The Second Battle of Elymia, 245BC

The praetor Marcus Aurelius Cotta had been sent to Sicily to replace Lucius Cornelius Scipio. The troops weren't happy to see their beloved commander leave them, and Cotta was a harder man to warm to. He was given to bouts of depression and kept people at a distance. He was a rhetorician and poet of some renown, and that only detracted still further from his common touch. Of plebian nobility, command didn't sit quite so well with him, lacking a patrician's natural air of authority.

Matters were not helped by that palpable aura of authority carried by his quaestor and legate, Sextus Claudius Pulcher. Pulcher was an ambitious and capable young man, clearly on the ascendant.



Nevertheless, he was scrupulous and proper in his conduct and made no attempt to undermine his commander's authority. The men were relieved by the unity of command lacking with the imperator's tenure.

After failing to draw the garrison of Lilibeo out to fight, Cotta had marched away towards the slopes of Etna. It was high summer, but he wanted to be close to the Straits of Messana for any communication from Rome. He was hoping to run for the consulship and needed to know the latest.

Unbeknownst to him, Hamalcar was recruiting mercenaries in their droves once more, and received reinforcements and funds from Kart-Hadast. He immediately marched in Cotta's wake, catching up with him on the northern coast of Elymia.



Although outnumbered, Cotta decided to give battle. He was well-supplied and confident that in the right place they could achieve something. They set up on the lower slopes of a hill, trusting to the steep territory to tire out the Karthadastim. Cotta was in the centre, Pulcher on the lower slopes with a body of cavalry on the right, and some Greek cavalry covering the left at the crest of the hill.



Battle was joined, the confident Hamalcar advancing to meet the Romans, who simply rested. As the enemy closed, the skirmishers exhausted their supplies of missles, taking advantage of the elevation their position gave them.



Hamalcar himself lurked on the right of the Roman line, hoping perhaps to turn that flank. With him was a detachment of mercenary cavalry.



In the centre, the main battle line crept up the hill, pike phalanxes holding the middle of the Qarthdastim front.



High on the left, the decurion in charge of the allied cavalry walked the horses to the top of the hill so he could survey the whole battlefield. Iberians, Gauls and mercenary hoplites approached the Roman left.



Hamalcar and his cavalry slipped around the Bruttians covering the right flank. Cognizant of the danger, Pulcher calmly wheeled the horsemen with him to face the threat.



The enemy advance continued in the centre, Cotta called out some words of encouragement to the men.



On the right, Pulcher charged, and further up the line the Samnites pressed the Garamantines hard. Cotta ordered the triarii to assist Pulcher and provide refuge for his horses when the inevitable separation came.



The Garamantines cracked, and the Samnites, showing great discipline halted and dressed their lines.



Heedless of the allied cavalry slipping around them, the Iberians and hoplites made for the Roman line.



The allied cavalry charged home, hitting the Iberians in the rear.



Meanwhile on the right Hamalcar charged into the fray.



In the centre, the phalanxes engaged and fierce fighting erupted. Cotta ordered the allied heavy skirmishers to flank one of the blocks of pikes.



Up the left the Iberians folded.



While in the cavalry battle on the right, the arrival of the triarii turned the tide, Hamalcar's mercenary horsemen turning tail and running.



With the Iberians gone, the left ala was now unengaged. The praefectus of the Bruttians ordered the advance to flank the phalanx line.



While the Samnites on the left charged the mercenary hoplites, who suffering under a hail of slingshot moments before decided discretion was the better part of valour.



The allied cavalry turned and charged a group of enemy skirmishers, who put up some resistance.



But it didn't last long, and close by the Samnites and Bruttians approached the rear of the elite phalanxes.



A terrible melee, involving Maurians, Gauls, Liby-Phonecians and Hamalcar himself, was brewing on the right.



While the left ala continued to infiltrate the enemy line.



The Iberians supporting the phalangites wavered.



On the right Pulcher led his comrades into the fray once more, spotting Hamalcar and calling out to him in challenge.



The pike blocks had resolved into two groups and Cotta watched on intently. His allied archers were out of ammunition, and he denied their commander's request to aid the Roman legions in the centre. Against elite pikemen such as these tough Africans, unarmoured skirmishers would be of little use.



Pulcher was wounded in the arm, and fearing for their friend's safety, his entourage steered his horse clear of the melee and fled to safety.



Hamalcar charged wildly at the Samnites behind his own line, and his bodyguard was cut down as a result. The man himself took flight, abandoning his men to their fate.



Worrying about the situation on the right now Pulcher had left the field, Cotta decided to intervene personally, his praetoria following the commander's reckless charge.



Their commander's act of conspicuous bravery checked the men, who fought on with renewed vigour.

In the centre it was chaos.



On the right, the polyglot forces there finally caved in once they realised their leader had fled.



The scrum in the centre continued unabated.



But word had spread even to the centre of the general's capitulation, and even these veterans lost heart.



Seeing some of their comrades flee, the other Africans lost hope.



They ran, leaving the Greek mercenaries to fight alone.



They didn't fight on for long, and the panic spread.



Until it became a rout.



And finally, the day was Roman.