Alexander won the initiative so I chose Developed terrain. Russ chose to place a river (which blocked the left hand side of the battlefield) and the dice throws put all the terrain neatly around the edges of the table but nothing in the middle - so the two sides could have a bash with no impediments.
The river cutting off the left of the table as the armies line up.
With the terrain placed, Russ placed his skirmishers in a line - which I copied. He then experimented by placing all his cavalry in a line behind the skirmishers, with his foot troops behind them. It was a bold move - but would it work.
The Persian horse behind the archers
I instead put all my cavalry (except the prodomoroi) on the right flank to take on his Guard cavalry who were peeping out behind his slingers. All my heavy foot were stuck behind the skirmishers.
Macedonians line up to face the skirmishers - prodomoroi on the left of the picture
Russ' idea was to (I think) get my skirmishers to run forward to engage his archers (who'd done so much damage to me in the previous battle) - and while exposed in 'no-man's land', to run them down with his cavalry. But he did run the risk of overunning into my spears.
Opening moves
In terms of troops, I chose to address the mistake of last time (having no skirmishers) by taking two lots of javelin throwers and on BG of peltasts. These rushed forward to hit Russ' skirmishers as my cavalry rushed to engage his Guard cavalry.
On the way in, Russ got some good shooting in and forced cohesion and death tests (dropping one group of javelins to Disrupted) before the exchange of arrows and javelins could take place. When it did, my javelinmen got Russ' slingers Disrupted as well.
Javelins go Disrupted by arrow fire
Meanwhile, the Macedonian cavalry got lined up for the charge while the Average Thessalian cavalry tried to sneak round the back.
Macedonian cavalry gang up on the Persian Guard cavalry
After exchange of fire, my better armed skirmishers forced the Persian skirmishers to run for it - leaving the Persian horse (all bow armed) to shoot at my troops. So once again, arrows and javelins passed each other as battle was joined.
Macedonian skirmishers scare off their Persian counterparts - and meet the Persian cavalry
On the right flank, the Superior Thessalians and Agema cavalry (with Alexander close by) charged the Persian guard cavalry. This resulted in a lost base and an overlap for the melee. On the left hand side, the javelins got the Bactrian Cavalry Disrupted (good shooting, lads!) but another BG of these heavy horse slipped by to shoot at and charge my prodomoroi (light horse) on the wide left.
The Macedonians line up to charge...
...and get stuck in. The Guard cavalry face the Thessalians and Agema on their own.
After being used for target practice, the prodomoroi (surviving cohesion and deth tests) ran for it.
Back on the right, the melee meant another base was lost to the Guard cavalry and they went Disrupted. Not good for Persia! Similarly, the Horse Archers next to them also went Disrupted (thanks to more javelin throwing) but some horse arrows also made the peltasts in the middle go Disrupted. Markers were starting to strew the table!
On the left - with the prodomoroi out of the way - the Bactrian Heavy struck the hoplites. But the spears of the mercenaries paid for themselves and the Bactrians lost a base and went Disrupted after the first melee.
Bactrians regret meeting the hoplites
In the middle, the horses charged the skirmishers - who (considering the horse facing them were both Disrupted and faced superior numbers) decided to stand. All were spear armed and as conflict was joined, they started to make hay (albeit losing a base of peltasts in the process). The Bactrians lost a base and went Fragmented (taking on 2 BG's as they were).
The Macedonian skirmishers take on the cavalry
Endgame
So down the line, it was looking ropey for the Persian horse. This was equally true of the Bactrians facing the hoplites as the prodomoroi (recognising the shifting fortunes of war) realised they could join in the melee in an overlap and get their pointy lances in.
Then it all started to go horribly wrong for Persia. The Guard cavalry lost another base - leading to an Autobreak which Disrupted the Apple Bearers behind them. This left a big hole on the left (the Persian hoplite mercenaries had moved up at an angle to block the Average Thessalians but left their flank horribly exposed - only the presence of the Apple Bearers stopped the 3BG of Macedonian cavalry falling on them from all angles.
The Guard cavalty have Broken - and the rest of the Persian horse are in real bother as their own skirmishers stop them breaking off successfully
Russ had been trying to move his skirmishers around the back of the fighting to get them to contribute - but as his horses were breaking off after the melee, all hell broke loose. The horse could not retire their full distance and so they got themselves stuck and facing additional cohesion tests for impacting on their own troops. His Horse Archers dropped to Fragmented and his Bactrians dropped to Broken.
The Macedonian cavalry look hungrily at the exposed hoplites -
but the Apple Bearers (left of picture) deter a flank attack.
This forced a cohesion test on a BG of archers who dropped to Disrupted. But worse was the fact that the Macedonian skirmishers chasing the routing Bactrians neatly smashed into the archers in their flank. Hitting on a ++ POA they took a base off the archers in the process. They also then threw double 1 for the cohesion test and immediately broke.
The Bactrian cavalry rout - through their own skirmishers...
...and the chasing javelins impact the archers in the flank (who then turn to face).
The other Bactrians (facing the hoplites) also couldn't retire the full distance and dropped to Broken! All that remained were the Horse archers - themselves Fragmented - of the horse that had so battered the Macedonians in the last battle.
Russ toyed with the idea of chasing after his horse to try and bolster, but they were already off the table. All the horse were Routed with the exception of the horse archers (who found themselves alone against 2 BG of peltasts and javelins with heavy cavalry eyeing them up as a tasty morsel. They lost a base in the melee anyway.
The routing Bactrians also burst through their own hoplites and their cohesion level is rapidly reduced
Worse, his own hoplites failed two cohesion tests (as the retreating horse broke in front of them) and were Fragmented. Only 1BG of Apple Bearers and 1BG of hoplites were Steady - every other Persian BG was Broken, Fragmented or Disrupted (with a solitary blue Disrupted marker on the peltasts in return).
Russ therefore conceded defeat - delivering Alexander a solid victory. Darius rolled off into the sunset to lick his wounds and Alexander celebrated with the boys the first Macedonian victory.
The final view. The Persians in disarray face a virtually unscathed Macedonian army (just one base gone!). Darius hides behind his Apple Bearers before riding off.
Analysis
It was brave of Russ to use the horses in the manner he did, but the result was horrific. Not only did he lose pretty much all his cavalry (as I did last week) he had the added problem of his foot troops also in trouble due to the forced cohesion tests. There is no doubt that when the dust cleared Russ would have found his foot troops surrounded and the potential for a Cannae-type massacre to take place.
By managing to get 2 BG's onto 1BG against his best cavalry, the Macedonians got a good start from which Russ struggled to recover.
What also helped was having 3BG vs 3BG on the skirmishing front. The massed arrows of the previous battle had made it vital that any damage should be thinly spread - as was the case - and the ability to force the skirmishers away proved pivotal as they in turn trapped their own horse when breaking off.
By having the peltatsts in the middle provided a bit of extra steel for the javelinmen and they managed to hold the middle against the horse and give a good account of themselves (while the Macedonian heavy foot were slogging their way up).
As it was, the two lines of heavy troops never got near each other - the Macedonian hoplites managed to get some spears into the Bactrians but that was the only action either set of spears got.
We discussed the rules after the battle. We both agreed that FOG is a good set of rules but sometimes the dice can be just a little too arbritrary and can affect the battle considerably. The battle above, for example, came down to a couple of cohesion tests which were failed - and the knock-on effect was catastrophic for the Persians as tests were then caused (and failed) all along the line. Had the tests been passed, it would have been a much closer and tougher battle.