Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Battle of the Trebia: Scenario for Pulse of Battle rules

Pulse of Battle is the new set of wargame rules for Classical Ancient Warfare, 1500 BC to 500 AD by Brent Oman and Piquet, Inc. Pulse of Battle is derived from Brent's own previous Field of Battle, 2nd edition rules. I will have much more to say about Pulse of Battle over several posts, culminating in a review of sorts (similar to the one I did for Field of Battle itself) , but one thing the rules didn't include was an introductory scenario. With Barry due to come over for a game in 2 days, I needed to come up with a scenario quickly.





So, I turned to an old favorite, also from Piquet, Inc, Glenn Pruitt's wonderful 2nd Punic Wars scenario book for the earlier (and still perfectly good) Archon Piquet ancient rules, "Hannibal ad Portas". Thumbing through the ten scenarios in HaP, I chose The Trebbia, which was fought in December of  218 BC in the Po River valley, not long after Hannibal's initial crossing of the Alps that Autumn. The terrain and scenario are fairly straightforward, although of course in any battle involving Hannibal there's going to be a twist somewhere, eh?



The playing space for the battle is essentially a 6 foot long by 4-5 foot deep table with the River Trebbia flowing along one edge. The rest of the table is an open field (or apparently so...), with the Romans having been goaded by Hannibal's' skirmishers into crossing the river to attack his Army. The day was cold and cloudy, and the river chilly. This would result in the wet Romans gradually suffering hypothermia, although the Carthagenians will not be immune either if the weather turns foul, although Hannibal had his troops oil their bodies as partial protection form the cold and wet.

  The first step to adapt the scenario from Hannibal ad Portas, which incidentally is now available as a PDF from Brent (Piquet)  for only $15 ($1.50 per scenario - super cheap!), was to convert the troops and ratings form those used in Archon to those used in Pulse of Battle. PoB is a pretty top down approach to Ancient warfare, focusing on the role of various troop types and the friction of battle and command much sore than the individual variations in weapons and armor. It is NOT a "Rock/Paper/Scissors type design at all. Again, I will return to discuss these issues in a review in the  near future.


ROMAN ARMY


Unit
Type
Cmd
DD
CD
UI
Velites, Legion IPeltasts Jav.1D4
3
Hastati, Legion IMed. Inf  Pila1D6
4
Principes Legion IHeavy Inf  Pila1D6
4
Velites Legion IIPeltasts Jav2D4
3
Hastati, Legion  IIMed Inf Pila2D6
4
Principes Legion  IIHvy Inf Pila2D6
4
Velites Legion  IIIPeltasts Jav3D6
3
Hastati Legion IIIMed Inf Pila3D6
4
Principes Legion IIIHvy Inf Pila3D6
4
Velites, Legion IVPeltasts Jav4D4
3
Hastati, Legion IVMed Inf Pila4D6
4
Principes Legion IVHvy Inf4D6
4
Triarii, Legions I & IIHv Inf long Sp1D8
4
Triarii, Legions III & IVHv Inf long Sp4D8
4
Roman CavalryHvy CavalryC-in -CD4
3
Allied Cavalry, Leg.Med Cavalry5D6
3
Allied Cavalry, Leg.Med Cavalry5D6
3
Cenomani GaulsWarband4D4
4








Commander Name
Command
Rating
LD
Radius
Sempronius LongusC-in-CPoor

Gaius Atilius1Poor

Lucius Manlius2Poor

Publius Cornelius Scipio3Average

Titus Hostilius4Poor

Sextus Rutilius5Poor

* some names are fictitious, and P.C. Scipio was not present in fact, as he was recovering from his wounds suffered in an earlier action.



CARTHAGENIAN ARMY


Unit
Type
Cmd
DD
CD
UI
African JavelinnenPeltasts Jav1D4
3
Spanish JavelinmenPeltasts Jav2D4
3
Balearic Slingers APsiloi Sling1D8
2
Balearic Slingers BPsilo i Sling2D8
2
Libyan Spearmen AHv Inf long Sp2D8
4
Libyan Spearmen BHv Inf long Sp2D8
4
Insubrian GaulsWarband1D4
4
Boii GaulsWarband1D4
4
Spanish Scutarius AMed Inf Pila1D6
4
Spanish Scutarius BMed Inf Pila2D6
4
African Elephants AElephants1D4
4
African Elephants BElephants2D4
4
Numidian Horse ALt Cavalry Jav4D10
3
Numidian Horse BLt Cavalry Jav3D10
3
Carthagenian CavalryHvy Cavalry4D8
3
Spanish CavalryMed Cavalry3D6
3
Gallic CavalryHvy Cavalry3D4
3
Mago's African JavelinsPeltasts Jav5D6
3
Mago's Numidian HorseLt Cavalry Jav5D10
3










Commander's Name
Command
Rating
LD
Radius
Hannibal BarcaC-in-CExceptional

Maharbal1Skilled

Gisgo2Skilled

Mago5Skilled

Bomilcar3Skilled

Jabnit4Skilled



Glen's scenario \calls for a "Hypothermia" card to be added to the Roman Sequence Deck. In his scenario, when it appears, all Romans are Down 1 for Melee for the rest of that turn. We used the FoB "Thwack!" card, and upon its appearance, all Roman units must roll their Defense Die against a D8; if they fail, they are Disordered no effect if they are already Disordered).  Having played the scenario now, I'd go back to Glen's original idea and just make all units affected Down 1 in Melee for the rest of that Turn.

The scenario also called for a "Weather Worsens" card to be added to the Roman deck as well. We used the PoB "Special Event": card for this. On its first appearance, it starts to rain and all Missile fire is Down 1. On the second appearance, it starts to sleet; both armies then add another Thwack/ Hypothermia Card to their decks (making 2 for the Romans and one for the Carthagenians total). On a 3rd appearance, it starts to snow; all Cavalry and Elephants are Down 1 in Melee, and all Command Radii are reduced 4".

Finally, we added a PoB "Warbands Charge" optional card to both Sequence decks; this card effects only the Gallic Warbands in this game.



The Roman set up from the South ; note the "Alps" to the North, used for effect (and to hide the gaming junk on the far end of the table, LOL).  The far tree lone and near line of fields are strictly decorative and are used to delineate the playable table area. The Romans start up 0 to 12" from the West bank of the Trebbia, but not within 8" wither side of the Northern or Southern edges - the "rocks" demarcate the Set up area. 


View of the Carthaginian  deployment from the South; the rocks again mark of the Set up area, from 4 to 14" of the Western table edge, excluding the 8" either side of the Northern and Southern table edges.  Note the (very well done) Custom Pulse of Battle Sequence deck, and gold coins (Morale Points), as well as the "Carthagenian Purple" polyhedral dice!


Carthagenian Setup from the North, looking South. 


Center of the Roman set up - 4 Legions side by side, Velites in front, Hastati in the second rank, Pinceps in the 3rd rank, and Triarii in Reserve.


Roman Deployment from the North, looking South. 


Center of the Carthagenian line; note the  Ponderous Pachyderms!


The next post will cover the first Turn of the battle (a Turn is a long time in Pulse of Battle, representing up to 2 hours of fighting). 

Hail Oman! Salutant vos, qui pugnaturus sumus!

Petrus, Edwardus filius  (apologies to Gabriel and those who, unlike myself actually understand much of anything of Latin, not to mention its fine points!)

4 comments:

  1. Look forward to the battle report and review

    ReplyDelete
  2. Part One of the AAR should be up in a few days..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like a good game, glad you were able to schedule something last week.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We had fun with it; first part of the AAR should be up tomorrow.!

    ReplyDelete