"The cream of citizen hoplites to proudly defend their city from invasion."
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Hoplites date back to the wars between the Greek city-states in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. During the Greco-Persian Wars most hoplites wore a Corinthian-style bronze helm, and a cuirass of bronze or stiffened linen or canvas. They were armed with a short sword and an iron-tipped spear with a bronze counterbalance butt-spike. Hoplites were named, though, after the round hoplon shield they carried. The hoplon-and-spear combination required them to fight as a phalanx, a block of spearmen some eight ranks deep. When closed up, each man would find shelter behind the shield of his neighbour, creating a wall of bristling spear-points. While all hoplites were originally citizen-soldiers, full-time mercenaries took over and became the standard fighting unit of the Greek world. Later, under Phillip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great, the shield became smaller, while the spear developed into the five-metre long sarissa pike. Many armies adopted the phalanx of hoplites as a tactical unit because it was very successful in battle.

218 BC.

Twenty years after Carthage's cataclysmic defeat in its first war with Rome, the promising general Hannibal has taken command of its mighty mercenary army in Iberia. His goal? To restore Carthaginian prestige and exact personal revenge by breaking Roman power in the Mediterranean. Beginning with the capture of Saguntum, Hannibal plans to ignite a second war with Rome - but one with a very different outcome! Despite showing great strategic cunning Hannibal must use all his keen intelligence to capitalise on the situation. Many challenges stand between Carthage and victory, and its forces must overcome them all if Rome is to be defeated!

"A soldier may find food for himself on the march, but what of a new sword, a bandage, or sandals? "
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With armies of increasing size, and campaigns taking troops overseas for months and years, it became vital to maintain supply-lines to keep them provisioned. However, an army’s movement could be severely hampered by its supply train and it was the Greeks who revolutionised military supply and logistics. They disbanded the legion of attendants and wives that trailed behind every army, and introduced the speedier horse and mule to replace the ox-drawn carts. They also made the soldiers carry more. The creation of standardised coinage also allowed states to provide for their armies in enemy territory, because their money could be trusted, with some merchants evolving into the first military contractors.

"Mobs are like the sea: a terrible storm, or a suddenly turning tide."
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Throughout history the mob has played its part in the rise and downfall of kings and politicians: a many-headed beast to be tamed or inflamed. The Greek democracies and the Roman Republic were shaped by the perceived will of the people. This was never more evident than when a mob took to the streets, seeking vengeance, to overthrow tyranny, or to protect themselves from aggressors. Ill-equipped, armed only with tools and weapons, whatever could be scavenged or was at hand, what they lacked in arms and skill was made up for in numbers and in anger. Against such violence, even armed troops could be overwhelmed in the confined space of a city. Mobs were no respectors of status: the great Epirot king Pyrrhus, who, having seized the throne of Macedon, and whilst attempting to put down unrest in their subject city of Argos, was knocked down by a roof tile thrown by an old woman in the mob at Argos. The king was momentarily stunned, and that gave an Argive soldier the chance to behead him on the spot.

"A warrior needs a weapon and a full belly before a fight."
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An army can live off the land in most places, although deserts are an obvious exception. Foraging parties can take food and animal fodder from locals. Working parties can collect firewood as needed. Petty offenders can be made to dig latrines every night as the army camps. Slingers can find a ready resupply of pebbles as missiles wherever there is a beach or riverbed. What can’t be stolen or made on the march, however, must be carried with the army: arrows, spears, spare armour and weapons by the ox-cart load; medical supplies, decent wine from home, and the hundred other little things that make campaigning bearable as opposed to just plain miserable.

Logistics, the art of collecting all these supplies together and keeping them moving with the army, wins battles more reliably than military genius. Knowing where to march is the province of the strategist; getting everyone and everything there in time is logistics. Good generals know that supplies win wars. It is pointless taking a soldier to a battlefield if he is hungry, thirsty, ill or tired out. He will not give of his best in such circumstances, no matter how inspiring the leadership qualities of his commanders.