Romans
Two thirds of a consular army, minus a small detachment of guards Probably this would be 600 Triarii from a legion. Triarii was often left as camp guards according the ancient Roman writers. It also could include dismounted cavalry. When the Numidians join in the battle later, there is no mention of any horse in the Roman force.
This leaves 3 legions all at or near full strength as they were recently recruited. A legion numbered 4,200 fighting men consistingh of 1200 Hastati, 1200 Principes and 600 Triarii, in three lines, with 1200 Velites attached. Hastati, Princips, Triarii are heavy infanry, Velites are skirmishers. Subtract 600 Triarii from one legion. There is no mention of long range missile troops being used by the Romans. General Publius Scipio was beloved by his troops, he should be rated a Good general. There is no mention of any other commander.
The Spanish
The Suessetani's main strength were in their scutarii, lightly equipped infantry carrying a large body shield. Since they first threw a heavy spear then closed to fight with the short sword, they were similar to Romans in this respect, that needing room to engage in sword fighting, they were not disorganized in rough terrain. There is no mention of caetari skirmishers included in the description of Suessetani force. Perhaps Indibihs felt that they were not needed. Therefore make the force 7,500 scutarii. Indibilis was not a great general, but his men were devoted to him.
The Numidians
It's ironic that Masinissa became such good friends with the younger Scipio, after contriving to overthrow his father at Baetis. Masinissa was the reason that the quick marching Romans could not exit the valley', his skirmishing troops slowed Scipio and allowed the Carthaginians to catch up. The prince was leading his regiment, no numbers are given, but a Numidian regiment was later 400-500 men. I see no reason the earlier organization would not apply.
The Carthaginians
No numbers are given for the Carthaginians. A little deductive work is in order. We know that The Romans outnumbered the combined Punic armies while the Iberians were allied, but upon leaving, the Romans were the outnumbered force. They retreated into the rough terrain of the Bactis, to deprive the Carthaginians of any advantage. To me this means the Carthaginian army was built around a spear phalanx, light troops and cavalry. The number 10,000 appears repeatedly in Punic army strengths. Since the Carthaginian army system was at first based on its mother state of Tyre, and Tyre was an ally of the Persians. it would be only natural that the largest Persian independent organization the Myriad, would be adopted by the fledgling Carthaginian state. Later like Persia, she would brigade myriads together to form armies.
The phalanx would number 5,000 with an additional 5,000 supports. This is keeping with standard Hellenistic tradition. The phalanx being 112th of the army can be traced back to the reforms of Xanthippus the Spartan. While in Carthage the seasoned warrior was asked to train the motley Carthaginian army for operations against the Roman invasion (First Punic War). With his veteran eye he saw that the Carthaginians had the makings of a first class Hellenistic army if discipline was enforced. The Carthaginians had fine cavalry, battering rams in elephants, but the native infantry was poor material. The Spartan adventurer was given the job of army drillmaster and reformed the Carthaginian phalanx. He drilled the Libyans and Phoenicians in Hellenistic methods, presumably only the Sacred Bands of earlier times had this discipline. He based his phalanx on the Macedonian strategiai (4,000 men) but did not arm them with sarissasi To beef up their fighting ability with this lack, he added an additional chiliarchy (1,000 men). The final number was 5,000 for a Carthaginian strategiai, and while it is unknown if Xanthippus planned this or not, it is a strange coincidence that a strategiai was 112th of the old m iad. The Army did so well at Bagradas Vale in 255 BC, that the Carthaginians reformed their army around the phalanx. It was similar well drilled phalanx troops that would give Hannibal his overwhelming victory at Cannae.
The second component of a Hellenistic Army was horse. The Carthaginian had superb skirmishing cavalry in their Numidian allies but the shock arm had fallen in disfavor. As most of the Carthaginian nobility wa_s the officer class. Xanthippus encouraged the Phoenician half breeds to leave the infantry and become cavalry. They were armed as Greeks: helmet. cuirass. and shields. It is unknown if they carried long spears or javelins, their utilization seems to suggests the former. The African vassals. Moors, Libyans and others tribes made up the skirmishers. They would fight with javelins. They were poorly disciplined. but could shield a battle line. Also here must be included the Carthaginian long range missile arm: The Belarics. The Belarics were stingers elite. rated as good or even better than the Rhodians - who were the best in the East. Carthage had special treaties with the isles to maintain their supply of Belarics. While these formidable marksmen would be additional skirmishing asset, they were never that numerous. numbers of 400. 800, 1000 are mentioned in our ancient sources of various battles.
Now with the above information let's reconstruct the Carthaginian armies. Each would number 10.000. A long spear armed strategiai would be the striking force, a unit of 400-1000 Libv-Phoenician cavalry, the remainder skirmishing types. Numidians, Libyans, and Moors. Perhaps 400 Belaric skirmishers would be present. Both Mago and Hasdrubal Gisgo would be average Generals.
Battle of Baetis 211 BC
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