In Africa, Mago Barca was put in command of an army of 12,000 infantry, 1,500 horse, and 20 elephants with orders to join Hannibal.

Carthage sent an officer named Hanno to finance the revolt and then raised an army similar to that of Mago's for an expedition to Sardinia.

Hanno the Elder was defeated by Tiberius Sempronius Longus in Lucania, and Hasdrubal Barca lost most of his field army in the Battle of Dertosa in Iberia.

However, a storm blew the fleet off course to the Balearic Islands, where many ships had to be hauled ashore and repaired (Livy xxiii 36, Lazenby J.F p96-98).

Hampsicora was busy raising an army and collecting provisions near the city of Cornus (near Cuglieri on the western coast of Sardinia).

The Carthaginian delay gave the Romans the opportunity to send fresh forces under the praetor Titus Manlius Torquatus, who had served as consul in Sardinia in 235 BC.

The decisive moment came when the Roman detachment facing the Sardinians on one of the wings of the Carthaginian line managed to drive them from the field.

The survivors took refuge in Cornus, which was taken by assault a few days later as a result of a battle fought on a plateau known as Su campu de Corra[4] ("Horns field").

The Roman fleet, 100 quinqueremes strong and commanded by Titus Ocatilius Crassus, attacked and captured seven Carthaginian ships, while the rest scattered and made for Africa.

The grain supply from Sardinia remained uninterrupted and the Carthaginian navy was denied bases nearer to Italy.