Wednesday 28 October 2009

Thrace succumbs

Yesterday evening, Alexander finally conquered something, and he wasn't even wounded in the process. The Thracians set up in a long interspersed line, while the Macedonians (in red above) set up with a powerful right cavalry wing and phalanxes en echelon. They faced an area of rough ground in the centre of the Thracian line with a large block of light infantry.

The Macedonian elite horse carved their way through the Thracian left flank with relative ease as the phalanxes trundled forwards. The central Macedonian light infantry had a bad day as the Thracians attacked in the centre, and the leftmost phalanx suffered severely. In the end, though, the result was a relatively straightforward Macedonian victory, as it should have been in Illyria.

When I was putting together the armies for the diagram, Battle Chronicler calculated that the Macedonian army was over 250 points too strong. William had put the list together, but when the figures arrived there was some re-design by committee; the result was that they had the equivalent of one phalanx too many. That would have made the game a bit less easy for the Macedonians, especially on their extreme left. As it was, there wasn't a great deal the Thracians could do, barring extreme luck.

We might need to compensate by penalising the Macedonians somewhat in campaign terms, maybe by reducing their army by 125 points for each of the next two battles, or by making them forego one campaign move. In any event, we're taking a break next week, because a large Sharpe Practice campaign is beginning at the club. Our own next battle is Alexander's first move into Asia Minor, and we will need a few players for the large Persian army he is sure to encounter. But that will be in two week's time...

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