Of Pike and Prejudice

A Headless Body Production

Location:  An undisclosed basement
Event:       Saturday Remote Game
Players:    Tom Worden,  playing King Porus
                  Phil Gardocki,  playing Alexander the Great
Game System: L'Art de la Guerre, 15mm, about 200 points per side.

A third battle based on the epic Battle of the Hydaspes, fought in 326 BC.

The Forces:
Classical Indian (list 79)
King Porus, Competent, Spitakes, Competent, and Parvataka, Ordinary and included.
      5 Elephant, Elite
      6 1/2 Medium Swordsmen, 1/2 Bowmen

      2 Light Cavalry, Javelin
      1 Medium Cavalry, Mediocre
      5 Light Infantry, Bow
      2 Guardsmen, Medium Swordsmen, 2HW, Elite  
Breakpoint of 22

Alexandrian Macedonian (list 39)
King Alexander the Great, Strategist, Seleucus, the Brilliant and Croenor, the Ordinary
      8 Pikemen
      4 Companions, Heavy Cavalry, Impact, Elite
      1 Thracians, Javelinmen
      1 Thracian, Light Cavalry, Javelin
      2 Prodromoi, Light Cavalry, Impact
      1 Hypaspist, Medium Spearman, Elite
      2 Agrianians, Light Infantry Javelin
Breakpoint of 20

The Board

King Porus wins the initiative and elects to attack in the plains. Alexander selects a hill and a gully in addition to his mandatory field.  Porus selects two fields and a road.

Deployment:

Prince Spitakes takes the right, with 2 elephants and 3 units of sword/bow

Porus takes the center with 2 elephants and 3 units of sword/bow

Parvataka takes the left with the Guardsmen and an elephant.

Hiding in a deep ditch, is Croenor with 2 taxis of pike, and the Thracians.

Selecus defends the camp with his pike and Hypaspists.

I almost posted that as "...and Hydraspes."

Alexander takes the position of honor on the right.

Turn 1:

Spitakes is bold, and has a lot of command points.  He sends his light horse around the Gully, staying more than 4UD away from the ambush marker.

The main battle line advances in lock step.

The Guardsmen extend the line before advancing.

Croenor springs his ambush.  His units are not facing the enemy, but the rear.  The Indian Light Horse are surprised by a flank charge of the Thracians, and flee from the board.

Selecus rolls a 1 for command points.  Just enough to push the pike, and start a redeploy of the Hypaspists towards the Gully.

The main job of the Hypaspists is to provide a link between the cavalry and the pike.  But it looks like I am going to need them more as a link to defend the gully.

Alexander is flush with command points.  And seeing the Indian camp is undefended, even though fortified, he parses off a Companion to loot it.

Turn 2:

Spitakes cautiously advances to the Gully

Porus's line keeps in alignment.  Arrows fly, and half the phalanx are disordered.

Parvataka wheels his formation to face Alexanders Companions.

At the Tree of Woe, the score is 3-1

Croenor clears the gully, safely out of reach of an elephant charge.

Seleucus is still waking up from a nights revelry. and rolls a 2 for command points.  Enough to advance the Hypaspist.  But the choice to rally or turn them, he decides to rally.  His troops look at his disheveled appearance and are unimpressed.

Alexander puts some space between him and the elephant line.  The Prodromoi assume a threatening position.

Turn 3:

Spitakes declines to attack with his elephants across the gully, but sends his skirmishers to play with the pike instead.

Elephants do not suffer terrain penalties for brush or fields, but are minus 2 for being other rough terrain.  In addition, they would lose impact and the Pike would have up an hill bonus.

Spitakes sends his archers to very short range, but Porus stays at long.

The Indian archers continue to find their marks.

Parvataka's Guardsmen confront the Prodromoi, his elephant faces the Companions.

Croenor has just enough command points to turn his pike around.

Both he and Seleucus have rolled nothing but ones and twos for command points this game so far.

Seleucus orders 3 failed rallies, forgetting about the Hypaspist that needed to turn.

Seleucus mumbles to himself, I have to stop partying like that, I'm not 30 any more.

Alexander continues to maneuver.  His one companion just a few paces away from the camp.

Turn 4:

The first contact of the day.  The Hypaspists are hit in the flank and destroyed.

The rest of the Indian main battle line approaches to just over 40 paces.

The arrows are working, so why change plans now?

Parvataka continues to stalk the Companions. 

The score is 7-1

Croenor turns one taxis, that is all he has command points for.

Rallying isn't working, so Seleucus orders a charge.  Two Taxis of pike promptly collapse.

But Alexander has a great victory.  His Companions catch both Guardsmen in the rear and run them down.  The third companion, ZOC'ed by Parvataka's elephant, exits, taking a disorder with it.

The last Companion unit finds the side door to the camp open and starts looting.

So while the Macedonians are clearly losing this fight militarily, the score is just about even.

Turn 5:

Spitakes's Light Horse charges, and is dispersed in the face of Thracian fierceness.

The Macedonians have a hole in their lines, and Spitakes is taking advantage of it.

Half of Seleucus's pike are gone, the remainder are well and truly flanked*.

Parvataka continues to stalk the companions.

The score is still a virtual tie.

Croenor rolls more than 2 command points for the first time this game.  He orders his pike to charge!, the Thracians to come up and eventually support him, while his Thracian light horse wraps around the gully.

Croenor also is desperate and leads from the front.  The score becomes a tie.

Seleucus also leads from the front.  It's too late to worry about command points now.  His pike destroys their opposing bow/sword unit.

Alexander decides now is the time to face Parvataka head on.  All his companion has to do is survive, then the Indian General will be hit from behind.  Then a turn later in the flank.  Each time producing a 1 in 6 chance of killing the Indian General.

But the Macedonians are only 4 points from demoralization. 

Turn 6:

Another tie in hand to hand.

Seleucus's last pike is surrounded.

Parvataka charges and Alexanders Companions stand.

The score is 18 (out of 20) to 15 (out of 22)

Both Seleucus and Croenor manage to rally some units.  Avoiding being demoralized for another turn.

Way off in the distance, the Prodromoi have gotten the Indian cavalry in a hammer and anvil position.  No matter which way it goes, it will be an impact attack in the flank.

One Companion is down, but Parvataka's elephant is disordered.

The Macedonian rallies have kept them in the game, the score is 18-17

Turn 7:
Once again, it is a desperate fight to just stay alive for the Macedonians.  Their next turn will have a number of flank charges available to them.

Another Indian bow/sword unit is crushed.  Thracian warriors lined up on the flank of another.

An Agrianian Light Foot is charged, and runs off of the map.

Parvataka turns and destroys a Companion

And that denies the Macedonians a chance at a win, or a mutual destruction.  The final score 20 to 18.

So what went wrong?
Clearly the phalanx did not stand long enough.  Half the pike were disordered on the first volley of arrows, and it only got worse after that.  What can mitigate that?  More skirmishers? 

The second thing was the Companions committing to fight the elephant.  The thought was that the elephant would receive several flank charges, and if the General mounted astride is killed the elephant is dead.  But instead, it killed 2 Companions, for the final 4 points of the game.  The early collapse of the pike lead to this decision though.  The Macedonian camp was already under assault, and would have more units looting it next turn.

It would have been better the Companions continue to dance around the elephant.  It was likely that the Prodromoi (light horse, Impact) would have destroyed the Indian Medium Cavalry with a pair of flank charges.


*You know what we really mean...