Battle Reports

Zama part 2 - the battle commences

Details: Category: Ancients Battle Reports; Published on Wednesday, 21 April 2010 18:22; Hits: 862

The Carthaginian elephants advance and are handled by the Roman velites:

Laelius comes under pressure from an elephant on the flank and is forced to manouve desperately to outflank it:

The Carthaginian first line advances behind the elephants, but too slowly to take advantage of the disruption caused by the elephants. The Romans have time to re-group and extricate the velites, whose job is now done. Ps(S) vs Ax(S) is a pretty uneven contest.

Scipio (Duncan Head) confers with Massinissa (Peter Kershaw) and Octavian (Gordon Harrow). David Mather is the umpire.

Laelius advances on the Roman left wing now that the elephant is disposed of and his cavalry have regrouped. The Carthaginian cavalry have not taken advantage of the disruption because of command difficulties - Hannibal is commanding them as well as the Numidian cavalry on the other wing.

The Roman and Carthaginian cavalry clash. Despite having a general and overlaps on both wings, the Romans lose both combats.

In the centre, now that the velites have withdrawn, the hastati march forwards in serried ranks, followed by the principes and triarii. The two Roman legions have uniform red and white shields; their flanking socii cohortes have more mixed patterns.