Heraclea replay with Irregular Miniatures ancient rules

Introduction
I have been replaying Heraclea with different rules on a 2'x2' board.  Recent rules, and some I am planning, revolve around units with a number of bases to a unit.  My current favourite of the unit based rules is the Irregular Miniatures Ancient rules.  I wrote a review and replayed Callinicum with them.  It has been a while, so I thought I would give them a run through.  Note the replay is fairly detailed due to its aim of giving an idea of how the rules actually work.
 

Troops

Romans

1 unit Leves: 4 Skirmishers, regular, C class, javelins, no armour, no shield

1 unit Hastati/Principes: 8 Battle troops, regular, C class, arm and leg armour, pila, shield.

1 unit Triarii: 5 Battle troops, regular, B class, arm and leg armour, long spear, shield.

1 unit Light Infantry: 2 Auxiliary infantry, irregular, C class, no armour, javelin, shield

1 unit Heavy Cavalry: 4 Auxiliary cavalry, regular, B class, no armour, spear, shield

1 unit Light Cavalry: 1 Skirmish cavalry, C class, no armour, javelin, shield
 

Epirot

1 unit Hypaspist: 5 Battle Troops, regular, B class,Pikes, arm and leg armour, shield

1 unit pikemen/hoplites: 8 Battle Troops, regular, C class,Pikes, arm and leg armour, shield

1 unit Light Infantry: 2 Auxiliary infantry, irregular, C class, no armour, javelin, shield
1 unit Archers: 1 Skirmisher, irregular, C class, bow, no armour, no shield

1 unit Slingers: 1 Skirmisher, irregular, C class, sling, no armour, no shield

1 Agema: 2 Auxiliary cavalry, regular, A class, no armour, spear, shield.

1 unit Light Cavalry: 1 Skirmish cavalry, C class, no armour, javelin, shield

1 elephant: Elephant, irregular, C class.

As per other large unit games, I have combined the pikes and Hoplites. Battle troops must have 5-8 units and I did think about making an exception to get the Hoplites in there own 4 base unit.  Also, I seem to remember that most rules of this period have the cavalry at this time a default Class B with normal infantry Class C.  I have followed this and also referred to WRG 6th and MOA army lists that confirmed this thought.

Why I like the rules

The rules are different enough from other rules and have the interesting use of different polyhedral dice.  Each unit has a particular die based on its morale level - d12, d10, d8, d6.  The die is used for two things: panic checks and casualty determination.  Panic checks happen all the time - losing close combat, seeing friends rout, etc.  A panic check is simple - roll the units die and if you roll over the number of bases lost since the start of the game you pass, otherwise you fail.  No modifiers, no changing the die used based on circumstances.  Casualty determination is just as simple.  Work out the number of casualties (no random factors, just a list of points based on circumstance).  A unit loses a base if casualties values equal the die type (e.g. a d8 unit loses a base for every 8 casualties).  If there are any casualty points left over, you need to roll higher than that number on your die not to lose a base.  Simple.  No modifiers, no extra dice etc.  The use of only one polyhedral dice per unit is consistent throughout the rules. I really like that.

Deployment
As per here but with more bases on the board, here it what it looks like:

Deployment - Epirot to the left.  Note Pyrrhus is in the wrong spot behind the pikes - should be with the Agema to the lower left.

Orders
Each unit has a order of two parts - speed and mode.  Speed is either QUICK - move greater than 1/2 - or SLOW, move 0 to 1/2 speed.  Mode is either ATTACK, HOLD or LURE (must evade charges by battle troops).
 

Romans

Leves: Quick, Lure

Hastati/Principes: Quick, Attack

Triarii: Quick, Attack

Light Infantry: Slow, Lure

Heavy Cavalry: Slow, Attack
Light Cavalry:Slow, Lure

 

Epirot

Hypaspist: Quick, Attack

Pikemen/hoplites: Quick, Attack

Light Infantry: Slow, Lure
Archers: Quick, Lure

Slingers: Quick, Lure

Agema: Quick, Attack

Light Cavalry: Slow, Lure

Elephant: Quick, Attack

Turn 1
Romans has the initiative on the first turn, as with the other replays.  All units advance, except the left flank heavy cavalry that do not move, and the Triarii that wheel to the left.  As per other reviews, the left flank always seems a bit weak against the stronger Epirot Agema and Elephant, so I've taken to moving the Triarii to bolster the Roman left flank.

Epirots advance everything.  Slingers and archers fire to no effect - although they did have a chance: a 3 or less on a d8 for the archers, and a 2 or less on a d8 for the slingers.  The d8 is because they are firing on the Leves and their 'dice' is a d8.

End of turn one

Turn 2
Romans get initiative and advance all units bar the heavy cavalry.  The Epirots advance both flanks.  The Elephant and Agema were too far away to charge the Roman cavalry but will be in a position to do so next turn.  The Epirot skirmishers retreat and interpenetrate the pikes behind them (on skirmishers can interpenetrate). The move sequence is Side 1 does rout and charges, Side 2 does rout and charges, Side 1 does other moves, Side 2 does other moves.  Therefore the pike block cannot charge the Roman Leves as that phase has past.  But luckily the pikes are out of the Leves javelin range.
 

End of turn 2

Turn 3
Oops, just noticed Pyrrhus is in the middle of the board, and should be with the Agema.  I've moved him there.
Romans win initiative, but have no charge moves.  Epirot charges heavy cavalry with Agema.  As Agema is two bases and the target has more (4 bases), Agema must roll for a successful charge - more than the difference in base numbers on their die.  This would be 3 or more on a d12, but with Pyrrhus attached gives a +2 to the die roll, which translates into an automatic pass.  So they charge.  Roman Heavy Cavalry do not counter charge. Why no counter charge? As I mentioned in my review there are no rules on countercharges so I assume side B (non-initiative side can countercharge a charge by Side A).  This is not the case here.
Elephants also attempt to charge the heavy cavalry.  Hmm, using the same rules for charging, difference is 3 bases an so need to roll a 4 or more on a d8, or it loses a base.  The elephant unit is an entire base!  They roll and pass.

Agema and Elephant in melee with Roman Heavy Cavalry

  
Epirot Hypaspists and pikes charge the Leves.  Leves have to evade as their Orders are EVADE. Note: an evade move is a normal move +d6cm.  I rolled once for all the Leves, when I should have rolled for each one - I forgot that the 4 Leves are not 1 units, but 4 units in a line.  So I am not sure the Leves are going to be useful in this game.  The pikemen stop the charge where the Leves were.  The rules are not clear on what to do if charging and the target evades.  But I believe they stop as it is inferred in the lines "must pursue if enemy 30mm behind and converted into a charge" and "prolonging a charge (unless evaded)".

 
I will do both Agema and Elephant melees simultaneous with the Roman Heavy cavalry.  There is nothing in the rules about multiple unit combat but as there are no random modifiers to combat - it is add up some values and opponent rolls a die to determine casualties - I will simply add up all the values for the Agema and the Elephant together.  For the reverse (the Romans inflicting on the Agema and Elephant), I will split the modifiers up between the two.
Melee
Round 1:

Agema+general: 6

Elephant: 16

Total 24 Vs a d10 unit = 2 losses, saves for no other casualties

Roman Cavalry: 6 that equates to 3 hits on each Epirot unit. Agema saves, Elephant does too.

Roman loses round of melee - takes panic test and passes. 

Round 2:

Agema + general: 5

Elephant: 13

Total: 18: One Roman Cavalry lost and another lost when rolled for.  GONE!

Roman Cavalry: 4, or 2 on each Epirot unit; Agema: pass, elephant: pass.
 

Epirot defeats all the Roman HC with no losses to themselves

The rules are silent on what to do if the enemy is destroyed before routing, so I assume they rout.  Therefore the Agema and Elephant need to take a panic test when seeing if must pursue. Neither do.

End of turn 3

Turn 4

Epirot win initiative.

Pikes charge the Legionaries (Note the Hypaspists needed to test to see if they will charge as they have less bases than the Legionaries).   Legionaries counter charge.  They can still get in a pilum throw as that is allowed to charging units.

A ramble on whether to charge with the Triarii or not (they do)
Now, from the Romans point of view, the Triarii need to charge the Agema and Elephant before the pikes turn up on their flank.  If they turn to face the oncoming pike block, they will get attacked in the flank by the Agema and Elephant.  So the Agema and Elephant can sit it out and wait for the Triarii to charge, but then they may not be able to counter charge, depending on the initiative.  Therefore, the Agema and Elephant want to charge to ensure they get the bonus but need to turn first, charging for both sides happen before normal moves. The Agema with Pyrrhus would easily pass the charge test but the Elephant would be charging as 1 base versus 5, and would need to roll a 5 or more on a d8 for success or be destroyed (it would lose one base, but is only one base).  BUT, the rules have special movement for Elephants within 6cm on an enemy where they will move in a random direction and distance, generally forwards and mostly 8-10cm.  So I should move Agema and Elephant close to the Triarii and hope the Elephant rampages into them.  The Elephant has a base combat value of 12, which is about twice as much as charging Agema get. So Agema and elephant do not move (yet).  Triarii could charge just the Elephant but range looks to be about 14cm.  Charge range is 12, and each extra 2cm over this lose a base, so if it is more than 14cm, Triarii will lose 2 bases. But this is the best chance for the Triraii to charge.  So I do.  Range to Elephant is just under 14cm, so lose a base. Move the general to the Triarii unit.
 

Agema wheel to face Triarii but cannot charge as that phase has passed.

Missile phase

Pilum throw is a 3 converts to a 2 on each: Hypasists roll a 1 and lose a base; Pikes a 4 - no losses.

 
Hypaspists, Pikes Vs Roman Heavy Infantry

Legionaries: 10 or 5 on each.  Hypaspists OK; Pikes roll and lose a base

Epiriot: 18 = 1 loss + roll for another loss = 2 losses. 

Romans lost 1 more and roll a panic test - fine.

Round 2: Epirot lose nothing but Legionaries lost another base, rolled a 1 for panic test and rout.  Note rout move occurs next turn.

Triarii and Elephant combat
Triarii lose a base, as does the Elephant.  As the elephant is only one base it is gone. Pursuit check for Triarii occurs next turn.

End of turn 4, after Elephant destroyed by Triarii

Turn 5

Epirot wins initiative.   Roman Legionaries rout move (12) through the Leves and then take a test to see if they rally (a 5 or more on a d8).  They pass and are rallied and will spend the next turn refacing (the most they can do after a rally). Neither Epirot unit pursues.  The Roman heavy infantry routed through the Leves but there are no rules on what to do if skirmishers interpenetrated by routing units, but a unit does take a panic test is a unit within 10mm routs, so each Leves unit takes a panic test and passes all rolls.

Triarii face-off the Agema

 
Agema charge the Triarii, Triarii counter charges. Leves now try to rally from evading.  They all do. Note that the test to rally from an evade is supposed to happen after the evade move.  Evading having to test is very clever as only skirmishers can evade, skirmishers are only one base unit's so they will pass the rally test on any number but a 1, and one a 1 they are destroyed.

Pikes, although not forced to pursue, move as fast as they can after the Legionaries. Leves about face and are just out of javelin range of the pikes...

Agema Melee:  Agema loses two bases in two rounds of combat, as does the Triarii.  The Agema started the combat with 2 bases, and so is gone.
 

End of turn 5 (note no Agema at lower right)

 

Turn 6

Romans win initiative.

The much-reduced Triarii has Pyrrhus in their sights

Triarii charges Pyrrhus (no rules against it and a general is counted as 2 strips/bases).
Pike and Hypaspists charge Leves who evade and all pass rally test to stop evading .  Pike and Hypaspists then charge into the rear of the legionaries are they are within 30mm of the front of the pike once the leves evaded.
 

Before melee

Pyrrhus defeats the Triarii
Triarii (2 strips+general in support) Vs general (2 strips). I will assume Pyrrhus has same stats as the Agema.  Pyrrhus countercharges.  Both inflict 6 hits on each other, so each roll a 1d12 to see is a strip is lost (on a 6 or less).
Triarii roll a 6, Pyrrhus rolls a 7, so Triarii lose a base and pass the panic test for losing more bases in a round. Round 2 sees both inflict 4 (using very different modifiers). Triarii  roll a 3, lose a base and are gone. Pyrrhus  rolls a 7 so OK.  Oh how easily is could have gone the other way! If I had rolled the dice in different order each round, Pyrrhus would have gone.


Pike and Hypaspists Vs Legionaries: (there is a +4 modifier for rear attacks in first round only) Pikes and Hypaspists lose nothing, Legionaries lose 3 bases, panic and rout.

Triarii gone (from left), Legionaries down to one base (centre)

Based on the fact the Romans have little left, I will give a victory to Pyrrhus.

Verdict
Fast and furious fun as expected.  More random than I expected but that is likely to a few extreme rolls and using only a small number of units.  I really think the game would play better on a 3'x2' or larger board.  Still great rules though.

WW2 battle report - East Front 1941 Belyi (Take Cover) 6mm

Introduction
This is game two in the Vzyama or Bust mini-campaign I am attempting to play to the end. I started just playing the first scenario to test out the Take Cover rules (review here) in 6mm on a 2'x2' table (converting inches to centimetres).  I enjoyed it a lot, so thought I would move on through the campaign.  The Germans lost the first game so the second game take place near Belyi.

Troops
 

German

Battalion HQ
1 x Battalion HQ Squad
4 x Rifle Squad
1 x AT Rifle team
1 x MMG
2 x Truck

1st Company
8 x Rifle Squads

2nd Company
8 x Rifle Squads

Armour Group 1
1 x Panzerjager I
1 x SdKfz 222

Armour Group 2
1 x Panzer II F
2 x Panzer IV D

Artillery Group
1 x Captured Jeep (was supposed to be Horsch Staff Car but I don't have this model in 6mm)
2 x Trucks (One is supposed to be a radio van, but don't have this in 6mm either)

Air Support
One bombing mission

All Germans are Regular

Germans - HQ, Co 1, Co 2, Panzers and Artillery group

Russian

Battalion HQ
1 x Battalion HQ Squad (includes a Commissar)
1 x AT Rifle team

Scout Company
6 x Scout Squads

1st Company
8 x Rifle Squad

2nd Company
8 x Rifle Squad

Support Company
2 x MMG
2 x 50mm Mortar
2 x Truck

Supporting Armour
5 x T-26

Air Support
One strafing mission

All Russians are Regular

Russians - Scout Co, Co 1, Co 2, support and T26s, HQ at the front

Terrain
As per scenario briefing:

• Wheeled vehicles have a chance to be bogged down
• Stream is crossable by all but wheeled vehicle
• Hills are too steep for wheeled vehicles
• Hedges are low - do provide concealment but barely hinder movement.

Objective
German
Minor victory if all 3 artillery group vehicles exit to the south.
Major victory if at least half the men do as well.

Russian
Minor victory if prevent German victory.
Major victory if also get commissar to farmhouses.

Deployment
Germans at the farm to the north.
Russian Infantry from the south - infantry on the right road, armour on the left.

View of the board with Russians entering from the bottom.  The farms the Germans start from is just off the top of the picture.

Orders
This is an encounter, but neither side knows it yet. Easily represented in Take Cover by use of orders.  German orders are to exit the artillery group off the southern edge.  Russian orders are to get the Commissar to the farm.
 

Turn sequence change

This is solo, the time between moves for time-poor me is long and may stop mid-move, I am going to move away from the Take Cover turn sequence of one side moves, other side moves, one side fires, other side fires, morale.  Instead, it will be unit card driven - a bit like I Ain't Been Shot Mum (IABSM), amongst others.  I have always like the card driven sequence of IABSM for WW2 but could not convince my friends of it.  It will help keep track of where I am up to in a turn. So each unit will be on a card.  As the Germans have slightly better command and control for this scenario, I will put in an extra card and the Germans can choose a unit to activate.  A unit will still only get one activation a turn.  When activated, a unit does the following in sequence: checks morale, moves, spots, fires, lift suppression.  I will use the concept of the "end turn"/"tea break" card to end the turn.  Then all units not activated can fire at short range or charge an enemy within an infantry standard move distance (6cm).  Note that suppression, in the Take Cover sense, if not lifted at the end of the turn but at the end of an activated units turn.   Defensive fire as per Take Cover no longer occurs - an activated unit if not firing, goes on "overwatch" until the end of the turn.  There is a "all unspotted move" card for each side. Hopefully a bit more chaotic and surprising, always good for solo play.
 

The Game
First few turns were the respective sides moving out.

T26s advance through the village

German company and support advance into the wood on their right.

 
An aside:  I started this game in August 2011.  It is now January 2012.  I stalled as I was unhappy with how many bases are on the board and how close they are together.  I was also unhappy that the troops were starting too far away from one another.  i was unhappy with the amount of streamlining ("changes") to the rules I had done after the first game.  I spent five months looking at alternative rules and thinking of going down 1 base = 1 platoon rules (rather than 1 base = 1 squad).  I was also looking at possibly going to grid based rules to ease the fact troops started further way from one another.  After lots of soul searching, I am actually not changing much to Take Cover!! except what I wrote earlier about card driven sequence of play.  I will start the troops closer to each other in the next game.  I will also reduce the number of squads in each company in the next game.  So the only real change after all the soul searching is to modify the infantry fire combat so you roll a die per squad, rather than combining squads to fire.  So, back to the game...

2 T26s move onto the bridge and attempt to fire at the Sdkfz 222s. Miss.  Needed a 6 anyway as the T26s moved.

T26s on the "bridge" (I am still building up my 6mm terrain collection)

Otherwise, the  Russians deploy off the road to cover the flanks.  The Germans do the same.

Germans deploy off the road on their left.

The scouts are on the left side of the bridge and spot the Germans after the Scouts move to the edge of the woods.  They trade shots over the next turn or two, and a couple of squads each are destroyed.

So, after two more turns, I have realised that for all my tweaking, I much prefer the Take Cover combat mechanisms as is. It could be that it is simply I know the original rules very well, or maybe that I have simplified the game so much they have become too generic for me.  Knowing the Taker Cover rules well and how they work on the table from lots of playings, why change what I know when I see no improvement?  If I had lots more time free I would possibly start trying other ww2 rules but I think I will leave that for a few years when maybe I have more time..So from now on I've back to the Take cover combat mechanisms.  Still doing card activation though.

The Panzers manages to disable and then destroy the two leading T26s.

Panzers command the road

The Russian scout company loses two (of 5) squads but hangs in there (rolls a 6 for morale test).

A couple of Scouts squads engage with some Germans in the woods over the river

Each of the other 2 Russian companies end up facing an opposite German company on the riverbanks to the left and right of the bridge.  The board is a more crowded than I like, particularly the village, partly as the Russians are based on longer bases than the Germans. Also, I have the Russian squads behind the building they are in, so it looks like a parade ground!

Why I want less unit density - a view of the village.  I like my WW2 games to be a little more dispersed.

I do like the card activation, but then I have been fond of it for WW2 ever since I first played IABSM in 2005.
  

Facing off the the right of the bridge - Russians in the river

 
The Germans call in the aircraft bombing run on the crossroads.  I have rarely used aircraft in Take Cover and was again surprised at how easy it worked - everything aircraft is effectively done in one phase.  There were two bombs that landed in different parts of the artillery grid -  one bomb killed two squads and disabled a T26 (a 6 was needed to do this).  The other bomb simply suppressed a few squads and a truck.

A viee in the centre - two T26s down

 
The T26 squadron activates and takes a morale test as it is now lost two tanks.  They roll a 1.  Higher is better :-(  They are under air attack, have a damaged tank but luckily the Battalion HQ is within 12cm.  But the end result is they are pinned - they cannot move or fire until rallied (a 3+ for regulars).

Germans advacne on the village - the centre German squad is eliminated after this picture is taken (the green bush like things next to the squads in the river are suppression markers).

So far in the game I've had four suppressions - two from bombs and two from small arms.  In my last game, I had none. Small arms suppression is only possible with double the firepower (in figures) than the target (cumulative for a turn).  Suppression is a good thing to inflict - the target unit cannot fire, and perform up to a 1/2 move.

3 and 5 year old helping me roll the dice.

On the Russian right flank, they have been chipping away at the opposing Germans, and charged a lone suppressed squad and successfully routed it in close quarters combat. Close combat is the abstract dealing of squads in close range of one another - each side rolls 1d6+number of figures.  Add a few modifiers.  Highest loses one squad, lower loses 3 squads.  Easy.  The Russians are swarming through the woods.

Russians swarm through the woods to the right of the bridge

The German battalion HQ of 4 squads and a MMG was operating as a reserve and is brought up into place opposite the village and opens fire, continuing to keep suppression on the Russian (and fast depleting) company in the village.

Everything in place for the Germans to assault the village - all Russians have been cleared from the opposing bank and houses

The Panzer MMG destroys two of the last three remaining scout squads on the edge of the woods. An MMG in the game has the equivalent firepower of 4 squads, and has twice the range of the rifle squads.

Another T26 in the village is destroyed and all but one squad is left guarding the village.  The Germans being suppressed has delayed taking it over but finally the cards fall right and they charge in.

Germans (at the top) storm the village

The Sdkfz222s on the German left flank decimate the Russians in the woods that had been so successful.  The remaining 3 squads of the German company form a line at the edge of the woods and assist in holding them back.

Germans regroup on their left - two A/Cs an 3 squads on the hedgeline

There used to be a lot more Russians in these woods! So much for the swarm.

 The Russian support company finally gets it card (I think it has been 5 turns without it coming up) and deploys at the back of the village.  It is needed - it is two MMGs and two 50mm mortars.

The T26s are forced to pull back due to bad morale.  The Scout company also fails morale and pulls back.  The battalion HQ card comes up, also the first time in 5 or so turns, and a battalion test (higher morale in game terms) needs to be taken due to the number of losses the battalion has suffered.  Failure of this is usually game over as the result is pulling back (a nice way of saying withdrawing) from the battlefield.  A 2 is rolled, and with the negative modifiers for companies with casualties or pulling back, the Russians get the worst result possible and will pull back off the table edge.  I call it a major victory to the Germans - they just have half the units left in the game.

Verdict
Besides the 5 months crisis of faith and lots of tinkering, I really like using the vanilla mechanisms of Take Cover (as I know them very well) with the chaos factor of card activation.  As I mentioned earlier, on a 2'x2' board, I really have too many troops and will reduce the squads per company in the next game.  I will start the armies closer to each other.  The game was fun to play but ended up being a fairly straight forward company Vs company with tanks firing at each other in the centre (my fault, not the scenario's - I had too many bases on a small board).  There was some tactics - moving reserves and when the advance against a retreating enemy.  I think with less unit density, I will see harder tactical decisions needing to be made - onwards to set up battle three!

Hydaspes replay number 4 - Ancient Warrior Battles

Introduction

This is the last game of four replaying the Battle of Hydaspes with different rulesets.  Go to this post for background, troop descriptions, deployment and comparison to the other 3 rules.
 

Ancient Warrior Battles is a homegrown set.  Think of Ancient Warrior Battles as Justified Ancients with some RRtK reaction tests to determine enemy reaction to events and you will get the general idea of the rules. Sort of.  As per Justified Ancients replay, Alexander has a rating of +2, Porus of +0.
 

Game
Horse archer advance, Chariot and cavalry attempt to charge horse archers but fail.  Horse archers fire. Cavalry pushed back; chariots forced to charge, one horse archer fires at the chariot - no effect- and evades, chariot automatically pursues but does not catch them.  Results are similar to Justified Ancients, but reactions to events occur a bit like Rally Round the King.

Horse archers pushing back the chariots

Porus moves to an elephant closer to left flank (maybe should have done this in the JA game as well as their is a distance modifier to order roll) and advances the right flank chariot and the archer battleline.  In the Macedonian turn, the horse archers advances to within range of the disordered cavalry and the chariot; missile fire causes the chariot to retreats (retreat is like flee in Justified Ancients so chariot is disordered and depleted).  The skirmishers, battleline and peltasts all advance.

The Indian left flank - note how far the cavalry has retreated.  The chariot is disordered and depleted.

The Indian battleline from the Macedonian side.  Macedonian skirmishers are in position to harass the Indians.

The Indians fire at the advancing battleline. Four skirmishers gone for only one archer pushed back in return fire.

Porus cries out "Release the elephants"...one does not receive the order (rolled a 1 - the only chance for a failure), but the rest go in.

First elephant contacts skirmisher and the latter rout. Elephants pursues into a phalangite unit who stands.  Combat will occur next turn.

The Elephant charges and contacts the phalanx line after routing a covering skirmisher.

Second elephant (with Porus) causes the contacted skirmisher to run away, the elephant continues into the phalanx line that stands. The last elephant in the line charges the Hypaspists who retreat in the ensuing combat.

Hypaspists retreating from an elephant unit.

The Chariot rallies off their disorder and the Indian cavalry fails to charge the horse archers.  The horse archers fire at the Indian cavalry that then retreats to edge of board.

Two pike units are in melee with the Elephant and Porus.  The Elephant loses and is pushed back.

Elephant with Porus retreats from pike line - a pike unit pursues and recontacts.

Another pike unit is in combat with an Elephant.  The elephant also loses and retreats.
 
The Indians advance all the archers within missile range of pikes (12cm).  Elephant on the far right still waiting for a successful order to charge!

Porus moves off the elephant that retreated and moves to an undisordered undepleted elephant - he can see the writing is on the wall for his old mount.
  
Elephant (now without Porus) Vs pike sees the Elephant destroyed, and also depletes the archers in the rout path behind.


Elephant (now with Porus) charges the Hypaspists, the latter that retreats and depleted.  As the Hypaspists were already depleted, they are destroyed.  The Elephant pursues.  The Chariot charges a horse archer that retreats.

Elephant pursuing the destroyed Hypaspist.  Horse archers retreating from the chariot.

The Macedonians move the horse archers to in front of the cavalry and chariots. The Thessalian Heavy Cavalry wheels to face the elephants that is now next to them after pursing the destroyed Hypaspists.

Thessalian heavy cavalry turn to face the Elephants.

The pike line advances and gets fired on by the Indian archers. One pike unit is disordered.  One pike unit charges and elephant - the elephant routs and depletes the archer unit behind it.

The battlelines.  Note the Indians are worse off with some depleted archers.

My three year old helping me out, here rolling dice off the end of a ruler.

The Indian right flank chariots charge a peltast unit that decides to stand and take it.  Both end up disordered.

The right most elephant then charges two peltasts who both rout.

The Elephants and Chariot on the Indian right flank.  There were two peltasts in front of them, but they routed.

Indian archery fire: All the pike units roll high for their fired-on test...except the last one to test that fails and retreats.

The Indian left flank - only one Macedonian pike unit (the leftmost one in the centre of the picture) retreats from the archery.

The elephant with Porus (next to the Thessalian cavalry) tests to turn to face the cavalry. The order will fail on a roll of a 1.  Rolls a 1.

But, on a whim, the heavy chariot charges the horse archer unit in front who retreat, already depleted so dispersed.

The other horse archer that is pushing the Indian cavalry close to the table edge, fires at the cavalry who are pushed back off the board.

The Companions charge the heavy chariot. The Chariots retreats but already depleted so destroyed.  Companions pursue.

Companions and Alexander against the chariots (that are destroyed)

The Thessalians cavalry charge the elephant (with Porus) in the flank. Poor rolling by the Thessalians see them retreat.

The pike battle lines charge the Indian archers. One pike is forced to retreat but four heavy archers are dispersed (two were already depleted that did not help).  Indians have reached their breakpoint (50%) and so I call it for the Macedonians (who were 3 units away from their breakpoint).

At game end from the Indian side - not many archers left in the centre.  Companions are off stage to the left.

  

A great game and a good outing for my rules.

Hydaspes replay number 3 - Fast Ancient Battles

Introduction
This is the third game of four replaying the Battle of Hydaspes with different rulesets.  Go to this post for background, troop descriptions, deployment and comparison to the other 3 rules. 

The battle report is a little bit more detailed than I would do normally do just for a report, but I needed some detail as to who did what as it helped to write the rules comparison. 
 

The main differences between FAB and Bill Banks Ancients (BBA) is that not all units can moved - it is limited to a number of groups per turn.  The number of groups of units able to move per turn is 1 + the number of leaders.  The CRT is replaced with a die roll table but has a similar effect.  Lastly, missile fire cannot destroy any units besides skirmishers - another 'DD' on a unit is no effect.

The Macedonians have 3 leaders, Indians only 1.  In hindsight, Macedonians should have only got 2 leader, and in fact that is the number of generals in the Peter Sides scenario.
 
Game
Horse archers and opposing mounted have a bit of movement and retiring resulting in a disordered Indian cavalry unit.  The archers, with good die rolling, manage to disorder and destroy some skirmishers.

Overview, Indians to the bottom.  Indian mounted has advanced on the horse archers to the left.  Some skirmishers in centre disordered (green marker) from Indian bow fire.

 

The Indian cavalry and chariot charge the horse archers in the flank.  They cannot evade and so are destroyed.  The Cavalry and chariot pursue 4cm.  This may have been a bad move as the Macedonian Heavy Cavalry is going to charge next turn.

Companions (Alex attached) facing the Indian cavalry and chariots

  
Alexander move to attach to the Thessalian Heavy cavalry (the Companions already have a good chance against the disordered Indian cavalry) and both cavalry units charge - The Indian cavalry is destroyed and the chariots disordered.
 

Post combat - Indian cavalry gone, chariots disordered.

The rest of the Macedonian battleline move forward, archer fire results in no hits (this balances out their good rolling last turn).

Indian Elephants contact the skirmishers who fire and evade.  Missile fire disorders the elephant with Porus, who rolls a leader check to see if destroyed.  Rolls a 1.  So yes - Porus has left the battlefield.  That is going to hurt.  Macedonian Skirmishers also disorders two archers.

Porus was attached to this elephant.

Two skirmishers move into the gaps between the elephants to protect the pike from the archers. This was a good move as archery destroyed the two skirmishers. The pike battleline charges the elephants.  The Macedonians ran out of group move points as they would have also really liked to move the hoplites into combat as well.  Note a general moved over from hoplites to a pike to help combat.
Thessalians Vs chariots see the Thessalians disordered.  One elephant is destroyed by a pike unit that pursues into an archer.  Some disorders handed out in other melees.

Battlelines - mostly elephants crashing into the pikes

At the end of the Macedonian turn, remove disorder from the Thessalians and a pike unit  with a general.  This is a large advantage that the Macedonians now have - only generals can remove disorder, and the Indians have no generals.
 
Note that ongoing melees are optional to resolve for the active player.  So the Indians do not resolve the disadvantaged chariot Vs Thassalians, but will do combat against disordered phalanxes as they are at -2 compared to ordered phalanxes.
Hypaspists destroy an elephant.  Pikes in melee destroy an archer and disorder another.  A Macedonian general attached to one of the pike units that is disordered fails the general in combat check and leaves the battlefield.

Battleline - only centre elephant left and the phalanx is getting into contact with the archers.

Alexander moves to the Companions which then move behind the battleline to face the Indian cavalry that came from the other flank - in the next turn they charge and destroy the poor Indian cavalry that had moved so far.   Combat sees one elephant down, and a few disorders on both sides.

Battleline - Alex and Companions on the left ready to charge the Indian cavalry from the right flank.

The Macedonian doesn't progress many melees due to the number of disordered pikes.  The Indian right flank sees the elephant and chariot charge in and disorder the peltasts.

Indian right flank - both elephants and chariots disordered, but so are the Macedonian peltasts.

The Companions turn around ready to charge the archers from the rear.  In FAB, this disorders the Companions, but that is OK as Alexander is with them and disorder can be removed at the end of the turn.  The Hypaspists destroy an archer in melee.

Battleline at end of game - not many archers left.

The Indians have lost 50% of their breakpoints and so the game is over with a Macedonian win.  Phalanxes are really strong in this game, and they also got some lucky rolls.  The skirmish screen worked very well and the phalanx units did not get disordered going in.   The Macedonians lost only the horse archers. Having 3 leaders really helped with undisorder and movement flexbility.  Losing Porus early really hurt as could not move extra groups nor undisorder units.  If I played again I would keep Porus out of combat longer as he is too valuable for group points to throw away for +1 combat.  There were also a number of archers that could have been better used by me on the Indian right flank - possibly outflanking the hoplites and helping remove the peltasts.  Overall a fun game - the multiple leaders and the leader disorder/rally concept is central to this game which make is different to play than most other games at this scale.