The (Unofficial) Great Battles of History
Cavalry Battles of the 2nd Punic War
This module was previewed in C3i #7 and published in its entirety in C3i #10. As you can guess from the title, it's battles prominently feature cavalry.
The five scenarios are:
Balance: 90% Carthaginian
Attraction: An elite (but tired) Carthaginian cavalry force attacks a mixed Roman detachment of cavalry and recruit velites.
Carthaginian Advantages: Leadership, mobility, TQ
Roman Advantages: Carthaginian exhaustion, lots of missiles, numbers
Ah, the Numidian cavalry! They can run from anything, easily work around enemy flanks, and they have javelins, too. To make matters worse, here they've got magnificent leadership.
The Carthaginian center is less overwhelming at first glance. Lancers are nothing special against light infantry; in fact, the LI have a better attack column. Given equal TQ, the Romans would be the favorites due to numbers. Unfortunately for the Romans, their TQ 4 units are facing TQ 7 lancers. Fifty percent of the time, a velite isn't going to survive the first charge.
With no real aces up his sleeve, the Roman is forced to look for a lucky break.
Begin by moving the cavalry to the flanks. Drop the velites back at least two hexes, so the Lancers will need a second Momentum phase to attack on turn 1.
Your turn 2 goal is to establish a line anchored on the board edge, with the cavalry refusing the flanks. (Yeah, it's a cheap ploy. You prefer those Numidians on your flanks?)
The Carthaginian player must pick at a weak spot, if he can find one. Remember, only Scipio can command the Roman-allied lancers, so you may be able to pick them off before they can take their place in the enemy line. If the Romans succeed in setting up the Cheap Ploy Redoubt, recover any TQ hits you've taken and burst through the middle, trusting your higher TQ to see you through. Since the Romans outnumber you, the goal is to inflict the 37 rout points in one turn, so that a hanging flank doesn't matter.
The actual result -- a Roman rout -- is very likely to happen, but it's not going to happen the way it did historically (see scenario intro).
Balance: 95% Carthaginians
Attraction: Another ambush scenario.
Roman Advantages: Numbers
Carthaginian Advantages: Troop Quality, Surprise, Leadership
Maharbal waits until the Roman troops pass by and then pounces. You might as well hit the back of the column to make the Romans spend the extra MPs to turn around. Six cavalry slam into the Roman column and it's "Let the Routs Begin!" time. With care, you can even surround the rear guard with ZOCs to guarantee an elimination if you're feeling conservative.
There's a good chance that one Roman unit will survive the assault unrouted, but that's not much of a counterstrike force. So the Prefects Equitum order their units in line instead of column and brace for the second wave. Then the three(!) 4-rated Carthaginian leaders activate, passing out 12 IOs without even needing Momentum, and mop up routed units and the odd RC still in column. Even a slinger can handle a routed cavalry unit!
More puzzle than game here.
Clarifications:
Balance: 90% Romans
Attraction: Another ambush scenario.
Roman Advantages: Leadership, surprise
Carthaginian Advantages: Troop Quality
Bad news for the Carthaginians: they're caught in column formation, and the Romans will get at least two activations to attack before any reaction is possible. It's a good thing that Hanno's troops have high TQ ('7' and '8') because they're going to need it.
Usually the Numidian LC are invulnerable because they can OW when attacked by anyone else. That won't protect them here, since column formation prevents OW. The Romans should use their initial activations to nail them while they can.
Scipio and the Prefectus Equitum between them should be able to rout most of the Carthaginian units, especially if the Prefect gets a Momentum phase or two. Though it's unlikely, pursuit might even eliminate enough units for victory before the Carthaginians can even move!
The only real hope for the Carthaginians lies in their superior TQ. Once rallied, they're likely to be in better shape than their attackers. It's not unthinkable that an attacking RC or two might rout also. Pursuit or shock losses might also render Roman units hors de combat. Still, it's definitely a steep uphill battle for the Baal-worshipers.
Clarifications: