We know from Livy that the Sardinians revolted, the Carthaginians sent a force, and the Romans also sent a force and 'restored order.'
(Livy 23 34)
Some of the Sardinians were 'Sardi-Pelliti (clothed in skins). These may have been 'irregulars or guerrillas'
But according to Livy
Hampsicora himself [The leader of the revolt] happened to be absent; he had paid a visit to the Pelliti-Sardinians in order to arm the younger men amongst them so as to increase his own strength.
So according to this, the main rebel force was not these Sardi-Pelliti. Hampsicora was apparently raising a force based at the city of Cornus which was apparently a Punic settlement originally.
So are the forces he is leading going to look like 'Carthaginian' citizen infantry either with spear and round shield or with a thureos and a couple of javelins?
Also the Nuragic culture still hung on, so had they fallen under Punic influence or had they influenced the Punic inhabitants?
QuoteAgain, Sardo produces the rams that grow goat-hair instead of wool; they are called, however, "musmones,"(mouflons) and it is with the hides of these that the people there make their cuirasses. They also use a light shield (pelte) and a small dagger (xiphidio).
- Strabo 5.2.7
The short swords, light shields, and hide cuirasses do sound quite like the equipment of some of the nuraghic figurines, so there would seem to have been some degree of continuity.
The most recent WSS (139) has a scenario for the battle of Cornus on Sardinia in this period. I have no idea how accurate it is but I expect to give it a run through with Wars of the Republic
Another issue is the initial garrison of Sardinia. Some people talk about there being only one legion. All I've been able to find in Livy is "The army, too, which was quartered there, though strong enough for the occupation of a peaceable province, was quite inadequate for the war which seemed likely to break out. "
OK so what have I missed?
It may well be an inferred garrison of one legion, rather than an explicit statement anywhere: the governor who fell ill just before the rebellion in the Second Punic was Quintus Mucius Scaevola, a propraetor, (his predecessor was a propraetor as well) and they usually commanded single legion armies. Presumably but not necessarily with an allied ala, or possibly even wholly composed of allies, if Livy was correct in reporting the deployment of an Etruscan "legion" as an independent force during the Telamon campaign. Scaevola was appointed a year after Cannae, so unless Rome particularly suspected pro-Punic unreliability, it would not have been the highest priority for forces at a time when even the Romans were struggling for manpower.
It's trying to get the numbers to work :-[
We have the 'end point'. We know that the senate decided that "Fulvius Flaccus should raise a force of 5000 infantry and 400 cavalry and arrange for its immediate transport to Sardinia."
We then know that
"T. Manlius hauled ashore his war-ships and furnished the seamen and rowers with arms, so that they might be available for service on land; with these and the army he had taken over from the praetor he made up a force of 22,000 infantry and 1200 cavalry."
So working out on my fingers that means that 17,000 infantry were either members of the original garrison, or armed rowers etc.
Looking at the cavalry, he brought with him 400 and then deployed 1200. So I would assume he didn't convert rowers into cavalry, which means there were 800 on the island.
So that would look to be the cavalry of two legions, or perhaps one allied ala with a strong cavalry arm?
If we assume two weak formations (combined between 6000 and 8000). Given that the Roman commander, "had been affected by the unhealthy climate and impure water and had fallen into an illness which was tedious rather than dangerous, and would make him for some considerable time unfit to bear the responsibilities of war." it seems a bit strange that none of his men were also suffering.
So if we guess the garrison at 8,000 infantry and 800 cavalry due to illness etc, this means that 9000 infantry have come from the ships.
So we don't know how many ships there were. Which is useful. :-[ But the commander was told to get his own men across. So let us assume he just manned ships that were laid up.
So 5000 legionaries would provide the marines for between 40 and 50 ships.
If we assume you could strip somewhere between 200 and 300 rowers etc off a ship (I'm not entirely convinced that everything was a quinquereme) the rowers from 36 ships would give you the number of 'extra infantry' that were raised.
So if we guess 40 ships plus some horse transports etc, and this means we have
Two weak 'legions'
One reasonably strong legion but given it was raised after Cannae, what proportion of debtors and slaves it contained and how much armour men wore is open to discussion.
9000 oarsmen and sailors.
When it comes to kitting out these oarsmen and sailors, we do know that Legions carried spare shields (because they were 'disposable' because in the past the Romans had handed out shields to lesser 'troops' to pass them off as legionaries.
Also there would probably be some store of weapons in Roman bases in Sardinia.
So I'd suggest a high proportion of these oarsmen had a legionary scutum, probably a sword, doubtless javelins, and some would have other shields that were lying about.
So there you are, spurious accuracy and guesswork, I apologise for a total lack of sophistry ;)
Not unreasonable at all... given the existing force was a garrison, a type of Roman force on which the annalists are disappointingly vague but which often seem to have been mostly or wholly allied in source, it may well be that it did not fit a neat Polybian model. And whilst no Republican Roman would ever admit it, extra cavalry might well have been a benefit in patrolling an island, just as long as no Roman equites were being employed on such menial and tedious tasks away from home for a protracted period.
Running about the hills and forests was probably better suited to more lightly armed chaps, whether oarsmen or debtors, anyway.
Cavalry patrolling makes a lot of sense in the South West which was the important, fertile, grain growing area. This is one bit the tourists probably never see
Capture.JPG
Indeed when you look at the physical map of the island, yes a lot of mountains, but the important bit both Carthaginians and Romans wanted was the fertile grain exporting bit
The campaign seems to have happened in that long green 'valley'relief_map_of_italy_sardegna.jpg
None of the Imperial powers had tried to do too much in the north and away from the coast.
Jim - I can see a JW Slingshot article in this discussion....
Quote from: Dave Knight on Feb 13, 2026, 11:24 AMThe most recent WSS (139) has a scenario for the battle of Cornus on Sardinia in this period. I have no idea how accurate it is but I expect to give it a run through with Wars of the Republic.
And write about it for Slingshot I hope? The Forum recently had a discussion about rule sets and games not being written about in Slingshot!
Quote from: stevenneate on Feb 15, 2026, 09:37 PMJim - I can see a JW Slingshot article in this discussion....
The initial idea was as a campaign for the club but a slingshot article seems fair 8)
Yes! Sardinia's part in the Punic Wars is a subject I have never looked at or read about, so I will be enlightened at the very least.
Funnily enough, when I was in my mid teens I seriously considered a Punic War Sardinian campaign, reckoning that one could keep forces quite limited to a legion or two on the Roman side and a hodge podge of Carthaginian mercs on the other, but I was stymied by the problem of finding a good, large map of the island that was not covered in modern towns and roads. Forty and some years on, maybe should revisit if my Punic armies ever take shape again...
Ironically both sides are something of a hodge podge 8)
The 215BCE Battle of Caralis has been a frequent fixture on our gaming tables in both 6mm and 28mm using the C3i scenario for Commands & Colors.
Quote from: Jon Freitag on Feb 17, 2026, 11:57 PMThe 215BCE Battle of Caralis has been a frequent fixture on our gaming tables in both 6mm and 28mm using the C3i scenario for Commands & Colors.
Have you any details of the armies involved under the rules as I'd be fascinated to see what conclusions others have come to 8)
Jim, the scenario can be found here. (https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/scenario-list/second-punic-war-218-202-bc/c3i13-caralis-215-bc.html)
Quote from: Jon Freitag on Feb 18, 2026, 11:33 AMJim, the scenario can be found here. (https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/scenario-list/second-punic-war-218-202-bc/c3i13-caralis-215-bc.html)
Thanks for that, interesting 8)
Quote from: Jon Freitag on Feb 18, 2026, 11:33 AMJim, the scenario can be found here. (https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/scenario-list/second-punic-war-218-202-bc/c3i13-caralis-215-bc.html)
I am not familiar with command and colours troop types. Some are obvious, but what to the counters in Hempsicora's command represent in wargames terms?
Quote from: Dave Knight on Feb 19, 2026, 09:38 AMQuote from: Jon Freitag on Feb 18, 2026, 11:33 AMJim, the scenario can be found here. (https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/scenario-list/second-punic-war-218-202-bc/c3i13-caralis-215-bc.html)
I am not familiar with command and colours troop types. Some are obvious, but what to the counters in Hempsicora's command represent in wargames terms?
I must admit I share your interest :)
The 'W' troop type is warband. These would be recruits from inland Nuragic Sardinian tribes that Hampsicora raised.
H = heavy infantry
M = medium infantry
L = light infantry javelinmen
LS = light infantry slingers
A = auxilia
W = warband
E = elephants
MC = medium cavalry
LC = light cavalry
The little portrait counters are leaders. The numbers in the bottom right of each unit icon shows unit strength in blocks (4 for infantry, 3 for cavalry and 2 for elephants)
Thanks John and Mike :)
A C&C legion for scenarios in the Punic Wars period is generally depicted as 1xH, 2xM, 1xL javelinmen.
The Roman sailors or general tribal infantry could be the Ax (Auxilia) type - they don't fight as well as medium M infantry but can shoot with javelins. They can also move an extra hex faster but if they do they cannot combat.
The warband (W) can double move if they can make contact with an enemy and combat like M troops until they are weakened, when they then melee like Ax troops. Makes them powerful on first combat if fresh. Does this sound like the Nuragic infantry in this battle? I don't know, but these unofficial scenarios in C&C are the creations of individuals and hence it it their opinion of events. I would be interested to see how you describe them.
There are two C&C scenarios for Caralis, but the second one looks to be a shorter version of the link above. I'm planning to gear my team up to give this scenario a few run throughs.
Give it a try, Steven. This one is well-balanced and a good challenge for both armies. It is one of our favorites.
There is an article on the "battle of Cornus 215 BC" in issue 139 of Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy Magazine. It's a quick rundown followed by the usual representation of armies for Hail Caesar: Epic Battles. The majority is pictures of what might be the Warlord Games Epic figures and rehashed artwork.
Cheers Steven
The article is currently with the editor ;)
Steven mentioned an article to me
SPQR Scenario.
Caralis: The Battle for Sardinia, 215BC
In it there is the comment.
"Therefore, early in 217 the praetor Aulus Cornelius Mammula was sent to reinforce the island's garrison with Legion V, a full-strength double legion with some 10,000 foot and 800 horse."
I have hunted high and low for any evidence of this, the only thing AI turns up when I ask about it is this article, and I think I've scoured Polybius and Livy and found nothing.
Anybody got any hints?
There is mention of Mammula in Livy Book 23, but I think this comment of a double-strength legion is an invention for the scenario. Could Rome have spared a double legion for Sardinia with everything that was going on in Italy?
And that's how clever Fabius Cunctator's plan was. Avoid battle with Hannibal whilst sending every soldier to Sardinia. And in Italy, noboby will notice a thing....
I suspect the 'double legion' was just the usual pairing of Roman and Allied.
Campaigning in Sardinia normally took a full consular army, so a garrison of ten thousand men was probably fair enough give the island's importance as a source of grain and silver
Musing about the 'Sardi-Pelliti' or the 'wild hillmen with their short swords, light shields and hide cuirasses. Not so much what they looked like but how they fought.
The tribes were divided into three main groups. Apparently the Corsican tribes (some of whom lived in Northern Sardinia) were of Ligurian ancestry. Further south the second group was known as the Balares whilst the third, southern group, were the Iliensi.
My current thought is that they'll be similar to Spanish in combat, as opposed to Gauls. In DBx terms, more Auxilia that warband.
But I've found damn all describing them in combat
Quote from: Jim Webster on Mar 24, 2026, 04:27 PMIn DBx terms, more Auxilia that warband.
Who cares about DBx terms Jim, what matters is how to model them in Ionia to Carthage terms 8)
Quote from: Jim Webster on Mar 24, 2026, 04:27 PMBut I've found damn all describing them in combat
I should be delighted to be proved wrong, but I fear there is nothing to be found. Strabo is pretty much our only "early" extant source, and whilst he describes a warrior's kit, that is all. Given by Strabo's time the island had supposedly been pacified for the best part of two centuries, I wonder if his description is at all contemporary; perhaps it was derived from earlier, lost, sources. The problem is that Strabo is rarely interested in the mechanics of different ethnicities' combat, as opposed to their physical appearance and dress, and supposed ethnic origins, so even if he had a source describing their actual preferred style of combat, he might not have thought it worthy of repetition - bunch of blokes living in the hills fight like a lot of other blokes living in the hills... not as interesting or unique as their liking for mouflon cuirasses...
Quote from: Dave Knight on Mar 24, 2026, 06:59 PMQuote from: Jim Webster on Mar 24, 2026, 04:27 PMIn DBx terms, more Auxilia that warband.
Who cares about DBx terms Jim, what matters is how to model them in Ionia to Carthage terms 8)
Well more people know DBx but here goes
m.JPG
The 'Gallic Sardi-Pelliti' are the ones who do the wild charge. The alternative are those who are more ordered and steady.
They are average equipment because of their fashionable mouflon cuirasses and shields etc. These are the top of the range, a fair proportion would be poor equipment. Depends how much kit their heroic allies can supply ;)
Quote from: DBS on Mar 24, 2026, 08:52 PMQuote from: Jim Webster on Mar 24, 2026, 04:27 PMBut I've found damn all describing them in combat
I should be delighted to be proved wrong, but I fear there is nothing to be found. Strabo is pretty much our only "early" extant source, and whilst he describes a warrior's kit, that is all. Given by Strabo's time the island had supposedly been pacified for the best part of two centuries, I wonder if his description is at all contemporary; perhaps it was derived from earlier, lost, sources. The problem is that Strabo is rarely interested in the mechanics of different ethnicities' combat, as opposed to their physical appearance and dress, and supposed ethnic origins, so even if he had a source describing their actual preferred style of combat, he might not have thought it worthy of repetition - bunch of blokes living in the hills fight like a lot of other blokes living in the hills... not as interesting or unique as their liking for mouflon cuirasses...
Yes I tend to thinking of them as avoiding Gallic cliches :-[
(Actually I suspect a lot of Gallic infantry avoided them as well. With some of Caesar's accounts you begin to wonder if actually the Romans were the warband ;)
Quote from: Jim Webster on Mar 24, 2026, 04:27 PMMusing about the 'Sardi-Pelliti' or the 'wild hillmen with their short swords, light shields and hide cuirasses. Not so much what they looked like but how they fought.
Possibly slightly off the edges of a true academic discussion - but there is (as I understand it) one train of thought that the mustachioed, paler skinned, horn-helmeted and cuirass wearing 'Sherden' swordsmen, that appear in New Kingdom Egyptian reliefs, either as part of the 'Sea People's migration or subsequently as elite Guardsmen in Egyptian armies might (and I stress might), have originated in Sardinia. There are similar small bronze votive figures of horn-helmeted, sword-wielding figures carrying large domed, animal hide, multi-bossed shields that have been found in Sardinia. The British Museum has a couple of nice examples on display.
Is it a possibility that the goat-skinned cuirasses could be similar to those depicted on the Egyptian reliefs (and maybe the shields)? Just a thought.
I also read somewhere (need to trawl my memory as to where) that the Balearic Isles, Corsica and Sardinia (also Lusitania) all produced a mostly black wool - maybe again from the aforementioned 'rams'. So maybe our Sardinian troops in the Punic Wars, would be dressed in black woolen (Iberian style) tunics, with round domed multi-bossed shields, a significantly sized sword, and a brace of javelin. With maybe some of them in a goat-skin cuirass - minus the hair - possibly like the ones the Egyptian Sherden are wearing (all purely hypothetically of course).
There is also a traditional Sardinian folk practice, particularly in Mamoiada, involving participants dressed in dark goat/sheep skins and large cowbells. This is the 'Mamuthones and Issohadores' parade during the annual carnival, usually held in January (around the time of the feast of St.Anthony). This ancient, mysterious ritual often involves 12 Mamuthones wearing black skins (mastruca) and black-masks, and 30kg of bells to represent animals or dark forces being tamed by the white-masked Issohadores, in white skins, with white masks. These practices are believed to have prehistoric (Nuragic) or Dionysian roots, designed as propitiatory rituals for agriculture and farming, a bit like the Celtic Beltane rites.
Cheers
Mark
I agree that the use of "a light shield (pelte) and a small dagger (xiphidio)" doesn't sound a long way from the 'Sherden' (Horned helmets a bonus) or the Nuragic artefacts found.
Swords may have evolved to a shorter form over the centuries.
The black wool, the Mamuthones and Issohadores are intriguing.
Instinctively I googled traditional Sardinian sheep breeds and the native sheep is the Sarda, and is white. But there is also the Nera di Arbus which is very similar to the Sarda but is entirely black! Intriguingly it is found mainly on the fertile Campidano and in the south and west. Which would in this period be the Sardo-Punic part. Obviously it could have been more wide spread, but sheep breeds tend to be conservative :)
When looking at goats, the Sarda Primitaiva is a traditional breed indigenous to Sardinia. According to Wiki "The coat may be black (eumelanic), white, roan grey or red (phaeomelanic), or be bi-coloured or tri-coloured, all with or without other patches of colour or 'wild-type' markings such as a dark dorsal stripe or dark stripes on the face."
In reality the pictures I have found show a lot of flocks are black
images (1).jpg
images.jpg
The 'Giants of Monte Prama'
I'm not sure how much this will help Jim, but you may find it interesting nonetheless.
In 2012 I visited the Cultural Assets Restoration Centre of Sassari. They were restoring the huge sculptures found at Monte Prama (Nuoro) dating from the 8th Century BCE. As well as models of Nuraghic towers, the statues comprise three types: six 'warriors', six 'archers' and sixteen 'boxers'. They appear to be clad and equipped similarly to earlier Nuraghic bronzetti sculptures. Though plainly of the same culture, but of post-Bronze Age date, I thought there were differences. The warriors carry round shields, the archers bows and quivers, whilst the boxers carry what in an Italian context would be described as a scutum (above their heads). I don't know why they are described as 'boxers' as their pose doesn't suggest it, at least to me. Photo 4 shows the chest of a warrior who appears to be wearing some form of thick, ribbed or padded garment. Or perhaps it's just a shaggy goat story?
Four more snaps ...
Thanks for that Adrian, absolutely fascinating.
I pondered this statue and make these suggestions
breast plate.JPG
Just guessing he's wearing a leather/fabric version of the bronze heart protector or the single disk breast plate as seen here
images.jpg
The shields are also interesting. Still the round shield, but also something that does look, as you say, awfully like a Scutum.
Comparisons between the Monte Prama figures and the Capestrano warrior have already been made - here (https://www.academia.edu/959298/The_Capestrano_Warrior_and_Related_Monuments_of_the_Seventh_to_Fifth_Centuries_B_C) for instance.
That 2017 article doesn't mention the round shields, only the scutum-alikes; the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giants_of_Mont%27e_Prama#Warriors) suggests that the round shielded warriors were not immediately identified.
So on one hand, the Monte Prama statues are a fair bit earlier than the 3rd century BC. But on the other hand they do seem to link them with a vague 'Italian' tradition
Given that Cagliari on Sardinia is about 370 miles from Naples, 340 miles from Marseille and 340 miles from the Balearic islands it's possible to expect influence from them all :) .
But once it was settled, it's only 180 miles from Carthage