Russ and I had another bash between Rome and Carthage last night. Hilly terrain with forest mainly made for another 'tight' battlefield.
I arranged in a fairly basic formation - 4BG of velites screening my hastati / principes / triarii - and cavalry just inside the left flank.
For a change, Russ organised his skirmishers (slingers / javelins and light horse) in one big skirmish line. I countered this with a cavaly charge supported by triarii and (eventually) hastati.
The outcome was a mass skirmish brawl in the middle which Hannibal's influence and truly awful dice on my part swung initially to the Carthaginians then back to Rome (triggered by eventually finiding dice in the box that came up with numbers higher than '3').
The Roman cavalry took on the Numidian javelins and were in turn flank charged by his light horse but as both skirmish units were fighting with 'half dice' the overall battle was fairly even.
The arrival of the second unit of Roman cavalry into the flank of the Cartho light horse eventually got rid of them - but only after more appalling dice throws.
The Gaul cavalry rode in but couldn't charge the Roman cavalry and were impacted by triarii and then hastati which led to them breaking. The Spanish cavalry made a much better showing, taking a base off one Roman cavalry BG.
On the other flank, the Light horse came a cropper against the velites. Russ charged them with his elephants which took the velites in the rear (ouch) but somehow - even fighting 1 dice vs 4 - the Romans hung in until reinforcements (triarii and other velites) managed to surround the elephants and finish them off.
The Cartho spearmen and Gauls couldn't physically get at the Roman skirmish line through their own skirmishers and could only wait for the outcome. Similarly the only legions to get into a scrap were on the extreme flanks. The centre troops just stood waiting for things to happen.
As it was, the dice started going for the Romans again and the velites managed to hold their own and start to degrade the slingers - although Hannibal kept them in the fight they were losing bases.
So in a reversal of a couple of weeks ago, the fight was decided by skirmishers and cavalry. Russ was very frustrated that his cavalry and elephants just didn't live up to expectations which the Roman cavalry once again made some telling blows on the Carthos. The scutarii started cutting into the Roman cavalry but by that time the battle was pretty much over. The Gallic cavalry, both sets of light horse, the elephants and the Numidian javelins had all fallen (for the cost of 1 velites base and 1 roman cavalry base) and the Romans pretty much controlled both flanks. So we shook hands across the table again.
Final result was another Roman victory (0 BG to 5BG). So results now stand at Rome 5 - Carthage 2 : which doesn't really reflect the closeness of the battles which could easily have gone the other way (incidents such as killing a commander with a 'double six', bolstering Fragmented units, high dice rolls in critical battles etc. all helped swing battles my way).
Russ is getting a bit frustrated with the Carthaginians though. They're a tough army to fight effectively, requiring several units to work together to affect the very tough Roman legions. In most cases his skirmishers have not had the effect he required and we discussed the possibility of a non-skirmish army (just pack more Gauls and scutarii into the mix and run down the Roman centre) - which would certainly be more fun to play. In addition, his elephants have only once turned in a performance worthy of their points. All too often they fail a death roll and - bang - gone.
The Romans - in contrast - are pretty basic. Velites to drive away the skirmishers and harry the better troops and just drive the legions up the middle behind them while praying that the cavalry can hold one flank. The triarii can clean up any mess left behind.
So we're a bit bored with the same old routine and are furiously working up new armies - 'Greek / Macedonian' for me and Persian for Russ. In addition, Russ is going to paint some Gallic warriors of mine so we can do more varied battles (Gauls v Cartho vs Roman vs 'Greek' vs Spanish) etc.
Luckily I'm on holiday next week so the evenings will be taken up painting a host of figures so we'll have plenty of units available for the next battle (2 weeks time) - so I can keep you posted then.
And I'll remember to take my camera next time!