TACTICA 2 House Game; Indians v Bactrian Greeks.

[simonw]

Last Monday night's game was Tactica 2, 2000pt game between Bactrian Greeks under the command on Gordythemus and Murayan Indians under the command of Bildragupta.

The Indians deployed a central infantry line of 6 by 24 figure foot archers (FV4 to 6) in 2 ranks to maximise shooting. The line was thin so the opposing phalanx would have to be disrupted either by the shooting of by other means or it would most likely, quickly crush the Indian Foot units in melee. So, the main Indian plan was a big 'left hook' comprising 7 elephants in 2 units of 2 and 1 unit of 3, accompanied by 3 large 18 figure units of Militia Grade cavalry as the main strike force to outflank the phalanx as the quickest mounted units in the Indian army. The Indian right flank was effectively to hold; comprising 2 units of 3 4 horse chariots and another unit of cavalry. 50 odd skirmishers were also deployed in the flank sectors.

I had my doubts about this plan, I didn't think that the Indian army had enough elephants. They were all deployed out in the left flank sector and there was no cover for the thin Indian infantry centre. Elephants are ponderous and slow so they are not really good as outflanking troops. Als, any plan that relies on Militia Grade cavalry as its main strike force  is a risky one.

The Bactrian plan was simple. It was to defeat the Indian centre with the pike phalanx and to use  the available (not inconsiderable in number) cavalry and peltasts to protect the flanks of the phalanx whilst it engaged the enemy centre.

Upon seeing the deployment (i.e. the massed troops on the Indian left), Gordythemus thought that it would be prudent to advance the phalanx obliquely from the left to minimise its flank exposure to the Indian left hook.

The Bactrian plan succeeded and resulted in a quite comprehensive victory for them. The Indians were admittedly somewhat hampered by some poor Control Test dice throwing and pretty ineffectual archery. Next week will be a revenge match (by the sons of Bildragupta and Gordythemus as they were both killed in the battle)

A couple of things to note arising from discussions on other threads relating to 'To conform or not' and 'Units versus Stands':

1, The Indian line was also disadvantaged in several cases by entering into a melee at an angle to the front of the Bactrian phalanx. This exposed the flanks of the Indian units to overlaps although the melees are still resolved as normal frontal melees, it means that the pikes got more figures fighting, Refer to photo.

2. Note that the melees are 'frozen' in Tactica 2 at the point of initial contact until they are resolved. Some say that this looks 'funny' but to my eye, the battle line still looks impressive (refer photos) and I rationalise things to myself quite easily by considering the distribution of my toy soldier units to be representative of the 'point of entry' into the melee rather than the actual melee configuration itself. I think that this is quite reasonable, particularly when using 'alternate movement' rules.

3. I think that the variety available to the players in how to organise the units in their armies is best reflected by having 'units' rather than 'stands'. In this game, the Indian decision to use 24 figure units in 2 ranks and the Bactrians decision to  deploy their phalanx units also in 24 figure units but in 3 ranks, were their own decisions and not enforced. \they could easily have adopted deeper formations for their units and/or increased the number of figures in each unit. This would have had the obvious consequence of shorthening the line though and neither Commander fancied the idea of having their (shorter) infantry line 'overlapped'.

[Paul Innes]

Thanks, Simon, you're making me go all nostalgic...

Paul

[simonw]

Paul,
I hope that you can get up here again this summer. Have you found anyone local to game with yet? Send me an email:
simon.watson5@ntlworld.com
Cheers
Si

[Imperial Dave]

Thanks for the battle report Simon. Very useful for me to see this 're examples of how the rules pan out in reality.

[simonw]

Dave,
Drop me an email when you're ready.
Cheers
Simon

[Imperial Dave]

will do, haven't forgotten 

work has been stupid crazy these past 2 weeks months and have been clocking up more hours than you can shake a (graduated) stick at but will send you those army lists very soon