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News from the North: Hannibal by Mark Simonitch.
The Morton’s are off visiting family as family are wont to do at this time of year. Phil has been released on a Sunday evening (a gap in his wife’s seemingly never-ending round of rehearsals and performances for her singing group) so it’s over to Halifax for a return to Hannibal. This was played very successfully about a month ago, and both Phil and Roger were keen to give it another run.
Hannibal is a game simulating the 2nd Punic war based around the Western Mediterranean, and comes from the ‘We the People’ stable. ‘We the People’ has given us a lot of mileage and is the game of choice when the Ragnars are reduced to just two. Roger shows an admirable bulldog-spirited approach to the game, as he invariably opts to play the British. Phil is only too happy to let him – both are agreed that it’s an uphill task (as the stats bear out – it is probably the length of the American War of Independence since the British actually won – once upon a time the British managed to surround Washington (George rather than DC) to win an automatic victory, but no American player has made that mistake since). Still it’s a pleasant, quick game that captures the atmosphere well.
Hannibal is no less successful. In terms of alterations to the system, it isn’t massively different.
- The combat system has been improved – battles now cause damage to both sides, dependent on the length of the battle - although the loser usually comes off much the worst.
- The Event cards have been made more elegant, in that there are no longer any of those infuriating cards that are no use to yourself – cards now offer either a political effect (which possibly might be of no use to you) or a military effect which can be used by either side; in other words, every card can now be used for something. Infinitely better.
- Political control of provinces is now even more important. Not only do they offer the ‘militia effect’, but also result in a political effect at the end of each year: for however many provinces you have less than the enemy, you must remove that number of PC markers.
- The naval rules do a fine job of recreating the imbalance between the two sides. Rome can transport armies perfectly safely, whereas Carthage is much more limited. Early on it is extremely risky, but as the game goes on it becomes less so.
Last month’s game saw Hannibal dithering about on a minor campaign in France, suffering horribly when crossing the Alps and then being killed in Cisalpine Gaul. Although Roger gamely battled on, it was just a case of waiting for the Roman machine to grind him down. After 4 hours the game finished with Scipio Africanus battering on the doors of Carthage. In the first game tonight Hannibal leaves a series of garrisons along the French coast, takes losses nipping over the Alps and gets slaughtered in battle there. At which point Roger agrees that this is a ‘bad’ strategy and that the evening will be better spent starting again.
Perhaps this time, though, Phil is over-confident. He thinks he has a sure-fire winning strategy – build up the Italian armies at every opportunity, chase Hannibal and keep pounding at him. Kill Hannibal and it is game over. This time though the strategy unravels – not immediately – but certainly enough to spectacularly end the game at the halfway point.
An initial Hannibal victory doesn’t do too much damage, and rapidly the one-eyed one is left sitting facing massed Roman armies. Roger is perplexed. An end run around the Roman’s flank to lay siege to Rome is tried, but having watched the Carthaginians lose an army unit immediately to no effect it is agreed to rewind the turn and go back to the drawing board (this was never an option as it turns out – Hannibal faces a -2 attacking Rome – basically, unless you get a helpful Event card, forget it). Instead Roger heads south into the bottom end of Italy – and here lies Rome’s undoing. A couple of defeats follow, resulting in PC markers being lost, Hannibal manages to take over two of the provinces there, and suddenly the Romans are having to remove three or four PC markers at the end of each year. Within a turn it spirals totally out of control and at the end of the next year, without any major change in the military picture, Rome is faced with removing eight (!!!!) markers. At which point Phil gives throws in the towel.
Roger is gracious in victory – it was very narrow, even though at the end it felt to be crushing. Hannibal had two VERY narrow victories, he managed to evade the Roman army by the skin of his teeth on four or five occasions, and when the Romans had him cornered he managed to find help from the Adriatic pirates (!) and sail from the toe of Italy up to Pisa. Nonetheless it is a chastening experience for Phil – the scale and suddenness of the defeat was a shock to the system. How likely is it that the Carthaginian victory can be repeated? Who knows, but it does mean the game is going to get another outing at the next possible opportunity – this is a very good two-player game indeed.
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