Hannibal vs Alpine tribes.

Last night Brian,Paul and I had another fast-paced and exciting game,based on Hannibal and his Carthaginian army trying to get through an Alpine pass,guarded by local tribes.Brian was Hannibal (although if you read on you will see his new name!) whilst Paul and I were in command of the tribes.

This is the scenario we based our battle plan around,very simple but sometimes the best.

An overall view of the table,with the Spaniards on the right high ground and Hannibal's army marching to their relief,while the Tribes gather on the left to attack them,keep an eye on the elephants,commanded by "Billius Smartius"

This shot shows Hannibal's column,being led by the "performing" elephants.Brian's plan was to hold the high ground where the Spanish were,and attack with his cavalry,elephants and heavy African infantry on our left,where  Paul was stationed,his Celts were to support the Spanish and try to hold out centre back.
Our plan was to  "mess" Brian about on his right whilst I, with most of our good troops,attacked the Spanish position.

CHARMING!! What a greeting,looks like such a nice chap too!

In this shot Brian (Billius Smartius) has launched his un-supported elephants against Paul's archers,who unleashed a rainstorm of arrows,which had his elephants "packing their trunks and trundling back to the jungle"
Not content with this humiliating reversal of elephant fortune,Brian reformed them and sent them in again,un-supported,into another rainstorm of arrows,causing them,once again to "meet one night in the silver light,on the road to Mandalay!!" -Oh how we laughed!

In the meantime some serious fighting was taking place all over the board.

My attack on Brian's Spanish central position,shown here,did not go well,he charged downhill and drove my tribes back,into their second line,compromising my whole position,however my tribes on the far right were doing well and pushing the Spanish back,forcing Brian to use his cavalry.

This photo shows my attack going in,which upset Brian's plan,I pushed onwards but was eventually pushed back by the cavalry,what a tussle this was proving to be.

This is a good overview of the table (and Paul's quite bright F1 tee-shirt) showing my central attack,which did very well,and Paul's "messing" tactics going well too-this was not to be the case later on ,as he was "smote" by Brian's heavy infantry!!

Brian launched his heavy cavalry against twice his number,was almost surrounded,and was beaten and driven back to the pond,however his remorseless advance by his infantry proved too much for Paul's tribes and they "melted away"

Brian has taken control of this sector of the battle field,his Spanish cavalry are driving me back,and his infantry are now on the plain,and cutting a swathe through my centre!!

My reserve tribe,on the far hill,came into play and steadied the position,I was also winning the central melee against the Carthaginian Celts,things were not looking too good for Hannibal!

This looks more like a "brawl" than a battle!!-hard work indeed,with both Brian and I putting more and more troops into the fray.
On our left flank,Paul moved his heavy cavalry behind the victorious Carthaginian infantry and beat them off the board! Things were now looking good for the tribes,and Brian knew it was only a matter of time before he was totally beaten,so we called it a night.

This was a great game,again,with lots of movement,colour,and devious moves.

On Sunday,Michael is coming down from Aberdeen to pick up some Figures that Graham has been painting for him ( he appears to have fully recovered from the Pigmentum Penicilus Virus,he was suffering from) and I have a "quirky" game planned,based around Napoleon's Egyptian campaign.

So,roll on Sunday.