ADLG Later Carthaginian v Spanish

Last night's game saw my Later Carthaginian army take on Gordon's Spanish. I went for an army with a lot of skirmishers, many of whom were elite, while Gordon went for the Roman-trained version of Spanish.

Initial deployment showed the Spanish with only two commands visible, the third either ambushing in the plantation or village or (unlikely though it is) flank marching:

Maharbal commanded the cavalry on the Carthaginian left, Hannibal the elephants and infantry in the centre and Massinissa a mixed command of skirmishers and Libyan spearmen on the right. The Spanish left flank looked weak so Maharbal and Hannibal advanced quickly to take advantage of their superior numbers:

On the right Massinissa sent some Numidians to scout the plantation. A vast horde of Celtiberians was found to be lurking! Masinissa's task would be to delay the Spanish left as long as possible:

Celtiberians prepare to advance:

Massinissa deploys his skirmishers to slow the Spanish horde:

Maharbal's cavalry presses on. Hannibal advances to contest the fields where some Spanish skirmishers are lurking:

Both sides are attacking on their left while refusing their right flank!:

Massinissa has a tough job with few troops who are quickly being outflanked:

Numidian javelinmen engage the Spanish skirmishers:

Massinissa falls back:

Large numbers of Spanish infantry contest the fields:

Maharbal has chased off the Spanish cavalry and outflanked the Spanish infantry, having only cavalry though it is hard for him to attack the Spanish infantry in the fields:

The weakness of the Carthaginian right flank is apparent, if Hannibal commits the elephants and infantry they will quickly be exposed to flank attacks from the Spanish horde!:

Hannibal commits one elephant and his own Spanish infantry to the attack on the fields:

The Carthaginian mercenary Spanish fare badly against their compatriots and the elephant fails to achieve a breakthrough. The Spanish attempt to arrange their forces to engage the remaining elephant with javelinmen:

In the background the Spanish cavalry have turned around and charged the Carthaginian cavalry but are quickly wiped out. The fight for the field is going very much in the Spaniards favour though:

On the left Massinissa is doing his best to hold back the Spanish but is being forced to give ground:

The fight for the fields continues. Some of Maharbal's cavalry join in but fighting in the fields is less than ideal for them:

Massinissa has fallen back as far as he can and now has to make a stand:

Hannibal's infantry and elephants are now engaged but the fight goes badly for them:

Spaniards crash into the Libyan spearmen and Ligurian javalinmen. Considering they are at a serious disadvantage the Carthaginians put up a good fight:

Both sides take losses but things look grim for Massinissa:

On elephant has been killed and the second is being overwhelmed by Spanish numbers. The Carthaginian Gallic and Spanish mercenaries have pretty much been wiped out:

Hannibal's command is reduced to a couple of Numidian skirmishers and an elephant that is about to be destroyed:

Massinissa is in a similar situation with the Libyan spearmen about to go down fighting:

It's all over for the Carthaginians! The Spanish army was not that far from breaking itself as a few Numidian cavalry had looted their camp and they had taken quite a few losses especially against Maharbal's cavalry:

Another enjoyable game for the veteran Carthaginians, still getting on to the table after 30 years or so!

I'm not sure I could have done much different really, while our armies were almost the same size Gordon had far fewer skirmishers than me so my fighting troops were outnumbered badly.

Hannibal's command performed dismally, hardly winning a combat despite being at worst level in the initial combats. On the other hand Gordon's cavalry were even worse being wiped out in two turns!

For my next 25mm game I think I will try to use the Late Romans or maybe even the Byzantines if I can find a suitable opponent.