In the Footsteps of Alexander

[Karvon]

Recently, I've decided to fight a series of historical match-ups as a loose campaign of sorts. These are all going to be 1200 pt open battles with potluck terrain. This particular series will see me leading the Macedonians of Alexander against a number of historical opponents in roughly chronological order. First up is a battle vs Greeks.

We came upon the Greek army camped on plateau along the coast. The coast covered our left completely. A few hills and high ground loomed along our right and ahead of us. Bits of rough ground and a few small groves were scattered across the plateau. The Greeks were deployed on the plateau barring our passage.

We opted for a two pronged assault. To our right, we dispatched all our squadrons of cavalry screened by our light horse and supported by our psiloi. To our left, along the coast, we sent forward our phalangites supported by a few hopolites and some token peltasts.

In response to our opening moves, the Greeks split off a few peltasts and hopolites to support his own psiloi and inferior number and quality of horse on his left against my oncoming mounted wave, while the rest of his hopolites shifted to his right to oppose my oncoming phalanx.

On our right, we quickly engaged and ran down his opposing psiloi and light horse with our cavalry and light horse driving deep past his flank in pursuit. Our psiloi began shooting up his surviving cavalry and peltasts, while our cavalry maneuvered to encircle him. He tried driving these off, but that only led to his troops getting more isolated and exposed, speeding up their exposure to missile fire from all sides.

In the meantime, our phalanx rumbled up to a small hill beside the coast which he was attempting to use as his anchor for his heavy foot line. With generals and superior pikes leading the way, we surged up the slopes and smashed into his line. Alas, the Greeks stood firm initially, despite taking some heavy losses. We did push a unit or two back and carefully advanced our supporting hopolites to cover the flanks fo the advancing phalangites.

On our right, we destroyed all of his lights, some of his cavalry and a couple of his peltasts through a combination of missile fire and flanking attacks, though we did lose a few of our lights in the process. We regrouped and redirected our pursuers to circle in behind his few remaining foot and lone horse.

On our left, after a bit of a protracted struggle, we punched through his line in several places and were able to flank and see off a few more of his hopolites, leading to a general collapse of the Greek army.

Final score 43-5 in favor of the Macedonians.

Next stop, Thrace.

The final scene of the battle...

[kronenblatt]

Will be interesting to follow, Karvon! Is it against another player or AI?

[Karvon]

I'm playing vs other players.

Karvon

[Karvon]

Our second battle in the series was against Thracians.

Our punitive expedition into Thrace found our path barred amidst the forested mountain passes of the region. High peaks rose on both flanks with a very narrow pass on the far right leading to deep forests beyond and a broader pass in the center broken up by some rough ground and woods in the middle and flanked by more woods on our left.

Our phalanx formed up in the center with some hoplites and peltasts on each flank. Our cavalry and lancers formed up on each wing screened by a few lights. We weren't really sure what sort of mix to expect as there is considerable variety to be found in the tribes of Thrace. We hoped to use our horse and lights to fix some targets for our medium and heavy foot to finish off. However, there could be potentially hordes of Thracian foot, so we worried about getting swarmed and flanked.

The Thracians appeared massed in the center in and around the woods found there. They had quite a bit of medium foot, a mix of spears and light spears. A few horse seemed to be in reserve and they were screened by a mix of light foot and horse.

We resolutely rolled forward to meet them; our horse moving up closely in support of our own lights with the heavier foot trudging up behind. We dispatched a probing force to the narrow minor pass on our right; I wasn't overly optimistic that we could send a force through there, given the woods behind, but thought it best to explore all options given the narrow field.

The Thracians detatched a number of medium foot on their right and quick marched them into the woods flanking the side of the pass there. This presented a flanking threat if we pushed to aggressively forward past them, so I tasked a couple of hopolites to mask that off for the moment while the rest of our foot marched on.

In the center, our lights and horse mixed it up with their lights and drove off or routed a few. This took us deeper into the Thracian lines though, and we lost a few of our own who got trapped and cut down. Our heavy foot drew closer, though his more numerous mediums cautiously crept out on the wings for potential flanking once the lines engaged. We dispatched lancers to screen these threats and that stabilized the situation for the moment.

On the right, our probe into the narrow pass turned up massed foot and horse beyond and we prudently fell back to avoid getting cut off. We left a single peltast to block the mouth of the pass and the rest of our foot and horse redeployed to shore up things in the middle. The Thracians launched a series of attacks, but they were all beaten off initially.

Our pikes surged into the Thracian center and slowly began grinding down the enemy. The Thracians aggressively began to press on the flanks sending their foot into our horse to drive them back to expose the phalanx flanks. They paid for this with a few disruptions and fragmentations, but did force our horse back enough in places to begin flanking the engaged phalanx. The pikes broke though in one place but got flanked and disrupted in another, leading to a general breakdown of the battle line into a number of disjointed fights. Likewise, our horse routed a unit or two, resulting in more chaos across the field.

As part of this attack, the Thracians sortied out of the woods on our left to face down our hoplites with their peltast. This began a rather long battle which went back and forth a bit as we had a slight advantage being heavy foot, but they had an edge in numbers, though we weren't flanked.

The day wore on and casualties mounted on both sides. On our right, the lone peltast faltered after repeated attacks and finally gave way. In the center, most of our phalanx was gone, but had taken a fair number of the enemy with them. On the left, some of our horse arrived to flank and see off the peltast who'd worn down our hoplites. The rest of our horse were scattered in pursuit to the four winds. Our surviving lights harried a fragmented peltast only to see it steadily rally back to full strength and sortie out of the woods once more.

This proved to be the decisive move, as a final volley of stones, arrows and spears - followed up by a light horse charge into the rear - weakened this peltast enough to totally collapse, and that was the final straw for the Thracians, who streamed off the field for home as the sun set.

Final Score: Macedonians 61 Thracians 55

[Karvon]

Our 3rd battle saw the launch of our invasion of the Persian Empire.

3. Invasion of Asia Minor

After defeating the Thracians, we crossed over into Asia Minor to began our conquest of the Persian Empire. The local satrap gathered his forces and blocked our path in some wooded hill country.

A long chain of gentle hills of varying height ran across the Persian side of the field, with a large body of woods further masking their right flank. A large forest dominated most of our right flank, though it did not extend all the way to the edge. On our far left, broken woods and a couple of villages obstructed wide moves, and a broad swath of rough area bordering those further restricted movement in that sector.

Uncertain of what sort of force the Persians had gathered to oppose us, we opted for a conservative initial deployment. We placed most of our medium foot a bit back in the forest on our right as well as half of our horse. We screened these with a few of our light foot along the edges of the woods. Our phalanx of phalangites supported by hoplites, we placed well short of the forest with the remainder of our horse covering our left flank. The rest of our lights screened the front.

The Persians brought a force of mixed horse and foot. In the center, a number of Greek mercenary hoplites were supported by a few bowmen and screened by a few lights. A large body of medium foot formed up on their right on the hills overlooking the forests and the rough. A division of cavalry supported by a few light horse covered each flank of the hoplites.

Our plan was to advance slowly in the center, drawing the Persians into a fight where the woods would cover our right and a smaller patch of rough our left. Then, we would unleash our hidden foot and horse and turn the enemy left.

The Persians very aggressively descended from the hills and out of the woods and swarmed towards us. Our light screen shot up some of their horse and opposing lights before finally getting chased back through our phalanx. A few got caught and swept away by his horse, but took them away from the battle in the ensuing pursuit. Our left wing horse got a bit mauled by his superior number, but managed to disengage and fall back, drawing some of his horse in pursuit.

In the center, our lancers failed abysmally in trying to drive off some of his horse, and only the arrival of our phalanx saved them and gave them a chance to fall back and eventually rally. The phalanx scattered his left wing horse and smashed into supporting bowmen and hoplites with very gratifying results, very quickly destroying most of his center. Our hidden medium foot and horse sortied out, trapping and destroying a couple more of his left wing units and the Persians lost heart and fled the field.

Final Score: Macedonians 46 Persians 19

[Karvon]

Our 4th battle saw us push into the interior vs the Persians.

4. On the Plains of Asia Minor

The Persian satraps gathered their forces to oppose on the plains of Asia Minor, hoping the open ground would provide them more room for their horse. Thus, aside from a bit of rough off to our left and a small village on our right, the field was pretty much flat and open.

We opted to deploy on the right, using the village as an anchor. We placed the phalanx in the center, screened by lights with our horse split and covering each flank. Our plan was to attack in echelon on the right.

The Persians came with a lot more foot than we expected. They had a number of mercenary Greek hoplites formed up in the center, with some medium foot on their right aimed towards the rough and a few bowmen on their flanks. A few lights screened their front. A small number of horse formed up on each wing, a mix of cavalry and lights.

We advanced as planned, shifting a bit right as we advanced. On our right, our lancers, supported by pike, dispersed his opposing horse and our phalanx smashed into his opposing infantry. On our left, our lancers likewise drove off his horse and our light horse saw them off in pursuit.

Although, it took a few hours, our pikes and hoplites eventually punched through his opposing hoplites and mediums and the Persians collapsed.

Final score: Macedonians - 49 Persians - 11

PS: There was also a scythe chariot out on the Persian far left I forgot about as it did nothing but die when it tangled with our horse. A truly historical performance

[Karvon]

Our 5th battle saw us advance further into Mesopotamia vs the Persians.

5. On the Plains of Mesopotamia.

As our army advanced along the great river and across the plains of Mesopotamia, we were met by a mostly mounted Persian army.

The plains were mostly featureless. A couple of large farming complexes faced each other; one in about the center of our deployment area and the other against the far back edge. Two smaller plantations were located in each of the corners on our left. A small oasis lay between the two central farms and a little off to our left. A small patch of rough lay between our central farm and a small palm grove near our right corner.

Our plan was pretty simple; we would advance in echelon to the right of the farm. Most of our horse would take the far right screened by our lights, and our phalanx would march along in support to their left.

The Persian cavalry lined the horizon, supported by a few light horse and light foot. They swept forward as we advanced, about half detaching and riding hard to try to envelop our echeloned left. Their foot and horse archers showered our screen with arrows, but we drove them steadily back with charges. A few we managed to trap and destroy, but most rode well beyond our troops. Our own skirmishers concentrated fire on the cavalry and were able to shred up one or two over a few hours of shooting.

Carefully keeping our horse and pikes together, we scattered his opposing horse to the four winds. We had to be careful about getting to split up ourselves, and regrouped a time or two as the general advance continued.

His flankers reached our rear, but we merely turned around the back ranks of our phalanx and shifted some of our lights and horse to support them. His horse did hit one of our weakened pikes and disrupted it on a solo flank charge, but bounced back and we shifted others up to replace it.

Discouraged by their mounting losses and scattering of their forces, the Persian horse turned tail and rode off the field.

Final Score: Macedonians - 21 Persians - 5

[Karvon]

Our 6th battle saw us pursuing further into Mesopotamia vs the Persians.

6. Battle near the Oasis

We marched after the retreating Persians and caught up to them near an oasis. This was on the left side of the field with a couple of nearby field complexes and a large palm grove along the far left side. Another large field complex lay in our center section set off to the right. A fair sized grove lay along its right. A large rough section bordered the fields running to the left and towards our edge.

Given the potentially large number of Persian horse, we decided to initially deploy in and around the field complex with the idea of pushing up along the right side of the field in echelon, leading with our mounted on the right, followed up by the phalanx, screened by our lights.

The Persians deployed in three divisions: a mounted division of cavalry and light horse on each wing, and a division of mixed foot in the center. The foot division was about half hoplite, half medium foot of various types. A scythe chariot was attached to their left horse wing.

We proceeded as planned, refusing our left, as we advanced in echelon to attack the enemy left. Our lights leading the advance softened up the enemy mounted with fire and our lancers scattered the opposing horse, opening holes for our following cavalry to exploit. Our cavalry pinned down some of theirs and our pikes moved up to finish them off as our lights moved in behind to cut off escape. His scythe chariot extinguished itself in a futile charge on our horse.

His foot division wheeled to face our phalanx and relieve pressure on his left. His right wing rode hard to try to envelop or threaten our left flank.

Our pikes and spears got to grips with his hoplites and mediums, but it was an uneven contest mostly. Aside from one unit led by a general, most of the melees were pretty slanted in our favor, and we slowly ground his foot down. We turned a couple of our rear units to cover our flanks and rear. While we did lose a medium spear unit that faltered, the rest kept his horse at bay.

After we saw off the last of his horse on our right, our victorious horse fell on the flanks and rear of his engaged foot and that led to the rapid collapse of his army.

Final score: Macedonians - 43 Persians - 6

[Karvon]

Our 7th battle found us fighting the Persians across a stream.

Attempting to exploit our last victory and finish off the Persians, we forced marched after them and found them waiting across a stream running across a pretty featureless plain.

We decided, to advance in echelon on our right, leading with our horse screened by our lights, and following up with our phalanx.

The Persians had two fair sized mounted divisions of cavalry and light horse on each wing, and an infantry command of mostly hoplites in their center. A few light foot screened their army.

Things did not go very well from the start.

Our mounted command got across the stream and our lights got off a few volleys vs their horse, to almost no effect. Our horse, led by lancers, charged and failed to either catch any of his horse when they evaded nor have much success when they stood, despite favorable odds. This led to some exposed flanks and a considerable breakdown of the command.

A couple of the following pikes moved up to support, but, again, had very minimal impact; the Persians either evaded out of reach, stood then fell back, or hung on grimly, tying up multiple units - thereby opening more flanking possibilities.

Meanwhile, we refused our left using our hoplites supporting the phalanx, and moved most of our pikes across the stream and attempted to come to grips with the opposing enemy hoplites. Again, very little went right for us here either. The hoplites fell back hour after hour in good order as we slowly closed the gap with our pikes. His hoplites closed with ours in and on our side of the stream, supported by shooting from his lights, rather quickly disrupted several. His right wing horse rode wide around our flank and fell on the engaged hoplites, who pretty promptly collapsed. Our pikes finally caught up with his retiring spear, but again, no significant results were attained.

On our right, we finally saw off most of his horse, but our own horse pursued them off into the sunset and our supporting pike were by this time quite far away from battle in the center. Most of the Persian lights had survived, and they hounded and blocked a quick return to the center with the aid of the surviving Persian cavalry.

The Persian right cavalry pursuing our hoplites flanked our pikes flailing against his spear and these quickly broke, leading to the collapse of the army.

Final Score: Macedonians 34 Persians 65

[Karvon]

Our 8th battle found us fighting the Persians in the hills.

8. The battle in the hill country

With our army rested and reinforced, we advanced against the Persians seeking a final, decisive result and encountered their army in a hilly valley. On our right, a large steep hill descended to gentler lower ridges running off to the right side and towards the far edge. Some rough ground and a few scattered woods lay a bit past the center edge a top the hills. On our left, a chain of gentle hills with a few rough patches ran across the field. A series of woods ran beyond them along the left side of the field.

We deployed a bit to the right along and below the steep hill. Our phalanx was in the center with our horse on both flanks. A division of Thracian foot formed up behind the phalanx. Our lights we deployed screening our horse on our right. Our plan was to advance in our usual echelon, with our horse leading on the right, followed up by the phalanx. The Thracians we planned to swing out wide right to support the horse and, if necessary, clear the woods and rough along the edge.

The Persians deployed a mixed infantry center, about half hoplite, half medium foot, screened by a few lights. On each wing, they placed some of their cavalry, supported by a few light horse.

We advanced as planned, and the Persians shifted left to counter. Their infantry wheeled to face the phalanx, their right wing horse began a long ride in attempt to flank us, and their left wing horse, with a few light foot added, attempted to block our advancing horse.

On our right, our lights disordered the Persian horse with shooting and our horse then ran them down. Our Thracians moved up and finished them off and drove off the enemy lights. In the center, our phalanx smashed into his mixed force and fairly quickly blew a hole through the center, setting up flanking attacks on the survivors. On the left, our hoplites refused the flank, which kept his cavalry at bay, and our lights pounced on them and disordered them with skirmishing.

The destruction of his left and the losses in the center led to the collapse of the Persians, and they streamed off the field.

Final score: Macedonians 41 Persians 2.

[Karvon]

Our 9th battle found us fighting the Skythians in the mountains.

9. Battle in the Mountain Passes.

With the final defeat of the Persians, we looked to secure our borders before pushing further east. Our scouts warned us of a Skythian horde forming up to invade from the north, so we marched our army in response and fortuitously met them as they attempted to cross the mountains.

We faced a very narrow pass on our right, with a small village at its egress, and a much broader one on our left. We left a small blocking force of a couple of foot and a light horse as a picket in the pass. On our left we massed the bulk of our army, the phalanx, supported by a number of medium foot to deal with some scattered rough and woods in the pass, and most of our horse covering our left flank. We kept a small detachment of mixed horse as a reserve between the two passes.

The Skythians sent a small force through the smaller pass, a couple of light horse screening a pair of horse archers. They screened the center of the broader pass with a few light horse and massed their horse archers on their far right, hoping to force their way around our left. Given the narrow front, this was a rather forlorn hope.

We quickly extended our line out to the left with our horse, closely supported by our foot and aggressively advance through the broader pass on our left. On our right we held our foot back to block the narrow pass and retired our scout light horse to safety.

The Skythians advanced quickly down the narrow pass and began skirmishing with our foot. They tried to sneak around our garrisoned village, but we pinned the intruder against the walls of the pass and destroyed them. We tried to drive them back up the pass, but they dodged and our pursuit took us out of position enough, for a couple of them to squeeze through. This really didn't have much effect as the distance to the action on the left was really too far for them to intervene by the time they got through. Our foot continued up the pass and drove the rest back.

On our left, things unfolded pretty predictably; we simply drove the Skythians back hour by hour in a series of charges and advances, carefully keeping our flanks covered. Most of the Skythians we simply chased off the field, though we did manage to trap and kill a few of them.

Final Score: Macedonians 43 Skythians 4

[Karvon]

Our 10th battle found us fighting the Mountain Indians.

10. Fighting on a wooded plain

As our army marched east into the mountain region separating the Persian provinces from India, the tribes marched down from the hills to oppose us. We met them on a valley plain. A narrow fringe of woods ran along the edge on our right. A bit beyond the center, a fair sized rough patch continued along the right edge. Next, a medium-sized wood sat more towards the center of the enemy left sector, across about a 300 m. gap. The other notable terrain was a stretch of woods and rough running from the enemy right center to a point well past the center of the field. Not wanting anything to do with that large area, we deployed to our far right, well away from that part of the field. There was also a small marsh in the center right section on our side of the field.

We massed our lights on our far right to screen our advancing horse. We deployed a medium foot division to follow up and secure the terrain along the right edge. The phalanx was placed next, with another division of medium foot on its left to secure the marsh and then possibly push on to the large woods beyond on our right.

The hill tribes deployed in three wings. On their left, in and around the smaller woods, they placed a body of archers supported by a few irregular foot and screened by a few light foot and horse. In the center, another mixed body of medium foot supported by a few elephants. On the right, in and around the large woods, another large mixed body of medium foot screened by a few light foot.

Our plan was to use our lights and horse to drive off his screening lights on our right and come to quick grips with his archers, while our medium and heavy foot followed up to finish them off.

Our horse and lights raced forward and aggressively drove his screening light back or off the edge. However, the tribesmen quickly shifted their left wing to their far left and reached the rough area along the edge before our horse could cut them off. His archers unleashed a hail of arrows which shattered one of our lancers and disrupted one of our pursuing cavalry. We sent our light to engage his bow to prevent further massed fire, as our medium foot moved up to clear them out.

He brought some more bow out of the woods on his left, but a few charges by our light horse disrupted these and as some of our heavy foot closed, he fell back into the woods.

On his right, he marched a large block of bow supported by a few other mediums down the strip of rough patch and then wheeled towards the center when it became clear I was not going to contest that area at all. This brought them out into the open, so I happily wheeled most of my phalanx to attack them. I threw out a few light horse in charges and managed to disrupt a couple of the archers, but the others pretty badly shredded my horse and I had to fall back to give them a chance to regroup.

Back on my right, my mediums finally closed with his bows and irregulars in the rough patch along the edge. Led by a general and supported by flanking lights and my returned cavalry, we saw most of these off fairly quickly.

He advanced his elephants in the center to threaten the flank of my phalanx bearing down on this bow block. I peeled off a pike and spear unit to block these and sent the rest of my heavy foot into this.

My phalanx plowed into his medium foot block and opened lanes for my cavalry to run down his archers. We punched through in several places and the tribesmen had enough and headed back to the hills.

Final Score: Macedonians - 40 Mountain Indians - 11

[Karvon]

Our 11th battle found us fighting the Indians

11. On the Plains of India.

Descending from the mountains and hills of Afghanistan, we were met by an Indian army on a vast plain.

We deployed our phalanx off to the right of center, with the bulk of our horse formed up on the right. A smaller horse command covered our left. Our lights formed up to screen our front. Our plan was to use our lights to weaken some of the expected elephants and close with our infantry. Our horse would try to work the flanks and see off any Indian horse and chariots, and hopefully steer clear of elephants.

The Indians deployed a mass of infantry, mainly bow, in the center, led by a line of elephants. A mounted command, a mix of heavy and light chariots with some horse, formed up on their left.

We sent our lights forward and aggressively engaged some of his advancing elephants, while our phalanx deployed into a wider line to counter behind them. Our right wing horse went after his mounted wing, and our small left wing mounted swung out wide left, well out of bow range to come in on the flanks of his archers, as there were no elephants or horse in the immediate vicinity.

Our skirmishers saw off a couple of his elephants and that led to some disruptions in neighboring foot and elephants. His surviving elephants charged into our heavy foot and grinding combats developed. Our foot pushed forward around the engaged elephants and slammed into his supporting bow. Most of these folded fairly quickly.

Our right wing horse chased off most of his and flanked his light chariots, but these fought bravely and a prolonged melee ensued. His heavy chariot slammed into one of our supporting hoplites, who wavered and then collapsed after a brief fight. One of his elephants joined the chariot fight, which quickly fragmented our horse and helped save his embattled light chariots.

Our left wing horse slammed into the flanks of a couple of bow, disrupting one and breaking the other.

We flanked one of the elephants in the infantry fight in the center and it broke, disrupting a few more neighbors, which in turn broke in their fights, and the Indians had enough and streamed off the field, closely pursued by our horse.

Final Score: Macedonians - 45 Indians - 6

[Karvon]

Our 12th battle continued our campaign vs the Indians.

12. In the Wooded Hills of India

The Indians caught us in wooded hill country, which was well-suited for the foot, but not so much for ours. The Indian right was masked by woods. Their center had a mix of hills, rough and woods, with a steep hill near their center left. Their right was a mix of hills sprinkled with rough ground and some scattered trees. Our right, below the steep hill was covered with forests. In our center, there was a single village near our center left bordered by some rough and small woods. Another small woods lay along our left back edge.

We deployed Thracians to hold the village and the nearby woods. We played some medium spear to hold the woods along our left edge. Our phalanx deployed in the center anchored on those woods with artillery in support. We deployed half our mounted behind the woods on our left and the other half behind the woods on our right. Our lights we deployed screening the woods on our left.

The Indians deployed along the hills and in the woods on their right and center. Elephants were scattered along their line supported by a lot of bow and a few light spears. Some horse covered their right. A couple of chariots were in the center as well.

Our plan was to draw the Indians forward and out into the open, away from the hills and woods. To do that, we sortied out with our horse on our left to tempt them. They responded rather aggressively, sending several elephants to back up their leading horse with a few bow in fairly close support. They advanced along their front to keep pace with their assault on their right. We drew back slowly to lead them on, then sortied out with our lights to take some shots at their elephants. Our fire was mostly ineffective and we were forced to retire due to the threat of his supporting horse and bow. We lost a couple of horse to a combo of bow fire and getting chased off the board by elephants.

The Indians advanced a few mediums through the woods on our right, then pushed forward to shoot at our phalanx. We marched some of our horse behind them through the woods and caught them in the open between our phalanx and saw these off.

In the center, the Indians advanced on the village and adjacent wood, with some of their mediums supported by elephants. The Thracians held them off while some of our phalanx and mediums marched up to counter. Battle was joined around the village, with us seeing off some and slowly grinding down others.

Our surviving horse on our left redeployed to support our attack in the center and helped see off some bow, but night fell before we could fully exploit our success in the center and on our right.

Final Score: Macedonians 19 Indians 23

[Karvon]

Our 13th battle continued our campaign vs the Indians.

13. On the Banks of the Indus.

We pressed on after the Indians and found them arrayed with their left firmly anchored on the Indus. A large, steep hill rose from the center of the field with jungle running from it towards our left, filling most of our left sector.

Our plan was to attempt to seize the hill with our mediums and light while our phalanx swept around on the left. Our mounted with support the sweep on the right and attempt to fight a delaying action on our left around the gaps in the jungle.

The Indians deployed a mounted command of chariots, horse and cavalry on their right, a mass of their medium foot in the center supported by a couple of elephants, and another cavalry elephant command on their left next to the river.

The critical fight was in the center around the hill. Our lights and the Indians arrived at almost the same time, and despite our initial advantage in numbers, we failed to drive them off very quickly. Our mediums closed and helped, but the Indian mediums arrived about the same time, and in greater number. Despite our better arms and a general, the Indians held and slowly flanked us.

Our phalanx trundled forward slowly, and the Indian mounted fell back before us as we worked our way around the hill.

On our left, our mounted tangled with the Indian horse and chariots while trying to avoid the elephants. A bit of bad fortune saw our general die and a couple of units disordered. We pushed our hoplite reserve to plug gaps, but despite some initial success, they were eventually flanked when the troops on the hill fled and our disordered horse likewise turned tail and galloped away.

Our pikes finally completed their march, but only managed to catch a lone bow, the rest having scampered up on the hill or away into the nearby rough or jungle.

The Indian horse chased down and caught one or two of our fragmented units and our troops had enough and fled the field for the camp.

Final Score: Macedonians 25 - Indians 51

[Karvon]

Our 14th battle continued our campaign vs the Indians.

14. Foiled in the Jungles Again.

This seemed like almost a repeat of the previous battle. A steep hill rose in the right center sector, with jungles mostly masking both flanks and scattered patches of rough breaking up the open areas.

We massed our lights and mediums to secure the hill with our phalanx supported by a heavy bolt shooter on a lower gentle slope in the center. We place our horse to cover each flank.

The Indians massed most of the infantry in the center opposite the steep hill and a large nearby rough patch. A large number of elephants supported their chariots and cavalry on their right and a smaller number of the same on their left.

The initial action took place on the steep hill, which despite our superior numbers and quality, took a very long time to secure. The Indian bow fire, combined with the losses in combat, eventually saw all these troops destroyed, despite them clearing the hill.

On both flanks, the combination of elephants, chariots and cavalry eventually saw off our delaying horse.

Our phalanx moved off the hill to attack the Indians when they emerged from the rough and jungles. We saw off a few of them, but, unfortunately, most of them rallied out of range of our foot. The victorious Indian elephants and cavalry closed in on our flanks and killed enough of our heavy foot to cause the remainder to flee shortly before sundown.

Clearly, we're going to have to rethink our approach on such jumbled fields.

Final Scores: Macedonians 37 Indians 62

[Karvon]

Our 15th battle continued our campaign vs the Indians.

15. Down to the Plains.

With our army regrouped, we marched out to face the Indians yet again. We met their forces on a wooded plain, dominated by a single long ridge running from the center right edge down to the center. Jungles filled most of our left sector, and a fringe stretched out along the left edge. More jungles lay at the foot of the ridge in our right sector. A large jungle ran along the far right back edge and scattered jungle lay in the far left corner as well. Large rough patches lay on in our left center sector beyond the edge of the jungle and in the center and right sectors on the Indian side of the field. The ridge started as a steep high hill on the right edge with a smaller gentle shoulder running towards the center.

We deployed a division of medium foot on our right to seize the steep hill, and our phalanx in the center to deploy initially along the slopes of the gentle shoulder. Our lights we deployed to screen our foot. Our horse we refused on our left. We had a stone thrower on the slope behind our phalanx to shoot at elephants.

The Indians had a half-dozen elephants strung across the center supported by a mass of bow and a few mediums a couple of horse and chariots covered their right flank.

The Indians advance along the whole front, led by their elephants and mounted on the right flank.

Once they were clear of the central rough, we marched our foot down to meet them on the plains with our horse covering our left. Our skirmishers swarmed his elephants, which we targeted with our stone thrower as well.

We managed to shoot up a couple of his elephants, which disheartened some of his nearby foot. Our phalanx closed with these and saw most of them off fairly quickly. Our horse tangled with his mounted, mostly avoiding supporting elephants, though we took some losses there. Our mediums covering our right, got pretty shot up by his massed bows and then run down by his elephants, but the phalanx and our horse did enough damage to break the Indians and the day was ours.

Final score: Macedonians 45 Indians 20.

[Karvon]

Our 16th battle is a putative expedition vs the Arabs.

16. Into the Desert.

After a long march home from India and some time devoted to refitting the army and sorting out administrative details of the empire, we launched a brief sortie into the desert to punish the Arab tribes who've raided our lands during our absence.

We caught up with their forces on a flat desert plain with the only noticeable features being several large patches of rough ground, one in the far center, one on the center right and one on the center left.

We deployed our phalanx in the center and our medium foot on our left opposite the rough ground screened by our lights. Our horse covered the flanks supported by elelphants.

The Arabs had a mass of irregular foot spread across the field screened by lights with camels covering each flank and a few scattered along the rear in support.

We pressed forward as quickly as possible, sending our mediums to clear the rough while our phalanx attempted to come to grips with the enemy foot in the open. Our horse attempted to cover our flanks and keep the camels at bay with help from the elephants.

The Arabs advantage in numbers really made things hard on the flanks. Our Elephants and horse drove off the camels only to get slowly surrounded and ground down by bowfire. Most of our horse eventually died, and only one elephant survived.

The Arab numbers made for tough going in the infantry fights as well. Our medium foot slowly but surely carved their way through the rough, but took heavy losses in the process. Our phalanx smashed into combat and ground through the enemy center, but we again lost some units to flanking in the process.

Fortunately, the Arab losses piled up faster than our own, and they had enough shortly before dusk and fled the field.

Final Score: Macedonians 60 Arabs 51

[Karvon]

Our 17th battle is a putative expedition vs the Carthaginians.

17 First encounter

A past supporter of Persia and enemy to Hellenistic expansion in the Western Mediterranean, we launched an attack against Carthage. We landed in the rich farm lands along the coast and plundered the area for supplies. The Carthaginian army sought us out, and we met in some foothills along a river.

The river flowed down the left side of the field, and a number of fords permitted passage along it. A large hill chain lay along the banks of the river in the right center of the field on the Carthaginian side. A couple of steeper high points rose from this. Scattered woods covered much of the enemy center sector. A steep hill rose in the far right corner with more woods near its foot, further blocking off the enemy left. A medium-sized gentle hill with a bit of rough rose along the right center side of the field beyond those trees. On our side of the field, a large hill with a few rough patches filled much of our right and part of our center, with some woods at its feet on the right along the edge of the field.

We deployed on our right on and behind the hill. We placed our phalanx in the center, a division of medium foot hidden behind the hill and mounted commands supported by an elephant on each flank. Our lights screened the front of our position. Our plan was to advance our foot along the hill slowly and perhaps draw the enemy to attack us, then use our horse on the flanks with our elephants to envelop. Our medium foot would be a reserve to shift to where it could most exploit the situation.

The Carthaginians fielded a largely foot force. African spears and a few warbands formed their center. A few mediums were deployed on their right to secure the hills there. Their horse formed up on each flank and some lights screened their front.

We advanced in echelon as planned along the hill. Our lights concentrated on our right, supported by our mounted command there. Our left mounted command we used to drive back most of his screening lights to delay his advance. We kept our medium command hidden initially.

The Carthaginians sent their right wing mounted across the river on a long ride along the far bank, which delayed their joining the battle for quite a while. Their left wing mounted got shot up and cut up by our combined arms attack of our lights and mounted command supported by an elephant. They shifted about half their spears coming from their right to cover their open left. Our cavalry rode slowly and widely around these.

The Carthaginians assaulted our phalanx along the slopes with the leading elements of their center supported by some of their horse. This didn't go well for them, several units disrupted or fragmented, which opened flanking opportunities for us. We counterattacked and our medium division swung wide around our left to flank some of his engaged foot and horse. Our elephants came in on flanks as well, which doomed several more units.

These losses added to the earlier ones led to the collapse of the Carthaginians and they fled the field with our fresh horse in pursuit.

Final Score: Macedonians 41 Carthaginians 6

[Karvon]

Our 18th battle continues the putative expedition vs the Carthaginians.

18. Meeting on the plains

The Carthaginians rallied their survivors and hurriedly hired more mercenaries, raising a force to oppose our continued advance into their territories. The armies met on a broad plain bounded by woods along much of our right flank and a hill and some rough along the left.

We deployed our phalanx in the center supported by a few mediums and our horse and elephants on both wings screened by our lights.

The Carthaginians fielded a massive force of foot, a mix of medium and heavy foot, screened by lights. A small mounted command formed up on their right.

Our plan was to mass our superior mounted against the Carthaginian horse on their right, while holding off their mass of infantry with our phalanx, then envelop and destroy their foot.

To make a long story short, their horse held out forever and when they did finally rout, took most of our horse with them in pursuit. Our foot, in the meantime, got mobbed by superior numbers, and despite cutting some holes, simply got flanked and ground down.

Our victorious horse reappeared just as the sun went down, but too late to do much more than to help stave off our own defeat.

Final Score: Carthaginians 51 Macedonians 36