Final terrain placement
Because Cancon (biggest wargame event in Australia) is having a 300pt ADLG competition, everyone was wanting 300pt practice games. I had enough figures for a Carthaginian army to field either the Iberian/Gaul option or the Hannibal in Italy option. After a consistent losing streak with Carthaginian Iberian/Gaul option I decided to use the Hannibal in Italy option. I didn't know what army I would be facing, except that it would be from the same period.
The Hannibal in Italy list meant that I could field a decent number of HI impact swordsmen, but that my spearmen would be elite and armoured and a hefty 12 points each. Being a 300pt game I didn't have to make a lot of decisions about what models I was going to use because with the exception of some light infantry I was going to use just about all of them (Hannibal in Italy only allows one elephant).
In terms of organising the commands, I had two corps which were intended to be HI impact swordsmen supported by elite HI spears and a LI. The limitation of my available models meant that I was using more elite HI spears than I really wanted. I added some cavalry to my elephant corps in case it ended up on one flank, and the fourth corps was a pure cavalry force. My default deployment would be the HI in the centre, the elephant corps with embedded cavalry on one flank and the other cavalry command on the other flank.
My Carthaginian list.
Kevin's Successor list
I won initiative and decided to attack in plains. The Successor commander selected a coastal zone (represented by the river). We also had initially three fields, two plantations and the hill. I adjusted the plantation in my deployment zone (removed it) and moved the plantation in the Successor's deployment zone more towards the centre with the intent of disrupting his advance.
Final terrain placement
The first Successor command was deployed against the coastal zone. I responded with a HI corps against the coastal zone. We both then deployed the remaining corps sequentially out from the coastal zone towards the other side of the board.
There were gaps in the Successor's lines but I had a battle line that was nice and tight with minimal gaps, with the light horse on my extreme right flank. I had the elephant corps and the cavalry corps both on the right flank, but that meant I could have all my cavalry working together.
We had both forgotten that in 300 pts games that you deploy up to 5UD from the centre line rather than 5UD from your base edge. Also the Successor general had paid for seven Xystophoroi but only deployed six.
Initial deployment
At the end of deployment it looked like each of my commands was outmatched - HI vs Pikes, 1 mediocre elephant vs 3 ordinary ones, HC elite + MC vs impact HC elite and impact HC, 3 LH vs my 2 LH. However I should be able to get overlaps so I was intent on moving up whilst there were still gaps in the Successor battle line.
End of Turn One
In my first turn I advanced the HI corps twice (4UD) and the elephant corps once (3UD). My intention was that the following turn they would be aligned (at 6UD from the starting line). I also pushed my cavalry forward, but peeled off one medium cavalry unit to aid the two light horse.
The Successors responded by moving ahead twice. The pikes on my left slid across to close the gap between the pike units. This did mean that there was a 2UD gap between the pikes and the coastal zone that was only protected by his LI.
Turn two I held back my HI corps because I didn't want to get engaged with the enemy pikes until I had a chance to get something onto their flanks. I moved forward the elephant command and also the cavalry. I moved up the two LH in front of my main cavalry line to threaten the flanks of his cavalry if they moved up.
The Successors responded by moving the pikes and elephant command forward. One unit of MI broke off from the elephant command to get behind my light horse. This was then charged by a unit of impact elite HC which destroyed one unit of LH (causing a cohesion hit on the second) and then pursued into contact with the second unit.
The Successor 3 LH charged my 2 LH which took the charge. I would be fighting 2 vs 3, but one of my LH was elite and I didn't want to let him around my lines. In the battle my elite unit (fighting at evens) was destroyed and the other unit (at -1 from overlap) inflicted a hit on the opposing unit.
One of the Successor HC had peeled off from the rest and was exerting a ZOC on my MC in the field.
Turn three I advanced the HI to re-align my battle line. I charged my
cavalry in, with overlaps on each side my HC would be fighting at "evens" vs his
impact heavy cavalry (we were both elite). The lone MC in the fields I
retreated out of the ZOC. Both remaining LH units died in their separate battles.
The Successors advanced their pike and elephant commands and brought another
unit of HC into the cavalry melee. The flanking LH had destroyed their
opponents and wheeled around the field that was causing me some problems.
In my turn four I advanced my HI and charged my elephant command into its opposing force, sliding across so I could have an overlap on the right side of the combat and hopefully leave room to have my HI come up next turn to give another overlap. The Successor general left his LI to receive the charge from my elephant, which destroyed it.
The lone MC in the field was moving back up to join the battle line.
The Successor turn four had the pikes advancing to just outside 1UD and sliding
across to close the gap between the pikes and the elephant command. He
brought in a MI 2HW unit into the combat between the elephant corps to remove my
overlap. In the cavalry melee we each lost a unit.
Turn five I charged in my HI into the pikes. In the first turn my impact HI would be fighting at evens vs the pikes, whilst the HI spear were fighting at effectively -1 but had armour. However all the pikes (and my HI spears) were elite. As the Successors had embedded generals I decided to add my generals to the battle so that I wouldn't be down another factor.
My right most unit did a quarter turn and wheel to ZOC the MI and elephant. The rest of the HI advanced and slid, with the left most portion of my line advancing two HI spearment to be able to get a flank charge the following turn.
In the Successor turn the two lines of HI continued to slug it out. In the cavalry battle he advanced a HC to threaten a flank charge on my HC.
On turn 6 I finally got the flank charge on my left flank with a single HI spears into the end of the pike line. I also turned my HC and charged into the HC unit that had been threatening my flank. This had impact whilst mine didn't, so the charge was probably a bad idea as I lost the combat.
My flank charge on the end of the pike line wass too little, too late and I lost
3 units of HI and a MC and my army broke.
The Carthaginians broke at the end of their turn six, with the margin being 14 - 36.
If I realised that my corps were outmatched I would have considered a refused flank deployment. Although we don't swap lists before the game, I could have considered deploying a more central corps first to give me more flexibility in how I responded to my opponents deployment.
On the subject of deployment, Kevan was very good at closing any gaps in his battle lines before I could take advantage of them. I need to learn how to do this.
I need to remember the deployment rules for 300pts allows me to deploy closer to the centre, and also to remember to rally troops if I have extra command dice.
The field caused all sorts of problems for my cavalry. Kevan did warn me that I should avoid getting my cavalry stuck in the terrain. In particular I had problems that my MC didn't exert a ZOC (because it was in terrain that penalises it during combat), but the opposing HC exerted a ZOC into the terrain. Subsequent to the game found in the Official Amendments that a unit does not insert a ZOC into terrain that penalises it in combat. (This made no difference in the game, but useful to know for future).
I eventually got a flank attack on the left wing, but it took the HI a long time to get in the right position and I was using a 12 pt unit to do it. Should I consider having a cheaper and faster moving unit (LMI, MI or MC) as a supporting unit for the flank?
Kevan's advice at the end of the game is that he normally works on the basis of 4 good units per corps. This will lead to your battle line being shorter than the opponents but you will normally win the direct match ups.
He also suggested upgrading all my MC to elite, and suggested that elite MC were more useful than ordinary HC. I have always fielded some standard MC with the intent of it being a flanking force, but have not yet (in 6 games to date) been able to achieve the dominance on a flank to be able to get the unit to achieve a flank attack.
Kevan also suggested using more LH to get the dominance on the flank, and that Jason had used elite LI very effectively against him in terms of supporting LH units.
Other players at the debrief suggested spending less on command to get more units (I have spent 25 pts on commanders compared to the Successor's 10 points) and getting more units. Certainly I never felt the need for more command points so maybe I could trim that back. Another suggestion was to take the Iberian/Gaul option and get a 3 elephant command, or go for an Early Carthaginian list which can be effective in period.