Rome…262 B.C the Senate convenes in an emergency session as final reports drift in from Massana.

The fields and beaches of Massana are a thick red carpet of Roman capes, pilum and gladii, discarded in the rout.

Legions I & II are shells….Broken upon the hoplons of Hieros men, pierced by Carthaginian mercenaries, trampled underfoot by elite cavalry, massacred.

The first three years of this war have seen action in just 13 square miles. All else is but a distraction. Massana has yet to fall to siege from Carthage. The Rome Consul rebuilt the walls, torn asunder, but siege attrition bloodied those that fled to the perceived safety of those walls while from inside famine took apart the 2nd Consular Army of Legions # III and IV.