Hydaspes at Carronade

On the portable sand table, no less:

A side shot of the whole thing looking towards the river in the distance. The unit cards show tasteful photos of the various killers, along with their game stats. I made these in case we ended up with people playing who didn't know the rules, although Tactica is elegant enough that really you don't need them. We removed them for game play and further photos.

The Indian right: elephants with skirmishers out front and massed foot behind.

The Indian centre: more of the same.

The Indian left: chariots out front with cavalry behind, egged on by Porus and his own elephant unit. Simon supplied almost the entire Indian army, almost all by Irregular miniatures (25mm). There were 20 elephants in total.

Companions led in person by that nasty wee man Alexander, fronted by horse archers and light cavalry. This lot comprises the Macedonian right punch, and is facing off against the chariots.

The Macedonian centre right: a large block of Hypaspists led by a certain Seleukos, then three taxeis of the phalanx. Agrianes and archers out front.

Next up sees another two phalanx units, and then the Macedonian left (above): Greek hopes, Thracians and heavy cavalry. Unlike the Indians, the Macedonians are deployed en echelon, leading with their right. Figures supplied by Simon, Willie, Gordon and Graham, with a few by me.

 Another side shot of the whole thing, this time from the Macedonian right and with the unit cards removed. I hope you can make out the relative deployments. Macedonians to the left as you look at it. The idea is that the Macedonians move out in order, starting from their right, with the various commands activating n a cascade. Technically most of the army isn't meant to be on the field yet, but it's much easier at a show to try to place them in advance - less hassle for later. We were helped by the 6' table depth, and by deliberately setting the Indians quite far back on their side.

A gratuitous close-up of the horrible little man and his superb cavalry.

A photo taken from the other end of the field after a couple of turns - I hope you can see how the echelon is working.

The fight is on, and the Indians have thrown some of their reserve cavalry wide. At the bottom left of the picture you can see some of the foliage I bought from Hugh on the day - useful!

A long shot, again from the other flank, of the developing battle.

Phalanx against elephants. The dust clouds denote extra impetus effect. Not that it matters - Billy is running the pikemen and he is clearly favoured by the dice gods. I like this photo - it shows Gordon's newly painted phalangites in action. Meanwhile, on the Macedonian right, the Companions have broken through. Even though they are being led by Alexander, though, they go tearing off in pursuit. This will stop them turning in and rolling up the Indian army for a while.

On the other wing, the Greeks are taking on the elephants. I was quite pleased about this - the previous time we played this scenario, it was all over before this point. I have beefed up the Indians a bit to make it more of a game based on that experience.

A slightly elevated shot taken from the same place at the same time - a lot of combat!

Alexander has rallied the Companions from pursuit and is riding like a madman for the Indian left rear.

Back to the other side of the table. The elephants here died under the combined onslaught of Thracians and cavalry - the latter, although badly mauled, have just gone into the flank of an Indian unit fighting the hoplites. It's looking like a double envelopment.

More fighting in the centre. The changes to the Indian army have made sure that the elephants are lasting a bit longer this time.

Rampaging elephants. This was quite funny - they found a gap in between victorious bits of the phalanx and did a runner. At the top of the photo you can see the impending arrival of Alexander and his pals.

Poros fights on bravely, taking on the Hypaspists as well as some of the Companions!

Well done to Colin for constructing the portable sand table, and for providing the flock to lighten it up a bit. Several people commented on how good it looked, especially since it makes the flat plain look interesting. We also had the river and foliage down one side, and some hills down the other t represent high ground off in the distance. It made it a bit more interesting. Hoping to take the game to Claymore in August.