The Battle of the Trebia (or Trebbia) was the first major battle of the Second Punic War, fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and the Roman Republic in December of 218 BC, on or around the winter solstice. It was a resounding Roman defeat with heavy losses, and yet some 10,000 and more Romans, over 2 1/2 legions, were victorious on their part of battlefield and retreated with honor to Piacenza. In this battle Hannibal got the better of the Romans by exercising the careful and innovative planning for which he was famous. The impetuous and short-sighted opposing general, the consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus, allowed himself to be provoked into a frontal assault under physically difficult circumstances and failed to see that he was being led into a trap.
The battle took place in the flat country of the Province of Piacenza on the left bank of the Trebbia River, a shallow, braided stream, not far south from its confluence (from the south) with the Po river. The battle is named for the river. Although the precise location is not known for certain it is generally accepted as being visible from the Via Emilia, now paralleled by highway A21/E70 and a railroad trunk line, all of which come from Piacenza, a contemporaneously placed Roman colony (though perhaps on an existing settlement), and cross the river north of where the Romans did in the battle. The area is possibly in the comune of Rottofreno at its main settlement, San Nicolò a Trebbia.
Relative strengths
Carthage : 20,000 heavy infantry, 9,000 light infantry, 11,000 cavalry, unknown but effective number of elephants,
Rome : 16,000-18,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, 20,000 Italic auxiliaries, unknown number of Gallic Cenomani tribesmen.
Losses
Carthage : Unknown except for "great slaughter" of African and Celtic troops in center.
Rome : Approximately 26,000-28,000, up to 75%, mainly new recruits of Tiberius.
Result
Decisive Carthaginian victory
More Information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trebia
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=587609483362672674
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswarsto1000/p/trebia.htm
Our battle
The sides were chosen by Mark (who'd set up the scenario) and who unselfishly took the Carthaginians and therefore left myself and Russ to lead the Romans and their allies.
I knew a little about this battle and that an ambush was due at some stage...but that doesn't mean we were any better prepared to do much about it.
Russ took the left side of the Romans (a unit of cavalry, the Italian allies and the centre of hastati, principes and triarii. I looked after the right wing (Gallic allies and cavalry) and we shared the velites.
The Carthaginians had cavalry, light horse and elephants on both flanks, with the scutarii on the left and African Spears on the right. In the centre Mark had a huge mob of Gauls and skirmishers in the middle
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| The armies before we started - Carthaginians on the right holding the hills, Romans with their backs to the river. |
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| The Gallic mob - keen to get stuck in. |
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| The Roman centre in classical lines (velites, hastati, principes and triarii) |
Movement
As the Romans, we got to move first. Myself and Russ both rushed some cavalry in to see off his skirmishers. The velites also ran forward to engage them, while the Roman Gauls turned to protect the flank of the hastati (who were rushing forward to engage - closely followed by the principes).
In response, some skirmishers evaded the cavalry charge but the rest hung around to pepper the velites.
Carthaginian elephants charged Russ' cavalry and some Gauls charged mine
However, Mark's left wing of cavalry and elephants refused to move (this would continue to trouble Mark throughout the battle) . His Spanish allies also refused to move! Good news for us.
Shooting
The velites got some hits in but got many more back and one unit got confused.
Combat
The elephants slammed into Russ' cavalry but some excellent dice from Russ meant that one elephant died and they chose to pursue and kill the other one as it bounced off.
The Gauls got some good hits on my cavalry and I lost some bases. Time to get out of Dodge!
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| The elephants charge in to the Roman cavalry |
Movement
I moved my cavalry back away from the Gauls while some of our velites did a 'scoot and shoot' - running through the lines, shooting then running back. The principes moved closer to the hastati to back them up in combat. The Roman Gauls moved forward to help the cavalry out.
Combat
The dice tower made its first appearance and the first throw proved its worth (2 saves from 3!) when Russ killed the second elephant.
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| Nice start to the dice tower's career! |
Movement
The Carthaginians moved the right flank cavalry forward but his left flank again refused to move - Mark was getting quite frustrated with this! His skirmishers got some shots in with a 'scoot and shoot' and Russ now started to throw 6's for fun (unfortunately the number we didn't need and the velites and hastati got confused).
We moved Russ' cavalry back to protect the Italian flank (as they moved forward to protect the centre's flank in turn). The principes moved directly behind the hastati but the triarii refused to move forward.
Combat
The Gauls charged in and the velites evaded. However, the Gauls also contacted the hastati and some stabbing occurred! The Gauls lost and were pushed back.
Movement
The Romans had lined up their own Gauls and cavalry and charged the leftmost Gallic warband. The hastati not engaged in combat also piled in (with principes and triarii moving up to support).
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| It all kicks off in the centre. A god-like hand (Mark's) tells the Carthaginians which way to go. |
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| Roman Gauls and cavalry batter some Ligurians |
Combat
The hastati got battered by the Gauls and were knocked back. Luckily for Rome their own Gauls and cavalry were kicking lumps out of the Ligurian Gauls facing them.
Movement
In response, Mark charged our velites in the flank and basically killed them. His army was however not co-operating and his African Spears took the same decision as the left wing and chose to ignore the pleas to move. However his remaining elephants on the left finally got moving which Mark was very happy about.
Mark had a small number of Africans on the left and they followed the elephants.
Combat
The centre was fast becoming a slaughterhouse and both Romans and Gauls were dying like flies.
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| Missing bases indicate the casualties being inflicted on both sides. |
Movement
Our Gauls had to charge in again and were supported by the cavalry. Russ however failed to move the Italians (which proved fatal) as Russ' cavalry chased off the Carthaginian light horse on his flank. This led to the cavalry being isolated as the Italians had failed to move.
The principes moved up to take the pace of the depleted hastati.
The other band of Roman Gauls moved to protect the right flank while the Roman centre did a bit of re-shuffling to unconfuse the principes.
One other movement was to get some velites in to shield the Roman Gauls from the elephants.
Shooting
Now for the fun bit! The velites got some hits in and made both the elephants rampage (good shooting boys!)
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| The elephants rampage - towards their own lines! |
Combat
The Roman Gauls and cavalry continued to slash away at the Ligurians while the fresher principes got some licks in against the central Gauls.
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| The Ligurians get an additional battering! |
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| Principes move up to take the place of the hastati |
Movement
The rampaging elephants decided to make a bee-line for their own troops and one impacted the African Spears and scutarii on the Cartho left! Boom!
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| Mark and his Carthaginian hordes |
That was the last of the good news as the Carthaginian cavalry charged the isolated Roman cavalry. The African Spears also got two moves forward and his skirmishers also moved.
Combat
The Roman cavalry took a battering and lost more bases. The turncoat elephants continued to inflict casualties on their own side (but one was lost in the process). The Gauls and Romans in the centre clashed again - and the Romans finally got a win in and pushed the tiresome beardy ones back.
Movement
Russ got the Italians moving to support his beleagured cavalry while the Romans in the centre moved forward (leaving the knackered velites behind) to get stuck into the diminishing Gauls.
Combat
The Roman cavalry lost more men and were killed off (losing the commander as well). In the centre, a great save by Russ meant the Gauls were knocked back again (dying in the process but taking some principes with them).
Movement
The Carthaginian cavalry charged the Italian foot but the African spears failed to move to support them. Mark had moved Hannibal over to the left by this stage and - by grabbing the cavalry commander by the scruff of the neck - finally got them to move and get stuck in.
Combat
The Italians lose and are pushed back by the cavalry. The traitor elephant continued to kill his own then rampaged away to wreak more havoc. But the cavalry were now riding in for the kill.
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| The elephant holds up his own troops - and kills some of them as well |
Movement
We had some terrible rolls when it mattered most and pretty much failed to move anything.
Combat
As a result the Cartho cavalry battered the Italian allies and routed them. Oh dear. The flank is now pretty much opened up. Meanwhile the Gauls in the centre continued to survive somehow and as a consequence our main troops were unable to move to address the threats on both flanks.
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| The depleted Gauls hold up the Roman centre. |
Luckily our Gauls beat the cavalry facing them and pushed them back - but looked outnumbered. The dice tower came into its own again with some nice results.
The elephant meanwhile decided to hit his own troops again (the mahout obviously had been bribed by the Romans!) and caused more casualties!
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| More dice tower perfection! |
Movement
The Cartho cavalry charged in again on both sides. Then Mark delivered his trump card. He had to wait until the right flank of the Romans had been engaged before springing his trap. Mago appeared with more cavalry and Spanish caetrati.
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| The Roman Gauls face threats from all sides - and that's before Mago appears! |
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| Mago appears - and all is now lost |
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| Mago is in behind the Romans |
The Outcome
At this stage time was getting on and we called it a day. As it stood, the Romans were looking in a bad way. The remaining Italians were crumbling on the left and the Gauls on the right were surrounded (with Mago coming up fast).
In the middle the Gauls were pretty much gone but the Carthos had the African spears on both flanks and the scutarii (apart from elephant stomp damage) were still intact and ready to move.
So the outcome was pretty much as the real battle. The allies and cavalry were battered while the centre was bruised but still intact.
We like to think that we gave a slightly better account of ourselves than Sempronius did - and the rampaging elephants were hilariously effective. But the Carthaginians always had the edge and a Roman victory would have been wildly unlikely. Mago's appearance was the final straw (just as in the real battle).
I quite liked the rules. It was my first go at Warmaster Ancients and there were many times when I did not have a clue what was going on (usually how many combat dice were needed, who was doing what to who etc.). The rules significantly benefit the attacking party (in some respects I think the rules provide too much advantage in this manner) and I was amazed to see how many bases were being lost each time.
So hats off to Mark for a classic victory. He had all the cards but still had to play them effectively and in the main he did.
Another enjoyable night!