyzed with a +2 leaderless initiative added to his next die roll for position on the rota. It came up high, and, just to rub salt into the wound, when his leaderless command did get another activation turn it rolled a crushing 12 and so lost the opportunity to activate, and with it the battle. Conclusion And that’s it, although the rules need not stop at the tabletop. Campaigns are a distinct possibility using these rules, especially those involving several forces per side. Imagine a move rota of Wellington, Blucher and Napoleon; can the British combine with the Prussians before Napoleon destroys one of them, or, failing this, will Blucher be in time to save Wellington at Waterloo? I hope that through this article I have managed to stimulate your imagination to the possibilities that a game run by such a system can offer, and feel sure that other similar systems exist somewhere - nothing is really new! Once again, I would like to thank George for the redundant set of fantasy rules from which part of this stemmed and for the other little gems he has put my way from time to time. I do hope that some of you give the system a try, and I would love to see follow-up articles from other gamers on their own systems for giving battle. An Alternative Variation Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #139 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com