The Roman player could choose to activate any of his 3-initiative leaders. He chooses Tribune Antonius, who will move the infantry forward, leaving the cavalry commanders to await developments.
Movement: Using Individual Orders, Antonius can only move three units, since his initiative is three. So he uses a Line Command instead, which lets him move an entire line of cohorts, six units in this case [4.23, 4.24].
In moving this line, Antonius has two goals: to advance on the Carthaginian
position, and to destroy the second EL. Usually the Romans are very strong in
the center and weak on the flanks, and this scenario is no exception. The
Romans need to destroy the Carthaginian center before Hannibal's cavalry
can defeat their Roman counterparts and turn on the Roman infantry.
Note that the cohorts can move through the velites without penalty [Stacking Chart and 6.63], but must avoid the EL ZOC (which extends into its front two hexes) because they would have to stop there [7.23]. Since the cohorts don't enter the EL's ZOC, it cannot Reaction Fire with its archer screen, even though the cohorts are adjacent [8.23].
Remembering what happened last time an elephant went crazy, Antonius leaves holes along the likely rampage paths.
Orderly Withdrawal: As the cohorts advance, the Carthaginian SK use Orderly Withdrawal to avoid getting caught in shock combat. OW allows a unit to fall back when an enemy is two hexes away. The distance of the withdrawal is the difference between the unit's movement allowance and that of the approaching unit. Here, the SK (MA 6) can withdraw one hex in the face of the Roman cohorts (MA 5). However, units may continue to OW if the attacker keeps advancing, so as the cohorts continue their move, the SK allow themselves to be pushed back nearly to their starting position. [6.51]
Skirmishers suffer no cohesion penalties for OW [6.52]. Roman LG units take a cohesion hit if they fail a TQ check; other foot units take a hit automatically.
The EL would like to OW, but can't since it in an enemy ZOC [7.23].
Missile Fire: As part of their movement, the cohorts can throw their javelins. The cohort extraordinaires, next to the EL, needs a 5 to hit; the remaining cohorts have no enemies within range [Missile Range and Results Chart, note 'c']. The cohort rolls a '5', and inflicts two more hits on the EL.
Shock: As a moving heavy unit, the CE is marked with a SHOCK Check TQ marker, and shock combat begins.
The CE checks TQ, rolls a 7, and (barely) passes. The EL rolls a 3, and also passes.
Using the Clash of Spears & Swords Chart, LG attacking EL in the flank gives base result of column 8. There are no size adjustments, since it's non-EL vs EL. The Shock Superiority Chart doesn't need to be consulted; since the EL are flanked, the attacker is automatically Attack Superior [8.36A].
A dieroll of '7' on column eight produces a result of 2(3), which becomes a 2(6) because of Attack Superiority. The CE cohort takes 2 cohesion hits; the EL takes 6 additional hits, for a total of 10, which is >= its TQ, so it routs. Which for EL means another rampage.
Rampage:
The first rampage dieroll is '1', so the EL blunders into the velites,
inflicting another cohesion hit (now the velite has 4).
The second rampage dieroll is '5', so the EL heads west.
The third rampage dieroll is '0', so the EL heads towards the nearest friendly unit, in this case the leftmost SK. Since the SK is "on the line" between two directions, random selection sends the EL southwest.
The fourth rampage dieroll is '6', so the EL heads northwest, and dies automatically.
Advance After Combat: As the final step in the Shock Combat, the attacking cohort must advance into the defender's vacated hex [8.41], and may adjust its facing by one hexside [8.42]. It turns due south.
The cohort is also marked Missile No [8.14, case 3].
Momentum: Now Antonius has a decision to make: does he want to attempt to continue his turn via Momentum [5.3], or is he Finished [5.15] for the turn? If he succeeds in getting a Momentum activation phase, he can continue the advance on the Carthaginian line, initiating shock before Hannibal's cavalry can move on his flanks. On the down side, any moved unit which moves again suffers an additional cohesion hit [6.13], and the Carthaginians will get a chance to trump the momentum attempt.
Antonius decides that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, so he tries for Momentum, and succeeds by rolling a '0', which is <= his 3 initiative [5.32].
Now the Carthaginian player has the option of trumping the Momentum attempt, using any non-Finished leader with a equal or higher initiative rating [5.42, case 2]. If he succeeds, Antonius will be Finished, and the trumping leader will take his turn, but if he fails the trumping leader is Finished, without getting to move at all!
The Carthaginians decide to Trump with Tychaeus, and succeed with a dieroll of '2', which is <= Tychaeus's 5 initiative rating. Antonius is now Finished, and Tychaeus is activated. In addition, leaders with initiative less than Tychaeus's -- on either side -- are bypassed, and can no longer try for Momentum this turn [5.44]. This affects the Drusus and Falco for the Romans, and Mago for the Carthaginians.