TACTICA 2 SELEUKIDS V INDIANS

[simonw]

This was the third and deciding encounter. The armies were expanded slightly to about 2850pts each with Army breakpoints of just over 200 Massed Figs Broken/Routed.

I Sishoka the Sage with Gordononugupta the Great led the Mauryan forces into a 3rd encounter with  the Successor forces of Hughleukos Nikator and Grahamtigonus Duopthalmus.

We deployed our forces to achieve a victory by means of outflanking the Seleukid Phalanx on our left flank whilst engaging it from the front with our Elephants and Foot Archers.

Hughleukos and Grahamtigonus were familiar from previous campaigns with I, Sishoka's fondness for the use of Elephants in 'Screens' and so consequently, I decided to deploy the Elephants instead in Massed units of 2 and 3 beasts in front of the Infantry Battleline with subordinate numbers of 2 Elephant units to help on the flanks. The idea behind this was to add a little more 'punch' in Melee on sections of the Seleukid battleline whilst allowing wider gaps between the Elephant units for supporting Missile Fire from the Indian Foot Archers behind.

This tactic  worked well as Gordongupta did manage to manoeuvre an Elephant unit into a position ready to charge the flank of the Argyraspides on the right end of Seleukid battleline and the right flank of the Indian line held secure; beating off the Peltasts from the Steep Hill there and routing one of the Seleukid lancer units.

In the centre, 2 units of 3 elephants and a unit of 2 elephants managed to engage the Seleukid Phalanx and inflicted casualties on it and disrupted the cohesion of the Seleukid advance enabling the Indian Foot Archers to inflict significant casualties on a couple of Phalanx units and causing a couple of Missile Halts and ultimately enabling  the Indian Foot to rout one of the Seleukid Phalanx units in Melee after they had driven off the Elephants.

The aim of the Indian tactics with the elephants was exactly this, by attacking with 3 units with speces between, the Seleukid battleline was broken up and so individual Phalanx battalions had to attacj the Indian Foot Archers in a piecemeal fashion; usually under significant Missile Fire. To delay until the Elephants were all beaten off would have exposed individual units in thye line to excessive Missile Fire so they were forced to attack in this fashion.

So, the Indian battleplan worked.

However, the Indian forces did not get the 'rub of the green' with the dice. Whilst the Seleukids were by no means egregiously fortunate in their dice, the Indians tended to roll pretty consistently below par both in Missile Fire and Melee. This was critical in that it took the Indians too long to resolve the initial Melees where they had the advantage before the delayed Seleukid units could come up to assistance of their colleagues. An example of this is where the 18 figure Lancer Unit carrying 3 Missile Kills harged uphill into a stationary Indian Foot unit supported by 2 Elephants. Rolling 18 melee dice each |Turn against 4 for the Lancers (who failed their Impetus Roll and suffered the 25% decrement for facing stationary Foot uphill and half figs against the Elephants), it too the Indians 3 Turns to rout the cavalry! That's 54 dice, needing 5s and 6s to 'Kill' 9 figures! The result was inevitable but just too slow!

 Additionally, to 'rub salt into the wounds', the Seleukids passed all their Routed Past/Into Control Tests whereas the Indians Failed all of theirs (rolling 'snake eyes' twice in succession followed by a score of 3!

So, in the end, the Tyche favoured the Seleukid forces who ultimately, were narrowly victorious.

So says Sishoka the Sage (a totally unbiased opinion).

[Imperial Dave]

love the masses of figures Simon. Also note the use of carpet tiles for the battleground

[simonw]

Cheers Dave. The carpet tiles are due a light respray dappled with an olive green. It wears off over time under the marching feet of my 28mm lead troops!

[Imperial Dave]

its certainly a clever way to get a good looking battlefield