Hannibal knew that the traditional style of Roman warfare was to pour infantry into the centre of the enemy lines with overwhelming force.

He planned around that by placing his Iberian & Gallic infantry at the centre with his Carthaginians at the flanks

Hannibal expected his superior Numidian & Hispanic cavalry to defeat the Roman cavalry, thus preventing any Roman flanking action while guaranteeing his own.

The battle began with fierce cavalry action on both flanks with the Numidians keeping the Roman busy while the Carthaginian cavalry led by Hasdrubal on the other flank brutally cut down and routed the Romans they engaged while maintaining enough discipline to not chase after them

Instead, Hasdrubal led his cavalry around the back of the Roman line to attack the Roman cavalry in the rear

As the infantry lines engaged each other, dust blew in the faces of the already sleep deprived men as the Roman troops slowly became enveloped by the Carthaginian line as Hannibal has his centra slowly move backwards creating a crescent formation

This damaged the cohesion of the Roman line as they ran into the gaps of the managed retreat of Hannibal’s centre. They were soon compacted so close together that they had little room to move while also ignoring the un-engaged Carthaginian troops on their flank

Then, at the perfect moment, Hannibal’s cavalry charged into the Roman rear while his flanking infantry fully encircled the panicking Romans.

Now trapped, there was no escape.

It was a slaughter. One estimate has six hundred legionaries being killed every minute until darkness brought an end to the battle.

(I've read somewhere that the Carthaginian started to take prisoners because their arms were too tired from the stabbing)

In total 50,000 Romans fell in the slaughter.

2 quaestors, 29 of the 48 military tribunes died including the consul of the previous year, Geminus, along 80 men of senatorial class.

One historian equates the death toll with the first day of the Somme in 1916.

The Roman ability to carry on after successive & crushing defeats is nothing short of a miracle & testament to their indomitable spirit

Livy wrote that ‘No other nation surely would not have been overwhelmed by such an accumulation of misfortune.’

They simply raised new legions

While some Romans who survived held up in a nearby town were discussing what to do, a few were shamed into suggesting leaving Italy to serve as mercenaries.

It was at this point where Publius Cornelius Scipio stormed into the room with his sword drawn and said

teasing part 2.
I'll be seeing you all soon enough.

Pompeii in the night.

Starfield (2023)

the desolate, isolated, creeping feeling of loneliness in space is what makes this game special.