Seleucus - Dave Austin;
Antigonus - Dave Letts;
Demetrius - Warwick Andrew

This was a game set up to playtest the amendments for "Shieldbearer" rules. It turned out to be a very exciting battle swinging first one way and then the other. The battle opened with Antigunus' Tarantine cavalry charging the Seleucid skirmish line. whose nerve failed and they retired behind the phalanx and elephants. Next it was the turn of the Seleucid scythed chariots to career across the battlefield towards the left hand phalanx. Light cavalry shot at the chariots with little effect until they charged home. They (scythed chariots) are only allowed one round of combat and are then considered to have been destroyed and are removed from the table.

A flank charge by some Antigonid colonist cavalry helped take the sting out of the attack and the phalanx held fairly comfortably. Having stripped the Seleucid line of its light infantry screen, the Persian missile troops advanced on the unprotected elephants supported by their own elephants and pikemen in echelon. The Antigonid light cavalry did the same against the phalanx and opposing light horse. Seleucus had ordered his shock cavalry wedges over to his left to stop an outflanking movement made by Demetrius' cavalry. Here the camels (making their debut) came into their own. 'Me Antigonid cavalry had been made elephant-proof but the appearance of the camels had not been anticipated. This meant that none of Demetrius' cavalry could close with them.

In fact the horse archers and camels inflicted steady missile casualties on a couple of cavalry units, unnerving the Greek horse so much that their orders were forcibly changed from attack to skirmish. Under the rules when a unit's morale drops sufficiently its orders are automatically changed. In the centre Antigonus fighting with his Macedonian phalanx and an elephant unit had contacted Seleucus' elephant centre. It was a fairly even fight with neither side able to gain much advantage until a colonist cavalry unit assisting Demetrius' attack charged the unprotected flank of the elephants. This forced the elephants to fall back steadily. Antigonus needed only to roll "evens" on the dice to rout them but the wargaming gods were with Seleucus and the elephants survived repulse after repulse right up until the game ended.

By now Demetrius' cavalry attack had been smashed, with three units of Companions routing and the Greeks reduced to a skirmishing role. Three of the five Seleucid cavalry units were now careering off in pursuit of their routing opponents. A unit of Seleucid heavy cavalry charged the right hand phalanx in the flank. This time "those who control the dice" smiled upon Antigonus, the pikes surviving a rout by the skin of their teeth. Antigonus then threw the right-hand elephant unit into the melee and forced the cavalry back thus saving the phalanx. Demetrius, true to form, had piled his way through the Seleucid left flank at the head of the Agema. demolishing a unit of Seleucus' Companions on the way and now wheeled into the rear of the peltasts on the to the rear of the peltasts on the Seleucid left.

Unfortunately these had been given defend orders at the start of the game and a despairing cry was heard from Seleucus as he pursued the routing Companions, to the effect "Are you sure I can't give the signal for them to attack now?". The peltasts were duly routed leaving that wing in some confusion. neither side having ascendency. The elephants continued to fall back in the ccntre so it all depended on the Seleucid right wing. The Antigonid phalanx hit in echelon, which meant that the pcltasts were the first to be contacted and routed. This downgraded the phalanx units on their right; one of them also routed.

The right hand Seleucid phalanx contacted the Antigonid peltasts, but by now its morale was dropping fast because of the routs, not to mention being charged in the rear by Persian cavalry which had worked their way around the Seleucids. ne Seleucid light cavalry had been gradually forced back by weight of numbers opening a gap between them and their infantry. Special mention must be made of a unit of Tarantine cavalry in the pay of Antigonus. Not only did they clear the skirmish lines at the start of the battle but they also routed a unit of archers in front of the phalanx. This had a detrimental effect on the Seleucid cavalry as the archers routed around the side of the phalanx and took ages to get clear of the cavalry who were also being forced back. This had the effect of downgrading some of the cavalry units' morale.

At the end of move 10 it was 11 o'clock and so we called the game to an end. Seleucus conceded, his left flank attack having faltered, his centre retiring (and about to rout any minute if only Antigonus could manage a halfdecent dice throw!) and his phalanx and right wing crumbling. A really enjoyable game.

The amendments worked well. We managed to get a 2000pt a side game (totalling 45 units) finished in three hours. By the time you read (his Michael Young tells me that the new edition 2.1 should be available incorporating the amendments.

Although the scythed chariots didn't pose any problems for the phalanx in this game the rules do allow drilled infantry with defend orders to "let pass" elephants and chariots providing the required die score is achieved. This is a gamble because if you don't make it on the die score the unit fights disorganised Although we didn't use it in this game one of the amendments is quite interesting: it enables an army to have "deliberate breakers" at extra points cost per unit This means that if the unit breaks it is deemed to have been a pre-planned stratagem and friendly units' morale is not adversely affected. This can be a useful ploy in luring your opponent out of position.

Battle Map

Seleucid
A,B,C: 8x LC
D,E,F,G,L: 9x HC (lance)
H: 8x Horse Archers
I: 12x Camels
J,K,M: 12x Peltasts (loose order)
N,O: 48x Armoured Pikemen
P: 24x Pelatasts
Q: 10x Elephants
R,S,T: LI
U 6x Scythed Chariots

Antigonid
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 = 5 units of light cavalry.
6 = light infantry.
7 = 12 x peltasts
8, 9 and 11 = 3 units or 49 x armoured pikemen.
10 and 12 = 2 units of 2 x elephants
13 = 32 x Armoured pikemen.
14, 16 and 17 = 3 units of 9 lance armed HC.
15 = 9 x Agema + Demetrius.
18 = 12 x Persian heavy cavalry.
19 and 21 = Colonist cavalry.
20 and 22 = peltasts.
23 = Greek heavy cavalry.

Artigonus fought in the from tank of unit 11.