The Battle of Zama (if you read the rather excellent history of the battle here) was fought between Carthage and Rome and two famous generals (Hannibal and Scipio). Scipio had studied Carthage's tactics and victories and developed his own to counteract Hannibal's (such as having more cavalry on the field to prevent another Cannae and creating lanes in his legions to allow the Carthaginian elephants to pass by with the minimum of fuss. Oh...and used trumpets and caltrops to get them to stampede back into their own lines.
So before Thursday, Russ came round for a trial run. As you know, we've had some run-ins with the Impetus rules but Tuesday saw the scales fall from my eyes (and not just because I won convincingly!). A lot of the rules started to make sense (especially the 5cm zone of control) and I finally learned how to kill elephants (albeit these weren't the Indian shooty variety).
I had the Romans, Russ the Carthaginians. We found after that the Cartho's were about 50 points underpowered (a result of Russ not being able to add up) and he beefed them up for the Thursday's battle (see the forthcoming Battle of Zama AAR #2).
Set up was fairly simple. The Roman legions were laid out in blocks of 4 (velites, hastati, principes and triarii) with the Roman cavalry on the left and the Numidian allies on the right. Russ forgot to give me the Spanish allies and a base of Numidians so we had to squeeze them in any old how. Scipio was positioned with the middle base of triarii at the back.
The Carthaginians had cavalry on both flanks (both outnumbered by the Romans). Out front were the elephants, then a line of skirmishers, then the Gauls and Spanish scutarii and the African Spears at the back (with Hannibal).
We set both Scipio and Hannibal at the same level (getting +3 on the dice) as Scipio (as proved in the battle) was every bit as cunning as his opposite number.
Russ got the ball rolling by sending out his elephants (half of which promptly got disordered) and I lined up my velites and scutari to have a bash at them. The whole Roman army moved up as one but I didn't want to risk any disorders with elephants in charge range so the velites only moved once while the rest moved twice (and disordered units sprouted up everywhere).
On the left flank the Romans were keen to get stuck in and after the Carthos had moved, I decided to charge them in. I probably didn't need to do this but there was an elephant close by and I wanted to avoid its attentions. The Carthos evaded but I contacted a unit of skirmishers that were left in the way and caused them much grief and bloodshed.
My velites then got in on the act and lined up some elephants (notably the disordered ones) - as did the allied scutari. This proved to be highly effective. The elephants were unsupported and got peppered by javelins all down the line - forcing them backwards and inflicting casualties. This meant they weren't fresh and so lost impetus. Happy days!
This meant that quite quickly the elephants were being killed off - meaning that the first line of defence was already crumbling.
I was also aided by some lethal dice throwing - 3 hits from 4 dice and 4 from 5! For Impetus, that is quite impressive (as you only hit on a 6 or two 5's).
With two elephants gone and two disordered and surrounded by javelin troops it was already looking bad for Carthage.
On the left the cavalry converged (with Russ charging my disordered cavalry). However, he was going in with 2 units against 3 and this would eventually tell against him (although their light cavalry put up a hell of a fight).
On the right, I could only line up two of my three cavalry (as we were playing lengthways to ensure combat ensued!) against one of Russ' (as the skirmish line was in the way). Russ also had his cavalry on opportunity which deterred me from charging in.
On the left, Roman numbers told and Russ lost another unit (light horse) so he was down by 4 units to 0.
But he got his revenge - he charged an elephant as some velites and I got overconfident. I decided to stand and chuck javelins (as the elephant has no impetus against skirmishers). They didn't do too much damage and - once in melee - the velites quickly popped off. I had to line up some triarii to take on the grey monster instead.
But he was the last of the pachyderms left alive. The rest of the velites and scutarii - having completed their first mission - then went for the second: kill off the remaining enemy skirmishers.
Again my dice rolling in combat was awesome (5 hits from 7 dice) which was countered by Russ rolling lots of 1's.
At this stage I was in very good shape. I was winning on the left, in the centre and had 2:1 on the right (albeit against better cavalry as Russ had charged in). The numerical advantage didn't last long as another Cartho cavalry unit managed to contact the melee and now the Numidians were up against it. To make sure, Russ angled his scutari at my horses as well (running in behind the skirmishers). But exposing a flank in the process.
The Gauls had also now come within 30cm of the left side cavalry and - true to nature - bombed out with no thought to tactics or safety to get to grips with their horsey opponents. I took this opportunity to kill off the remaining elephant with my triarii be encouraging it to charge me when I went disordered.
Back on the right, a combination of cavalry, skirmishers and scutarii managed to kill off two of the Numidians. We made an error here (the third should have routed automatically). The remaining horse managed to push back a skirmisher unit, creating a mess of the Cartho left wing.
This was exacerbated by the other unit of Gauls pushing towards their left as well - one light horse unit had become a magnet for 1/3 of the Cartho army! This means flanks were exposed and proved a tempting target for me.
The triarii meanwhile had despatched the elephant and a unit of principes came up to support them in a dash up the left flank. I also moved a unit of triarii out on the right to protect it from the cavalry. But Russ' top Spanish cavalry was down to 1 VBU and so virtually spent.
I therefore rushed my velites forward to javelin the flanks of his scutarii. They took some damage as the rest of the velites rushed up as well. This led to a classic collapse down the line as unit after unit collapsed (or were pushed back by the Gauls and scutarii pushing through their own skirmishers).
Hundreds of javelins poured into the Gauls and Scutari as they were out of position. Russ had to re-alingn his cavalry to scare off the velites as a result (and concious of the encroaching triarii).
Time caught up with us at this point, so we had to call it.
The Romans had lost the right wing cavalry (3 bases) plus a unit of velites.
The Carthaginians had lost the left wing cavalry (2 bases) plus skirmishers (3 bases) and elephants (4 bases). The remaining Spanish cavalry were spent.
Given that the Roman skirmishers were in good order and the legions were virtually unscathed we gave it as a major Roman victory. Huzzah!
Verdict
I've struggled with Impetus for the past few weeks, trying to get over the elements of the rules that seemed unfair / arbitrary etc. Tuesday though was an epiphany - I could see where I'd been making mistakes and how I needed to conserve troops (especially keeping them fresh and not disordered) in order to get the best from them. It wasn't because I won, it was because I finally 'got' the rules and started to use them to my advantage.
What I especially learned was :-
* keep units fresh
* keep away from skirmishers unless using skirmishers
* try to avoid going disordered
* use opportunity if you're not going to move
* don't expose flanks
* don't send units out on their own
So before Thursday, Russ came round for a trial run. As you know, we've had some run-ins with the Impetus rules but Tuesday saw the scales fall from my eyes (and not just because I won convincingly!). A lot of the rules started to make sense (especially the 5cm zone of control) and I finally learned how to kill elephants (albeit these weren't the Indian shooty variety).
I had the Romans, Russ the Carthaginians. We found after that the Cartho's were about 50 points underpowered (a result of Russ not being able to add up) and he beefed them up for the Thursday's battle (see the forthcoming Battle of Zama AAR #2).
Set up was fairly simple. The Roman legions were laid out in blocks of 4 (velites, hastati, principes and triarii) with the Roman cavalry on the left and the Numidian allies on the right. Russ forgot to give me the Spanish allies and a base of Numidians so we had to squeeze them in any old how. Scipio was positioned with the middle base of triarii at the back.
The Carthaginians had cavalry on both flanks (both outnumbered by the Romans). Out front were the elephants, then a line of skirmishers, then the Gauls and Spanish scutarii and the African Spears at the back (with Hannibal).
We set both Scipio and Hannibal at the same level (getting +3 on the dice) as Scipio (as proved in the battle) was every bit as cunning as his opposite number.
Russ got the ball rolling by sending out his elephants (half of which promptly got disordered) and I lined up my velites and scutari to have a bash at them. The whole Roman army moved up as one but I didn't want to risk any disorders with elephants in charge range so the velites only moved once while the rest moved twice (and disordered units sprouted up everywhere).
 |
| The Carthaginians move - and go disordered |
On the left flank the Romans were keen to get stuck in and after the Carthos had moved, I decided to charge them in. I probably didn't need to do this but there was an elephant close by and I wanted to avoid its attentions. The Carthos evaded but I contacted a unit of skirmishers that were left in the way and caused them much grief and bloodshed.
 |
| Velites vs Elephant. Kill, kill, kill,,, |
This meant that quite quickly the elephants were being killed off - meaning that the first line of defence was already crumbling.
 |
| Untypical dice throwing from me |
I was also aided by some lethal dice throwing - 3 hits from 4 dice and 4 from 5! For Impetus, that is quite impressive (as you only hit on a 6 or two 5's).
 |
| Elephants start dying. Quickly. |
On the left the cavalry converged (with Russ charging my disordered cavalry). However, he was going in with 2 units against 3 and this would eventually tell against him (although their light cavalry put up a hell of a fight).
 |
| Cavalry on the left. Those skirmishers won't last long either. |
On the right, I could only line up two of my three cavalry (as we were playing lengthways to ensure combat ensued!) against one of Russ' (as the skirmish line was in the way). Russ also had his cavalry on opportunity which deterred me from charging in.
On the left, Roman numbers told and Russ lost another unit (light horse) so he was down by 4 units to 0.
 |
| The left - lots of deaths. |
But he got his revenge - he charged an elephant as some velites and I got overconfident. I decided to stand and chuck javelins (as the elephant has no impetus against skirmishers). They didn't do too much damage and - once in melee - the velites quickly popped off. I had to line up some triarii to take on the grey monster instead.
But he was the last of the pachyderms left alive. The rest of the velites and scutarii - having completed their first mission - then went for the second: kill off the remaining enemy skirmishers.
Again my dice rolling in combat was awesome (5 hits from 7 dice) which was countered by Russ rolling lots of 1's.
At this stage I was in very good shape. I was winning on the left, in the centre and had 2:1 on the right (albeit against better cavalry as Russ had charged in). The numerical advantage didn't last long as another Cartho cavalry unit managed to contact the melee and now the Numidians were up against it. To make sure, Russ angled his scutari at my horses as well (running in behind the skirmishers). But exposing a flank in the process.
 |
| Everyone wants to attack my horses |
The Gauls had also now come within 30cm of the left side cavalry and - true to nature - bombed out with no thought to tactics or safety to get to grips with their horsey opponents. I took this opportunity to kill off the remaining elephant with my triarii be encouraging it to charge me when I went disordered.
Back on the right, a combination of cavalry, skirmishers and scutarii managed to kill off two of the Numidians. We made an error here (the third should have routed automatically). The remaining horse managed to push back a skirmisher unit, creating a mess of the Cartho left wing.
This was exacerbated by the other unit of Gauls pushing towards their left as well - one light horse unit had become a magnet for 1/3 of the Cartho army! This means flanks were exposed and proved a tempting target for me.
The triarii meanwhile had despatched the elephant and a unit of principes came up to support them in a dash up the left flank. I also moved a unit of triarii out on the right to protect it from the cavalry. But Russ' top Spanish cavalry was down to 1 VBU and so virtually spent.
I therefore rushed my velites forward to javelin the flanks of his scutarii. They took some damage as the rest of the velites rushed up as well. This led to a classic collapse down the line as unit after unit collapsed (or were pushed back by the Gauls and scutarii pushing through their own skirmishers).
Hundreds of javelins poured into the Gauls and Scutari as they were out of position. Russ had to re-alingn his cavalry to scare off the velites as a result (and concious of the encroaching triarii).
Time caught up with us at this point, so we had to call it.
The Romans had lost the right wing cavalry (3 bases) plus a unit of velites.
The Carthaginians had lost the left wing cavalry (2 bases) plus skirmishers (3 bases) and elephants (4 bases). The remaining Spanish cavalry were spent.
Given that the Roman skirmishers were in good order and the legions were virtually unscathed we gave it as a major Roman victory. Huzzah!
Verdict
I've struggled with Impetus for the past few weeks, trying to get over the elements of the rules that seemed unfair / arbitrary etc. Tuesday though was an epiphany - I could see where I'd been making mistakes and how I needed to conserve troops (especially keeping them fresh and not disordered) in order to get the best from them. It wasn't because I won, it was because I finally 'got' the rules and started to use them to my advantage.
What I especially learned was :-
* keep units fresh
* keep away from skirmishers unless using skirmishers
* try to avoid going disordered
* use opportunity if you're not going to move
* don't expose flanks
* don't send units out on their own