Monday 5 November 2018

Gaugamela 331 BC in 54mm

My godchild (well child he has become 27) asked for his birthday to have friends invited for a battle of Greeks vs Persians. With the help in figures of Steven and Ronny, we were able to stage the battle of Gaugamela: 

The final battle of Alexander III of Macedon

against  Darius III of Persia

A vast number of Persian soldiers, allies, and Greek mercenaries. 


Against the seasoned army of Alexander.



Players and OOB

Persians
Right flank : Niel  10 units of light cavalry, 2 units of light infantry, 1 scythed chariot
Right center : Steven 5 units of Greek mercenary hoplites (heavy - veteran), 8 units of light infantry
Left center (including Darius) : Ronny : immortals 1 unit ( light - elite), 1 war elephant, 1 unit heavy cavalry, 1 unit medium cavalry,1 guard unit ( medium - veteran), 6 units of light infantry, 3 scythed chariots 
Left flank: Alwin: 7 units of light infantry, 3 of light cavalry, 1 of medium cavalry.


Macedon - Greeks (all veteran unless mentioned otherwise):
right flank : Alberik : 2 units medium calvalry, 4 units of hoplites
Right center (including Alexander) : Kristof :  3 unit of companions (elite heavy impact) Alexander must be always be attched to  one of the units, but can only be killed with the throw of 2 flags.
3 units of hypospists (heavy elite infantry) 3 units light infantry
Left center : Noémie: 6 units af phalanx, 5 hoplite units (heavy infantry)
Left: Dirk (me) 2 units of medium cavalry, 2 units of heavy cavalry, 3 units light infantry, 2 units medium infantry, 2 hoplite units (heavy infantry).



With the Greek positioned more to the right, the left flank faced almost both of the Persian right and center right. 


The first turn, the skirmish infantry in front of Alexanders' elite troops were send forward to haras the chariots, with no other movement on th greek side. The greek bowmen inflicted one loss.


The Persian response was to send forward the scythed chariots, which were on the Greek center held up by the skirmishers, on the left, they did hit the heavy cavalry only inflicting one loss.


Alexander and his companions continued, hitting hard, cavalry and infantry , joint tHe next turn by the hypospists, and the first unit of phalaxes.










Companions, hypospists and phalanxes unstopable advance.



Agressive Greeks also on the lift flank, keeping most of the Persian right flank pinned at the rear.


But the masses of light cavalry started to ount.



The Persian light infantry no match for the phalanx in the center.


desperate, Darius moved his chariot to the rear.





Alexander closing in on Darius

Darius ordered his elephant unit towards the critical point.

While also on the right, the Greeks were pushing the Persian infantry of table.

Greek left flank under more and more pressure.

The immortals now in a desperate fight with the phalanx.




While the immortals were decimated, the elephant units did hit the unit of Alaxanders companions.

To relfect Alexanders fortune, he could only be eliminated with the trow of a double flag, 1 chance out of 36....which Ronny did throw...
Alexander killed by the elephants.

Hisotry turned upside town, the Greeks without leader...




The Persian army snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

A great and fun game of two hours of play with an unexpected result.






12 comments:

  1. Beautiful game and armies. 15 years ago I knew every 54mm Ancient figure that was available but now I am not sure of some of these. Wonderful! .

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  2. Wow! that's an awesome collection of figures, are the long pikes made from wooden skewers?

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  3. Thanks Ross and Brian. Indeed Brian, skewers. Had to look some time to find a type that wasn't to thick, looking like a pole instead of a lance.

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  4. Looks terrific! A labour of love.

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  5. Massa effect zeker geslaagd.

    Zo eenmaal terugval van één of meerdere troepen ingevolge battleverlies, zal dit ongetwijfeld een kettingreactie hebben teweeg gebracht.

    Hoeveel eenheden hielden uiteindelijk nog stand op tabletop?

    Zal zeer zeker een onderhoudende spelnamiddag zijn geweest. Groetjes, Alex



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  6. Hi Dirk, there are some great games being played in 54mm in recent years, but this looks to be one of the best - fantastic!

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  7. Thx! Indeed one of our best, if not the best.

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