Saturday saw what should have been the conclusion of the Pyrrhic War with the final battle win the struggle between the King of Epirus and the Roman Republic. Following a further indecisive battle at Beneventum, Pyrrhus withdrew from Italy.
Our scenario saw the Roman army with half their army deployed on the slopes in front of their camp while the Pyrrhic force arrived in three groups a turn apart from the narrow side of the table.
Although their force was not deployed for battle the Epirote army was able to sort out its light troops whilst the Romans were quickly reinforced by the troops in their camp and drew up in their famous formation. Some skirmishing broke out between the Roman and Tarantine cavalry and the Epirote light infantry which gave Pyrrhus further time to get his second wave of troops onto the table, the Elephants and heavy cavalry.
Two of the beasts and one unit of companions swung out into the open southern part of the battlefield and the Roman cav retired in haste back to a covering formation of light infantry some of whom had fire arrows in an attempt to cow the elephants.
In the center the Romans had suffered from the effects of the javelins of the peltasts and arrows of the Cretans and were forced to advance. However this left their right flank open and, turning one of the elephants raced towards it whist the other charged into its tormentors effectively trying down the enemy units.
The legion and phalanx closed, and probably due to the success of the light troops the pikemen began to get the upper hand on the worn Romans. With their flank open they were forced to turn their second line to meet the elephant and hoplites which had turned them and this prevented the principes supporting the hastati in the front line.
On the left flank hard against the table edge the third elephant, supported gingerly from a safe but effective distance by the other Epirote unit of heavy cavalry, drove in the Roman infantry and destroyed two units. This opened up a gap for the unchallenged 4th phalanx unit which wheeled into the Roman front line.
Although this elephant was soon over come and that on the the opposite flank was eventually cut down the third had done its work and together with the overlapping phalanx sealed the fate of the much of the Roman center. The cornicens sounded the withdrawal and the Romans withdrew, the battle was over.
Notes -
This battle was the least well described of the three encounters between Rome and Pyrrhus. The King seems to have suffered in part because he could not shake his army out into line of battle as it deployed and when the elephants took casualties, these turned on his front line and caused some damage.
Our scenario allowed the Romans to deploy most of their troops but there was a pause between them starting and the two lines meeting which gave the Epirotes time to organise and get his elephants away from the front of his line where they could be disruptive.
The Romans won most of the initiative rolls, but suffered from poor save throws, whilst the gods smiled on the Epirote light infantry and elepants when it was their turn.
The army lists used, a slight modification from those in the original book, give a fairly accurate and proportionate approximation of the Roman and Pyrrhic army, however the numbers of elephants are disproprotionate. Pyrrhus took 20 elephants to Italy and reportedly had 50 others at home. Casualties amongst them could not have been high or he was able to receive further reinforcements from Epirus because there are 20 in each subsequent battle. These 20 elephants represent less than 1% of Pyrrhus's army in terms of numbers alone but it's clear from history they had a physical and moral effect which was considerably greater than that. How is this best quantified? We'll look at how to peg back their performance or their effect - either in terms of numbers, dice thrown or saves in future games.
One error in our modification of the rules is that elephants take 4 hits and are a single stand, but our other units now take 12 hits, so are really a stand less. The elephants should therefore be 3 hits each.
Thanks to John and Eric for playing the Romans - battles with the Carthaginians, Macedonians and Seleucids are still to come for these armies at least and I have a Persian army which is also thirsting for action so there will be more ancients battles throughout the year.
