Battl of Castra Nova-North Africa,Rome vs Carthage.

Last night the "triumvirate" (Paul,Brian and myself) fought a great game involving me and Brian,as Roman commanders,against Paul as Hannibal himself. The game turned out to be an hilarious,exciting and tense affair,culminating in "blame culture" at its worst!!
From the scenario and map,you can see the initial dispositions,and it is also quite obvious that Brian,commanding the left of the Roman line,was always going to be in the thick of it from move one,whilst I was going to have a relatively easy time of it.All I had to do was move forward at a steady pace,watch my dressings,keep my lines,move sedately from column into line,guard my flanks,and of course make sure my men were well watered and fed..........Meanwhile ,on Brian's flank,it resembled some sort of Wild West bar room brawl!! with infantry and cavalry,Pila and javelins flying all over the place,inter-mingled with oaths,and desperate cries for support!!!

The scenario,and initial positions,Brian was outnumbered in cavalry,but bravely charged twice his number on the far left flank.His catapults were pounding the city walls,but this only provoked Paul into sending out the defenders against Brian's cohorts securely positioned behind barricades-this only goaded Brian into leaping out of his nice secure position,and attacked Paul!!!!

This shot shows Brian's good,secure position,and Paul's relieving force before any real movement had happened.

This is the same scene a couple of moves later,on the flank, Brian is just about holding his own(no jokes please,we are all adults!!) but in the centre he is being beset by both heavy and light infantry!
On my flank,I have had to halt and take a couple of swigs of wine,and a date and fig breakfast,and of course make sure my men aren't excerting themselves too much!!

My cavalry have been attacked by Paul's cavalry(backed up with his Elephant unit) so until this is resolved my infantry can't move forward-might as well have another swig of wine and start on the dinner arrangements! After all Brian is doing okay.

Dear me,can't a man have his dinner without being attacked by Elephants?-luckily I saw them off,as well as a couple of units of heavy African infantry,my cavalry have fled,but a couple of cohorts moved onto the flank of Paul's cavalry un-nerved him,and he wisely retired-however,on inspection of my troops,I found that one or two of them had suffered cut fingers,so I had to stop my advance to attend to them!!

Just look at those lines,uniforms pressed,shields nice and bright,weapons sharpened,angles just right-a sight for sore eyes!!-Meanwhile,back on Brian's flank,it looked like "Custerus'" last stand!!

The question must be asked,How did you manage to get yourself into that situation?-I will be writing a full report to the senate,telling them that I played a fantastic role in this campaign, and that I should be made Emperor! If you want,Brian, you could be my Eunuch(you may have to sacrifice" somethings",but at least I'll look after you!)
This was a fantastic game,full of good humour(and lots of swearing!) Roll on next week-we can't play on Sunday due to other tasks!
Paul was the well-deserved winner of this game,Brian and I will have to go and "fall on our swords" but as a consolation ,we'll probably miss!!!!!!