Rome v. Carthage

 Rome: Jim & Mark: 12 hastasi/principes, 3 Triari, 9 veletes, 6 med cav, 2 light cav.
Carthage: SteveJ & Mike: 2 Vet imitation Romans, 2 Citizen spearmen, 4 Scutari, 8 med cav, 5 skirmish cav, 4 elephants.

The Romans are on the near side of the table.

The Carthaginians have advanced on the right.
The Romans are leading with their legions in the centre.

The Carthaginians have now advanced to meet the Roman advance.

While the heavy infantry slug it out in the centre there are swirling cavalry fights on the flanks.

On the far flank, the Roman cavalry supported by allied infantry is getting on top.
On the near flank the Carthaginan cavalry supported by elephants is gaining the upper hand.
In the centre both sides have had wins & losses.

On the far flank the Romans eventually win, but at high coast.
In the centre the Carthaginians are about to break completely.
On the near flank the Romans are reduced to just one doomed allied infantry unit.

As with last week the end game was messy making it hard to determine a winner & our AEmy Morale Test didn't deem to be right. When time ran out at 10pm, we assessed the situation using two possible tests.
Under the old test where an army fails if it loses half or more of its unit points, the Carthaginians won, with just over half their units still unbroken while the Carthginians had just over half broken.
Under new proposal, where we count he unit points for units still fit to fight (ie, not broken or shaken), the Romans won by 1 point, because most of the  Remaining Carthaginians on the table were shaken.

My proposal for a new Army Morale Test for M2M is:

1. Fight on until either one side concedes, or the agreed time is reached.
2. Count the number of unit points left not shaken or broken.
3. If one side is at least 2 better than the enemy, they win.
     If the difference is 1 or 0, it's a draw. 

On that test tonight's battle was a draw, which looks fair.

 

Carthage v. Macedon

Macedon (Mike): 4 phalanx, 4 hoplite,  16 skirms, 2  Companions, 2 heavy cav, 2 medium cav, 5 skirmish cav.
Carthage: (SteveJ & Jim): 2 citizen spears, 2 veteran heavy inf, 4 scutari, 16 skirms. 8 medium cav, 4 elephants, 4 skirmish cav.

The Carthaginians are on the near side of the table. Both sides deployed cavalry on both flanks & their heavy infantry in two lines (which meant there was a plethora of skirmishers).

Both sides advanced their infantry centre cautiously. The cavalry generally keeping pace, except for the Punic right wing which attacked.

When the infantry closed in the centre The Carthaginians realised they had made a mistake putting their scutari in front as it was no match for the Macedonian phalanx &the RH end of the line broke on first contact.  Poor dice throwing by the Macedonian saved the Carthaginian centre from breaking, but the 2nd line of veterans managed to stop the rot. 
On the far flank a cavalry fight has started but is not yet decisive.
On the right the Carthaginians are doing well.

The centre has turned into a hard slog between the best troops of each side. 
On the far flank the cavalry fight is till indecisive, but on the right the Carthaginians are getting well on top.

The Macedonian left has been broken & the Carthaginian cavalry is wrapping around the Macedonian infantry's left flank.
On the far flank its mostly mutual destruction, but the Macedonians had to pull back their left as elephants threatened it.  

Up until now the Carthaginians had many more units broken than the the Macedonians, bit with Punic cavalry loose in the Macedonian rear their position deteriorated rapidly.   Bot sides went over half their units broken at the same time.  So technically it was draw, but the Macedonians had lost 1 more than the Carthaginians & their strategic was hopeless, their remaining units being mostly shaken, surrounded & doomed with little no hope of inflicting more losses on the enemy    So the Carthaginians considered it a win for them.  

Finding an army morale test that always looks right is a dream I've never been able to realise. This was one of the cases where one side was clearly on top  regardless of the losses.