Chapter 14 – The battle of Thapsus (winter 264bc)
Julianus read the report from Aulus before passing it over to his brother. It wasn’t good. For the past month the Carthaginian army had avoided battle, staying just close enough to threaten but never too close to allow the Romans to force a battle. Still the Romans had made headway towards Thapsus, with the weak garrison there Julianus was sure they could storm the city before this army could intervene, then they’d have a strong base to work from. Yesterday the Carthaginians had broke contact entirely and marched with speed towards Thapsus. Julianus and Quintus had assumed that they would link up with reinforcements before offering battle but instead they had entered Thapsus and fortified the position. Still this move had allowed Aulus to get an accurate count of the enemy, something that the Carthaginian superiority in cavalry had prevented until now. Bachus had left the city heading north. No doubt going to raise reinforcements in Carthage he thought. The enemy army was large but the quality wasn’t there. Their General Bomilkar had an escort of 130 heavy cavalry. They had a strong skirmisher contingent, 800 Carthaginians and 1200 mercenary Libyans. This was backed up by 1800 light town militia spearmen and 1600 light Iberian swordsmen. They had a strong cavalry force composed of just over 800 light Carthaginian cavalry and 540 Numidian mercenaries. Most worryingly the enemy had a contingent of 60 Elephants. None of the Roman officers had ever had to face these beasts in battle before, luckily Alexander the Greek had encountered them before whilst fighting in the east for the Seleucids.
Cornelius was beset with worry, Placida had been missing now for some time and they could find no sign of her or her captors. Last week they had been forced to call off the search when another note had arrived. It had advised that if they continued such an obvious search then she would be killed. Cornelius wished that the spy Aulus was here, this was his area of expertise. One nugget of good news had found its way to him. Julianus and Quintus had arrived safely in Africa and were marching on Thapsus. Still they were far from safe deep in hostile lands.
Julianus and Quintus both sat listening to Alexander explain how to fight Elephants, “In my experience’s Elephants can be used in one of two ways. They can be used as battering rams, just point them at the enemy and let them loose, their sheer bulk and mass will make a mess of most formations. If the enemy does this we’ll be onto a winner” Julianus interrupted, “A winner? How in the name of the gods do we stop them if they come charging at us?” Quintus added his own thoughts, “Right, I mean who’ll want to stand to try and stop them?” Alexander smiled, “That’s the trick, if you try and hold them as you would cavalry you lose. But we wont do that” He had the two brothers full attention now, “Elephants are hard to kill, their skin is tough and most weapons will cause the equivalent of little more than a bee sting” It was Quintus’s turn to interrupt, “enough bee stings really hurt” Alexander smiled once more, “Right. They’re hard to kill so we don’t try. What we do is drive them back. Stampede them towards the enemy and let them get trampled instead” He paused to let this sink in, “We have 400 archers with the army. We get them to tie fabric soaked in oil to their arrows. We then shower the beasts with flaming arrows. Now this alone may be enough to cause them to panic but I doubt it. When they advance we use our Velites and Peltasts to harass them with their Javelins” Julianus shook his head, “We have eight hundred skirmishers all told and the Carthaginians have two thousand, I doubt ours will have much chance to harass the Elephants”
Alexander didn’t let the bother him, “maybe not but that’s ok. We have twenty four hundred good quality and well drilled infantry. They stand at the ready and as soon as the Elephants enter range we’ll see how they like that many Pila thrown at them. We’ll have maybe time for two volleys, if that doesn’t stop them it’ll surely slow them down. Then the men need to spread out and not offer a huge compact target. Use their superior manoeuvrability to get in close and hamstring the brutes”
Quintus whistled, “That’ll take some nerve” Alexander shrugged, “There’s no better way without a good wall of pikes. And I’ve seen your men in action, I think they have the discipline to pull this off” Julianus nodded, “I agree. And in this matter we must defer to your experience. But you said there were two ways to use the Elephants?” Alexander nodded, “Yes. The second is probably the most effective. Instead of trying to use them as a battering ram you can use them more cunningly. Placed on one wing they can put paid to any thoughts of using your cavalry to outflank the main enemy line” Quintus laughed, “Little worry about that my friend, we’re heavily outnumbered by horse so we’ll be the ones trying to prevent their cavalry turning our flanks!” Alexander smiled, “Quite, but then that’s where they can get sneaky. They use the Elephants to help turn our flank, coming in the rear like that whilst the men are fighting to the front would be very bad” Quintus thought back through all his years of fighting and hit upon an idea, “Our skirmishers are heavily outnumbered, we can’t hope to win that fight so we don’t try. If the Elephants are on the wing we use our Velites and Peltasts to cover the rear of the main line. If the Elephants come round they can get in close, throw a few volleys then get in closer and go for the hamstrings with their swords” The other two men saw merit in that suggestion.
Secundus Barbatus was a fifteen year old boy (though he liked to think of himself as a man) He was orphaned at a young age and had lived on the streets most of his life. Using his wits and fast hands he’d lived so far. But he’d also fallen in with the wrong crowd and that is how he had ended up here, lying on the floor in a disused barn bleeding from multiple wounds. Still he’d made a good account of himself, the six men he had fought lay around him dead, slain by his sword. He’d made some mistakes but he felt that this last deed probably evened out all the wrong. He felt his life slipping away, the world went dark and just before he slipped into what he figured would be eternal sleep he heard the young girls voice, “It’ll be ok”
Trumpets blared and orders were shouted. The Roman army had camped close to Thapsus and unexpectedly the Carthaginians had marched to fight. Though the Scipii brothers were outnumbered by some margin their troops were seasoned and well trained. If they could just neutralise the enemy Elephants this should be a forgone conclusion. It hadn’t taken long for the well drilled Roman army to deploy for battle.
The centre was held by the Legions. The 1st was on the left and the 3rd was on the right. The Velites deployed in front to cover their advance but would pull back to guard the rear once the battle begun in earnest, in their support the mercenary Peltasts also deployed in this role. The right flank was anchored with the 400 mercenary Hoplites led by Alexander and the left by the 400 Samnite spearmen. The right flank was further bolstered by the 540 Roman Equites whilst the left was weakly held with only 270 Numidian mercenaries to try and stop the enemy from outflanking the main infantry line. Julianus and Quintus deployed with their bodyguards behind the infantry ready to charge in to support any breakthrough their troops made. The Archers deployed dead centre between them.
The Carthaginian army was still some way off but much closer was a small body of horsemen. Julianus couldn’t believe his eyes, it was Buchas and his 200 guard out that far in front and. He was tempted to order his army forward to engage but something niggled at him, why would he be so far ahead and unsupported? Fearing a trap of some kind Julianus signalled for the army to hold, he did not want to risk losing formation yet. He’d let the enemy come to him.
Julianus was sure that the body of Carthaginian horse was moving closer, than to his utter surprise they broke into a full gallop towards his line! He signalled for the Velites and Peltast to withdraw to safety, they would be no use here. As he enemy came into range the Roman archers loosed a volley though from here Julianus could not see what effect if any it had. Another arrow volley and the enemy horsemen were close when all of a sudden a thunderous volley of Pila and Javelins was unleashed. The enemy horse slowed, then faltered, then with less than half of their number alive turned and fled. First blood though Quintus, though those men must have been insane!
Julianus realising that the enemy army were not coming square at him ordered his entire line to wheel to face, this they did with perfect precision. The enemy army was still too far to determine their exact dispositions but without a doubt the Elephants were opposing his left flank. Those Numidians really would have their work cut out. Orders were sent to the Archers, use fire arrows now and target only the enemy Elephants until they were panicked. The Velites and Peltasts were sent back out ahead, they wouldn’t be there long once the armies closed but Julianus did not want to let the enemy know that he may have a way to counter his greatest asset.
The enemy advanced.
And now when he judged the time was right Julianus sent the signal. As one the Roman army began to advance. The sound of over two thousand well drilled Roman feet hitting the ground together sounded like thunder cracking. As soon as they were close enough the Roman archers began unleashing volleys of fire arrows on the enemy elephants, let this work prayed Julianus. The enemy Skirmishers came forward to sow disorder in the advancing Romans, not wanting to waste his own Skirmishers in a futile battle he signalled for them to fall back and take up position behind the main infantry line.
The enemy Skirmishers unleashed a volley of deadly javelins on the advancing Roman line. Scores of brave men fell but still the Romans advanced. On the right Quintus had realised that the bulk of the enemy cavalry had deployed on their right, only two of the three Carthaginian light cavalry was deployed opposite the Roman right flank. Seeing this opportunity to Quintus led his bodyguard across to support the Equites. Julianus saw the move, he hadn’t ordered it but he trusted his brother with his life. Accordingly he adjusted his own position to a more central one. The Carthaginian Skirmishers managed a half hearted volley before they were forced to pull back by the advancing enemy. They hadn’t even broken their stride.
As the Carthaginian infantry readied themselves for the fearsome fight they knew was coming the Roman line came to an abrupt halt. To the men in the Carthaginian ranks this pause seemed to last an age. The Romans unleashed their Pila and huge holes were torn in the Carthaginian ranks and then with a cry, “FOR ROME!” they charged. The Samnites and Hoplites had held back to prevent the army being encircled but the force of almost two and a half thousand Romans hitting their lines caused the Carthaginian line to buckle. Fearsome hand to hand combat ensured with no quarter asked for or given. The Carthaginians were fighting to defend their home. The Romans knew that if they lost here today there was no where to run.
Quintus chose this moment to charge the enemy cavalry on the right flank, they met the Romans head on but were outclassed and outnumbered. The Numidians on the left flank drew of twice their number. Dispersed and skirmishing they were holding their own. Both ends of the main Hastati line were now being enveloped, accordingly the Samnites and the Hoplites moved forward and engaged. To the left the remaining unit of Carthaginian light cavalry charged into the Samnites and more worryingly the fearsome Elephants were coming around the flank. Julianus sent the order and his Velites and Peltasts moved to intercept. The later reached first and unleashed their Javelins. The Elephants did not pause and charged headlong into the hard pressed Samnites. There was nothing else for it the Peltast drew their swords and charged in followed shortly after by the Velites.
Quintus had swept away the enemy cavalry and now rallied his men from the pursuit. He swung them around and together they charged into the Carthaginian Skirmishers who now sheltered behind their Infantry.
Bomilkar saw the fight was now hanging in the balance, he had turned the enemy left flank but had lost his own. He saw the Roman cavalry returning and ordered his Skirmishers to hold their ground whilst he himself led his personal guard into a hammer blow charge on the main Roman line. This he thought would be enough to shatter their resistance. He was wrong.
Julianus suddenly became aware that the volleys of fire arrows had ceased a while ago, as he adjusted his position he suddenly became aware why. One of the enemy Numidian cavalry units had peeled off from the skirmish on the wing and had charged in against his archers. “Damn” He swore under his breath, how could he be so reckless to miss this? He drew his sword, “With me, ride with me” With a skill rarely seen his guard wheeled about and charged to aid their hard pressed comrades.
The outcome of the battle hung in the balance, everywhere ferocious hand to hand combat raged and the death toll was rising. Then as if by the will of the gods step by step the Romans gained the upper hand. The charge of the Carthaginian General at first had halted the Roman advance but now once more step by torturous step they forced their foes backwards. The hard pressed Samnites had proven their worth and held their ground, they fought back with a new vigour as one by one the mighty Elephants toppled, cut to ribbons by the sharp swords of the nimble skirmishers that opposed them. The final nail was hammered home by the charge of Quintus Scipio and the victorious Roman cavalry into the rear of the Carthaginian line. As one the Carthaginians fled as one the Romans pursued their defeated foes.
The death toll had been immense. 160 Roman cavalry, 900 Hastati, 330 Archers, 20 Velites, 40 Numidians, 20 Samnites and 180 Peltasts.
Of the Carthaginians only 640 made the safety of Thapsus out of the 7150 men who had taken to the field. Their relief was short lived as before the day was done the siege lines were erected.
Julianus Scipio stalked the field of battle, although as the General he could have retired he felt a duty to help search for men who may yet be saved for did they not fight and suffer by his command? He saw the broken bodies of men trampled by the huge Elephants, Alexander was right, his men were brave enough to do that which looked impossible. His thoughts were interrupted by the pounding of hoofs and the voice of his younger brother, “I wonder what Elephant meat tastes like?”
Re: Rise of the Scipii
Originally Posted by cassu
good story but how long will it be when your done?. when i played i took the risk with the ships and quickly moved to thapsus and hoped that no chartagian ship would notice
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Flavius – Natural born leader, Drillmaster, Confidant Attacker, Hooting and no Enemies. Command=2, Management=0 and Influence=0.
Re: Rise of the Scipii
Secundus Barbatus – Good Commander, Drill Master and Been in the Wars. Command=2, Management=0 and Influence=0.
Lucius Scipio – Fertile, understanding of Strategy, bloody and Even Handed. Command=2 Management=0 Influence=0
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