Lucius stood and went out to the senate floor, chuckling as he did so.
As interesting as it's been to hear everyone's' arguments over these shrines, I'm amazed that no one here has even asked about the siege of Genoa or the current situation of the Allied legions. It seems that you senators are perfectly content with the unknown.
What if I was ambushed on the way to Genoa by a force we haven't seen hmm? What if reinforcements arrived by sea to outflank me? What if by some twisted turn of fate we lost the battle? I can see you senators are tiring of my saying so but this most august of assemblies needs to straighten out its priorities to the matters at hand. Therefore I must come to you to inform you of the situation which I had well in hand.
This battle was fought in Genoa, previously an allied state of the republic. I used only half the army in the assault, with only a few veteran cohorts from the legions that fought in Arretium and Trasimene. I must say that our fresh troops need more seasoning in the form of the assault on the Baleares, the following results will compound these facts into your minds and the legions' training regimen.
The Order of Battle
I ordered all units to form up in our standard field battle line. I expected that without walls the enemy would not be content to hide within the city, I was half right when they sent out a recon in force supported by some of their missile troops. I immediately outflanked the first comer with 3 cohorts, routing them almost immediately before outflanking the next, routing them in turn with heavier casualties than the first, which routed without taking much in regards to losses.
First Contact
I ordered our equites, fresh ones mind you against the enemy missile component, although they were successful, the enemy light horse caught them and forced them back. I ordered a fourth cohort to support them, also fresh and they took heavy casualties by factors unknown, most likely poor fighting skill, veterans will be transferred to the regiment during their next training in Capua. On another note, the same will happen with the equites who, even with new found heavy support, fled in terror from a numerically inferior enemy, it took much in the way of coaxing and a rather inflamatory display of disciplinary action by me towards their officer to get them to stop running and remain as a battlefield presence in reserve.
The Cavalry Routs
It was during this time that I moved to further destabilize the enemy line, in order to accomplish this I pushed in most of our reserve cohorts, five through ten to perform outflanking actions on what was now 3 main areas of contention with the bulk of the enemy heavy infantry in the Southernmost salient. I was able to maneuver our cohorts through the enemy line unopposed to strike at the now-vulnerable flanks of the enemy in the second salient.
The Advance
The rest of the cohorts were sent past the third salient to form a fourth even further back in the town center, where the enemy missile component was regrouping along with some of the enemy cavalry and some light troops.
The Envelopment
The enemy general was actually, in fact, handling the situation quite well, given that he was outnumbered two to one. Though he proved impatient and careless in the end as he charged into the Southern salient to achieve a breakthrough with his guard even though the attempt of such an action was clearly impossible with over one third of our forces in active reserve, including the triarii, velites and cavalry, not to mention myself watching over that critical area. I ordered our velites to expunge whatever missiles they had left into that flailing mass of Gallic body parts and one hit their general in his most crucial moment, killing him instantly.
Death of A general
Content with the lead I then held I ordered the Campanian cavalry, by now the only component of the army I trusted apart from cohorts six through ten, to form up in the section least occupied by friendly troops in front of the Southern salient. I then gave them orders to charge into the enemy and they buckled immediately under the pressure from these elite and heavy cavalry.
Final Resistance Crushed
Lucius then passes out scrolls to each senator.
Here are the official casualty reports for the battle. I trust you will find the numbers to be satisfactory given the objective of training fresh troops in the field rather than in camp for an invasion that could very well decide this war. Italy is now free of Punic presence, and Rome is safe from foreign enemies for the moment. Roman honor is also restored an this victory so close to Gallic territory should deter the possibility of incursions by insurgents at least for a few years.
Official After-Action Report