The Battle of Trebia – A Hail Caesar Epic Battles Game Report

We recently invited two long-time Hail Caesar fans, Scott and Lee (who you may remember from our inaugural Hail Caesar Second Edition battle report), to once again head down to Warlord Games HQ and try their hand at a scale a little more unfamiliar to them.

The Battle of the Trebia

Supplied with plenty of models painted variously by members of the Warlord Games studio team, the lads opted to try the first scenario in the book, The Battle of the Trebia, which would arm each player with a solid three divisions each including a good variety of unit types, including all-important Carthaginian war elephants.

Historically, the battle was the first major clash of the Second Punic War, fought between Hannibal Barca himself and a Roman army under the command of Sempronius Longus in the December of 218 BC.  Hannibal made good use of his Numidian cavalry to lure the Romans out of their camp and onto ground that favoured his plan, and utilised a hidden contingent to outflank and charge the beleaguered Romans in the rear forcing their withdrawal.

Determined to alter history, (and each knowing just how hardy Romans can be in Hail Caesar), the lads opted to roll-off to see who would get to command them – with Lee coming out on top, much to the dismay of his rival. Resolved, Scott deployed Hannibal’s division in the centre, with his mood swiftly improving when he discovered the significant buff Hannibal provided to all Gallic and Spanish units across his entire army. Hanno’s division was deployed to the left flank and, as per the scenario’s special rules, he noted in secret where Mago Barca’s division was lurking, waiting to spring their trap.

In response, Lee deployed Sempronius in the centre facing Hannibal, only too eager to close the distance with the invading Carthaginians (along with his heavy and medium troops, who all have the Eager special rule for being in his army), the Praefectus Sociorum took position on the right flank, with a mind to take the hill, and the Praetor on the left – each looking to unburden themselves of being merely ‘Unnamed’ through deeds of great command and valour.

Before battle had even commenced, the Romans took a smattering of casualties across their lines, representative of their having chased Numidians around for hours prior to the actual battle.

Turn One – An Unexpected Charge

The ever-eager Sempronius ordered the Roman army to cross the Trebia en masse and reform, becoming disordered as a result. Most units made it across, with the exception of some of the triarii, who didn’t quite have the distance to make it fully across, having deployed behind the rest of their fellows as per Roman Manipular tactics. Still, they maintained pace and stayed within the formation.

Scott was keen to capitalise on the disorganised Romans before they had a chance to cross the Trebia proper and regain complete order, with Hannibal’s skirmishers surging forward into missile range, and the rest of the division following swiftly behind. On the left flank, Hanno was clearly keen to impress, rolling low and allowing his cavalry to make three moves and charge the Roman Latin Cavalry – who promptly countercharged – despite having two wounds already from the A Long Cold Day scenario special rule. The cavalry had no cause for concern straying too far from their division thanks to the Marauder special rule conveyed by Hanno, and the rest of his division moved up behind at a slightly less determined pace…

Though missiles fell amongst the ranks of the Romans. Very few managed to find their mark, with a but a single casualty inflicted to Sempronius’ centremost cavalry division, whilst the first round combat saw Hanno’s cavalry put pay to their Roman foes, breaking them. Scott resisted the very tempting option to sweeping advance into the disordered hastati in front of them, erring on the side of caution. “They may have Marauder, but they’re not going to survive an entire army alone!”

Turn Two – Weight of Fire

With all his infantry disordered and unable to receive orders, the Roman turn was largely concerned with getting clear of the river and re-establishing a battle line. The frontlines achieved just enough distance to push back the Carthaginian skirmishers. Javelins were poured into the encroaching Scutarii, but not one missile found its mark, and with none of the pila quite in range, it looked as if the legionaries would be having to this the old-fashioned way, with steel at extremely close quarters. Now clear of the Trebia, the vast majority of the Roman forces promptly re-ordered themselves.

The Carthaginian return fire came into its own, with Hannibal’s skirmishers shaking and breaking the Praetor’s velites in one fell swoop, as well as dismissing Sempronius’ encroaching cavalry in a flurry of steel-tipped spears.

Romans Turn Three – Crunch Time!

The Praetor on the left flank, spying his opportunity to earn a name, ordered his hastati and principes into the Gallic warband in front of them, preventing them best use of their Wild Fighters special rule by denying them the charge. The lagging triarii, meanwhile, weren’t quite able to make it to combat, but they do manage to get Hannibal’s skirmishers to once again withdraw, disordering their allies as they scrambled through them to get away.

In the centre, Sempronius moved his skirmishers forward, and echoed the Praetor’s attack to his left pouring both his hastati and principes into Hannibal’s infantry. Having not cleared the river the previous turn, his triarii were still disordered, but were able to move up and take a position on the high ground in the centre. On the right flank, the Praefectus Sociorum was clearly busy watching the proceedings, and with an abysmally high roll (accompanied by a choice word or two from Lee) nothing moved at all on the Roman right flank. Sempronius’ velites poured their javelins into the nearby war elephant, to little avail.

On the left, Lee poured as many attacks into Hannibal’s Gallic division as he could, whilst the nearby Libyans went relatively unscathed, and thanks to a supporting war elephant, the result was a draw, an unexpected result, but a fantastic one for Scott. In the centre, the Romans fared better, a flurry of poor rolls saw his front lines crumple and retreat, but the eager hastati were able to maintain their pace and kept in contact.

Carthaginian Turn Three – The Trap is Sprung

With the Roman army entirely across the river, Scott could unleash his secretly placed division. “Well if it worked for Hannibal,” he reasoned, revealing their location to be what it had been historically, within the rough ground in a small watercourse on the Carthaginian right flank. Mago’s division broke cover and moved to envelop the Praetor’s division.

Encouraged by the arrival of their allies, Hannibal’s division surged forwards with a renewed intensity, with his war elephants moving to cover off a potential central avenue of escape for the Romans. Hanno’s elephants, meanwhile piled into the side of some unfortunate principes, trampling the entire unit and sweeping into the velites, who having already evaded a combat this turn could do nothing to get away. Hanno’s nearby cavalry, clearly horrified by that spectacle, failed to execute any orders, leaving them as enticing prey to the Praefectorus Sociorum’s troops, should they opt to actually do anything the following turn.

Hannibal’s plans soon turned to disarray, with the Gallic warband, despite very few casualties actually being inflicted (“Are they tickling each other?”), and the supporting war elephants forced to give ground , resulting in an almost total collapse of Hannibal’s lines and leaving the envelopment plan in potential shambles.

It looked bad for the Carthaginians, but as Lee pointed out, Scott’s units were all still on the table, which was certainly not true of the Romans.

Turn Four – The Faltered Line

Opting not to rely on dice rolls at this critical juncture, Lee’s triarii finally joined the fray, getting stuck into Hannibal’s overexposed cavalry (which broke in the ensuing combat), and spurring the Roman right flank into action – albeit slowly thanks to their commander’s slightly less than exemplary rating of 8, with the skirmishers moving to threaten the Liby-Phoenicians. The already disparate battlelines in the centre became even more so as the Scutarii were pushed right back to the edge of the table, even as the pursuing hastati were forced to give ground.

The centremost fight continued as it had the previous turn, with the Libyans holding strong whilst their Gallic allies continued to be pushed back. The Romans pressed their attack, and even though the Carthaginians had only lost a single unit, and therefore weren’t close to breaking, it looked quite grim for Hannibal. It seemed as if history might be about to be rewritten as had been predicted ahead of the game…

In Scott’s turn, Mago’s division managed to clear the river, but were still a turn away from engaging proper. It was time to see if Pachyderm Power could put in any work, with Hannibal’s elephants charging in, pushing the Hastati towards Mago’s division, and reigniting hope for their envelopment. Meanwhile the Gallic warband finally folded under the intense pressure, whilst Libyan heavy infantry caught the triarii on the centre hilltop unawares, pushing them back and engaging a single unit, denying the Romans the high ground advantage in one fell swoop.

On the left, Hanno’s cavalry divisions, failing to receive any orders, dug their heels in and spurred their steeds to charge the legionaries afore them, consigning themselves to go out in a blaze of glory… or so they thought, as the mad cavalry charge saw the hastati give ground disordered. Bewildered, but not overzealous, the victorious cavalry opted to hold their ground, effectively tying up a whole division singlehandedly.

Turn Five – The Beasts Run Amok!

On the left flank, the Praetor’s principes charged on initiative, and fearing that the chance of glory was slipping away from him, the Praetor himself leapt into the combat personally, but he seemingly “jumped on a spear and knocked himself out or something”, having no effect on the ensuing combat. Surrounded, the Romans had nowhere to run to, and thus the division is broken.

On the opposite side of the field, the Praefectorus Sociorum, with an exceptional, perhaps unnecessarily so, command roll, saw almost his entire division encircle and envelop the lone heroic Liby-Phoenician cavalry unit…

Hanno’s elephants were stilled engaged with the velites, their mobility and javelins problematic for the lumbering beasts, but with neither side able to get the upper hand. In the centre, the Libyans and Triarii fought to a stalemate atop the hill, but it was fast becoming clear that its control would be crucial to overall victory.

The struggling elephants on Hannibal’s right flank threw themselves right back into combat with the Praetor’s broken now principes – Scott showing no mercy, and no respite, and despite a phenomenal combat result, the Romans held strong! Hannibal’s second elephant unit, with nothing quite in combat range, perched astride the centre hill, with its crew raining javelins (albeit, highly inaccurate or ineffective ones) at the nearby legionaries.

Turn Six – Mopping Up

The Roman Celt allies, on the right flank, finally hit combat and finished off the cavalry that had been hampering the division almost from the get-go, whilst a succession of rally orders brought Sempronius’ division from the brink of breaking, except crucially his principes, rendering them unable to lend their support in the forthcoming combat.

Hanno’s elephants finally swatted off the velites that had been plaguing them like a swarm of flies for the previous three turns, though they emerged both broken and disordered for their efforts. Sensing victory, Hannibal himself jumped into the fray above the hilltop, and though perilously close to being outright killed for this almost-folly, his contribution was enough to tip the scale of victory by a single point, exactly enough to utterly shatter the Roman resolve – with two of their three divisions broken, Lee and Scott shook hands and the Romans withdrew from the field of battle.

Final Thoughts

We asked Lee and Scott to give their thoughts on the game itself and their introduction to Epic Battles scale gaming in general.

Lee: The spectacle of so many models on the table is undeniable, with tightly packed units that lend themselves to manoeuvrability and speed – playing on a 6’ x 4’ I was initially surprised that we had a Turn One combat!

What’s interesting is the smaller points of difference, in particular the narrower frontages of units compared to their 28mm equivalents. I’ll need to get a couple more games under my belt to really get a grip on utilising the Roman manipular system. The velites are very easy to lose, and as they count as small units, rather than skirmishers, which means they count towards the break limit of the division. I’ll need to be a bit more cunning with how they’re deployed in future games.

Romans of the Match: It was belated, but I have to name my Celtic warband that eventually swept around the hill in spectacular fashion and was poised to pounce on more units, before the game was rudely ended by my other divisions breaking! I also have a soft spot for the Triaii, they are very stubborn and a unit very nearly saw off a whole Carthaginian Division from the centre hill.

Scott: Those Romans hit like a truck! Fortunately, Hannibal’s Martial Esteem special rule makes a huge difference to the Carthaginian’s durability, as did the scenario’s special rules, stymying the Roman’s advance just enough for me to eke out a victory, despite things looking pretty cagey for me at one point.

I’d like to have seen the Manipular support rules comes more into play, as they add even more tactical elements, but the opportunities didn’t naturally arise thanks to the spread of the legionaries and the Trebia. Perhaps in the next game (and maybe I’ll get to use the Romans!).

Carthaginians of the Match: As much as I’d love to say war elephants – they are deadly, easier to manoeuvrer in this scale with single base units, and one of them single-handedly destroyed three Roman units, it was the Libyans in the centre that resolutely took the hill, and turned my entire force around from the brink of destruction.

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Ready To Go Epic?

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Included within the box is a whole second wargame- Scipio! Played on the included battleboards, it serves as a perfect primer to Punic Wars military tactics – just stick your models together and get rolling dice. We’ll talk more about Scipio in the coming weeks.

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