Indian vs Later Persian: a one-off game

I became a little jaded with one-off games (hence the ongoing campaign), but sometimes it's good just to play a game for the sake of it. It's also a good use of figures that won't play a part in the campaign battles, because they are out of season, if you know what I mean:

The Indian right wing (Billy) deploys: a formidable mixed array of cavalry, elephants and foot fronted by skirmishers, and with chariots in reserve.

Their centre comes out of the box: more infantry and elephants. Graham ended up in command here.

Their left (Simon): similar to the right wing, although not quite so strong. Simon supplied the army and set it up.

My command on the Persian left: lots of cavalry. Gordon brought in his army and deployed it; my orders were simple: try to keep Billy's weight out of the centre.

Gordon commanded the centre, which comprised all of the heavy stuff: mercenary hoplites and Persian heavy cavalry with a decent skirmish screen.

Malcolm ran our right, which was a similar force to mine, and had the same orders.

A long table side shot taken after the first moves, from my flank. The Indians are simply rumbling forward, shooting as they go. in the right foreground are my light horse, sent out as a bit of a forlorn hope, the intention being to see if they can do something disruptive.

My view at this stage. Notice my massed cavalry cowering.

Billy's force continues its relentless advance - he seems pleased enough...

Another long side view. From what I remember, Malcolm was being just as cagey as me on his flank, while Gordon pushed forward in our centre, trusting to the heavy stuff to break through.

Things are getting a bit tight on my flank. I have sent the heavy cavalry column at the top right of the photo forward to try to create a traffic jam and slow down the enemy. Only following my orders...

 

Another side view. The only part of our army that has any forward momentum is Gordon in the centre.

I am still holding, but Gordon is having a really bad time to my right.

A close-up for the sake of it.

Graham burst through some of Gordon's heavies, but then disaster struck the Indian army. A badly mauled elephant unit was destroyed by massed skirmishers, causing an Indian foot unit to rout, which cascaded, taking two more with it. It really looked as though the Indians were going to win handsomely up to that point.

It was a nice to change to play with figures we don't get to see very often any more because they are no longer in the campaign. Having said that, the campaign will probably slow down a bit because we need to paint other troops, so we will see a few more games like this one. A varied diet.