White Tunis 310 BC - Command & Colors Ancients Game

 

Armies deployed from the Syracusan side

Opposite end from the Carthaginian side

Carthaginians advance on their right flank

The Syracusans are heavily outnumbered

Carthaginian chariots and cavalry attack

Carthaginian chariots and cavalry retreat

Syracusans advance with centre and right flank

Last Saturday afternoon I played a solo Command and Colors Ancients game out in the shed. The scenario was White Tunis 310 BC. Diodorus Siculus is the main source for details on this battle. Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, invaded Africa with a small Syracusan army of 13,500 infantry, including  3,000 Greeks and 3,000 Samnites, Celts and Etruscans mercenaries. He burnt his ships to avoid their capture by the Carthaginians, committing his army and himself fully to the campaign! According to Diodorus a hastily assembled Carthaginian army of 40,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry and 2,000 chariots jointly commanded by Hanno and Bomilcar opposed them. 

I modified the scenario slightly ditching the two single block Syracusan cavalry units and added a unit of Carthaginian medium cavalry. The Syracusans were heavily outnumbered but had the advantage in quality of troops with six heavy infantry units, six command cards and first move. The Syracusans had poor cards through out the game, with very limited options, including two mounted charge cards, but no cavalry! The Carthaginian Sacred Band led by Hanno inflicted damage early on the Syracusan left flank breaking the Celt Warriors unit and two hoplite units, including Agathocles' bodyguard. The Syracusans were on the back foot the entire game and when Bomilcar led an attack in the centre it was a comfortable 6-3 victory points win for the Carthaginians.

Side view

Hanno leads the Sacred Band

Syracusans are on the back foot

Skirmishing on the Syracusan right flank

Bomilcar's Carthaginian heavy
infantry attack in the centre

 Carthaginians win 6-3 victory points

Hatti versus Hanigalbat Chariots Rampant Game

 

Side view of the table

Hittite force deployed

Mitanni force deployed

Hittite attackers advance

Mitanni chariots suffer casualties from shooting

Hittite chariots on the left flank
are destroyed by shooting

Hittite chariots

Hittite spearmen and guardsmen

Hittite spearmen and skirmishers

Last Saturday afternoon I played a solo Chariots Rampant game out in the shed with my 15mm Hittites and Mitanni. I've just been reading Trevor Bryce's latest book Hattusili, the Hittite Prince Who Stole an Empire, it's a fascinating read, highly recommended, quite a bit of it is speculative but very interesting none the less. Writing about Suppiluliuma I (1350-1322 BC) he says:

he undertook the biggest challenge of his reign - the annihilation of Hatti's arch enemy, the kingdom of Mittani. After a long, hard-fought war lasting almost two decades, Suppiluliuma succeeded in demolishing the kingdom, rounding off his conquests by capturing the last Mittanian stronghold, the city of Carchemish on the Euphrates. We are now in the year 1326 or thereabouts. A rump kingdom called Hanigalbat was all that remained of Mittani, and Suppiluliuma promptly converted it into a Hittite puppet state.

Trevor Bryce, Hattusili, the Hittite Prince Who Stole an Empire, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2025, p.17.

In my game the Mitanni chariots suffered early casualties from shooting but on the other flank the entire Hittite chariot unit was destroyed by shooting. The Hittite guardsmen charged the Mittani spearmen but retreated battered and at nearly half strength. On the Mitanni left flank the Hittite chariots charged and destroyed some skirmishers forcing the Mitanni spearmen to retreat and protect their flank. The Hittite chariots charged the spearmen but were forced to retreat, at this stage the game was evenly poised. The Hittite guardsmen and spearmen then both routed after failing courage tests. The Mitanni had repelled this Hittite attack.

Mitanni spearmen and skirmishers

Mitanni chariots and skirmishers

Mitanni spearmen and archers

Hittite guarsdmen charge Mitanni spearmen

Hittite guardsmen retreat battered
and nearly at half strength

Mitanni spearmen on the left
retreat to protect their flank

Hittite chariots charge the Mitanni spearmen
but are forced to retreat

The battle is evenly poised

Hittite spearmen and guardsmen rout,
the Mitanni have repelled the Hittite attack

Samnite Linen Legion

 

Here are some Samnites from the archives, the Linen Legion described by Livy in his The History of Rome (Book 10.38.12.), who fought at the Battle of Aquilonia during the Third Samnite War:

...when the leading Samnites had been bound by this imprecation, the general named ten of them and bade them choose every man another, and so to proceed until they had brought up their number to sixteen thousand. These were named the "Linen Legion," from the roof of the enclosure wherein the nobles had been sworn, and were given splendid arms and crested helmets, to distinguish them from the rest.

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0155%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D38

These are all Crusader Miniatures figures that I painted about nine years ago. I have a Pen and Sword book on the Third Samnite War by Mike Roberts but haven't read it yet!

Last Sunday we went on a camping trip to Barrington Tops and Ganguddy-Dunns Swamp, near Rylestone in the Wollemi National Park. Below are a few pics from our trip.

Creek crossings at Barrington Tops
were high after all the rain

Beech Forest Walk 

Thunderbolts Lookout

Soggy camping at Polblue Swamp

Brumbies

Polblue Swamp creek

A wallaby

The Firs, Barrington Tops

Campsite at Ganguddy-Dunns Swamp

Dammed Cudgegong River

Pagoda Lookout

The Weir was built in 1921 to provide
water for the Kandos Cement Factory