battle against hannibal

**atila9000** · June 26, 2012, 04:23 PM

is it a good battle for me if i had lost against hannibal at trasimene with these results at hard difficulty?
MEN DEPLOYED / KILLED / REMAINING
ME / 3197 / 1603 / 382
enemy / 3793 / 2805 / 2402

also, Nepos survived from the battle. i just want to know if i did well or horrible. if this is important, i attacked hannibal, i didnt move my stack, so hannibal attacked me

**Lt.Speirs** · June 26, 2012, 04:51 PM

Losing the battle with hannibal is more likely than you'd expect. I managed to win the battle with hannibal several times, but only because he ran into my triarii

. Also, I dont quite understand whether he attacked YOU or did you attack HIM. (When you move your army you will be ambushed and you'll probably lose more men)

**atila9000** · June 26, 2012, 04:55 PM

i attacked him. but im having serious trouble now, the upgraded rebels unit are besieging rome, hannibal besieging arretium, and the other carthaginian stack with ariminum, im playing 1 turn at medium difficulty campaign. full stack under young publius will attack the rebels besieger, if i lose, im done and Rome will be destroyed. any advice?

**ur-Lord Tedric** · June 27, 2012, 05:52 AM

Originally Posted by atila9000

i attacked him. but im having serious trouble now, the upgraded rebels unit are besieging rome, hannibal besieging arretium, and the other carthaginian stack with ariminum, im playing 1 turn at medium difficulty campaign. full stack under young publius will attack the rebels besieger, if i lose, im done and Rome will be destroyed. any advice?

atila, you have made my day - thank you.

I have been discussing just this sort of behaviour around the starting position with the Team and how some players may find it - especially with the total of all the tweaks.

You are doing just fine, the original battle is lost and lost badly in history, so you are faced with the 'reality' of Hannibal's invasion of Italy and the subsequent Socii Rebellion.

Have you brought troops home from Spain, Greece and the Islands? Doing that will help you cope admirably, but you have a fight on your hands.

As players gain experience they will do better - but starting out on H/H 1turn will catch a few out - perfect!

**Kuhndog** · June 27, 2012, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by ur-Lord Tedric

Have you brought troops home from Spain, Greece and the Islands? Doing that will help you cope admirably, but you have a fight on your hands.

I think this will make you feel better Atila, my Spanish region was lost to the Carthaginians anyway, I would have done better by bringing them home to Italy. I never even got the chance to expand into the Iberian peninsula.

So I say bring abandon Spain and retake it later. Oh, and Dyrrachium was besieged as well. Should've brought them home as well.

**Apio Claudio** · June 26, 2012, 05:13 PM

When Grimbold Reads your comment i think hes going to rejoy with that fact. Well i was lucky enough to keep my cities and avoid the rebelion otherwise i would be screwed. At the begining it's really frustrating dealing with all those problems.

**Kuhndog** · June 26, 2012, 05:36 PM

I was lucky enough to win against Hannibal. My forces were extremely depleted though. So as his army retreated, I took my men to the nearby town to regroup. I trained more units and went looking for him. All of this was on 0 turn though.

**atila9000** · June 26, 2012, 05:46 PM

my problem is that arretium and ariminum will be carthaginian soon, Rome is at peril, i think Cannae will be besieged by the oher capuan rebel stack. Crotona´s rebels are likely to siege Rhegion, which only has a general. all military units but generals and older Scipio and his units were taken to liberate Rome, which has the faction leader and his successor, all the units which start at Rome from the begining and 1 campanian cavalry are trapped on the capital, waiting for the result of young Scipio against those damned besiegers

**Kuhndog** · June 26, 2012, 05:57 PM

If you are for sure going to lose those cities, I would abandon one to reinforce the other or abandon both to help Rome (If they need help).

**Antiochus_III** · June 26, 2012, 06:19 PM

Abandon Spain and Dyrrachium if you haven't already. You can take them back later!
I had exactly the same issue after a rather sketchy battle with two rebel stacks. Rome surrounded, the North under siege. Get every troop you can, abandon where necessary. Only then can you win such a dire situation. Try the islands like Sicily, Caralis and Alia!

Good luck.

**Nerouin** · June 28, 2012, 12:32 PM

I'm surprised that others are having issues with Hannibal. I've never found him terribly difficult. Start by fleshing out your army to 20 units by moving in units from the surrounding cities, making sure that they join your main army from the south to avoid being ambushed by Hannibal. Done correctly, this will give you six cavalry units. You'll need to wait a turn before attacking him, as bringing said units in will sap the stack's movement points. Attack Hannibal in your next turn if you aren't attacked by him during his own turn.

When the battle starts, put your cohorts in a long line with triarii on their flanks and three of your six cavalry cohorts at each of the ends of your line. Use your cav and triarii to take out the Carthaginian cav (which will always try to flank you). When that's done, charge your cav into the rear of the Carthaginian infantry units at the far ends of your infantry line; when those units rout, move the cohorts that it has freed up and surround the rest of the Carthaginian infantry. Killing Hannibal helps to shorten the battle, needless to say, though it often means that his army will rout before you can complete your encirclement. If that happens, run down everyone you can with your cav units.

In all three times I've played this battle, I've nearly destroyed his entire army for the loss of roughly a quarter of mine.

**Kuhndog** · June 28, 2012, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by Nerouin

I'm surprised that others are having issues with Hannibal. I've never found him terribly difficult. Keep your cohorts in a line with triarii on the flanks and put three of your six cavalry cohorts on each flank. Use your cav and triarii to take out the Carthaginian cav, as the latter will inevitably try to work around your flanks. When that's done, charge your cav into the rear of the Carthaginian infantry units at the far ends of your line of cohorts; when they rout, use your cohorts to surround the rest of the Carthaginian infantry. Killing Hannibal helps a whole lot, needless to say, though it often means that his army will rout before you can complete your encirclement. If that happens, run down everyone you can with your cav units.

In the three times I've played this battle, I've nearly destroyed his entire army for the loss of a quarter to a third of mine.

Difficulty you're playing on? Also, I only faced him once, and it was my first time playing RS. Maybe I'll try this next time. I think I was just overwhelmed with the size of the first battle and not know my troops strengths and weaknesses.

**Silius Saurus** · June 28, 2012, 09:53 PM

Abandoning Spain will mean that you will have to conquer the Gallaeci empire- in all likelihood they will chase the Carthaginians out of Hispania and spread north into Gaul.

Not that there's anything you can realistically do about that.

In the battle with Hannibal I hire as many slingers as I can find (one unit each from Campania and Apulia) and set them to work taking out his cavalry or whittling away the Gauls on his flanks- they are poorly armored and slingers will light them up. Slingers are also hot death on lightly armored cavalry like the Numidians. Hannibal will slam at your line with his cavalry and more than once my slingers took him out when he fell back to regroup.