GBoH MODULE PREVIEW

Equus: Cavalry Battles of the Second Punic War

BY DAN FOURNIE

Equus will be released as an Official SPQR Battle Module. The Module opponents, such as the Celts and
will include scenarios for five major cavalry encounters of the Hannibalic War. Epirotes. Nevertheless, Rome still
In addition to the Battle of Ticinus previewed here, the battles of Umbria, managed to win most of her battles
Castrum Album, Agathocles' Tower and Cirta will be presented as official and all her wars.
scenarios for SPQR.
The Carthaginian military system had
evolved on an entirely different track.
The Battle of Umbria, 217 B.C., is a contest between the Propraetor Gaius The infantry was based on Libyan
Centenius with 4,000 Roman horsemen and Hannibal's Marshal, Maharbal. conscript peasants, but depended
This battle followed close on the heels of Hannibal's great victory by ambush even more on various mercenary
at Trasimene. contingents including Iberians,
Celts, Ligurians, etc. But Carthage
relied to a much greater degree on
The Battle of Castrum Album, 214 B.C., takes place in Spain. It features her mounted forces civic heavy
Publius Scipio (Africanus' father) attempting to lead a full double legion cavalry, Numidian light cavalry,
through a gauntlet of Carthaginian cavalry, elephants and skirmishers barbarian horsemen and,an of course,
commanded by Hannibal's brothers, Hasdruba
Hasdrubal and Mago. war elephants. Carthaginian armies
varied greatly in composition, but
usually had anywhere from 10 to 25
The action then shifts to Africa, where Scipio Africanus leads a force of Roman percent mounted.
cavalry to an astonishing victory over a much larger Carthaginian mounted
army at the Battle of Agathocles' Tower, 204 B.C.
Of all the enemy cavalry the Roman
Finally, the Battle of Cirta, 203 B.C., pits the Numidian light cavalry of King Republic had to face, none proved
Syphax against a combined Roman-Numidian
Numidian army under Scipio's deputy more formidable than the nomadic
Laelius and Prince Masinissa. At stake was the crown of Numidia, as well as horse warriors of Numidia led by
the crucial cavalry support that would decide the Battle of Zama. professional Carthaginian officers.
On Sicilian and African battlefields
throughout the First Punic War,
Numidian horsemen proved their
worth by confounding Roman
cavalry and harrying Rome's heavy
foot soldiers. Forewarned, the
Romans were, but they proved
unable, or unwilling, to do anything
to strengthen their weak mounted
While playing SPQR, have you ever had developed by the latter half of arm in the decades between the
tired of waiting for your ponderous the 3rd Century BC. Cavalry, once First and Second Punic Wars (241-
phalanx or leg weary legion to plod the dominant arm of the patrician 219 B.C.).
its way into contact with the enemy? aristocracy, had been progressively
Do you find the thunderous clamor of de-emphasized over the preceding
horses' hooves as your cavalry centuries. The Romans could no
smashes into the enemy's flank more longer field even one horseman out The Romans Meet Hannibal's
appealing? Fortunately for those who of ten soldiers each legion of 4,200 Horse Soldiers
prefer the rapidity and decisiveness infantry had only 300 cavalry.
of cavalry action, there were many Reliance on allied Italian cavalry After his surprise crossing of the
battles and skirmishes of mounted rectified this shortcoming to some Alps, Hannibal entered Italy with a
troops during the the Second Punic degree. The allies normally mere 20,000 infantry. His real
War. A few of the most significant contributed 600-900 horsemen for strength lay in the body of 6,000
cavalry battles of the Hannibalic War every 300 Roman cavalry. Yet the crack, veteran cavalry with his small
are offered here. total of Roman and allied horse army. The Consul Publius Cornelius
seldom reached as high as ten percent Scipio, after missing Hannibal at
of any Roman army. What is more, Massilia (Marseille), sent his main
the Italian cavalry was generally army on to Spain and returned to
Historical Background
inferior in quality to that of Rome's Italy with a small escort. He took
Legionary infantry was paramount command of the praetorian army
in the Roman military system that stationed in Cisalpine Gaul which
 The Great Battles of History Series: SPIN Module Preview
included two double legions with The Battle of the Line Command Eligibility
18,000 infantry and 1,600 cavalry. Ticinus River, 218 BC Rome:
To this he added his bodyguard 1. Velites (may occupy every
(extraordinaire) of about 300 Map other hex)
cavalry and probably less than Use the Cannae map from SPQR. 2. Roman and Alae Sociorum Cavalry
5,000 allied Celtic auxiliaries This battle was fought on a wide
(with perhaps 1,000 of these open plain near the Ticinus River, so Carthage:
being mounted). the Cannae map works fine. The 1. Iberian Lancer Cavalry
Roman Army uses the Southwest 2. Numidian Light Cavalry
map edge as its retreat edge. The
Carthaginian Army uses the North- Victory
east map edge.
A player wins by forcing his
opponent to withdraw.
Scipio, moving rapidly to confront
the invader, considered the circum- Carthaginian Cavalry Fatigue
stances. He knew little of the Carthaginian Army: Withdraws
The Carthaginian horses (not to
strength of his opponent. And his when units with TQ points totalling
mention their riders) suffered severely
colleague, the Consul Sempronius 46 have been eliminated.
from lack of forage and the elements
Longus, was enroute from Sicily to while crossing the snow covered
reinforce him. These factors made Roman Army: Withdraws when units
Alps. To represent this, on any and
delaying any engagement seem with TQ points totaling 37 have been
all TQ checks, the Carthaginian
prudent. On the other hand, eliminated.
player adds one (+1) to the dieroll.
Hannibal's army had to be in terrible
shape after crossing the snow covered
Alps, and the Celtic tribes (including
his own auxiliaries) might go over to
the enemy en masse if they sensed
Roman hesitation or weakness. For
these reasons, Scipio decided to lead
out all his cavalry and velites to
engage the Carthaginians immedi-
ately. Hannibal had also set out with
his cavalry on reconnaissance, and
the two forces collided along the
Ticinus River.
Scipio placed his velites, flanked by
Celtic auxiliary cavalry in his first
line. A second line was composed of
all his Roman and allied Italian
cavalry. Hannibal countered with a
single line, Iberians in the center and
Numidians on the flanks. Things did
not go well for Rome from the outset.
When Hannibal's Iberian lancers
charged, the velites panicked and
routed straight back, throwing the
Roman cavalry into confusion. The
consul Scipio was wounded and only
saved from capture by the resolute
stand of the recovering Roman
cavalry and the heroism of his
teenaged son, later to be known as
Africanus. However, the Roman
cavalry were eventually flanked by
the Numidians and swept from the
field with heavy losses. The debacle
at Ticinus was the first of many for
the Roman cavalry.