Let's Play! Hold the Line: Hannibal | Wargame | Battle of Metaurus 207 BC | Complete Playthrough

Description provided by Wayne Hansen on YouTube:

This is a solo playthrough of the Battle of the Metaurus River scenario from the two player, but solo/solitaire friendly (thanks to chit pull activation) war board game Hold the Line: Hannibal. Designed by Dan Fournie and published by Worthington Publishing. The Battle of the Metaurus (207 BC) was a decisive engagement in the Second Punic War that halted Carthaginian hopes of victory in Italy. Hasdrubal Barca, brother of Hannibal, marched from Hispania across the Alps intending to join Hannibal in central Italy, but his plans were uncovered when Roman forces intercepted his messengers. The Roman consuls Marcus Livius Salinator and Gaius Claudius Nero coordinated their armies in northern Italy near the Metaurus River, in what is now the Marche region. Nero executed a bold forced march from the south to reinforce Livius without Hannibal’s knowledge, allowing the Romans to confront Hasdrubal with overwhelming strength. During the battle, the Romans exploited the difficult terrain and Hasdrubal’s less experienced troops. After fierce fighting, Nero shifted his veterans from the Roman right wing to strike Hasdrubal’s exposed flank, collapsing the Carthaginian line. Hasdrubal was killed in the fighting, and his army was virtually annihilated. The victory was strategically decisive: it prevented the junction of the two Barcid armies and marked the turning point of the war in Italy. Hannibal, upon learning of his brother’s defeat and death, recognized that Carthage’s cause in Italy was effectively lost, and from that point forward he remained on the defensive until his eventual recall. Hold the Line: Hannibal is a grand tactical two-player game covering 10 of the greatest battles of the Punic Wars: Bagradas 255 BC Trebia 218 BC Trasimene 217 BC Cannae 216 BC Dertosa 215 BC Baecula 208 BC Metaurus 207 BC Ilipa 206 BC Great Plains 203 BC Zama 202 BC Following in the footsteps of Richard Borg’s Commands and Colors system and more directly Worthington’s Hold the Line series, Hannibal includes a mounted standard size 22x34inch map board, 13 hexes wide and 9 hexes deep. Combat is resolved with custom dice. The game uses large full color double sided counters for your military units. The scale is 300-400 meters per hex, 90 minutes per turn and units of 3-6,000 infantry, 2-4,000 cavalry and 15-25 war elephants. The units are mainly of 4-steps and include four types of infantry: elite, regular, barbarian and light; three types of cavalry: regular, barbarian and light; and, of course, war elephants. Some units have missile capability, which enhances lethality in combat. Units include Carthaginians, Libyans, Gauls and Ligurians for Carthage and Roman legions and Italian wings for Rome, with Iberians and Numidians fighting for both sides. A battle can be fought in 60-90 minutes. Hold the Line: Hannibal introduces several innovative features: - Facing: Most importantly in a depiction of ancient combat, facing plays a major role in movement, reaction and combat in Hannibal. Units face a hex vertex and have two front hexes, two flank hexes and two rear hexes. Movement and attack are restricted to front hexes, while defending against flank or rear attacks is penalized. - Formations: The Action Point (AP) mechanic is retained from Hold the Line. However, an original command system features formations of one to six units in Hannibal. Most armies have a center and left and right wings of infantry, with two cavalry wings. Each formation is activated in turn by a chit pull system, introducing uncertainty and fog of war. - Leaders: Formations are led by over 30 of the famous historical leaders of Carthage, Rome and Numidia with varying capabilities and limitations. In Hannibal, leaders are required to activate units of their formation based on their command range. Leaders may provide battle bonuses in combat and retreat; rally weakened units; and seize the initiative overruling the usual chit pull order. Leaders can also be killed or captured. Support me directly! Monthly: https://www.patreon.com/wargaminghansen One-time donation: https://paypal.me/wargaminghansen Shop for Wargames at Amazon (Affiliate Link): https://www.amazon.com/shop/waynehansen?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfshop_7QA6E7NSZ70ZNE2E2KTN The game on BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/440936/hold-the-line-hannibal The game on the publisher's website: https://www.worthingtonpublishing.com/collection/hold-the-line-hannibal Contact me: On BGG at username "wtjbatman", or via email at murdly@gmail.com Interested in providing review copies of your game(s)? Contact me at the above email. Can't get enough of me? Check out my Blog at https://www.substack.com/@wargaminghansen