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 Hello, everyone. This is a screenshot LP of Hannibal: Rome & Carthage in the 2nd Punic War. You probably haven’t heard of this game, because a) it’s a solitaire single player strategy game and b) it’s buried on MatrixGames where no one can find it. But it’s great. Released by Forced March Games in 2011, it’s about, well, Hannibal, and Rome, and Carthage, and the Second Punic War. You probably are familiar with the first three and at least a little familiar with the fourth. This is the “Hannibal Crosses the Alps” war, beginning in 218 BC. The game itself is turn-based, with a strategic layer and a battle screen. The strategic you’ve seen. Battle is easily intelligible but with a lot of tactical depth. I’ll talk more about this in Turn 1. Naval battles are basically the same, but there’s only one type of naval unit and no commanders, so it’s pretty much a numbers game.  The AI is a perfect balance of “damned good” and “not unbeatable.” Carthage and Rome are asymmetric opponents. Carthage relies on smaller, elite armies (and Hannibal’s unique abilities), while the Roman Senate can quickly raise vast forces almost anywhere in Italy. Thankfully, they usually get commanded by dummies.  Also, as you can probably see, the art is gorgeous. So: A good game. I will be playing a default campaign. Turn one follows. Alikchi fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Mar 23, 2019 |
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Mar 23, 2019 00:11
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 09:31 |
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Turn 1 Here I go!  Here’s the scenario selection screen. I’ve gone with Normal, Standard First Turn. This version has Hannibal having already crossed the alps into Spain. The other start:  This is a very fun one, but I want to present the game in its more traditional way. Maybe if this is fun I’ll run a campaign with a non-standard opening and advanced AI later. Also, the advanced AI consistently destroys me and that’s slightly humiliating.  So we begin with Hannibal’s army in Cisalpine Gaul, having taken some casualties crossing the Alps but still mostly intact. I immediately move him to attack one of the small towns nearby - Mediolanum, which you may know by the name Milano or Milan.  (Note: I won’t go into this much detail or use as many screenshots with future battles and sieges and whatnot, but now is the time to demonstrate how it works. I can also use timg or lower quality images if people would prefer.)  The first result is a bust - they rout one of my units and I inflict 0 damage, but I haven’t actually lost a unit yet.  Finally, we get them. I lose a Spanish infantry but that’s manageable.  I grab the other small towns and move to besiege Genua. The city is besieged. I’ve captured all but one of the small towns of Cisalpine Gaul, which will help us bring troops through the passes from Spain if we choose to try another Alpine march. Unfortunately, the two major cities guarding the passes into Italy proper are still held by the enemy. I want to try to draw all the Romans in the field so Hannibal can annihilate him with his Punic Tricks (more on this later.  Gracchus obliges us and marches on our siege of Genua. We could stay and fight both Fabius and Gracchus at the same time, but then I wouldn’t get to use my special Punic cards.  I choose to break off the siege. A little cleanup and I finish my turn.  Now the Romans do their thing. I’ll show more of their turn cycle in the future, but the important thing here is the election. Fabius is gone. There are a couple of real turds in there, too (the skill 4 guys). And that’s it! Next turn: our first major battle (probably!), proper introductions to Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago, and deciding our strategic priorities. Time to bust Italy open! Alikchi fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Mar 23, 2019 |
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Mar 23, 2019 00:12
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Do you plan to go into more detail about how battles work latter on? The "I won’t go into this much detail" seems to suggest not but the battle leaves a number of things are left unexplained. Such as the meaning of the numbers on the units, how reserves work, is the turn order def,atk, def,atk or simultaneous, does the enemy rout a # of units and you choose which in particular, do eliminated units work the same way, and can commanders be place on the front line?
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Mar 23, 2019 02:59
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RichardA posted:Do you plan to go into more detail about how battles work latter on? The "I won’t go into this much detail" seems to suggest not but the battle leaves a number of things are left unexplained. Such as the meaning of the numbers on the units, how reserves work, is the turn order def,atk, def,atk or simultaneous, does the enemy rout a # of units and you choose which in particular, do eliminated units work the same way, and can commanders be place on the front line? Yes, exactly. I plan to do this in the next turn's post. We're just getting started here since we haven't had a pitched battle yet. e: ah.. a bunch of screenshots and words are missing from the post that I forgot about and cover exactly what you're talking about.. fixing it Alikchi fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Mar 24, 2019 |
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Mar 23, 2019 03:36
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A bit confusing at first (I admit I didn't understand much about the battle) but I'm looking forward to this LP. But please, do explain the mechanics a bit more when you can. To a neophyte, it's quite confusing.
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Mar 29, 2019 13:14
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Yeah, this game is really cool- it's fairly difficult to and the game can turn really fast. The same guy who made this made a similar game about the Napoleonic wars which is even harder.
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Mar 29, 2019 13:20
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Looking forward to this! I've only played the Napoleonic one (and can confirm that it is very hard).
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Mar 29, 2019 13:34
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Sorry about the delay on this folks, I've been in and out of the hospital. Planning to get back on it shortly.
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Mar 29, 2019 17:57
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BTW, here's some info on the units:
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Mar 29, 2019 18:45
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What's our victory condition? Do we need to capture Rome itself?
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Mar 29, 2019 19:58
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Mechanical Ape posted:What's our victory condition? Do we need to capture Rome itself? That's an instant victory condition, yes. Otherwise, it's to have more VPs by the end of turn 20, which you get by various things, controlling cities, all the cities in areas, having had the enemy's capital under siege.
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Mar 29, 2019 20:50
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This looks really interesting. Can you play as the Romans too, or are you always Carthage?
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Mar 29, 2019 21:03
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Always Carthage. Which is a shame, I'd love being able to play Rome or even multiplayer. Alas.
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Mar 29, 2019 21:12
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Enchanted Hat posted:This looks really interesting. Can you play as the Romans too, or are you always Carthage? This(and Victory and Glory) are basically tailored games for a player as Carthage/France vs an AI opponent. There's a lot of compromises to make that viable, and i think it's pretty cool. If you gave the player the roman systems they would have a really really easy time of it. The roman cards give them so many free units and they have a huge naval advantage.
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Mar 29, 2019 21:43
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Thanks for helping out, Panzeh! My medical issues are mostly resolved and I should have an update shortly. 
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May 9, 2019 21:21
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Turn 2 Alright, back to it. The Senate needs our input.  I go with Upgrade Defenses, because it’s the fastest way to get more ships, and without more ships I can’t safely transport reinforcements anywhere. The Roman Navy is just too strong, especially with the support of their pals in Sicily.  We spend all three points on ships, giving us a nicely sized 6-ship fleet in Carthage.  Then it's time to assign a command phase to Hannibal. Hannibal attempts to attack Servilius' army in the open, but they refuse battle and set up on the defensive. This gives them big stat bonuses and - could seriously damage Hannibal and company.   I'm still tempted, but the odds are just too bad. I still haven't used any Punic Tricks cards (more on them when I get the opportunity to use them!), there has been no Cannae-esque crushing victory yet, and I'd rather break into the plains of western Italy than continue futzing around in Cisalpine Gaul. The only way in is to storm Placentia, with its four garrison units.  It’s a bit dicey at first. I lose an African infantry unit - they’re particularly useful, though, because of their two defense factors, which means I only have to give up one of them instead of, say, two Spanish infantry.  And then it’s done.  So Hannibal's boys are flee to loot, burn, and pillage the rich plains of Etruria. Stinky barbarian Gauls and Spaniards bust down the doors of Etruscan manors and steal all the silverware, et cetera. (Yellow dotted line marking our route added by me, not ingame.) Pisa sits ripe for the taking, and I could even lay a (premature) siege to Rome if I wanted to. The Romans simply have no well-positioned armies at this moment - but that could quickly change. Those Consuls and Praetors are still in the field capable of raising and leading troops, and their Italian allies haven't shown any signs of deserting their masters. I hope to change that.  Anyways, I have a different plan. I want to take the mountain pass town of Perusia and cross into the Umbria-Samnium region and take a port. You'll see why later! Hopefully. I know the army of Livius could still come after me. I play one of my cards, removing a Latin legion from the army of Servilius. The Romans are allowed to respond, and choose to kill off Hasdrubal’s Elephant units in Spain for some reason. I’m just glad they didn’t take out Hannibal’s set of pachyderms.  We end our turn with that. Next turn, I will need to advise the Senate once again. With my fleet decently sized, we have more options. I could raid Corsica and Sardinia, reinforce Hasdurbal in Spain or Hannibal’s army, or even go hog wild and try for an invasion of Sicily. In the meantime, Hannibal is loose in Italy, having left the main Roman field army behind in comparatively useless Cisalpine Gaul. Next turn I hope to use giphy or some other gif/video making service to show the battles and movements with more clarity. I can also upload the full turns to YouTube, though there will be long boring gaps while I pause and think to edit out. Thoughts? Alikchi fucked around with this message at 04:19 on May 11, 2019 |
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May 11, 2019 04:12
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Feel like gifs are fine - if they're easy for you to make at least. Whatever's easier for you as an LP'er. And in this game is it worth it to occupy cities you've tkaen or just loot/pillage them? Or it worth it ot occupy one and establish a garrison/presence rather than sacking it?
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May 11, 2019 04:51
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wedgekree posted:Feel like gifs are fine - if they're easy for you to make at least. Whatever's easier for you as an LP'er. Shouldn't be too hard to FRAPS/whatever recording software the turn and pull screenshots and gif stuff from there. I've just never done it like this before and wanted some input. There's no looting/pillaging/sacking mechanic, really, that was just poetic license. (I was thinking of the Total War games when I wrote it, though.) It doesn't hurt to occupy the bigger "cities" (larger on the map, can have up to four garrisons) and "towns" (smaller, up to two garrison units). You can often recruit units from the cities. If Carthage were to control Pisa, for instance, we could recruit our own Italian allied units. There are some pretty good cards you can get for this as well. The other thing to take into consideration is the mountain passes. Italy is divided along its spine by the Apennines and the towns that control the passes are strategic chokepoints. After you take a city or town, you automatically get one garrison unit, and if undisturbed it will grow up to the city/town max of either 4 or 2 Alikchi fucked around with this message at 06:49 on May 11, 2019 |
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May 11, 2019 06:44
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 09:31 |
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Alikchi posted:Shouldn't be too hard to FRAPS/whatever recording software the turn and pull screenshots and gif stuff from there. I've just never done it like this before and wanted some input. Yeah, one of the central dilemmas of this game is whether to keep Hannibal's stack huge and together to win battles against Romans, or to spread out to increase recruiting, but spreading out gives the Romans chances to hit your guys. You have to have generals in a province(or a city in a province) to recruit there. Rome has a significant advantage in this regard since they can keep more generals in the field and get a lot of troops from cards and Rome itself. A lot of the times I get burned is when I think I have Hannibal protecting one of my lesser stacks and the Romans do an amphibious attack on the city so Hannibal can't intercept. Intercepting is the best way to get at the Romans because they can't refuse being intercepted. Keeping a general in Spain is quite important and trying to keep a general in Cisalpine Gaul is ideal, but it's difficult to truly keep such a general protected.
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May 11, 2019 11:51
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