We made a few changes. Rather than replay the battle as was I simply said that the Macedonians had to cross the river and stated that there were 3 crossing points (to keep the Indians guessing). The battle would therefore take place on the side of the river (rather than further away as it did historically).
To find a crossing point the Macedonians would need to throw a d6 each time they contacted the river - a 6 would denote that a ford had been found which all troops (except chariots) could cross easily. Once the first had been found, the next contact would need a 5 or 6, the next 4,5 or 6 etc. until all three crossing points were discovered. The challenge was therefore to find the crossing points quicky before the Indians could surround them.
One mistake I made was that we should have allowed the Macedonians to keep the crossings secret (thereby keeping the Indians guessing). Maybe next time..
Mark was AWOL so I joined Ian on the Macedonian side and Russ and John took the Indians.
Set-up
The scenery consisted solely of a wide river of 14 segments. We deemed that each ford consisted of 2 segments (so 6 would be crossable, 8 would not).
The Macedonians eventually won the initiative and forced the Indians to deploy first. They set up (left to right from our point of view) with a BG of elephants, 3 BG of archer/swordsmen screened by a BG of chariots and 2BG of elephants, then a BG of javelin / spearmen and 1BG of cavalry on our right flank.
In response, we deployed our light horse on the left flank then the massed pikes (to take on the flanking elephants), the hoplites, hypaspists (screened by a BG of javelinmen), a BG of slingers and on our right flank the Agema cavalry and Thessalian heavy cavalry.
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| Indian deployment. |
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| Macedonian deployment - pikes out of shot on the left. |
The Macedonians moved first - essentially a mad dash for the river to find the crossing points. The Light Horse and Javelinmen found two almost immediately and next to each other (the dice tower delivering two 6's!) so the pikes were luckily in the right spot to move straight over. The slingers however just found a broad expanse of deep water and had to go looking elsewhere.
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| The Light Horse and Javelins come up trumps and find shallow waters in a good spot. The pointy sticks move up to take advantage. |
The hoplites had a crossing point ahead of them and I thought the 4 segment crossing point was the place to be so moved the hypaspists sideways to line them up with the crossing. The cavalry raced to find their own crossing point...
In response the Indians moved forward en masse in a straight line - the elephants lining up with the pikes.
The Light Horse crossed the river and gave the elephants a wide berth (to avoid going Disrupted) while the pikes moved into the river.
On the right flank, the Agema and Thessalians found the final crossing point and poured across with a view to trample the Indian cavalry.
The fun bits start
Having seen the Macedonian horses (Elite and Superior cavalry - one with lancer capability!) coming over, the Indians realised their own cavalry were likely to get mullered and so they moved the central elephants over to protect their flank. This meant 4BG facing 2BG - not good odds on the flank but meaning that the Indian centre was now much weaker. Alexander's eyes lit up. The Macedonian cavalry swerved away to keep away from the elephants - who's move blocked their own javelinmen from moving forward.
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| The cavalry swerve to avoid the oncoming elephants |
The pikes had also crossed the river and we desperately moved the hoplites and hypaspists up to protect their flank. Our skirmishers also crossed the river and would keep running back and forward across the water for much of the battle.
Then a key moment. Possibly as a response to the threat of the cavalry's mobility, the Indians swung their chariots around to chase our cavalry as well. So now 5BG were chasing 2BG. We saw this as a good thing and decided to keep the cavalry as right as possible to pull the Indians away from the key area - the crossing point.
Contact!
All the movement had placed the flank elephants and a BG of archers close to the pikes. We decided to charge them with our long pointy sticks (which negated the usual elephant advantage vs. foot soldiers). Before they could get in, John had some shooting with his archers but throws of 3,2,1 meant the arrows flew high overhead. Ian was jublilant - having been on the receiving end of John's comments re: poor dice throwing on several occasions.
The pikes therefore contacted the elephants on equal POA's - and John again threw some shockers and contrived to lose the impact 3-1. Ian's sniggering grew louder.
Elephants are normally hard to kill (+2 on the death roll) and Russ gave clear instructions on the matter of the Death Roll. "Don't throw a one!" - just as John picked up a single dice with the solitary dot prominently displayed. John didn't disappoint - the dice rolled and....a 1! Sniggering turned to open laughter, John hid his face in his hands and Russ looked on in disbelief. The pachyderm tumbled to the ground with 20 sarissas firmly embedded in it - and as a consequence the elephant BG Autobroke! First blood to Alexander.
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| One BG is about to die. Can you guess which one? |
This also meant that the archers were now facing Alexander's core troops wearing not much more than a loin-cloth and trying to work out how to get past 5 ranks of 16' spears using a sword. This was not going to be pretty - especially as the Light Horse were (with the demise of the elephants) now interested in lending a hand and eyed up the archers' flank.
Meanwhile the hoplites and hypaspsists were eager to get into the other two BG of archers who's cover had disappeared chasing Macedonian cavalry.
Talking of which, these continued to head East - but despite this the Indian cavalry decided they'd had enough and ran off in the general direction of away. The Indian javelins eyed their open flank with trepidation, hoping that the 2BG of elephants in front of them could deter the Macedonian horsemen. No worries there, as the chariots were racing down the riverbank to lend a hand.
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| The Indian cavalry get the hell out of Dodge as the Thessalians get within touching distance. The elephants keep up the chase. |
The flank collapses
The Indian generals had a problem. With the flanking elephants killed, their flanks was held by unprotected archers facing 3BG (two of pike and the Light Horse running towards them as well). They decided that discretion was not the greater part of valour and charged the pike! Ian rubbed his hands with glee - especially as it was John reaching for the dice.
They managed to take a base off the pikes with shooting before they charged in. Just before impact, Russ said "Try these dice" and handed over his magic yellow dice. But John managed to negate their magic powers (mainly as the poor archers were on a --POA) and they not only lost a base but went Disrupted.
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| The archers charge in - and die in droves (taking 4 hits for none in return) |
Russ noticed the danger of a collapsing flank and decided to get his cavalry, javelinmen and chariots to head towards the our left flank. John had also suggested that continuing to chase the Macedoninan horses would just lead to a horsey merry-go-round which they were not going to win. So the surviving elephants stayed still to guard the flank against the cavalry as everyone else headed West.
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| The elephants try to hold the flank as everyone else heads for the battle. |
The chariot move was especially impressive...slamming on the brakes and turning 180 degrees just before the hoplites and hypaspists got onto the central archers. Not wanting to be hit on the flank by chariots, the hypaspists stayed still as the hoplites advanced - thereby protecting the latter's flank.
This was just in the nick of time as the archers facing the pikes were being massacred. John contrived to lose the melee 7-1, meaning an automatic base loss and another Death Roll of 'anything but a 1'. Russ was again most clear in his intructions. "Don't roll a one again" - showing John the number on the dice he should specifically not roll. Never one to disappoint his public, John sent the d6 onto the table and delivered another spectacular failure.
Cheers and handshakes on the Macedonian side, despair and recriminations on the Indian side.
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| John seeks solace from his flanks' disintegration by checking out the ingredients of full-fat Coke while Russ ponders the reasons why his partner cannot throw any number higher than a 2. |
The archers go Fragmented. With the pikes looking ready to roll down the flank, the Light Horse decide that there is no point following up a certain victory and take the opportunity for a bit of rape and pillage and head towards Porus' camp with a view to sacking it.
At this stage, we were convinced that a Macedonian victory was a couple of turns away.
The Tide Turns
However, we'd reckoned without the awesome shooting power of the Indians. Poorly armoured they may be but they have lots of archers with good ranges. They got some good shooting in against the hoplites and hypaspists and forced two cohesion tests. This was not helped by Ian and myself contracting John's Palsy and finding ourselves unable to roll anything. Both BG's dropped to Disrupted and we did John's trick of rolling a 1 when anything else would have saved the base.
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| It was all going so well...then the arrows came in. |
The pikes finished off the archers in the melee though and 1 BG now looked to roll down the line and attack the remaining archers in the flank while the other BG headed for the approaching javelinmen.
Sensing a change in fortunes though, the elephants on the flank turned 180 degrees (presenting their backsides to the best cavalry on the table). The archers contracted their fronts - as did the chariots. All looked like a charge was in the offing - and the hoplites and hypaspists were in the firing line and both Disupted. Alexander therefore joined the hoplites with a view to bolstering them. More shooting saw 4 hits, lost bases and the hoplites dropped to Fragmented. Not a good place to be if a charge went in.
The javelins screening the hypaspists were also getting peppered and losing bases and cohesion. Pretty soon they were shot to bits and Autobroke.
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| It gets worse! Luckily the pike scare the archers off from a frontal charge and the hypaspists prevent the chariots running down between the lines. |
Luckily for us, the fortunes of war turned again. Alexander managed to bolster the hoplites up just in time, and the commander attached to the hypaspists managed to return them to Steady.
The archers charged the hoplites anyway - but found that swords are no match for spears. Even accounting for the lost dice from being Disrupted, the hoplites won the impact and the archers themselves went Disrupted - and now faced fighting on three sides. Not only were the pike about to charge their flank but the Light Horse (discouraged from attacking the camp by the Indian cavalry) had turned and now aimed to hit the archers in the rear.
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| The archers lose the impact - and now face a world of hurt. |
As the Agema had turned to take on the elephants, Russ decided to change direction with his cavalry and face off the Thessalians. This suited us as we were sure the superior Thessalians would take out their opposite numbers and be free to take the camp or hit the javelinmen in the rear. The elephants were in a good position to support them though and this may have required an Agema charge into their rear to give the Thessalians free rein.
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| The cavalry seem ready to fight at last! But those elephants are a worry. |
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| The archers are doomed - and the pikes have already lined up their next opponents. The Light Horse run past the approaching javelinmen to get some shots in where they can. The hoplites have lost a base but are still quite forbidding. |
At this stage we called it quits (John was practically asleep after a long day) and we totted up the score. The Macedoninans had secured a minor Victory.
Given the position though it was possible that a major victory was on the cards. Assuming the archers were broken in the next melee then the pikes would then go on to hit the remaining archers in the flank (++POA) and have superior POA's in the melee. The hypaspists would need to hold the chariots at bay but would be supported by the hoplites and therefore likely to win through. The remaining pike would impact the javelinmen and again would have superior POA's. The Thessalians would likely beat their opposite numbers - with the Agema hoping to take out one elephant BG with a rear charge (++POA at impact). All supposition of course but quite possible.
This would have reflected the actual battle, where Alexander's forces surrounded Porus' (with the cavalry closing the rear) and the slaughter resulted in an estimated 23,000 killed (or 12,000 killed and 9.000 captured according to other sources) for the cost of between 80 - 700 foot and c.250 cavalry.
Review
We were quite relieved that they'd chased our cavalry with up to 5BG including the elephants and chariots - the centre would have been a much tougher proposition otherwise. This played into our hands and we encouraged it as much as we could.
We were lucky to kill off the elephant BG (thanks John!) and so waste the archers as a result. The collapsing flank caused the Indians to pull forces from elsewhere and we had the advantage from there on in.
But the Indian shooting was awesome. Clearly they pose a serious threat and made mincemeat of two good BG's in short order.
On our side the pikes were fantastic. They killed the elephants, archers and were likely to roll up the remaining forces. Our best cavalry units didn't get to fight but they tied up half the Indian army at one stage and so did their job.
So first blood to Alexander.
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| The final position. Looking good for the Macedonians. |
Historical battle map
Background links
http://www.visbellica.com/Scenarios/Hydaspes/sc_hydaspes.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Hydaspes