H30

With the Mamertines heading to raise a revolt in Samnium, I brought forth troops from the reserve Army I had organized in Magna Graecia to fill in the gaps, as well as to replace losses at the Battle of Laus. The Reserve army itself had swelled from forty-thousand Infantry and five thousand Cavalry to sixty-five thousand infantry and ten-thousand cavalry. Unfortunately, many of these troops were armed as Hoplites, Phalangites, or Peltasts, with only around a quarter of the infantry equipped as Thureophorai or Thorakitai, mostly from Lokri, Rhegion, and Tarentum, and the Cities of Sicily who had been swift to mimic my military reforms. It was enough to replace losses for the time being.

I also sent a force of three thousand skirmishing Tarantine Cavalry and two thousand Peltasts from Metapontion to supplement the Mamertines in Samnium. This bore fruit as we marched north into Campania. Apparently, the Mamertines were able to utilize the show of support to galvanize the four Tribes of Samnium into revolt. It seemed that Samnicus, having retreated to lick his wounds at Capua, withdrew much of the Roman Garrisons in Samnite Territory to bolster his depleted force, making revolt that much easier. Hortius Decius had managed to gather some five thousand troops from each of the four Samnite Tribes to help throw out the Romans, swelling his force to some thirty-seven-thousand troops.

This army was advancing on the lands of the Frentanii, who were caught between the Samnites and the rebelling Paelignii and Marrucinii and opted to join their forces with those of the Samnites. This swelled Hortius Decius' forces to fifty-seven-thousand troops. Now there were three anti-Roman Armies loose in the Peninsula. one in Campania, one in Central Italy, and one besieging Ostia.

To face us, Samnicus had his force in Capua, with the Samnite and Campanian Garrisons, combined with the remnants of his Army that had fled the defeat at Laus, he could muster some sixty-six-thousand men, and that only by stripping Campania dry of troops. He had two options, hole up in Capua and wait for relief that might never come with an army only a single day's march from Rome itself at Ostia, or try to outmaneuver us, which was a dicey proposition with our Cavalry and Naval advantages. The former offered the hope of fortifications, slim as that may be, while the latter offered the potential to withdraw north into Latium if defeated.

In the end, Samnicus chose to try and engage us in maneuver. It wasn't as poor an option as it might have appeared at first blush, as the Campanians were Civitas Sine Suffragio, meaning they were Roman Citizens rather than Socii, a privileged position afforded to very few non-Latin cities in the Republic, and one that offered substantial economic and prestige benefits. Therefore, the Campanians had every reason to aid Samnicus in his maneuvers, acting as local scouts and auxiliaries whenever possible. It was with this help, that Samnicus hoped to outmaneuver the twin hammers of my army and that of Hortius Decius'.

As spring turned to summer, we attempted to pin Samnicus' army down. Twice we almost managed to do so, once near Suessula, and once near Accerae, both times the locals aided in his escape, warning him of our approach and allowing him to sacrifice small rear-guard forces of a few thousand men while the bulk of his army escaped being caught between Hortius Decius and myself. Finally, as summer reached its peak and the season became too hot for campaigning, I had enough of the cat-and-mouse chase. Samnicus thought he was safe within Capua, utilizing the city's water source to beat the heat. I was going to claim that water for my own and steal a march on him in the process.

With Capua's water coming primarily from the Volturnus River since the Aqueduct to Montes Tifata comprised only a small amount of the water the city drank, I had a few goals in mind for any siege. First, I sent Hortius Decius to accomplish, that was to block up the Montes Tifata Aqueduct, a relatively simple task that shouldn't take more than a day or two once the aqueduct was reached. Once he had done that, he was to seize the town of Casilinum on the Volturnus and in so doing, shut off the flow of water from the Vulturnus to Capua.

Meanwhile, I would keep Samnicus in check, bottling him up in Capua itself with my army. Once the flow of water was completely within our control, Samnicus would have two options, either he would have to surrender once the city ran out of water, or he would have to march out and fight on my terms. Either way would lead to a victory for me and would clear the way to link up with Kleon of Pydna outside Ostia.

Two months went by while we waited out Samnicus. Casilinum fell in the second month, having run out of food stores and surrendering. For a moment, it almost looked as if Samnicus would wait out the summer entirely, hoping for autumn to bring rain to quench his thirst, but by the last week of summer, he could no longer hold out, having exhausted his water but for a few days of remaining stores for the whole city. He chose to march his army out to fight instead of surrender.

We formed up on the plains outside Capua, my Phalanxes held together by lines of Thorakitai and Thureophorai, my infantry screened by Peltasts, and my flanks guarded by Kataphractoi. Samnicus formed up in standard Roman formation, though with a single addition. It seems that a number of local auxiliaries from the shepherds and townsfolk of Campainia had joined Samnicus' army carrying flatbows, javelins, and slings. These miscellaneous missile militia were not being used to screen Samnicus' force but were apparently being kept in reserve atop a small hillock for some reason.

With a single blast of the brass horns, the signifiers of the Roman Army hustled Samnicus' Force forward, once more Velites and Peltasts exchanged missile fire and once again my Peltasts got the better of the Romans, largely thanks to drill, experience, and steel equipment. Two to three Romans fell for every one of my Velites. As the skirmishers departed and the lines closed, I could tell that something was amiss from my spot among the reserves. Rome was not its usual determined self, even more than a lack of water could account for. My troops pressed them back toward the city handily within the first hour of the engagement.

It took me some time to place it, but when I did, I couldn't help but be stupefied that I hadn't realized it. I couldn't help but be stunned by the sheer mix of desperation and utter gall that the reason managed to evoke. Once I figured it out, though, I couldn't not see it, from the way that very few of the Roman Troops had beards, to the tone of the various shouts taking on a panicked tinge when coming from the Roman Ranks.

"They're green recruits and garrison troops." I muttered.

"Pyrrhus?" Questioned Astios.

"To make up for his losses at Laus, Samnicus has had to levy garrison troops and green recruits. I'd be willing to bet that barely a quarter of his army has seen one single campaign prior to this war if that." I intoned.

"So? Isn't that a good thing for us?" Questioned Astios.

"What glory is there in crushing a force like this, Astios? Did Heracles, when commanded to perform his labors, seek to take on challenges as weak as this army? No, I think that Rome's losses in their war with the Samnites, Gauls, Umbrians, and Etruscans were far more severe than they let on. Even a peace where they retain their holdings north of Magna Graecia and Samnium will see them broken for decades to come." I intoned.

"You will have to get them to agree to negotiate a peace, first, Pyrrhus. Even with their forces depleted as they are here, that will be no easy task. Latium can yet raise more legions, and the Etruscans have yet to add their Socii to the fray." Cautioned Astios.

"You're right, of course. Let's end this so that we can head north and bring this war to a speedier conclusion. Send in the Kataphractoi." I ordered.

The orders were given and the Kataphractoi formed up for a charge. It was here that Samnicus' plan for his citizen missile militia was laid bare. From atop the hillock, they pelted my Kataphractoi with javelins, sling bullets, arrows, and the like. It seemed that Samnicus was attempting to adapt his strategies to defeat heavy cavalry. Unfortunately for him, it was not working as well as it needed to. While the Kataphractoi were harassed, it inflicted few casualties and slowed their charge by just a small amount. 

Even that seemed to be enough to prevent the total collapse of his line, though several of his maniples were smashed and routed from the field. He sent in his remaining Hastati who had escaped from the battle at Laus, armed with dory spears instead of the usual Hasta and Scutum. These Hastatii shored up his flank and managed to grind the Kataphractoi charge to a halt briefly, forcing my heavy cavalry to wheel around for a second charge. It did not save the Romans, however.

With their lines shortened, I had cut orders for my own infantry to redress and hook around to flank the Roman right, even as the Hastati kept my Kataphractoi at bay on the left. Thanks to the hinges of the more flexible Thureophoroi and Thorakitai formations, my Phalanxes were able to pivot in an L-shape on those hinges and swing around to smash into the Roman Right flank like closing a door. Now trapped on three sides, with the City of Capua at their backs, Roman Discipline finally collapsed entirely.

It was a massacre, by the time the battle ended, some four hours after it had begun, only some eight-thousand-five-hundred Roman Troops remained to surrender. Samnicus was not among them, having fallen to a blow from a Kataphractoi Falcata as he tried to prevent his Hastati from being overrun by a third charge. On our end, the butcher's bill was far lighter than the fifty-seven-thousand-plus deaths on the Roman side. Three thousand dead and four thousand wounded.

Capua surrendered once everything was said and done and with organized resistance in Campania pretty much annihilated, I linked up with Hortius Decius and we spent the remainder of Summer consolidating our hold over Campania, crossing the Volturnus by late in the first month of Autumn and subduing the Auruncan Pentopolis by the middle of the second month of Autumn, with only the Roman Colonia at Suessa Aurunca putting up more than token resistance and requiring a two-week siege to capture. Late that same month, we received word from Kleon of Pydna that Ostia had fallen, though his army had taken moderate casualties to finally capture the port.

By the time we had to stop campaigning for Winter in the middle of the next month, Hortius Decius' Samnites and My Army were camped on the banks of the River Amasenus, while Kleon's was wintering in Ostia. Hortius Decius and I were three days' march South of Rome, while Kleon was one day's march west of Rome. The Noose was tightening around the Senate now. They would have to pull out all the stops if they were going to survive the next year while maintaining control of Rome herself.

Otherwise, the city and the war would be mine within the next year of fighting. . .

XXXX

AN: Another massive victory for Pyrrhus, though the Romans are showing signs of adapting to his Kataphractoi tactics. Unfortunately for Rome, they likely won't have a good counter for it before Pyrrhus is literally at their gates.

Of course, that isn't to say that victory is going to be easy for Pyrrhus. Rome still has a manpower pool of just short of two-hundred-thousand men to pull from before their manpower has completely run dry. Of course, many of those will be either green recruits and garrison troops, or else middle-aged veterans pressed back into frontline service in a time of emergency. Only the urban cohorts of Rome itself are anything approaching top-quality troops, and around fifty-thousand are Etruscan Socii of varying loyalty.

It's still a lot of troops the Senate can put between them and Pyrrhus before the end. Even losing Rome won't necessarily make them call it quits if they still have an army. There will be counterattacks. Expect the war to go for a year longer than Pyrrhus thinks.

Speaking of the Roman Senate next up will be an interlude with them.

Stay tuned. . .