Sons of Elissa - An Interactive Punic AAR

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

(hannibal stands)
And to you new senator, i thought the strategy was obvious, surprise attack on roma, then take rest of the penninsula, but also, do you doubt Carthage as a rich nation? (senate starts saying do you? Do you?) I think we are rich enough to fund a war against the Romani. I don't mean to bully you but I thought every council member believed in Carthage. Do you?

There's a difference between believing in Carthage through sure knowledge of ourselves and our enemies, and blind faith in the gods to bring us victory, which seems to be your belief. Assuming we will succeed at whatever we set out to do just because we are Carthaginians and Baal loves us, is folly. The gods help only those who help themselves.

Surprise attack on Roma itself? I see - a bold plan indeed, although treacherous and dishonourable!

A surprise attack means a direct assault, not a long seige - otherwise, it's not a surprise. A direct assault, against stone walls, could be costly - but could work provided the Romani only have a very small garrison in the city. And the assault would need to be very quick - so quick that the Romani would have no time to bring up their two field armies in defence.

To be that quick, it means attacking immediately after landing, without taking time to build heavy seige equipment. That means we would need spies to open the gates for us - a difficult task. Many spies would be needed to have a high chance of success. And Roma usually has very good security, so some of the spies may be caught and killed. If the spies fail, we'd have to go in with ladders. Ladders only work against undefended walls. For ladders to be sufficient, the Romani garrison will need to be very small and weak. That factor should be a necessary pre-requisite for this plan to go ahead.

We can't afford to damage the walls of Roma because we'd need them intact to defend and hold the city against the inevitable Romani counter-assault.

It's a workable plan - indeed the only workable plan for an IMMEDIATE war with Roma - although very risky if things go wrong! You are right, we can afford a war with the Romani - provided it is a SHORT war, and we take Roma right at the start, crippling the Romani economy! Then we can sack and plunder Roma, and use the proceeds to hire mercenaries to reinforce our relatively small army, and finish off the rest of the Romani before they can recover from the loss of their capital. If we fail, however, and lose our army in Italy, we will be in serious trouble, low on funds and low on troops!

We will gain a reputation for treachery regardless - the Romani are our allies, which is why they trust us to keep out of Italy, and don't have a strong navy. If we betray our alliance with Roma, none of our other allies will trust us again, and we could soon face war with the Lusotanns and the Egyptians.

I am opposed to this treacherous plan. It is not an honourable path. It could work, but only if everything goes according to plan. It's an 'all or nothing' gamble - and as a merchant I suppose I am instinctively opposed to such risky gambles, especially since it's the future of Carthage we are gambling with.

What do the other soldiers here think of this plan?