Alexander's conquest of north-west India in 327-325 B. C. had brought Greek settlers into the country. In 206 B.C., Antiochus III had advanced into northwest India as well, so Greek influence was certainly nothing new to the Indian inhabitants of the northwest. India, itself, had begun to fragment after the death of the last truly powerful Mauryan king, Asoka, around 236 B.C. As the unifying strength and power of the Mauryas declined, the Indian provinces began to become independent under their local leaders. The last Mauryan king, Brihadratha, disappears from history in 187 B.C. Into this power vacuum marched the Bactrian Greeks.

With his son, the future Demetrius II, his favorite general, Menander and a kinsman, Appolodotus, Demetrius I invaded the Hindu Kush sometime after 184 B.C. It is during this period and that of the following forty years that make up our army list for the Graeco-Indian armies. Menander is an interesting man. He was born a commoner (though of Greek parentage) and quickly rose through the ranks to become a very trusted strategist. Throughout over a decade of invasion and war, he held on to the territories entrusted to him in India and, upon the deaths of Demetrius and Appolodotus, Menander found himself left as the highest ranking Greek in Graeco-India. Like so many later Roman emperors, the Graeco-Bactrian army proclaimed Menander their ruler (he did not refuse). Menander expanded his control into India. He became known to the Indians as Milinda, and became well known throughout Indian oral and literary tradition.

The reign of Menander did not span more than 15-25 years. He established a capital at Sagala or Euthymedieia (an Indian city and the capital of Madras) as well bringing in Greek settlers to other cities under his control. Menander had an empire of vassal states with small numbers of Greek municipal leaders regulating each newly established satrapy (in keeping with the example of regional government retained by Alexander), controlling the monetary and the administrative functions. The Graeco-Indian armies consisted of both Western and Indian contingents. A council, or large unit of bodyguard cavalry accompanied Menander. These troops were Greeks, Bactrian and Anatolians.

With Menander's death in 150-145, the last powerful and unifying Greek ruler was gone. It would only be a matter of time until the Graeco-Bactrian and Graeco-Indian empires would fall. Menander's descendents simply could not hold on to his possessions. The last Graeco-Indian king, Hermaeus, held out until the first century A.D. before falling to the Parthians under Gondophernes.

The Warriors

First, I am going to describe the Graeco-Bactrian forces that made up the armies of Demetrius and Menander. First regards are for leaders. Demetrius had two Greek commanders under him, Menander and Appolodotus. Menander is said to have had four trusted commanders; Demetrius (not the king or his son), Antiochus (another popular name), Mankura and Sabbadinno. All were trusted retainers. Leadership amongst a small circle of trusted friends had carried over from the Alexandrian tradition. All were non-native to India. We have already noted the bodyguard of 500 'counselors' who accompanied Menander wherever he went. From the references we can study, it is not unreasonable to assume that these troops were composed of numbers of post-Alexandrian Greek type Companion cavalry. Eucratides had 300 companion-type cavalry under him. There would also have been some of the Bactrian armored cavalry, which would have been brought into India. It is a simple matter to postulate that the guard cavalry of the Bactrian leadership were of two types; the traditional Seleucid Companion fighter, armored and lance-armed, capable of fighting in the traditional wedge formation and highly trained and motivated. In AW terms, he would be classed as elite, trained armored cavalry with lance. The numbers of such troops were very limited, perhaps a few hundred at most. Other 'western' contingents would be made up of the Bactrians; veterans and highly trained, armored cavalry with bows as well as lances. Indeed, we have references in the Mahabharata of cavalry with spears, javelins and bows, so this is a reasonable assumption to make. It should be mentioned that Indian texts have Menander fighting a battle on the Indus River in 150 using only a mounted army.

Reference is also made to numbers of horse archers and javelinmen. These would not have been Scythians, but rather Bactrian cavalry, recruited and brought on campaign by Demetrius I and further utilized by Menander…part of his cavalry-only army, referenced earlier.

What about the rest of the army? We do have some sources. The Buddhist Milindapanha mentions that Menander used war elephants, chariots and infantry besides his cavalry. The war elephants may well have been Bactrian in origin, or Indian. The Bactrian elephants had a tower, while the Indian did not. Both would have crews of javelinmen and archers. Most visual evidence (coins, carvings, etc.) show elephants with towers, indicating Bactrian origin. In any event, elephants were an integral part of the Graeco-Indian armies.

The use of chariots has been brought into dispute, Were they simply a holdover from the Indian military tradition or were they a product of the Graeco-Bactrian armies? The war chariot had been used by the Persians and subsequently by the Seleucids. The Graeco-Bactrians certainly had four-horse chariots depicted on their coins. Because of these reasons, it is at least probable that the Graeco-Indians utilized war chariots in one form or another.

The infantry were of Graeco-Bactrian as well as of Indian origin. The Graeco-Bactrian contingents would have been brought along on the initial campaigns, and like Alexander's Macedonians, many would have remained in India, taking wives and enjoying the riches due to conquerors. The Graeco-Bactrian contingents would have been made up of the traditional phalangites, armored foot with pikes, as well as unarmored, trained peltasts who wielded long spears and javelins and hypaspists, having shorter spears than the phalangites. The Graeco-Bactrians making up the phalanxes, were lighter armored than the heavy infantry of Western armies.Mercenaries made up the ranks of the peltasts.

Indian troops were also incorporated into the Graeco-Indian armies. Local contingents would serve out of obligation or fear. Not necessarily fear of their own commanders and 'allies', but fear of their enemies. They knew Menander. A wise and intelligent commander never wasted the chance to paint a horribly bitter picture of his adversaries and what the Indians could expect from them if the current power structure was swept away. The local Indian rulers provided troops for the Graeco-Indian armies, but apparently did not take an active part in the army command.

Indian troops were mostly the traditional unarmored archers with their deadly longbows. Though other army lists reference that the Indian longbowmen relinquished the use of their longswords after the dissolution of Mauryan rule, I can find no examples or references to them abandoning this weapon and, frankly, could see no logical reason why they would. As a secondary arm, this weapon allowed them to engage in close combat. Close ordered archers have little ability to 'evade' or automatically run from attack, as they would be disordered in the least and routed or dispersed in the extreme.

Indian contingents would also have numbers of javelinmen as well. Even some cavalry may have been utilized, but they would have to have been used sparingly, as their lack of armor would make them very vulnerable to archers and heavier horse.

The Army List

The army lists for Ancient Warfare contain the description of the troops, their armor, weaponry, morale, number of figures per stand, cost per stand and suggested numbers for a 360-365 point model army. For the Graeco-Indians, there are certain suggestions. You will note that there are Indian foot listed with an 'axe'. This represents the heavy, two-handed Indian sword, carried by skirmishers as well as close order foot. Also, I would advise using at least two supply units. Each supply unit provides missile weapons to archers and javelinmen who either go low on missiles or run out of missiles. You have to be within supply range to receive these, so you have to be careful where they are located. If they are lost or captured, you are in trouble.

Now for the list

Graeco-Indian 184-145 BC

Bactria was a province of the old Persian Empire located next to India and was colonized by Greeks, descendants of Alexander's army. When the Graeco-Bactrian king, Demetrius I decided to expand his holdings (he had been quite successful at the expense of the Seleucids thus far in his reign), he looked toward India. His greatest general Menander, would eventually be quite successful at expanding Greek holdings in northwest India.

The Greeks represent a percentage of the army while either subject Indians or mercenaries filled the remainder. The mercenaries offered skill and training while the Indians offered missile fire. The striking power of this army is the high quality cavalry, expensive but powerful. Armored cavalry supported by massive bowfire has the ability to overwhelm the enemy. Just hope they do not have elephants that will disorder your cavalry. This is primarily a cavalry army and as such should be used carefully. A combined attack with elephants, phalanx and Indian archers supported by some armored cavalry is an excellent way to learn how to use this army.

Stands	Troop Type	Armour	Morale	Training	Weaponry	Figures/ Stand	Point Value	Basic Army
1	Commander-in-Chief	Heavy Cavalry	Elite	Trained	Lance	3	54	1
1-4	Generals	Heavy Cavalry	Veterans	Trained	Lance	3	37	1
0-4	Companion Cavalry	Heavy Cavalry	Veterans	Trained	Lance	3	12	2
2-8	'Bactrian' Cavalry	Heavy Cavalry	Veterans	Trained	Lance & Bow	3	13	2
4-12	Skirmish Cavalry	Skirmish Cavalry	Warriors	Irregular	Bow or Javelins	2	3	8
0-24*	Indian Cavalry	Lightly Armored Cavalry	Poor	Irregular	Javelins & Shield	3	6	0
0-12*	Upgrade Indian Cavalry to Warriors						+2	0
0-4	Upgrade Heavy Cavalry to Armored Cavalry						+2	2
0-6	Elephants	Elephant	Warriors	Irregular	Javelins & Bows	1	17	2
0-4	War Chariots	Heavy Chariots	Veterans	Irregular	Javelins	1	17	0
4-16	Phalangites	Lightly Armored Infantry	Warriors	Trained	Pike or LSp&Sh	4	6	8
4-12	Peltasts	Unarmored Infantry	Warriors	Trained	LSp, Jav & Shield	4 (Loose Order)	6	4
0-6	Hypaspists/ Agema	Lightly Armored Infantry	Warriors	Trained	LSp & Sh	4 (Loose Order)	6	0
All or None	Upgrade Hypaspists/Agema to Heavy Infantry Veterans with Pike & Shield						+2	0
0-12	Hillmen	Skirmish Infantry	Warriors	Irregular	Bow	2	1	4
8-24*	Indian Archers	Unarmored Infantry	Warriors	Irregular	Longbow & Axe	4	4	12
4-12*	Indian Foot	Unarmored Infantry	Warriors	Irregular	Javelin & Axe/Sh	4	5	4
0-12*	Indian Skirmishers	Skirmish Infantry	Warriors	Irregular	Bow & Axe or Javelin & Axe	2	2	0
Any	Downgrade complete Indian units to Poor as unenthused conscripts						-1	0
0-1	Main Supply Unit	Camels	-	Irregular	-	2	15	1
0-4	Additional Supply Units	Camels	-	Irregular	-	2	10	0

Notes:

If any troops with an asterisk are used *, all minimums of that nationality apply.
Companion cavalry and generals with them may use wedge.
Indian close order archers and close order javelinmen may be used in mixed weapon units.
Indian cavalry ignore the effect of elephants.