First club game in months

I finally made it back to the club on Tuesday for a one-off game suggested by Simon: Early Seleucids versus Indian.  He has been painting lots of Indians recently and this was a good opportunity to put them on the table.  2500 points instead of our usual 2000 for Tactica II.

Above: the Seleucids, whom I chose and deployed.  Phalanx in the centre (played by Willie) and everything else on the wings (David on our left, me on the right). 

Our central phalanx is particularly powerful.

The troops under my command.  A mixture of light infantry, elephants, camels, cavalry and skirmishers.  I also purchased some scythed chariots for this game, because I felt like it.  It seemed like a waste not to use them, especially in a relatively large battle, even though they are almost always rubbish.

A shot of the far right of the enemy army (Simon in command, grinning happily).

The enemy centre: a long thin line of infantry archers, hanging back as much as they possibly can.

The Indian left, facing me, commanded by Gordon. A very powerful host of cavalry, chariots and elephants, with plenty of skirmishers out front.  From the outset it is clear that we are going to have to try to win in the centre while somehow slowing down the strong enemy wings.  Gordon and Simon split their infantry centre between them.

The initial action on my wing isn't very active.  I start to angle my troops to try to keep Gordon's masses off the right flank of the phalanx, which is occupied by the Argyraspides in the traditional position of honour.

On our far left David hangs back, while Willie presses forward with the phalanx in the centre.

The link between the Argyraspides and my wing.

A shot of my extreme right.

In the meantime, David is already in combat and doing well.  The combination of his good dice and Simon's rotten ones is helping David to hold off Simon's superior weight.  This gives the left of Willie's phalanx some hope.

I feed my troops in piecemeal, hoping to use each unit to hold off as many of Gordon's units as I can, buying time for the phalanx to win in the centre.

The camel riders perform miracles, holding up two colums of enemy horse and a large unit of chariots.  I hardly hit anything, but then neither do they, and that matters more.

The Argyraspides just to my left go in against two Indian infantry units.  It looks fine to start with, but this is the one part of the field where the enemy fights well.

On the other side of the battlefield, David continues to do well.

Here David's elephants even get to help out the phalanx against the enemy elephants.

The phalanx crashes into the thin enemy infantry line in the centre.  This is pretty much a foregone conclusion. 

Breakthrough on our left.

My wing continues to be ground down.  Here the Companions go in against chariots and elephants.  Things are getting pretty desperate for us here as I have to sacrifice my elite troops to continue to protect the right flank of the infantry centre.

Fortunately, some of the Indian elephants are stuck in a bit of a traffic jam behind the front.  By throwing in the Companions, I have managed to cramp the enemy's style, stopping these reserve units engaging into the centre.  Now it will all depend on how long the Companions can hold out against far superior numbers and weight.

I even have to use my Skythians in combat against the Indian cavalry.  I am getting desperate!

However, I have bought enough time for the centre of our phalanx to crush all before it.  Some of the units even find the time to turn around.

But it is all too much for the Argyraspides: above is a close-up of the two victorious Indian infantry units just to my left.

My Companions hold out against three enemy units for four turns, but eventually my wing collapses entirely.  I lose every single unit!  On our left, however, David manages a draw and our forces are victorious in the centre.  We win by two figures.

Next week: the Empire Campaign continues with Ptolemy attacking Antigonus.