SAGA Age of Hannibal (Supplement)218BC. After having declared war on her rival, Carthage, Rome watches the Carthaginian army cross the Alps under the command of Hannibal Barca. This invasion, which brought war to the heart of the Roman Republic was one of the three Punic Wars, a series of conflicts between Rome and Carthage for control of the Mediterranean basin. He inflicted a series of humiliating defeats on his enemies some of which live on in the annals of military history but