Fm Cannae 216 BC.zip- (8.6 KiB) Downloaded 271 times
Cannae saw the largest army Rome had ever put into the field up to then. Command and control was limited to lining up the legions and push forward relentlessly, relying on sheer mass and the traditional Roman fighting stamina to roll up the enemy. But pressed on both flanks by Hannibal's elite troops, it was the Romans who were rolled up into a formless mass attacked on all sides. The thrust of the design is to replicate the inexorable pressure of the Carthaginian wings and the inward push of the Roman advance.
180 mobile Bgs, 20 turns
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South eastern Italy, 216 BC. After ending the brief dictatorship of Fabius Maximus and his notorious Fabian delaying tactics that had given Rome some breathing room following the catastrophic defeats at the Trebbia and Lake Trasimenes, the Romans took the field with four consular armies, a theoretical strength of 80,000 men. Command was given to the pair of newly elected consuls, Terentius Varro and Aemilius Paullus, with the preceding year's consuls, Servilius Geminus and Municius Rufus, staying on with their armies. The huge host confronted Hannibal's 50,000 men, multi-ethnic army near Cannae, in what was to come down as the most famous battle in ancient history.
Designer's notes:
there is a large amount of material available and sifting through them is quite a job. Analytical studies are always superior to narrative studies when it comes to serious research and Gregory Daly's "Cannae: The experience of battle in the Second Punic War" is a favourite. Some important decisions had to be made with regard to:
Roman allies: each consular army of two roman legions was accompanied by two allied 'wings' of about equal numbers. Information is lacking when it comes to their equipment and organization. it is assumed here that they share the same organization and weaponry as the romans. I cannot find evidence whereby they were lighter troops (as in fog where they are mf).
Roman equipment: armour (the 'lorica') was very expensive in an age where individuals were to pay for it themselves. it is impossible to know the proportion of the eligible roman male population that could afford it. it is assumed here that it is one third. the rest would have had the essentially worthless 'pectorale' (a metal square covering the middle of the torso). the lorica should be universal for the cavalry, where the richest, and most young nobles, served.
Libyan equipment: the Libyan infantry was the core of the Carthaginian army (along with the numidian cavalry). there is little evidence they were armed with spears by the time of the second punic war (there is only certainty for the 4th century). it is most probable they were armed the roman way, or rather, the spanish way, as most of them would have been introduced to warfare there. With regard to their defensive equipment, many of them would have been wearing roman armour captured at the Trebbia and Lake Trasimenes.
As a result, both the Roman and Carthaginian armies look nothing like those built using DAG.
Miscellaneous:
The Romans left one legion and one allied wing to guard the camp. They are included on the map to increase the roman BG count, but are prevented from moving out. The legion was taken from Paullus and the allied wing from Varro (speculation). The Carthaginians did likewise (I have not included their full number, for game balance).
Large amount of light troops from both sides (8000 'Carthaginians' and 14000 'Romans' were said to have been used as skirmishers) clashed before the battle to no great effect. They are assumed to have swelled the numbers of the heavy infantry formations. As usual I do not favour separate light units counters as they can be used to exhibit all sorts of commando like behaviour (with superb individual initiative and daring!), something totally unacceptable from a historical standpoint.
The scenario starts a bit into the real battle with the romans penetrating the carthaginian centre and the front line resembling a crescent. without that it would not be cannae.
The romans' only chance for victory is to smash the carthaginian's centre as at theTrebbia where 10,000 of them broke through the middle and marched to safety while the rest of their army was destroyed.
Fogman
