Himeras River (211 BC)

We played the battle at Himeras River (from Carthage's failed attempt to begin an offensive in Sicily during the second Punic War) at Guardian Games the Hail Caesar rules. Because I was playing but also hosting I was pretty busy and forget to take a lot of photos, but I did manage a few.

The scenario had four units of Numidian horse at the extreme edge of the Carthagenian right flank – these units were reluctant to join the fight due to the poor treatment their beloved commander Muttines had received. Each unit had two disorder markers placed by it at the start of the game and at the start of the Carthagenian turn (me), I could try to rally one of the markers off each of the units. Without those four units, my infantry was outnumbered by the Romans (Tom), so the Carthagenian strategy weighed on holding out until the Numidians could be convinced to join the fight and the Romans obviously wanted to try and do as much damage as possible early on.

I did well with dice and removed all markers from the Numidians in the first two turns (so they could move normally starting on the third), and I thought I was appropriately cautious with my infantry. However the Romans surged forward quickly against the medium infantry on the Carthagenian left, which, after several rounds of melee, began to break and the Romans started to prepare to turn that flank.

Meanwhile, the Numidians dispatched the Roman cavalry and flanked (and broke)Triari and who were already engaged against elephants and Iberian infantry. With a victory condition of six enemy units destroyed, the "score" had gone from 4-0 in favor of Romans to 4-3 very quickly. However at this point two units of Carthagenian heavy infantry retreated off table to end the game with a Roman victory.

This was my second Hail Caesar game in two weeks, and I spent way less time looking up rules than before. I don't think any special rules were forgotten (especially morale modifying ones for the Romans) and I did a better job identifying how engagements lined up. The only error was not giving the +1 to hit modifier to the side which won the previous round of melee (which should be called a "impetus" bonus for clarity, instead of "winning side"), for which I need to acquire or make some sort of marker to indicate that a unit still in melee won the previous round.

I am really enjoying playing and running Hail Caesar. I like how it captures a sense of the linear slugfest of ancient warfare.

I especially like how tactically engaging it becomes as the game progresses, despite the tabletops lacking terrain differences and the opposing armies mostly being heavy infantry-based with largely ineffective skirmish/ranged attacks and small cavalry wings.

I like how light infantry or skirmishers in open order can melt back through friendly heavy infantry for protection (and then start offering up support dice).

I like how when you get to about the third round of the same melee between Roman infantry and their opponents, the Romans suddenly gain an upper hand and dump 10-15 casualties on you.

I like how Numidians, with no help of any wonky special rules, can effectively start to turn a battle by attacking in the flanks.

I like that my 20mm armies, which kicked around in boxes largely unused for six years, are finally being used – up next is to paint more Greeks which will feature as Syracusans in the Sicilian Wars between Carthage and Syracuse.

(Above: the typical "key moment" gift from the Romans)