Well, last night Antipater's Alexandrian Macedonian army took on Alexander's Alexandrian Imperial army. Presumably Antipater decided he had to chastise Alexander for taking up Persian ways. Anyway, I had Antipater's army while Jon had Alexander's.
My army was:
Command 1 (27.5ME)
General as Reg Kn (F) SBW (Antipater)
4 Reg Kn (F) SBW
2 Reg LH (S)
3 Irr LH (O)
3 Reg Ps (S) [can support Cv]
2 Reg Ps (S)
12 Irr Ax (O)
(2 Irr Bg (I))
Command 2 (27ME)
Sub as Reg Kn (F) SBW (Cassander)
16 Reg Pk (O)
4 Reg Ps (O)
2 Reg Art (O)
1 Reg Cv (I)
(2 Irr Bg (I))
Command 3 (18ME)
Thessalian Ally as Reg Cv (O) (Some nameless flunky from the LHG list)
4 Reg Cv (O)
9 Irr Ps (S)
5 Reg Ps (S) [can support Cv]
6 Reg Ps (O)
Command 4 (4ME)
4 Irr Bg (I)
Army: 76.5ME
Stratagems: Scouts, Ambush
To some extent my army design was constrained by the available figures, but I made a conscious choice to include a lot of 0.5ME troops, with the intention of using them to tie up enemy while keeping the good troops back. The first advantage I was looking for was in sheer numbers of elements. The second advantage I was looking for was protection against my expectation that Alexander would field elephants. The main disadvantage I had was having an ally; there was a danger of having an unreliable ally, but over the course of the game I was going to miss out on PIPs for Antipater's command, as I only had two swappable PIP dice.
Anyway, I was the invader, with the dice determining it would be winter. I chose a 1FE sized patch of Rocky Ground, and two 1FE sized Gentle Hills (counting as 0.5FE each). Jon selected a River and a small patch of Enclosed Fields. The Rv failed to appear; the E sat in the centre of my deployment zone, but was too small to affect me; the GHs appeared on my left and right flanks - perfect for an ambush for me; and the RF was just beyond the left GH - ambush terrain for Jon.
The weather dice determined a light breeze, with the battle starting at 11am.
I placed the Thessalians on the left, Cassander in the centre and Antipater on the right. I put three Ps (S) in ambush on the GH on my right. They were intended more to distract Jon than achieve anything significant. I used two Irr LH for scouts, and they confirned Jon had no ambushes, while Jon's lone scout found one of my ambushing Ps.
Jon placed Alexander with the Companions, a Cv (O), Irr LH (O) and Ps (S) on his left, facing Antipater. In the centre was a large command of Pk, plus some Ax (O) and Ps. On his right were Ax (S), some more Ps and a couple of LH (F). No elephants. But there was a large gap between the Companions and the phalanx, which looked inviting.
I deployed Antipater's Ax (O) on the GH where they could link up with my ambush. I placed all the mounted in the command in a large column aimed at the gap in Jon's line. In the centre I placed the bolt shooters either side of the phalanx, with the Ps behind the Art. Cassander and the Cv (I) sat between the phalanx and Antipater's mounted, ready to assist. On the left of the phalanx were the Thessalian Cv, and the Thessalian Ps were on the left GH, ready to run for the RG ahead of them. I placed the 5 Reg Ps (S) in a column on the extreme left of the line, in case the extra march they could manage as regulars might come in handy.
I gave Antipater the high PIP dice and Cassander the low. Jon gave Alexander the high PIP dice, the phalanx the low dice and his right wing the middle PIP dice.
My plan was to attack with the Thessalian Ps, while holding the centre back. Jon had 20 Pk (including 4 (S)) to my 16, so I wanted to delay combat there as long as possible, and give the Art a few shots at Alexander's phalanx. The Thessalian Cv would provide a link between the Ps and the Pk. On my right I planned to occupy Alexander's mounted with the Ax (O) and counterattack with mounted where possible.
Jon got off to a brisk start with excellent PIPs. The Companions slid across to a position nearer the phalanx, while reserve LH fill the gap they'd left. On the opposite wing, Jon detached the rear rank of Ax (S) around the rocky ground to outflank my Thessalian Ps.
I passed my first test with the Thessalians being loyal, but 2, 2, 2 for PIPs didn't inspire confidence. Still, I pushed the Thessalian Ps forward, held the Pk, and expanded the mounted column. This last maneuver turned into a bit of a mess, with a mix of LH and Kn in the front rank, and a similar mix in the second rank. Early shooting with the bolt shooters was inconclusive.
On my left, Jon awaited the advance of my Thessalians, settling for moving the Ax (S) around the rocky ground. In the centre, Jon's phalanx advanced steadily against increasingly effective artillery fire. On my right, Alexander and his Companions also advanced steadily, supported by the Cv, LH and Ax. I moved Antipater's Ax over the hill, and moved the Ps out of ambush to join the end of the line. But I never quite had enough PIPs to sort out my mounted, so that remained a mess.
The first combat came as my Thessalian Ps charged into Jon's Ps and Ax (S). The result was embarrassing for me. I'd sent the Ps in double ranked, and so managed to lose 6 Ps in three bad combat results, taking 1 Ps in return off Jon. The Ps and Cv which charged Jon's Ax (S) and (O) achieved nothing. On my right, Jon's lone Cv knocked over an Ax, then a Ps (S), then caught Antipater himself in combat. Alexander and the Companions closed to charge range, and the sub-general commanding his centre moved out from behind the phalanx to threaten the Thessalian Cv. I countered with a couple of Ps from the phalanx command, of which the general destroyed one.
In desperation, and lacking PIPs for anything more sophisticated, I charged my mixed mounted line into Alexander and his companions. On the left, I used my superior numbers to counterattack where I could, including against the Ax (S) out on the flank. In the centre, the Thessalian ally general attacked the sub-general of Alexander's phalanx, while the surviving Ps hit him in the flank...
It's nice to win battles with skilful tactics - outthinking your opponent, outmaneuvering him, or using stratagems in a clever way. But sometimes your wins just come from incredibly lucky dice rolls. This was one such game. In the centre, the Thessalian ally general killed the general of Alexander's phalanx. Combined with that command's previous losses from artillery, that was enough to dishearten it. On my left, the Thessalians knocked over some Ax (S) and Ps. Meanwhile, on my right, a series of about four 6s in a row was enough for my LH (O) and (S) to destroy three of Jon's four elements of Companions. It didn't dishearten that command, but Alexander was stuck in combat and looking very lonely.
Jon did what he could in his next bound, but it wasn't nearly enough. In my next bound, Alexander copped a double hard-flank, as well as hitting the remaining Companion element in the rear with Cassander, and the Thessalians set up a couple more flank hits. Most of the attacks worked. Alexander died (without ever using a Brilliant Stroke), and this was enough to break Jon's left wing. The ME penalty was enough to break the centre. And his right wing took enough casualties to break of its own accord. My own losses were about 6ME altogether - all 0.5ME troops.
So probably a 25-0 result to me. This was largely down to a jaggy series of 6s in combats against Jon's Companions, but the combat result against the centre general was vital, as was the artillery fire. In the end the bolt shooters knocked over 5 Pk and 1 Ax (O), probably their best shooting result since they were let loose against a Scots Common army many years ago.
As always, thanks to Jon for a fun game. Jon was a true gentleman regarding the result, and it was a shame that his luck was so bad.
