[RTR AAR] For the glory of Qart-Hadat!

[Mikail Mengsk]

Hi, this is my first AAR here, and my first campaign playing with RTR 1.9 Platinium. I'm sorry about my poor English, please ask me if you don't understand something...

For my first campaing, i choose Carthage, because:

- it's a powerful faction in the game, but not too powerful as the Macedonians or the Ptolemaic Kingdom could be.

. i really like its history and its rivalry with Rome, Iberians and Numidians

- It has a central position in the map, so I can expand in every direction

- It's a naval superpower, a role i've never played before

- Has a very particular army, made by both elite troops, cheap militias and a lot of mercenaries



I'll try to play a semi-historical campaing, so these are my House Rules:

- Historically Carthage had great interests in Sicily and against Syracuse (when Dionisius ruled the city), so my objectivemust be the same in the first part of the campaign

- Roman's and Puni's aristocrats in the respective Senate had some relationship, and before the Punic wars they had good relations. So, i won't declare war against Rome first, at least not fopr the first years.

- Spain was the Barcides main stronghold, so i HAVE to expand here, at least against the rebel's settlement. Soon or later, i have to submit the Iberians

- i'm supposed to be a Naval Superpower, so the Greeks are my natural enemy. My objevctive is to obtain the complete control of the western medieterranen sea and, if possible, of the Adriatic and the Ionic Sea.

- The land forces are not as important as the navy, so I will have only one or two powerful stacks in both Italy and Spain. In Africa I will have only city garrisons. Obviously, if Numidians declares war to me, i could train another stack to defend myself.

- Numidians were Carthage's main allies, so I don't want to invade their territory. On the contrary, i will let them expanding in the western africa

- I will focus myself on the economy: only a few big cities (Carthage, Thapsus, Carthago Nova, Lilybaeum, Tarentum) will have advanced military buildings. The objective is to become an economic superpower, more than having a huge empire or having the biggest army.

- I will expand my empire in the western mediterranean area first. I can invade Creece only if I've already submitted the Iberians and conquered Sicily and southern Italy. I can expand in the Eastern mediterranean area only after the submission of both Greeks and Macedons.

- i will never expand in the barbarian's lands like Gallia and Germania. If I take some city here, i must sell it to my eventual allies or give it back for moneys or other.

- I will train mostly non-punic units, like Lybian Cavalry and Spearmen, and when my economy will reach the 10000/15000 denarii-per-turn I will start making armies with a significant percentage of mercenaries.


I'll start writing the AAR soon.... Stay tuned!

[MasterOfThessus]

Looking forward to it

[Mikail Mengsk]

what do you think about the house rules?

[MasterOfThessus]

Sounds historical and nice

Do you have any gameplay rules?

No retraining, no camping on bridges etc?

[Mikail Mengsk]

Mmmh I didn't think about it, have you got some suggestions? Surely i won't camp on bridges . About retraining units i don't see why I shuldn't do it, is there an historical reason for that? :hmmm:

[Mikail Mengsk]

Qart-Hadat wasn’t an empire. It was an oligarchal republic, with the Senate greatly limiting the powers of the two Suffets that owned the executive power. The army and the navy were under the control of the Senate too, and the aristocratics that sat in the Senate controls the trading companies that provided most of the Chartaginian’s annual income.

The Senate ruled the city for centuries, and under its rule the city had grown immensely, and its empire with it. Now Qart-Hadat controls huge territories in Africa, and has colonies all over the Western Mediterranean area. There are Carthaginean cities in Spain, in Sardinia, in Corsica, in the Baleares, in Malta, and in Sicily.

This great empire is not controlled by huge armies, but with the economic power of the motherland. Qart-Hadat is probably the most important trade point in all the Mediterranean Sea, and its merchants are welcomed everywhere. Also, it’s very rich in valuable goods, and the agricultural production is good. Its treasury is immense: entire cities had been inherited only bribering their leaders with gold. It’s so immense, that treasury, that many of the Carthaginian armies are made by mercenaries.

Until now, Qart-Hadat didn’t make many wars. The Senate prefered to use the power of its gold to persuade its enemies, and the militarist faction in the city were a minority. Until now.

A powerful merchant’s family has changed ideas about this kind of diplomacy. That family had seen many powerful empires growing in the East. Alessandro Magno, and after him his Diadochi, established great empires, protected and expanded thanks to great standing armies. The Eastern world is on fire, and the echoes of that wars arrived even to Qart-Hadat.

The Senate, as usual, refused to get involved in those rivalries. On the contrary, they became even more isolationists, leaving Qart-Hadat immobile, while the other factions are moving fast toward the future…

That merchant’s family grows in anger: they won’t allow the Senate to condemn their great city to a secondary role in the History! They will prevent this! They will rule Qart-Hadat, and they will make it the most powerful empire that the world have never seen!

That family was the Barcides family…..


[...]



Hamilcar Barca was waiting for his chance to talk. The Senate of Qart-Hadat was discussing about the same **** for days, and he was tired of that. …"we must send an army in Sicily!"...."no, we must withdraw in order to not provoke Syracuse"..."Syracuse must be defeated once for all"..."no, we have to concentrate ourselves on rising our economy"..."...the trade companies..."..."...more mercenaries..."..."...we're not prepared to...".

Finally he hit is fist on his seat and shout furious:

"That's enough!!!"

The Senate lies in silence, all the Senators looked at him.

"Everytime we have to deal with the Sicilian’s affairs I see this chaos! It's time to take a decision!"

“I’m sure you have an idea, honorable Hamilcar…” Said ironically an old senator called Shasir. Shasir’s family was one of the worst opponents of the Barcides family.

“Of course, I have one, honorable Shasir. And it’s very simple. We must choose a Strategos, give him enough resources, and let him submit the whole Sicily once for all….”

He was interrupted by Shasir.

“We’re already discussing about this, Hamilcar, you told nothing more than….”

“Please let me finish, Shasir. I think that the Senate should NO MORE interfere in the Strategos’ decisions. Give him absolute military power. No interferences, no discussions, no warnings, NOTHING!”

“The Senate MUST control the Army, it’s his prerogative…” Said another senator.

“No, the Senate MUST NOT interfere! In the past every time a Strategos wanted to do something he had to send an emissary to the Senate, wait for a reply, and then realize that the situation had changed, and the senate’s reply had became useless! The Senate may rule Qart-Hadat in peace, but the war needs rapid decisions. Also, the Senate must give to his Strategos ALL he requires. The Senate just DON’T know how much a war will cost, so it must just give the Strategos the funds he asks with no hesitation.”

“Giving a similar power to a single man is dangerous for a Republic!” Said Shasir.

“But if we want to win that war we must do it. Why do you think we were not able to submit Syracuse? Because our Strategos were under by the control of the Senate, they have no freedom of action!”

“It’s still too dangerous!” Replied an old senator.

“If we choose an old Strategos, it will not be dangerous, will it?” Replied Hamilcar.

“Are you talking about Hanno, the Old Lion?” One of Hamilcar’s followers said.

“Yes. He’s old, he won’t be a threat for the Senate if we give him the military power.”

“And he’s also your father, Hamilcar. How curious!” One more time the irony in Shasir’s words were clear.

“He’s the best pretender to the role of Strategos Maximum. Do you know any other Strategos as skilled and aged as Hanno?”

“It’s a controversial proposal, we must vote!” Shout a young senator.

The Senate discuss about Hamilcar’s words for a few minutes before voting. Hamilcar himself sat down in silence, hoping that his allies between the senators, and the senators he paid, would help his proposal to pass the voting.

The proposal had been approved. Hanno the Old Lion will have full military powers until the Sicily would be submitted to Qart-Hadat. Hamilcar smiled. His plans for Qart-Hadat were just at the beginning….




The Senate of Qart-Hadat




From the beginning to just before the first war against the Greeks:

Carthage starts the campaign with a good army in Sicily under the command of Hanno. He’s a great general but he’s old, so I must move him as fast as possible because I have no generals as skilled as him. So I immediately sent him to besiege Agrigentum.

The economy is in good shape, but anyway I started a huge economical revolution: I set taxes as high as possible and started to build all the farm’s and port’s improvement. Cities with a low loyalty built temples, and in a few cities (Carthage, Carthago Nova and Lilybaeum) I started to improve the military buildings. I trained mostly non-punic units, in observation of the House Rules.

I sent some military units from Africa to Sicily, adding them to Hanno’s Army. I also start the construction of some triremes and quadriremes. I sent my diplomat to the Romans, obtaining a trade pact.

I keep sending military units to Sicily while Hanno conquered Agrigentum and Messana. Meanwhile, my economy grows thanks to the increasing trading and farming. The mines in Iberia provided a huge amount of gold. Rebel armies appeared soon in Africa because of the high taxes, but I always bribe them.

My Iberian colonies grows, and I decide to expand myself in this area. A naval recognition discovered that the Rebel city of Emporaie was almost empty of troops. I immediately sent a small army to besiege the city. In a few turn I’ve got another city. I assume that the Carthaginian Senate wouldn’t oppose to this, because no major factions had been involved.

In 280BC the whole Sicily was in my hands, except the Greek’s city of Syracuse and its big army, and Hamilcar wanted to force the events…

[MasterOfThessus]

Looking good

Nice plot, all I would like to see is more pictures, perhaps showing the general and his army, the frontier, major battles etc

As it is now, you are pending between two styles of writing, the plot and the pure gameplay.

If I could suggest something I say you go with the plot, meening that you show nothing from the campaignmap of the game, all to give the feel of "reality".

This is the greatest of AAR's written in that way: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=56478

Perhaps read some pages (it's worth it) and see if there is any ideas to use for you

[Mikail Mengsk]

Thank you for suggesting and following my AAR

Well, ypou must know that I use Fraps for taking screenshots, but when I started the campaign i didn't see that i haven't launched Fraps. So, i've no pictures about the beginning of the campaign, that's why i didn't post any picture, i'm sorry

And yes, i'm actually pending between two styles: i use the plot to show how trhe Barcides family became the most powerful one in Carthage, and the way they made the Senate unable to stop them. I think it could be a parallelism with the change from Republic to Imperium that happened to Rome later, with Augusto. The gamplay part is because writing in plot-style is so hard and slow for me (poor english), and it's so long to explain every move i made...

But don't worry, i've take dozens of screenshot of my great battles agaist Rome and Corfinum, and I will dedicate long posts about them, both in gamplay and in plot style . Agrigentum, MEssana, Croton and Rhegium fell without battles, and the battles of Syracuse and Tarentum were very small, so I didn't take screenshots. The battle agasinst the Iberians was so bad (they just run away avoiding battle) so i didn't take any picture....

But i will post huge screens of the Western Europe showing my expansion and the great battles (both naval and land) i fought. I hope you will appreciate them

I hope i will continue that AAR tomorrow. If anyone has other suggestions, tell me, i really need them! Don't hesitate to ask me if you don't understand my confused english

[MasterOfThessus]

Looking forward to it

[Tony83]

This is looking good Mikail, well done!

I look forward to reading about Hamilcar's exploits in Sicily and Iberia.

[Mikail Mengsk]

Thanks Tony, I'm writing the story just now, this evening i'll post something and also some screenshot. I can also post the map of italy and iberia but I took the screens when i had already ended my first war against the romans so if I post them i will show you the future . I think i'll post them later.... meanwhile i'll post some screenshot about the adventures of Hanno, the Old Lion in Sicily

[Mikail Mengsk]

Sicily, Hanno's Army Headquarters

Hanno was undressing: it was not so easy because he wears the full cuirass. He was 72 years old, but he always wear it in front of his troops.

His strenght, his adamantine courage, andthe sincere care he showed for his veterans had made him very popular among his soldiers. Theyr loyalty were absolute: they would follow him everywhere, knowing that he would lead them to the victory against all kind of enemy.

He hanged his sword "thanatos" on his bed, and let himself collapsing on it. He was so tired...Every day he felt older: his shoulders hurts badly and the lack of rest made him nervous. But he didn't want to be elsewhere. He was always been a warrior rather than a politician: that's why he was there instead that in Qart-Hadat. Most of his sons (Hasdrubales, Hamilcar and Burrhus) were politicians and traders, while only his last son, Teophanes, was a warrior like him.

But it was Hamilcar that made him proud to be a Barca. His son's ability in the Senate and outside it had made his family the most powerful of Qart-Hadat, and soon they would rule the city by themselves!

His assistant coughed, trying to have his attenction. Hanno growled: distracting everytime was another sign of his age. He was waiting for orders: Syracusan patrols had been sighted. Hanno ordered the light cavalry to repel them without killing them. They are close to the big city and ready to battle, but the Senate had not ordered him to attack yet.

The city seemed well fortified, but its garrison was too small to risk an open battle against Hanno's army, so they retreated inside the walls.

He started writing a letter to Hamilcar, asking him to obtain the authorization to siege the city. HE gave the letter to the captain of the first convoy of plunders that would sail to his family's private dock in the port of Carthage. Hamilcar's plan needed a lot of money, mostly to "convert" other senators to their cause...



Hanno's Army near Syracuse

[Mikail Mengsk]

Qart-Hadat, the Senate

Hamilcar sat in the Senate, listening to Abderbales Sirci: he was showing in details the results of the new agrigultural reform. Abderbales was the ambitious young heir of a minor aristocratic family of Qart-Hadat when Hamilcar had gone to him. He was proposing a pact to every landowners family that had some representation in the Senate. If they would support his proposal about making the office of Strategos Autokrator for life, he would propose to the Senate an agricultural reform that could make them very rich... His proposal was accepted, and now Qart-Hadat had both a strong military leadership and extra agricultural incomes.

Hamilcar looked at another senator: Qarades Mishra, another ally of the Barcides. His family was another minor one before accepting Hamilcar's proposal. They traded in slaves, and Hamilcar offered them the menagement of the new mines in Iberia. In exchange, they supported the election of Barcides-loyal governors in some important city.

Other senators had been bounded to the Barcides thanks to a wise marriage's policy.

Hamilcar smiled: his plan was going well. He united almost all the minor families under the flag of the Barcides and now they are by far the most powerful faction in the Senate. The other old aristocratic families now couldn't stand against the Barcides.

He waited Abderbales to sit down, then asked the right to speech.

"Senators, i received a letter from Hanno, the Strategos Autokrator. He's ready to besiege Syracuse, he's only waiting our authorization."

"He won't receive it: a direct attack to Syracuse will make the whole Greek League to declare war upon us"

Hamilcar smiled: "This is what we want, isn't it?"

"Absolutely not, it's too dangerous."

"We're grown in strenght. THe Greeks can't stand against us."

"Our trades will suffer too much"

"Our mines and farm's income can support our economy well" Said a Barcides ally

"Are you suggesting to lose almost a half of our trade income only to take a single city?"

He again smiled: "I'm thinking about taking the whole Magna Graecia, not only Syracuse"

"Are you crazy, Hamilcar?!?"

"This is madness!" (OT_ madness? THIS-IS-SPARTAAAAA! :sparta: )

"Why? It's a very large area and its city are very rich: a good prey for the mighty Qart-Hadat!"

"We can't stand against the whole Greek world: their motherland will send reinforcements"

Admiral Thrasymenes intervened: "I think our fleets could prevent this. If we keep expanding our navy we can easily control the seas"

"That war will force us to raise again taxation: our people are tired of that!"

"No, if we strenghten our control over the population. I think the creation of a Secret Police and some Execution's Squares should work well."

Shasir, who sat in silence until now, asked: "A secret police?!?"

"Yes. In the past our city had been very easy to infiltrate due to our open policies. Now spies and rebels spreads the unrest among our people. We must find them and kill them all!"

Shasir again: "Just repression? That's your proposal?"

"No, we must build aqueducts in our city in order to reduce the squallor: this will make people happier. We must also keep taxes low. Finally, if we sign trade pacts with other kingdoms, we won't go low of trade incomes."

"And what about the Army? Our peoples don't want to send their sons in battle."

"They won't: we should recruit lybian troops, granting them the citizenship at the end of their duty, in addiction to the usual payment, obviously."

Shasir was appalled! "Granting them citizenship? You must be fool!"

"This will grant us a huge amount of warriors. We could rise entire armies and make the world tremble with fear! We need an army as great as our ambitions!"

"This will shaken the base of our culture!"

"The Lybians? Never!"

"And we also have to invest all our treasuries, in order to develop our empire. We must store thousands of denarii no more!"

"We can't do that! Our treasury is needed to calm down rebellions. Have you forgotten the two armies we had to pay to make them disband, before they can put Hippo Rhegius under siege?"

"I think that if you accept my proposals, this will happen no more."

"We won't approve such a mass of foolishnesses!"

"We'll se! I call for a voting for every proposal i made!" Hamilcar shouted.

THe two factions, Barcides and Conservatives, choose their spokesmen, who summarized their proposals and make a final declaration.

The Senate approved the attack on Syracuse and the whole Magna Graecia.

It also approved a list of generals that would support the Strategos Autokrator in his tasks. The conservatives didn't know that most of them were in some way linked to the Barcides, and the other are members of the Barcides family.

The construction of new aqueducts was approved, and also a further enhancing of the existing farms.

The constitution of a secret police was approved, and its leaders would be the Suffets.

The Senate accepted to send emissaries to some other great faction to offer trade rights.

The reformation of the recruiting system was rejected. Hamilcar cursed silently, but he calmed down immediately. Hanno and the other generals would defeat the Greeks also with their actual forces. He will receive the usual amount of reinforcements and new troops. He will only press the Senate to send him a few thousands of denarii in order to recruit some mercenaries.

The Senate could not take a decision about the investment of the whole treasury: the two factions were in parity. The Senate dibated for days. Hamilcar used a lot of denarii to "convert" some senators to his cause to allow the proposal to be approved.

He was tired after that: he was young no more. Fortunately his brothers Bhurrus and Hasdrubales helped him in his tasks. He finally came back to his palace and sent a letter to his father.

[Mikail Mengsk]

This time I tried to write in story-mode, i hope you will enjoy it and i succesfully explained what I've done in the game

[MasterOfThessus]

Well done!

If you don't want to attach your images (you will hit a limit) you can upload them onto a site like imageshack and then use the "insert image" feature on the forum. You can place that code wherever you want and thus plan the images into the post.

[Mikail Mengsk]

yes i know, the fist sceen I posted (hanno at Syracuse) is hosted by imageshack ;-)

[Mikail Mengsk]

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I've seen that rules in the pontic AAR$ here in this forum, and i decided to introduce here too because I think they could help the game to be more realistic:

Population Guideline- Play with unit size setting as ‘huge’, treat all numbers as factor of 10. Example: army with 1520 soldiers in considered as 15,200 soldiers.

Settlement population numbers refer to citizens paying taxes and fit for military service, also treated as a factor of 10. Example: Rome with population of 14,300 people is considered to have 143,000 tax-paying citizens, approximately 450,000 people in total.


Thankx to the author of that AAR!
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Near Messana, Sicily

Hanno was waiting for the ships to come. He had all his army ready for boarding into the ships and to be loaded in Italy, but the ships were in late. He looked at his army: it was great, but not sufficient for taking the whole Magna Graecia on its own. They needed reinforcements. The Senate sent only a few troops, mostly Lybian spearmen. He was in desperate need of assault infantry: he had none but a few hundreds of Iberian Scutarii. Fortunately, the Senate gave him about 5000 denarii for hiring mercenaries. He knew the Italians were good mercenaries, but he trusted more in his cavalry.

While waiting for the ships to come, his mind came back to the battle of Syracuse.

The siege had gone on for 3 years before the city garrison realizes that no reinforcements from Greece or Italy would arrive. The Carthaginian Fleet defeated many times the Greek’s fleets and the seas are under its control. Finally, the garrison decided to accept battle.

It was a desperate attempt: Hanno’s army outnumbered them by 3:1. Hanno let them advance, provoking them with the light cavalry. He (schierato) the infantry far away from the walls so the enemy had to march for a few minutes before engaging Hanno’s main forces. The ordered its few cavalrymen to engage Carthaginian’s cavalry but they had been annihilated in a while.

The greek general had nothing to do except keep trying to engage Hanno’s infantry. Hanno just widened his infantry, while its cavalry went on the rear of the greek's forces, cutting their way back to the city. When the deployment was completed, Hanno ordered to surround the enemy and ordered the charge. The Greeks tried to resist but they had been surrounded and they were doomed.

In a few minutes all the Greeks were dead or taken prisoner. Syracuse would surrender the next day. The Sicily was completely under the command of Qart-Hadat, and Hanno gained the title of “Siegemaster”.

Now he had to pass the Streits of Messana and lead his army to the conquest of the whole Magna Graecia. With him there were his nephews Bisaltes and Vettias. They were there to help him: they will lead the second army (still incomplete) and rule the city he will conquer. He was happy they were there: they were good generals and their diplomatic and business' skills would be useful.

His assistant came to him announcing that a sentinel had seen the ships. The admiral of the fleet signalled they were in late because of a Greek’s attack. Hanno grumbled and ordered the army to prepare to board on the ships. He was old and he knew he had only a few years before his death, so he wanted to conquer as many cities as possible…



Hanno's Army besieged Syracuse before the garrison's sortie

[Mikail Mengsk]

Croton, Southern Italy

The Croton's Garrison had sent an emissary. Hanno knew that they wanted to surrender: Croton was under siege from 2 years and its garrison was as exhausted as its citizens. Croton had also sent some reinforcements to Rhegium when Hanno put it under siege, but Hanno's liutenant Bisaltes ambushed and destroyed them.

After the fall of Rhegium, Hanno split his army in two: he leaded one half to siege Croton and leaved the rest in Rhegium under Bisaltes' command. His armies were small, because most of the reinforcements from Africa were sent to Agrigentum and Syracuse in order to prevent rebellions.

The emissary entered his tent, and a few minutes later Hanno exited outside and annouced to his army that another city had fallen in their hands!



Bisaltes' troops ambushed the Croton expeditionary force



Arse, Iberia

Meanwhile, a similar scene was happening in Hannibal Barca's tent, in his army's camp near Arse. The iberian's colonies of Qart-Hadat (Gades and Carthago Nova) had grown greately thanks to the mines' and farm's incomes and his father Hasdrubales soon received the authorization of the Senate to expand his domains.

First, Hasdrubales sent a small army to besiege Emporiae, which a naval recognition had seen quite undefended. The city fell under a short siege and now Burrhus' son Theodekles was its governor.

Hasdrubales took many years strenghtening his forces and developing his cities, than asked the Senate for an army. The Senate sent him a small force and Hasdrubales ordered his son Hannibal to lead it and to take Arse. Hannibal quickly marched in the night and surprised the Arse's forces in their unfortified camp. He forced them to retreat into the city walls and put it under siege.

At the time, the city was about to fall. With the fall of Arse, the strenght of the Carthaginian colonies equalized the Iberian's possessions in the peninsula. Until the fall of Arse relationships between Qart-Hadat and the Iberians were good, and there were many trade pacts between them. But Hannibal thought that things could easily change....



Hannibal's forces entered the city of Arse

[Mikail Mengsk]

264BC
The Senate, Qart-Hadat

And then cames the war.

After a series of victories, with most of the Southern Italy already submitted, and a stategical alliance with the Roman Republic, the survival great empire of Qart-Hadat was in danger. And the enemy was just its supposed ally: Rome!

Years before the Romans had asked for an alliance, suggesting to unite their forces in order to crush the Greeks and to share the Magna Graecia. Hamilcar was contrary, but the Senate accepted and signed the pact. Hamilcar said that Hanno's armies could submit the Magna Graecia without any help but many old aristocratic families had realized that every victory had strenghtened Barcides' influence and they wanted to stop them. Also, many families had relashionships with the roman's patricians, and many of the minor families truely believed in that alliance.

But Hamilcar knew the truth: Romans were an expansionist faction, that based its power on its mighty legiones. They wanted to submit the whole Italy, and even more than only Italy. They won't leave the rich Magna Graecia in Carthaginian hands. Sooner or later, a war was inevitable.

Hamilcar warned them, but in vain. He was tired about the continuous debatings, so he decided to leave the Senate and to give his office to his son Bomilkar. He decided to pass the last years of his life into his palace in Utica, in front of the sea. He was old, the new generation of Barcides was ready to replace the old guard and to obtain the greatest power. Hamilcar had done his best, and now he could rest in peace.



Hamilcar's Palace



264BC
Magna Graecia, Italy

Two years after the alliance, the Romans had defeated the Greeks armies near Paestum and had taken the city. Suddely they signed a ceasefire with the Greeks and immediately declared war upon Qart-Hadat. Their full 4 Legiones were ready to invade the South, so they were trying to took Carthaginian's army by surprise, while they are still besieging Tarentum.

Hanno had already unofficially passed the office of Strategos Autokrator to Hamilcar's son Bisaltes, he was just too old for that, and staied in Rhegium with a small garrison. He was informed that a full Roman Legion was marching southward from Paestum to Rhegium. He knew his garrison couldn't resist, so he asked Bisaltes to send an army to Rhegium.

Bisaltes had other plans. His overall forces were much smaller than the roman’s, so he had to resort to cunning. He gathered a powerful army weakening both Croton’s garrison and Tarentum’s army, and lead it far from Rhegium, but not so far. He would wait until the Romans would arrive to Rhegium and put it under siege: then, he would attack them and crush them between his army and the Hanno’s forces in the city. Also, he spent all his treasure to hire an entire mercenary army and asked the Senate and the Sicilian cities’ governors to do the same, and also to sent him every warrior they could. Then he sent those forces in the Southern Bruttium and asked his cousins Theages and Admetos to drill them. In his plans, they would face the Roman’s Legiones just after the battle of Rhegium, and they must be ready!




Roman Legion maching toward Rhegium



264BC
Near Kirtha, North Africa

Meanwhile, in Africa, Bomilkar (one of Hamilcar's sons) was facing the third Numidian Rebellion. The first two rebel armies had been persuaded to disband with gold, but now all the treasury was needed for hiring mercenaries to send in Italy. So he had to gather a small army and now he was facing the enemy.

The battle had not been too hard: the Lybian Cavalry charged and wiped out the rebel's skirmishers and forced the Numidian cavalry to flee. Without any support, the main Rebel force had been annihilated by the superior Carthaginian's troops. Only a few numidians survived.

After the battle, Bomilkar had enough time to think about the situation. First the war against the Greeks, then the Romans, now the rebels, and Hannibal told him about strange Iberian's manoeuvres! Could Qart-Hadat defeats all his enemies?



Lybian Cavalry charging the Numidian rebels

[Mikail Mengsk]

Comments are welcome!