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First, the initial deployment of the two armies, as seen from the Carthaginian camp:
Initial deployment again, from the Roman wing:
And now the Carthaginian lines from the Roman side:
The Roman order of battle was:
Command 1:
Scipio - Reg Cv(O) Brilliant C-in-C
Triarii - 8 Reg Sp(S)
Principes - 16 Reg Bd(O)
Command 2:
Octavius - Reg Bd(O) Sub General
Hastati - 15 Reg Bd(O)
Velites - 16 Reg Ps(S)
Command 3:
Laelius - Reg Cv(O) Sub General
Roman and Italian Cavalry - 4 Reg Cv(O)
Numidians - 1 Irr LH(O)
Command 4:
Massinissa - Irr LH(O) Sub General
Numidian Cavalry - 8 Irr LH(O)
Numidian Infantru - 8 Irr Ps(S)
Roman-trained Numidian Infantry - 4 Reg Ax(O)
Command 5:
8 Reg Bge(O)
8 TF
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Carthaginian Order of Battle was:
Command 1:
Hannibal - Reg Cv(O) Brilliant C-in-C
Veterans - 34 Reg Sp(S)
Poeni Cavalry - 5 Reg Cv(O)
Numidians - 5 Irr LH(O)
Command 2:
Hasnobaals - Reg Cv(O) Sub General
Citizen and Libyan Infantry - 24 Reg Sp(I)
Command 3:
Corpus Magis - Reg Cv(O) Sub General
Ligurian Mercenaries - 10 Irr Ax(S)
Celtic Mercenaries - 8 Irr Wb(O)
Moorish archers - 1 Irr Ps(O)
Balearic slingers - 1 Reg Ps(O)
Moorish and Numidian infantry 4 Irr Ps(S)
Hastily gathered elephants - 7 Irr Exp(O)
Command 4:
6 Irr Bge(O)
7 TF
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The Carthaginian elephants advance and are handled by the Roman velites:
Laelius comes under pressure from an elephant on the flank and is forced to manouve desperately to outflank it:
The Carthaginian first line advances behind the elephants, but too slowly to take advantage of the disruption caused by the elephants. The Romans have time to re-group and extricate the velites, whose job is now done. Ps(S) vs Ax(S) is a pretty uneven contest.
Scipio (Duncan Head) confers with Massinissa (Peter Kershaw) and Octavian (Gordon Harrow). David Mather is the umpire.
Laelius advances on the Roman left wing now that the elephant is disposed of and his cavalry have regrouped. The Carthaginian cavalry have not taken advantage of the disruption because of command difficulties - Hannibal is commanding them as well as the Numidian cavalry on the other wing.
The Roman and Carthaginian cavalry clash. Despite having a general and overlaps on both wings, the Romans lose both combats.
In the centre, now that the velites have withdrawn, the hastati march forwards in serried ranks, followed by the principes and triarii. The two Roman legions have uniform red and white shields; their flanking socii cohortes have more mixed patterns.
Picking up from the previous post, the velites have dealt with the Carthaginian elephants and have been moved out of the way. The Roman hastati now go crashing into the Carthaginian front line of Ligurians and Gauls, who are outflanked on both flanks by light troops because the Carthaginian second line isn't close enough to prevent this.
Meanwhile on the Roman right, Massinissa is finally dealing with the opposing Numidians. What should have been a straightforward slaughter becomes chaos when Peter rolls 4 1's in combat in succession.
On the Roman left flank, Laelius is in a similarly chaotic state and is also throwing terrible combat dice.
In the centre though, the Roman hastati start carving through the Ligurians and Gauls without any loss to themselves. These are truly elite legionaries, apart from the general, who is the only Blade in the second line to lose his combat.
Hannibal (Phil Barker) takes this opportunity to confer with the commander of the first line (Chris Hanley).
The pep talk is unsuccessful as the first line break and rout through the second line, severely disrupting it.
This shows the general battlefield at the point where the first Carthaginian command breaks. Massinissa controls the right flank, but his command has lost so many ME that he does not dare take any risks against the intact Carthaginian second and third lines. Laelius on the left is still faffing about.
The Roman principes move up to support the hastati, showing the Carthaginians how triplex acies is supposed to work.
The formation of the Roman hastati is disrupted as their general struggles to control their pursuit of the routing Ligurians. Now is the time for the second line to attack.
Poor PIPs and the intervening survivors of the front line prevent them however, and the hastati redress their lines again.
Laelius on the left flank continues to give a master class in how not to use cavalry, losing another element to the Carthaginians. He is now 1 element from becoming disheartened.
The two lines face each other off, building up energy for the next round of slaughter.
And then they engage, initially only on the Roman right though.
This allows the Romans to flank the Carthaginian left as they rush forwards to engage the other half of the phalanx. Things are looking bad for the second line.
The Roman principes are still fresh, which is a good thing because Scipio now gets his first glimpse of the final Carthaginian line.
Hannibal prepares his veterans for the inevitable, as the commander of the second line (Norman Whapshott) removes yet more spearmen.
The end is nigh - the Carthaginian line thins and starts to flee.
Its all over for the second line - it breaks and heads towards the third line.
On the left flank, Laelius finally kills the last of the Carthaginian cavalry.
While the hastati slaughter the remaining Punic spearmen.
Some velites, caught up in the general exuberance, charge impetuously into Hannibal's veterans, obviously mistaking them for routers. It turns out to be a bad mistake.
The disorganised hastati pursue the routing Poeni towards the veterans.
At this point the Romans realise that if the hastati charge individually into the veterans, they are going to suffer quite badly. And if they lose enough of them to break the command, the two ME penalty on nearby commands will break both flank commands as well, causing the whole Roman army to rout.
Frantic attempts are now made to restrain the hastati, although there are some large holes punched through the third line by routers.
Laelius now reorganises and decides it is safe to engage the flanks of the veterans. Massinissa does the same on the other flank.
The hastati are reorganised and things are looking bad for the veterans. Again, the opportunity to strike while the hastati were disorganised has been missed.
Hannibal stares defeat in the flank as Laelius swarms the veterans.
The Romans now bring the fresh principes up through the hastati. The Carthaginians move to engage them, but it is too late.
The lines push to and fro but the Carthaginians just cannot afford to lose many veterans.
Finally as the sun sets, the fifth Sp(S) is taken off and the Carthaginian losses are more than 50% of the army ME. The battle finishes and the slaughter begins.
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