Here is part 1 of 2 parts in English. It'd be good to watch this, as there are visualizations as well.
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How much longer before the battle are we starting? Or are we starting from the start of the battle?
And just let me know which time you want to meet, preferably after8 PM GMT or before 12:00 PM GMT.
And just let me know which time you want to meet, preferably after8 PM GMT or before 12:00 PM GMT.
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Well, at least the referees must talk for a moment, as there are some points we need to put in common...when can we meet?
If possible, can we meet at 8pm GMT +0 (London, Madrid) today then? With the intention of starting ASAP tomorrow?
Today it will be impossible for me before 10pm at that timezone, as i will leave work late today.
Kingepyon, can you make 10pm?
EDIT: Sure, lets go now. See everyone in the chatroom.
EDIT: Sure, lets go now. See everyone in the chatroom.
Ok, here is an overview of the battlefield, and the armies that both teams are going to be commanding. If you are in any doubt as to what army you are in ask. The referees have convened, and we have collated sufficient information to inform you of the battle you are going to be fighting, your locations the night before the battle, and the armies you will be commanding.
You will be refighting the battle of Cannae, while at the same time, simulating the restrictions that both command groups would have been under prior to the battle's start, in terms of knowledge about the enemy, and in terms of your mens capabilities. This means that you will have to take into account what it was physically possible for you to have known at the time.
Furthermore, to simulate the command split prior to the battle, we have decided that the players will be taking the roles of the various commanders in charge of the battle, so as to better represent the command relationships that occurred prior to the battles beginning. One Roman will be taking the role of Paulus, the other two Romans will both represent Varro. The three Carthaginians will represent Hannibal, Mago and Hasdrubal, the supreme, infantry and cavalry commanders of the Carthaginian army.
Now before I go into the details of both sides, something must be understood. The Romans will only be bound by the knowledge of their commanders at the time, and the capabilities of their troops, as they were the historical losers. The Carthaginians, on the other hand, are bound also by Hannibals historical stratagems, and must attempt to faithfully represent the decisions of the Carthaginian general as closely as possible, and adapt them in the face of divergences from the historical record. In short, the Romans may play any two random consuls taking the place of Varro and Paulus. The Carthaginians, on the other hand, are essentially roleplaying Hannibal, Mago and Hasdrubal.
The object of the game is to simulate, to the best of our ability, the facts of the day, and see whether or not a different commander could have done better, or at least differently, from Varro and Paulus in the face of Hannibal.
With that understood, let us move onto the battlefield.
http://imageshack.us/f/804/cannae08tl3.jpg/
Above, is the battlefield you will be fighting on. It is a flat plain, with a river that bends in places, restricting the movement and, if the army is placed in certain locations, the retreat of, units on the battlefield. There is little room for hiding on this plain, except in such a way that units in the fore of your battle line mask reserves behind it. It is here that Hannibal carried out his double-envelopment of the Roman army and so utterly destroyed it historically. Hannibal, as you can see, is camped just south of it, ready to cross in the morning. The Romans are encamped after two days of straight marching and a victorious skirmish, just six miles away to the north-east. (That is below and off to the left of the picture.) When the scenario starts, it will be nightfall, and both sides must make their plans for scouting, protecting their camp, and their plans for the next day.
So you know the battlefield, now here is the basic information about your army.
Romans, you have a vast army of 8 Roman and 8 allied legions. You have a total of 87,200 infantry present, organised into these 16 legions. Of these legionaries, 25,000 are velites. These are lightly armed and armoured individuals with only a light shield and a javelin for protection. They are used to bombard enemy infantry before the battle, and are best used to screen the rest of your army as you set it up prior to the battle. They are effective against light infantry, but will make less of an impression on prepared heavy infantry. In ambush, their javelins may be dangerous to unarmoured horses. They will be massacred in melee, and were generally used against other skirmirshers. They can be dangerous to men caught out of formation as well. However, these are not their usual roles; these men normally retire to the flanks after skirmishing; they are screening forces.
What is screening? This is how you mask your deployment and organise it before battle without inviting an attack before you are ready. It hides what you are doing with your men before the battle begins. It also protects your line from the ranged forces of other skirmishers.
The next three lines are varying degrees of heavy infantry. At the front are your 25,000 Hastati. These are the youngest and poorest men who can afford to fight as heavy infantry. They carry two pilae which they will throw before a charge. Their short range makes them ineffective when it comes to deterring skirmirshers with lighter armament. They carry a hasta and a large shield, along with heavy chain armour, and are used to open the battle; these men will fight aggressively and will try to smash in the enemy line, but they have less staying power than the principes (though their heavy armour will stand them in good stead against any light infantry).
Behind them stand 25,000 Principes. These are the killers of the Roman army; they are better equipped, and more experienced than their younger counterparts, and are men in their prime. They are the second line that goes in when the first line fails to break through the enemy, adding pressure to an already beleaguered enemy front line. If given space, they are also quite flexible, and may be able to react to sudden crises. However, the nature of their formation requires time and room to turn in order to do this, and they will not be able to turn to fight if they are caught off-guard, and especially if they are already engaged. Also, these men are a bit greener, as it is a newly formed army. Some of these men may be as green as the hastati in practice.
The last line are 12,500 Triarii. Unlike the short-sword bearing hastati and principes, these men are armed with spears, which makes them dangerous to all types of cavalry. They are the oldest, and normally the most experienced men of the line. They normally make up the last line; these men are the Roman reserve, meant to react to sudden crises. These men may even have been hastati during the end of the 1st Punic War. However, the Romans have already lost two armies at Trebia and Trasimene, so these soldiers may not be up to their usual elan. They are best suited to being held in reserve to react to sudden disasters.
You also have 6,600 Roman Cavalry, or equites. Now, the Roman cavalry have a lot of problems, to be polite. To be less polite, they are crap, to quote Aryeh Nusbacher on the subject. These medium cavalry are armed with either a bronze breastplate or chainmail (nobody is quite sure which) may or may not have carried a shield, and may have carried a one-handed thrusting spear or else a two-handed one. Nobody is quite sure, but they are basically medium cavalry. However, they are made up of the sons of aristocrats, the men who can afford horses, and as such, they are reluctant to scout, and are also put off about being in the cavalry in the first place as in Roman society glory is won down with the infantry. As such, these men are poorly motivated. Crushed by heavy cavalry, they may also have trouble against medium cavalry of similar numbers, and even light cavalry with javelins may pose a problem for these less skilled riders. If they can catch the light cavalry they can probably give a good account of themselves. These men are, fundamentally, there to slow the enemy cavalry down while the infantry in the centre get the job done.
The Romans must remember that this is a green, hastily assembled force. The men are trained to do one thing, and one thing only; march forward in a straight line and smash their way through the enemy. They can do this either in a compact square, or as a checkerboard which leaves spaces inbetween the individual units to allow for manoevering and, if necessary, retreat. The hastati can fall back through the principes who can in turn fall back through the Triarii. The Triarii are trained to not fall back, but to form one long line and provide the last line of defence for a Roman army, though retreating men behind may be able to reform and come back to the assistance. The Romans can only do this in checkerboard, not in compact block. Any other manoevers may be difficult, but individual cohorts may be able to perform small-scale unit actions if they are given the room to do so.
So that is the Roman army. Now, the Carthaginians.
The Carthaginian army has been estimated at being between 45,000 and 55,000 men strong. We have estimated it to be 48,000 strong, and that is the figure being used today.
Now the Carthaginians have less flexibility in what they can do with this army. As closely as possible, they have to mimic Hannibals plan at Cannae, only altering it in the event that the Romans do something different to what Hannibal expected. This means they have to have a very clear understanding of what Hannibal did not only at the battle but before it. They are expected to have researched this (be sure that the referees have and will call them on it if they do something implausible).
Hannibals infantry was made up of, according to Wikipedia, 8000 Libyans, 8000 Iberians, 16,000 Gauls (of which only 8000 left camp) and around 5,500 Gaetulian infantry. For cavalry, Hannibal commanded 4000 light Numidian cavalry, 2000 Spanish, 4000 Gallic and 450 Liby-Phoenician cavalry whose exact nature is disputed to this day, but by all accounts were dangerous heavy cavalry. Finally, Hannibal had 8000 Balaeric slingers and mixed skirmishers. I'm not too clear on how many of these were slingers and how many spear-chuckers, so given the variety of backgrounds I'll assume there were about 3000 slingers and 5000 skirmishers. If anyone has more accurate information I'd be grateful as a sling is quite different to a javelin in its battlefield impact!
The skirmishers will have had a similar impact as the Roman ones; effective against light armour, less effective against heavy armour, all vulnerable in melee. However, the Balaeric slingers bear special mention. These men could hurl lead bullets at long, medium and short range for a distance of up to 400 metres. Effective range is probably closer than that, no one is quite sure. The main advantage of the weapon, therefore, is range; these men are, contrary to popular belief, longer ranged than many archers. Very dangerous to light infantry and cavalry if they are protected, they are less dangerous to heavy infantry and will melt away in melee.
The backbone of the Carthaginian force is the Libyan infantry. These men are armed and armoured like the Romans having taken their equipment off them in previous battles. They are solid, veteran heavy infantry who have already won two major victories previous and have faith in their commanders. With heavy shields and armour, and short, stabbing spears "shorter than the spears carried by the triarii" they can stand up to the Romans in melee, and with their greater experience, may even stand for longer.
The Gauls and Iberians are lightly armed swordsmen. The Gauls in particular are unarmoured and wield long, slashing swords. They are the least disciplined and greenest of Hannibals men, and are prone to breaking under pressure. Their lack of armour also exposes them to ranged troops, but they are brave and they may fight harder if paired with more disciplined units. They are best used in conjunction with the more heavily armoured and disciplined Iberian infantry, who are armed with the shorter falcata and a large, oval shield, and who have served with Hannibal for longer. Some Iberians also carry javelins which they can throw before closing, in a manner not too unsimilar to the Romans, giving flexibility to the Iberian force. They are good light infantry, and can hold the line against the Romans, but they are not heavily armoured enough to stand against them for long and will be broken through given time. They are, however, very flexible, and less dependent on staying in rigid formation. They are very good pinning forces, as long as they don't break.
No one seems to be quite clear who the Gaetulians, North African tribesmen, were, or what they were doing. They seem to have been light infantry of some sort. For the purposes of this exercise lets assume they were disciplined light spearmen.
Numidian cavalry were fast, light and unarmoured cavalry armed with javelins, a small shield, and a knife or short sword. They were some of the best riders around, capable of running circles around medium or even other light cavalry, using their javelins to pick apart the enemy before finishing them off once the enemy had been reduced in numbers. Dangerous harassment forces they can also be dangerous to cavalry in disorder in melee, and are the fastest unit on the battlefield. Caught by disciplined medium cavalry they will suffer heavy casualties.
The rest of the Carthaginian cavalry were heavy cavalry. The Spanish, Gallic and Liby-Phoenician cavalry would have carried two javelins, a heavy shield, a long, cutting sword and heavy chainmail armour. They will defeat the Roman cavalry man to man. However, their horses are vulnerable to missiles, and they are poor against infantry unless attacking from an unexpected direction, at which point they can be devastating. They are particularly dangerous to disordered and demoralised soldiers. Only an idiot would order them to attack spearmen.
With all that out the way, we get down to the details. The Roman army has high morale, as mentioned, having just beaten a Carthaginian ambush. The Carthaginians, however, have a long string of victories over the Romans and have total faith in their commander that will last until that faith is shattered by events. Hannibal, as the defender, has had more time to prepare. The Romans in particular need to forage water from the river. They are also currently encamped on the western bank of the river, not the eastern bank where the battle is to take place. They must plan to cross it, either the night before or on the day of the battle itself.
Due to the battlefield being some distance away, neither side will get much sleep. All units will be slightly tired.
As mentioned, the Roman army is relatively green. It has been trained to do one limited manoever well, and will struggle to perform more complex manoevers. The Roman cavalry are also reluctant to scout, and even if they are willing, they are not as good at it as Hannibals Numidians. The Romans, having marched for two straight days, are also tired, and need rest. If the Romans cannot forage for water, they will be demoralised and thirsty in the morning.
The Roman objective is to defeat Hannibal decisively. Failing that, they are to weaken Hannibal enough to force him to give up the strategically important town of Cannae, as it is an important supply depot and its capture is causing distress to the surrounding districts and testing the loyalty of Romes allied cities. The Roman task force has been tasked with doing this; it must behave aggressively and be prepared to take the fight to the Carthaginians. It is, however, up to the players to decide how they will do this.
Cannae is important to Hannibal too; his whole strategy is based around drawing Rome's allies away from it and forcing it to the negotiation table. He will probably withdraw if his position becomes untenable, but he requires a major victory here, and so should only withdraw if facing serious difficulties prior to the battle.
As an interesting point, we have divided the three players playing Rome up to represent the two Roman commanders and the way their operated in regards to one another. One player will be taking on the role of Paulus, who will be in charge of preparations the night before. He will be advised by the other two players, representing Varro, but has the final say. In the morning, Varro will take command, and the two remaining players will have the final say while the other can merely advise.
Others will be on soon with details of important battles prior to Cannae. It is important that the Roman players familiarise themselves with this battle. Varro and Paulus are unlikely to have a good understanding of the Carthaginian army; they will understand that they outnumber the Carthaginians by a large margin. They may comprehend that the Carthaginian cavalry is very dangerous. They will probably lack a fine understanding of Hannibals army, only knowing that it is a mixed force of light and heavy infantry and cavalry. This is based on knowledge of previous battles, and Varro's experiences with fighting Hannibal in the skirmish before.
Hannibal, on the other hand, knows the capabilities of a Roman army and their typical behaviour very well, and will be able to exploit knowledge of the details of both his own and Rome's army very well. In this respect, Hannibal has the advantage, and Rome will have to fill in the gaps through good recon and observation.
So, you now know the background. Go away and research previous battles; Trebia, Trasimene and for the Carthaginians, Zama are all suitable reading material. And remember the purpose of the exercise! We'll be starting the scouting and camping scenario shortly hopefully. You may use the chatrooms to discuss amongst yourselves. Questions can be directed via PM to one of the referees.
Oh! And also, we were going to have the three Carthaginians represent Hannibal, Mago and Hasdrubal as well. So who is going to be who?
You will be refighting the battle of Cannae, while at the same time, simulating the restrictions that both command groups would have been under prior to the battle's start, in terms of knowledge about the enemy, and in terms of your mens capabilities. This means that you will have to take into account what it was physically possible for you to have known at the time.
Furthermore, to simulate the command split prior to the battle, we have decided that the players will be taking the roles of the various commanders in charge of the battle, so as to better represent the command relationships that occurred prior to the battles beginning. One Roman will be taking the role of Paulus, the other two Romans will both represent Varro. The three Carthaginians will represent Hannibal, Mago and Hasdrubal, the supreme, infantry and cavalry commanders of the Carthaginian army.
Now before I go into the details of both sides, something must be understood. The Romans will only be bound by the knowledge of their commanders at the time, and the capabilities of their troops, as they were the historical losers. The Carthaginians, on the other hand, are bound also by Hannibals historical stratagems, and must attempt to faithfully represent the decisions of the Carthaginian general as closely as possible, and adapt them in the face of divergences from the historical record. In short, the Romans may play any two random consuls taking the place of Varro and Paulus. The Carthaginians, on the other hand, are essentially roleplaying Hannibal, Mago and Hasdrubal.
The object of the game is to simulate, to the best of our ability, the facts of the day, and see whether or not a different commander could have done better, or at least differently, from Varro and Paulus in the face of Hannibal.
With that understood, let us move onto the battlefield.
http://imageshack.us/f/804/cannae08tl3.jpg/
Above, is the battlefield you will be fighting on. It is a flat plain, with a river that bends in places, restricting the movement and, if the army is placed in certain locations, the retreat of, units on the battlefield. There is little room for hiding on this plain, except in such a way that units in the fore of your battle line mask reserves behind it. It is here that Hannibal carried out his double-envelopment of the Roman army and so utterly destroyed it historically. Hannibal, as you can see, is camped just south of it, ready to cross in the morning. The Romans are encamped after two days of straight marching and a victorious skirmish, just six miles away to the north-east. (That is below and off to the left of the picture.) When the scenario starts, it will be nightfall, and both sides must make their plans for scouting, protecting their camp, and their plans for the next day.
So you know the battlefield, now here is the basic information about your army.
Romans, you have a vast army of 8 Roman and 8 allied legions. You have a total of 87,200 infantry present, organised into these 16 legions. Of these legionaries, 25,000 are velites. These are lightly armed and armoured individuals with only a light shield and a javelin for protection. They are used to bombard enemy infantry before the battle, and are best used to screen the rest of your army as you set it up prior to the battle. They are effective against light infantry, but will make less of an impression on prepared heavy infantry. In ambush, their javelins may be dangerous to unarmoured horses. They will be massacred in melee, and were generally used against other skirmirshers. They can be dangerous to men caught out of formation as well. However, these are not their usual roles; these men normally retire to the flanks after skirmishing; they are screening forces.
What is screening? This is how you mask your deployment and organise it before battle without inviting an attack before you are ready. It hides what you are doing with your men before the battle begins. It also protects your line from the ranged forces of other skirmishers.
The next three lines are varying degrees of heavy infantry. At the front are your 25,000 Hastati. These are the youngest and poorest men who can afford to fight as heavy infantry. They carry two pilae which they will throw before a charge. Their short range makes them ineffective when it comes to deterring skirmirshers with lighter armament. They carry a hasta and a large shield, along with heavy chain armour, and are used to open the battle; these men will fight aggressively and will try to smash in the enemy line, but they have less staying power than the principes (though their heavy armour will stand them in good stead against any light infantry).
Behind them stand 25,000 Principes. These are the killers of the Roman army; they are better equipped, and more experienced than their younger counterparts, and are men in their prime. They are the second line that goes in when the first line fails to break through the enemy, adding pressure to an already beleaguered enemy front line. If given space, they are also quite flexible, and may be able to react to sudden crises. However, the nature of their formation requires time and room to turn in order to do this, and they will not be able to turn to fight if they are caught off-guard, and especially if they are already engaged. Also, these men are a bit greener, as it is a newly formed army. Some of these men may be as green as the hastati in practice.
The last line are 12,500 Triarii. Unlike the short-sword bearing hastati and principes, these men are armed with spears, which makes them dangerous to all types of cavalry. They are the oldest, and normally the most experienced men of the line. They normally make up the last line; these men are the Roman reserve, meant to react to sudden crises. These men may even have been hastati during the end of the 1st Punic War. However, the Romans have already lost two armies at Trebia and Trasimene, so these soldiers may not be up to their usual elan. They are best suited to being held in reserve to react to sudden disasters.
You also have 6,600 Roman Cavalry, or equites. Now, the Roman cavalry have a lot of problems, to be polite. To be less polite, they are crap, to quote Aryeh Nusbacher on the subject. These medium cavalry are armed with either a bronze breastplate or chainmail (nobody is quite sure which) may or may not have carried a shield, and may have carried a one-handed thrusting spear or else a two-handed one. Nobody is quite sure, but they are basically medium cavalry. However, they are made up of the sons of aristocrats, the men who can afford horses, and as such, they are reluctant to scout, and are also put off about being in the cavalry in the first place as in Roman society glory is won down with the infantry. As such, these men are poorly motivated. Crushed by heavy cavalry, they may also have trouble against medium cavalry of similar numbers, and even light cavalry with javelins may pose a problem for these less skilled riders. If they can catch the light cavalry they can probably give a good account of themselves. These men are, fundamentally, there to slow the enemy cavalry down while the infantry in the centre get the job done.
The Romans must remember that this is a green, hastily assembled force. The men are trained to do one thing, and one thing only; march forward in a straight line and smash their way through the enemy. They can do this either in a compact square, or as a checkerboard which leaves spaces inbetween the individual units to allow for manoevering and, if necessary, retreat. The hastati can fall back through the principes who can in turn fall back through the Triarii. The Triarii are trained to not fall back, but to form one long line and provide the last line of defence for a Roman army, though retreating men behind may be able to reform and come back to the assistance. The Romans can only do this in checkerboard, not in compact block. Any other manoevers may be difficult, but individual cohorts may be able to perform small-scale unit actions if they are given the room to do so.
So that is the Roman army. Now, the Carthaginians.
The Carthaginian army has been estimated at being between 45,000 and 55,000 men strong. We have estimated it to be 48,000 strong, and that is the figure being used today.
Now the Carthaginians have less flexibility in what they can do with this army. As closely as possible, they have to mimic Hannibals plan at Cannae, only altering it in the event that the Romans do something different to what Hannibal expected. This means they have to have a very clear understanding of what Hannibal did not only at the battle but before it. They are expected to have researched this (be sure that the referees have and will call them on it if they do something implausible).
Hannibals infantry was made up of, according to Wikipedia, 8000 Libyans, 8000 Iberians, 16,000 Gauls (of which only 8000 left camp) and around 5,500 Gaetulian infantry. For cavalry, Hannibal commanded 4000 light Numidian cavalry, 2000 Spanish, 4000 Gallic and 450 Liby-Phoenician cavalry whose exact nature is disputed to this day, but by all accounts were dangerous heavy cavalry. Finally, Hannibal had 8000 Balaeric slingers and mixed skirmishers. I'm not too clear on how many of these were slingers and how many spear-chuckers, so given the variety of backgrounds I'll assume there were about 3000 slingers and 5000 skirmishers. If anyone has more accurate information I'd be grateful as a sling is quite different to a javelin in its battlefield impact!
The skirmishers will have had a similar impact as the Roman ones; effective against light armour, less effective against heavy armour, all vulnerable in melee. However, the Balaeric slingers bear special mention. These men could hurl lead bullets at long, medium and short range for a distance of up to 400 metres. Effective range is probably closer than that, no one is quite sure. The main advantage of the weapon, therefore, is range; these men are, contrary to popular belief, longer ranged than many archers. Very dangerous to light infantry and cavalry if they are protected, they are less dangerous to heavy infantry and will melt away in melee.
The backbone of the Carthaginian force is the Libyan infantry. These men are armed and armoured like the Romans having taken their equipment off them in previous battles. They are solid, veteran heavy infantry who have already won two major victories previous and have faith in their commanders. With heavy shields and armour, and short, stabbing spears "shorter than the spears carried by the triarii" they can stand up to the Romans in melee, and with their greater experience, may even stand for longer.
The Gauls and Iberians are lightly armed swordsmen. The Gauls in particular are unarmoured and wield long, slashing swords. They are the least disciplined and greenest of Hannibals men, and are prone to breaking under pressure. Their lack of armour also exposes them to ranged troops, but they are brave and they may fight harder if paired with more disciplined units. They are best used in conjunction with the more heavily armoured and disciplined Iberian infantry, who are armed with the shorter falcata and a large, oval shield, and who have served with Hannibal for longer. Some Iberians also carry javelins which they can throw before closing, in a manner not too unsimilar to the Romans, giving flexibility to the Iberian force. They are good light infantry, and can hold the line against the Romans, but they are not heavily armoured enough to stand against them for long and will be broken through given time. They are, however, very flexible, and less dependent on staying in rigid formation. They are very good pinning forces, as long as they don't break.
No one seems to be quite clear who the Gaetulians, North African tribesmen, were, or what they were doing. They seem to have been light infantry of some sort. For the purposes of this exercise lets assume they were disciplined light spearmen.
Numidian cavalry were fast, light and unarmoured cavalry armed with javelins, a small shield, and a knife or short sword. They were some of the best riders around, capable of running circles around medium or even other light cavalry, using their javelins to pick apart the enemy before finishing them off once the enemy had been reduced in numbers. Dangerous harassment forces they can also be dangerous to cavalry in disorder in melee, and are the fastest unit on the battlefield. Caught by disciplined medium cavalry they will suffer heavy casualties.
The rest of the Carthaginian cavalry were heavy cavalry. The Spanish, Gallic and Liby-Phoenician cavalry would have carried two javelins, a heavy shield, a long, cutting sword and heavy chainmail armour. They will defeat the Roman cavalry man to man. However, their horses are vulnerable to missiles, and they are poor against infantry unless attacking from an unexpected direction, at which point they can be devastating. They are particularly dangerous to disordered and demoralised soldiers. Only an idiot would order them to attack spearmen.
With all that out the way, we get down to the details. The Roman army has high morale, as mentioned, having just beaten a Carthaginian ambush. The Carthaginians, however, have a long string of victories over the Romans and have total faith in their commander that will last until that faith is shattered by events. Hannibal, as the defender, has had more time to prepare. The Romans in particular need to forage water from the river. They are also currently encamped on the western bank of the river, not the eastern bank where the battle is to take place. They must plan to cross it, either the night before or on the day of the battle itself.
Due to the battlefield being some distance away, neither side will get much sleep. All units will be slightly tired.
As mentioned, the Roman army is relatively green. It has been trained to do one limited manoever well, and will struggle to perform more complex manoevers. The Roman cavalry are also reluctant to scout, and even if they are willing, they are not as good at it as Hannibals Numidians. The Romans, having marched for two straight days, are also tired, and need rest. If the Romans cannot forage for water, they will be demoralised and thirsty in the morning.
The Roman objective is to defeat Hannibal decisively. Failing that, they are to weaken Hannibal enough to force him to give up the strategically important town of Cannae, as it is an important supply depot and its capture is causing distress to the surrounding districts and testing the loyalty of Romes allied cities. The Roman task force has been tasked with doing this; it must behave aggressively and be prepared to take the fight to the Carthaginians. It is, however, up to the players to decide how they will do this.
Cannae is important to Hannibal too; his whole strategy is based around drawing Rome's allies away from it and forcing it to the negotiation table. He will probably withdraw if his position becomes untenable, but he requires a major victory here, and so should only withdraw if facing serious difficulties prior to the battle.
As an interesting point, we have divided the three players playing Rome up to represent the two Roman commanders and the way their operated in regards to one another. One player will be taking on the role of Paulus, who will be in charge of preparations the night before. He will be advised by the other two players, representing Varro, but has the final say. In the morning, Varro will take command, and the two remaining players will have the final say while the other can merely advise.
Others will be on soon with details of important battles prior to Cannae. It is important that the Roman players familiarise themselves with this battle. Varro and Paulus are unlikely to have a good understanding of the Carthaginian army; they will understand that they outnumber the Carthaginians by a large margin. They may comprehend that the Carthaginian cavalry is very dangerous. They will probably lack a fine understanding of Hannibals army, only knowing that it is a mixed force of light and heavy infantry and cavalry. This is based on knowledge of previous battles, and Varro's experiences with fighting Hannibal in the skirmish before.
Hannibal, on the other hand, knows the capabilities of a Roman army and their typical behaviour very well, and will be able to exploit knowledge of the details of both his own and Rome's army very well. In this respect, Hannibal has the advantage, and Rome will have to fill in the gaps through good recon and observation.
So, you now know the background. Go away and research previous battles; Trebia, Trasimene and for the Carthaginians, Zama are all suitable reading material. And remember the purpose of the exercise! We'll be starting the scouting and camping scenario shortly hopefully. You may use the chatrooms to discuss amongst yourselves. Questions can be directed via PM to one of the referees.
Oh! And also, we were going to have the three Carthaginians represent Hannibal, Mago and Hasdrubal as well. So who is going to be who?
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CANNAE BATLLE ANTECEDENTS
THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS
Year 218 BC. In an unseen and incredible action, the Carthaginian leader Hannibal has managed
to cross the Alps with all his army and directly menaces the Italian Peninsula. In less than a
year, the African commander has managed to move his whole army from Hispania to the northern
regions of Italia, a fast and bold campaign that nobody thought it was possible.
The Romans, who expected to stop him near the Rhone river before he even tried to cross the
Alps, are now amazed and alarmed for a war they never imagined would be fought so close to
their homes. In a desperate attempt to stop him, Publius Cornelius Scipio tries to Intercept
him near the Ticino River in Pavia, but the Romans lose this short battle engagement and have
to retreat and wait for reinforcements. The Roman Senate, in order to win this war and drive
Hannibal out of Italy, commands Tiberius Sempronius Longus to cancel his plans of invading
Africa and bring his army to help Scipio.
BATTLE OF TREBIA
Once in Italy, Hannibal faces his first serious probelm in the form of supplies: his army has
grown with gaul reinforcments, and therefore he needs a quick action to solve this problem.
Helped by a disloyal Latin commander, the Carthaginians capture the supply depot of
Clastidium. However, Longus seizes this opportunity and manages to arrive where Scipio´s army
is stationed, succesfully joining the main Roman corps.
Hannibal, fearing treachery by the local inhabitants, decides to make some raids targeting the
population and pillaging their homes, but Tibeirus quickly sends 1000 infantry men aided by
enough cavalry and succesfully drive Hannibal´s troops back to their camp. While Hannibal
decides that fight is over for the day, Tiberius considers himself as a victor; that would not
go unnoticed by the African general.
Guessing that Trebonius could be easily provoked, Hannibal sends part of his Numidian Cavalry
to attack the Roman ecampment, but with clear orders to retreat as soon as the Roman began to
counterattack. Trebonius, disregarding Sicipio´s advice, falls in the trap and sends more than
half of his army in pursuit of those Numidians.
Patiently, Hannibal waits untill the Romans try to cross the Trebia River and launches the
second phase of his plan. The Numidian Cavalry turns back and with the aid of some skirmishing
lines begin to stop the Roman advance. At the same time, Hannibal sends Mago, Cavalry
Commander, to attack the Romans from behind and mobilizes his elite infantry to entrap and
attack the full Roman army from the flanks.
Hannibal´s plan would work as he wanted. Unable to retreat because of the river and totally
encircled, the Roman forces are massacred (about a 3/4 of Scipio/Tiberius´men) and suffer a
major defeat. The Carthaginians decide to settle untill winter has passed out and the Roman
Senate resolves to raise new armies that can defeat this African nightmare.
BATTLE OF LAKE TRASIMENE
It´s 217 BC now. The Roman Senate has put Gnaeus Servilius Geminus and Gaius Flaminius under command of their new armies, while Hannibal crosses the Apenines and approaches Rome, the Eternal City and center of the western world. His army, however, suffer great attrition and lose part of his troops and the remaining elephants.
Knowing that speed was paramount, Hannibal cuts Flaminius´s connection to Rome and lures him to think he is trying to reach Rome itself, and at the same time devastates all the lands Flaminius was tasked to protect.
Without any scouting, the Roman Consul decides to march against Hannibal to end with this war once and forever. However, Hannibal finds a perfect place for an ambush and waits near Lake Trasimene´s shore. The morning of June 21, the Roman troops march eastward along the northern edge of the lake, not knowing that slowly but constantly Hannibal is closing any retreat possibility either to the west or the east.
Once the Romans have no way to retreat, Hannibal launches his devastating attack. In less than four hours, the Roman army was annihilated. Almost half of their troops, including Flaminius, die, and the rest are sold as slaves. Hannibal, emerging from another brilliant victory, had successfully planned and executed the greatest ambush in history.
News of the defeat caused a panic in Rome. Quintus Fabius Maximus is elected dictator by the Roman Assembly and adopts the the tactic of avoiding armed conflict, relying in weakening Hannibals´ troops by cutting their supply lines until Rome could rebuild its military strength.
However, this strategy, though effective, turns out to be very unpopular amongst the Romans, who want a quick defeat of the Carthaginians, so the Roman Senate ends Fabius´dictatorship and elects Paulus and Varro as new consuls.
Both will march to confront him near Cannae...will you change History?
When u r writing a post....
Click "Go to Advanced", where there is a Microsoft Word type menu, there, highlight the text u wish to change color and click on the "A"
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Click "Go to Advanced", where there is a Microsoft Word type menu, there, highlight the text u wish to change color and click on the "A"
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You don't have to go advanced, the option is available with quick reply, too.
If possible, I would like to represent Mago, the Carthaginian cavalry commander. Although, of course, my teammates are free to choose who they wish, as it doesn't really matter to me. 
Also, to all Carthaginian players, I can meet almost any time of the day, but mostly after 4 pm GMT +0
Also, to all Carthaginian players, I can meet almost any time of the day, but mostly after 4 pm GMT +0
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I wouldn't mind being Varro, but if the Roman players both chose him, I am okay with playing Paulus.
First come first served. Chief is Mago, Doombunny is Paulus and Calculator is the first of our two Varro representatives.
