Cannae - unit frontages and depths

[CharlesdeBatz]

In the battle of Cannae as presented in FOG2, it appears close to impossible to replicate the (commonly referenced) encirclement of the Roman army by the Carthaginian forces. In particular, the frontage of the four African Spearmen units is extremely small relative to the minimum depth of the Roman formation, meaning that the spearmen are unable to flank a significant portion of the Roman force at any time. There are other examples which I can elaborate upon if desired.

I have seen some research concluding that the "pop-history" depiction of the battle may be erroneous, and that it was more of a conventional engagement as opposed to the classic double-envelopment maneuver often associated with it. Does the setup in-game reflect this alternative view given the aspects discussed above?

Alternatively, this could be a limitation of the FOG2 system in that it does not emphasize accurate frontages, but rather adopts a top-down approach in its design.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

[rbodleyscott]

The thing is that FOG does use accurate frontages for the units. However, all of the units are way over-depth (relative to frontage) to accommodate the models. That is an issue with all table-top systems too, and is probably the reason for the discrepancy in this case.