Introduction
This article follows up Part 1 of 2, A Tale of Two Sexenniums: Hannibal’s Revenge After Action Reports – Part 1 of 2 | Inside GMT blog, with my erstwhile gaming buddies, Perry and George, continuing their foray into the fun and exciting arena of the Hannibal’s Revenge game by switching sides!
Last game’s end of the Sexennium saw Rome (George) in the Hand Size Lead with 9 versus Carthage (Perry)’s 6. Rome only grows stronger over the passage of time, getting more resources and better available leadership from the Senate, so that game did not bode well for Carthage’s chances for ultimate victory. Now, in Game #2, it would be George’s Carthaginians versus Perry’s Rome. Will Carthage fare better this time around?
Before reading this AAR, for additional Hannibal’s Revenge background, please reference this InsideGMT article for a general overview of the game, albeit with utilizing an early playtest version of the gameboard lacking Mark Mahaffey’s transformative graphic talents: Meet the Leaders & Gameboard of Hannibal’s Revenge | Inside GMT blog.
Furthermore, for historical background regarding this epic conflict, perhaps this under thirteen minute video will be of interest: The Second Punic War – History of the Roman Empire – Part 4 (youtube.com). The paths of the Carthaginian and Roman armies’ marching across this video’s maps are nicely relatable to the Hannibal’s Revenge gameboard.
Now to Game #2’s After-Action Report.
Hannibal’s Revenge Game #2 First Sexenium
What a different Game #2 was! George got the “Naval Superiority” Event card and after Hannibal besieged Saguntum and failed to capture it, realizing the “clock was ticking” and that a more effective offensive approach was needed, Hannibal took his army to the seas!
This allowed the Carthaginians to place one Sea control marker after another on neutral Sea Zones to land outside Massilia and then, after securing its hinterland, capturing that walled city. This was accomplished after inflicting but a single black siege status cube upon it with a lucky die roll of one. Yes, luck with the cards and die rolling is something players of Hannibal’s Revenge must contend with, but the vagaries of fate also loomed large during the historical course of the Second Punic War.
After capturing Massilia, Hannibal returned to sea to conquer Corsica and was subsequently blockaded on that island by a counter-attacking Roman Consular Army. It’s one thing for Carthage, even with the “Naval Superiority” Event card’s boost, to capture neutral Sea Zones in conflict after conflict and quite another to face a Roman Army at sea (it is considered a massive fleet for this game circumstance). Why was George cautious? The Romans get a bonus to add to their final conflict value, which is a combination of their Conflict and any Event Card(s) value PLUS a usually three dice roll result.
Consequently, rather than chance the vagaries of a large naval engagement versus blockading Romans, George was content to have Hannibal remain in Corsica, relaxing on its beaches, satisfied that Hannibal had secured the upcoming Sexennium’s “Island Bonus” (gained through control of at least two of the map’s three island areas of Baelares, Sardinia, and Corscia). This bonus results in an increase of one to Carthage’s Hand Size, a reduction of one from Rome’s for losing the Island Bonus, with the added advantage of Hannibal pinning down one of Rome’s two Consular Armies in the process.
While this nautical game of “chicken” played out, Carthage won an Event Card which gave it control of the Gallia Transalpina Tribal area, and, most saliently, Hasdrubal’s Army sailed from Africa to Italy to win a Major Battle against a Roman Consular Army to force the Roman Conflict Card hand down by one and drive that Roman Army back in retreat to its capital. This, combined with the prior winning of a hand-size altering Event Card resulted in an end of Sexenium Conflict Card Hand Size tie at 8 each. See the below gameboard photo for the situation at that time.
When the End of Sexennium Process commenced, the first thing to occur was awarding Carthage the “Island Bonus”. That resulted in Carthage having the larger hand size, albeit by a seemingly meagre two with Rome reduced to 7 and Carthage advancing from 8 to 9, but that was sufficient to trigger Syracuse and Phillip’s Macedon joining Carthage.
George, with Macedon swayed to his cause, chose the powerful “Phalanx” card to be added to his available Events. This card may change one Carthaginian Conflict die roll result to a “6”! Conflict Card Hand Sizes were now 11 for Carthage versus 7 for Rome. See the below second photo depicting the end of Game #2’s first Sexennium.
At the bottom of the map are two wooden player aid blocks. One is a reminder that when play resumes after the Sexennium’s resolution, Carthage is entitled to a Bonus Action, a game mechanic Hitler’s Reich players should be familiar with. This Bonus Action was acquired when George won an Event Action which got him that Event Card causing Gallia Transalpina to join Carthage. The other marker is placed on the five value Conflict Card being used for Hastrubal’s Army currently in Etruria (to prevent possible confusion should other Conflict Cards wander onto the gameboard). At this time, Hastrubal used three of that card’s value. This is indicated by a black hex shaped marker on the Card Hand Size Track’s 3 space. These player aids help keep the game moving along!
Conclusion
Those two Hannibal’s Revenge games were exciting and interesting for me to observe, particularly watching George and Perry deal with the game’s “luck with the cards and luck with the dice” factor. After a bit of understandable grousing, they agreed that with experience, which gains player familiarity with Hannibal’s Revenge’s mechanisms along with knowledge of its Event Cards and Leader capabilities, the “luck factor”, although always there, can be confronted with increasing possibilities of success. Our Game #1 and Game #2 players got used to living with this fate/luck element as did their historical counterparts.
Since the Roman side during the First Sexennium is largely reactive to what Carthage does with its initial advantages in Conflict Cards, Event Cards, and, of course, the remarkable military leadership of Hannibal, it seems best to focus on Carthaginian options during the Hannibal’s Revenge earlygame.
First a bit of criticism: both games’ Carthaginian players gave up on taking Saguntum, which Hannibal historically captured after a brutal 8-month siege. Leaving this Roman Hispania stronghold in the Carthaginian rear can, as the game progresses and better Roman Leaders such as Scipio Africanus become available, become a Consular Army’s launch point for taking the walled cities of Carthago Nova and Gades and then subsequently invading Africa to threaten the Carthaginian heartland itself.
These games demonstrated two different Carthaginian strategies. In Game #1, after abandoning the siege of Saguntum, Perry sent Hannibal’s Army north to subjugate Tribal Areas and then overland enter Italia. When the End of Sexennium arrived, Rome was holding on, awaiting better leadership, and in the Conflict Card Hand Size lead.
Game #2 saw a different Carthaginian approach. After abandoning the siege of Saguntum, George, with confidence inspired through having the “Naval Superiority” Event Card, took a nautical strategy by seizing the Mediterranean coastline and Corsica. This, along with acquiring a Hand Size effecting Event Card (to reduce Carthage’s Hand Size), allowed entry of both Macedon and Syracuse to the Carthaginian side and Carthage having an end of Sexennium Conflict Card Hand Size lead.
Each game took approximately an hour to play. That would have been less, but time was needed to respond to rule questions, and allow for the usual fun and entertaining table talk banter between myself and my two gaming friends of many decades.
The next InsideGMT article should be a comparison of Hannibal’s Revenge to the first game of GMT’s Card Conquest System: Hitler’s Reich. This will cover the similarities and some significant differences between the two games.
Previous Article: A Tale of Two Sexenniums: Hannibal’s Revenge After Action Reports – Part 1 of 2
Author: Fred Schachter
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