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 I	Peltasts Jav.	1	D4		3
Hastati, Legion I	Med. Inf  Pila	1	D6		4
Principes Legion I	Heavy Inf  Pila	1	D6		4
Velites Legion II	Peltasts Jav	2	D4		3
Hastati, Legion  II	Med Inf Pila	2	D6		4
Principes Legion  II	Hvy Inf Pila	2	D6		4
Velites Legion  III	Peltasts Jav	3	D6		3
Hastati Legion III	Med Inf Pila	3	D6		4
Principes Legion III	Hvy Inf Pila	3	D6		4
Velites, Legion IV	Peltasts Jav	4	D4		3
Hastati, Legion IV	Med Inf Pila	4	D6		4
Principes Legion IV	Hvy Inf	4	D6		4
Triarii, Legions I & II	Hv Inf long Sp	1	D8		4
Triarii, Legions III & IV	Hv Inf long Sp	4	D8		4
Roman Cavalry	Hvy Cavalry	C-in -C	D4		3
Allied Cavalry, Leg.	Med Cavalry	5	D6		3
Allied Cavalry, Leg.	Med Cavalry	5	D6		3
Cenomani Gauls	Warband	4	D4		4

Commander Name	Command	Rating	LD	Radius
Sempronius Longus	C-in-C	Poor
Gaius Atilius	1	Poor
Lucius Manlius	2	Poor
Publius Cornelius Scipio	3	Average
Titus Hostilius	4	Poor
Sextus Rutilius	5	Poor

* 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 Javelinnen	Peltasts Jav	1	D4		3
Spanish Javelinmen	Peltasts Jav	2	D4		3
Balearic Slingers A	Psiloi Sling	1	D8		2
Balearic Slingers B	Psilo i Sling	2	D8		2
Libyan Spearmen A	Hv Inf long Sp	2	D8		4
Libyan Spearmen B	Hv Inf long Sp	2	D8		4
Insubrian Gauls	Warband	1	D4		4
Boii Gauls	Warband	1	D4		4
Spanish Scutarius A	Med Inf Pila	1	D6		4
Spanish Scutarius B	Med Inf Pila	2	D6		4
African Elephants A	Elephants	1	D4		4
African Elephants B	Elephants	2	D4		4
Numidian Horse A	Lt Cavalry Jav	4	D10		3
Numidian Horse B	Lt Cavalry Jav	3	D10		3
Carthagenian Cavalry	Hvy Cavalry	4	D8		3
Spanish Cavalry	Med Cavalry	3	D6		3
Gallic Cavalry	Hvy Cavalry	3	D4		3
Mago's African Javelins	Peltasts Jav	5	D6		3
Mago's Numidian Horse	Lt Cavalry Jav	5	D10		3

Commander's Name	Command	Rating	LD	Radius
Hannibal Barca	C-in-C	Exceptional
Maharbal	1	Skilled
Gisgo	2	Skilled
Mago	5	Skilled
Bomilcar	3	Skilled
Jabnit	4	Skilled

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!)