July 26, 2013: The X Factor, a triumph flub’d and the tale of TWO & TFK
“…Carthage must be frickin destroyed…”
Back to the war…
…the continuing saga of Team Roma and Team Carthage, battling it out in the 1st Punic War at The Source in the Twin Cities; spring/summer 2013… and at the end of last session (248 B.C…our 6th session of this game+a boot camp), Lilybaeum had again traded hands. This time, Roman treachery would bring the city to heal…
The site of much action this session, including the debacle of The Frickin Knucklehead (TFK)
247 B.C.
Punic War enemies squaring off over a gaming table
Politics and Builds
For a change, the Senate saw fit to appoint some competent commanders:
Postumius 305 26C proconsul’d to IV Consul Army in Sicily
Otacilius 304 26D Rome Consul…I Army in Rome
Valerius 339 26D Field Consul…III Army in Sardinia
F1 9 ships…Lunius 329 26D
F2 20 ships…Atilius 313 27B (much rejoicing)
F3 7 ships… Caecilius 326 26C
And in a shocking development, Rome was able to raise 2 additional legions.
In Carthage, the same family stayed in charge, but assumed an aggressive orientation. Cartha reinforced an army with 10 lowly Ligurians.
Activations
30 chits were tossed into the cup.
Early in the action, III Consul Army in Sardinia took the city of Caralis (Rome’s 2nd city in the province).
In Sicily, the rebuilt deathstar under Hanno the Great (now 52 SPs), attempted to move on Lily, but was intercepted by 305 and his IV Army. The net modifiers were a -5 (and that’s after a good roll on the tactical leader rating). None-the-less, the Romans decided to gamble, hoping for an “X” result. The dice were tossed…a zero…so a -5 result…X TABLE!
…Rome then cried out for a “10”. The dice gods granted their request resulting 25% losses to Cartha and 15% losses for Rome. After the battle, 33 Roman SPs remained vs 39 disgraced Carthaginian SPs.
A Roman taunting the crabby, yet wily, Carthaginian post X result
Back to Sardinia…339’s III Consul Army attacked the remnants of the Cartha’s Sardinian Expeditionary Force hiding at Therros. Again, another big roll for Team Roma. 11 Carthaginian SPs fled away. 15 Roman SPs celebrated by initiating a siege of the city.
The scene of much action in 247 B.C.: Sardinia
Rome ordered 313 with his Fleet 3 and 20 ships to the straits in eastern Sicily. The fleet promptly sinks a small Carthaginian fleet. Team Roma is pleased.
Randon events produced The Revolt of the Siculi; which is basically a free triumph for Rome when they put down the revolt; so, a HUGE break depending upon who the Roman Consul is (only he qualifies for the triumph in this case).
And adding the final icing to the cake for Team Roma in 247 was 305’s IV Consul Army taking Drenpanum to close out the turn. With a Carthaginian player crying out for some dice justice, the dice gods offer a bit; Roman Fleet 3 sinks .
246 B.C.
Can a magna fan turn wargamer? He has the prerequisite roman red shirt, but, does he have the right stuff?
As 246 B.C. rolled in, so did a few observers. One asked, “WHAT are you guys playing?” We told “the 1st Punic War” and asked are you a gamer? He responded with, “no, I’m just here looking at Magna magazines & books, but your game looks interesting”. We gave him a flyer for our club; converting a Magna follower to a wargamer could provide some small hope for humanity. 
VPs, Politics and Upgrades
With Rome taking the final city in Sicily, VPs moved 10 pts in Rome’s favor.
The Senate made our favorite Atilius 313 27B a Practetor. And then the gods really smiled. We drew our leader for the Rome Consul and Army 1 position. This guy would have a nearly guaranteed triumph (due to the random event the previous turn). Out pop’d DA MON: DUILIUS 310 27B. Shouts of joy erupted in Rome. Stick a fork in it; it’s over, baby. “Not so fast”, the crabby and wily Carthaginian commented, “you guys could still f*ck it up”.
Final appointments:
Otacilius 308 15D Field Consul – Army III
Mamiliua 306 15D proconsul – Army IV
Fleet III (20ships) – Lulatius 337 26C
Fleet I (9 ships) – Otacilius 304 26D
Fleet V (7 ships) – Valerius 339 26D
Rome’s luck continued, with the raising of 3 legions. 338 14E was designated to lead new Consul Army II, while 313 27B (back again!) was designated in charged of Legion VIII.
Cartha family changed its orientation to “Alert” and raised 4 ships.
We decided to take a break for lunch. The Carthaginian led the way and as he walked outside the heavens opened up in a downpour. We decided to put off lunch for a bit.
Rome opened up with an unsuccessful treachery attempt to take Themos in Sardinia. Fleet III, 20 ships, engaged a Carthaginian fleet of 11 ships and lost big (7 sunk vs 3 sunk for Cartha). In a subsequent naval action, the fleets each took loses with Cartha ending up with only 3 ships to Rome’s 9.
The activation chit for DUILIUS then appeared. Time to pluck that big juicy triumph. The Senate granted him permission to leave Rome. Off to Sicily he goes and puts down the revolt of the Siculi. Then, an extended discussion in Team Roma broke out.
One Roman Consul (hereafter referred to as “The Wise One” (TWO) advocated immediately returning to Rome to grab the triumph. This would allow Team Roma to permanently have the best leader in the game. “So, why not take the sure thing now?” TWO postulated.
The other Roman Consul (hereafter referred to as “The Frickin Knucklehead” {TFK}), would have none of it. TFK argued for immediately using the best leader to attack Catha’s girly mon death star (under the disgraced Hanno the Great). TFK stated, “Look, DUILIUS is guaranteed another activation this turn. When he gets that, he can return to Rome and celebrate with the party girls. Until then, we have a chance to wreck the death star once and for all. Given that the game is almost over, this would lock in our well earned victory. So, quit being a girlie mon, TWO, and saddle up.”
Back and forth the debate raged. FINALLY, TFK prevailed. TWO closed the discussion with “Well, Mr.Vegas, you better not muck it up”.
TFK ordered DUILIUS to promptly engage Hanno the Great. The die modifier for the battle would be a -2…so, TFK was clearly courting disaster. The die was thrown…
…out pop’d another “X” result. TFK shouted “I told you so! The gods reward the bold!” Again, the Romans plead for a BIG roll. However, while the gods do reward the bold, they do not reward The Frickin Knuckleheads – well, at least this time. Carthage ended up with a major victory. Rome retreated from the field with 30 SPs vs 37 Carthaginian SPs. TFK concluded with a overly confident “Well, no problem. We’ll just use the next activation to return to Rome and claim our triumph”.
After some unimportant activations, the Wily Carthaginian ordered Hanno the Great and the Girly Mon Deathstar to engage the main roman army in Sicily. Cartha had a +3 die modifier…the die was tossed…
…and the third “X” result occurred of the day. The Carthaginian shouted, “Now it’s my turn for some damm dice revenge!”. He tossed the die again…and rolled a “1”. Groan. Whatever the Carthaginian had done in a previous life was going to echo for eternity in this game. Lowly Cartha limped away with 31 SPs vs Rome’s 27 SPs.
Back in Sardinia, the remains of the once mighty Carthaginian Sardinian Expeditionary Force starved to death at Therros. Cartha managed to hold on to the place with a small city garrison.
Finally, DUILIUS’s 2nd activation chit appeared. On his first continuation roll, TFK boooooof’d the roll. NO TRIUMPH. “The Wise One” simply smiled.
The look says it all: I told you so, you frickin knucklehead
245 B.C.
Political and Upgrade
310 27B Consul Army II
335 15E Consul Army I
311 25D Consul Army III
Fleet V 314 26C
Fleet I 301 26D
Fleet III 323 25D
Legion 335 14E
Fleet II is build with 20 ships 306 15D.
Carthage keeps the same family and orientation is “Interested”.
Activations
Rome’s Consul II Army moved to engage Hanno the Great and his so called deathstar. After a BIG roll in Rome’s favor on the tactical leadership (a +5), the total DRM for the battle was +2. Rome’s luck finally failed them when they laid a goose egg on the die roll, resulting in draw for this particular battle.
In Sardinia, Rome finally took their third city: Therros.
Rome took another shot at Hanno’s death star, but Cartha turned the tables on the Roman Consul II army and gained a major victory. However, despite the victory, the once mighty Carthaginian death had had only 18 SPs remaining (vs 28 for Rome). This, after it had once been totally rebuilt (after fleeing Sicily when losing over 50% of 100 SPs in one year).
The turn ended with Rome sieging Sulci in Sardinia and Carthage unable to retake Lilybaeum by direct assault.
Another incredibly fun session of this epic game was at an end. Although we were unable to play Carthage the following week (yesterday), we did discuss the game at our usual hangout: The Source. While John and Dan played some Combat Commander (a Yugo scenario that looked like fun…I think Dan was the Chetniks), we discussed the war in Sicily and what not. We ended by making plans for our next and FINAL session.