Chaos after Alexander

Greetings all!
This is the last post of Mikes gaming season for this year. So Mike set out two gorgeous Successor armies for us to game with. As the pictures will show there is no lack of figures and talent that went into the creation of these forces. Also Mike had promised everyone a surprise.
Our cast of characters on this fine Fall day were:
Ken
Wendel
Mike
Bill
and myself

Ken and Wendel paired up together while Mike Bill and I were on the other side.
A fairly balanced affair it seemed to be.
Ken and Wendel had:
10 heavy pike units of 32 figures each
3 elephants
1 cataphract heavy cavalry unit of 24 figures
1 heavy cavalry unit of 24 figures
2 light cavalry units of 12 figures each
1 heavy chariot unit of 3 4 horse chariots
1 light infantry unit of 12 figures with javelin
1 light infantry unit of 12 figured with slings
1 light infantry unit of 12 figures with bows
A total of 422 figures. Very impressive!

Mike Bill and I had:
10 heavy pike units of 32 figures each
6 elephants in 2 units of 3 figures each

2 heavy cavalry unit of 24 figures each
2 light cavalry units of 12 figures each
2 light infantry unit of 12 figures with bows
1 light infantry unit of 12 figures with javelin
A total of 434 figures. Even better!

So after much banter and bonding we had an initial set up as seen below.
 Mike Bill and myself. Bill had our left flank at the top of the picture. Mike had the center and I had the right flank.

 

Ken and Wendel. Ken had their right flank and Wendel had their left flank opposite me.

 

A full view of the table as we started.

Turn one. Both sides advanced towards each other. The picture below is looking from my right to left with Wendel and Ken on the right side of this picture.

 

The picture below is from the opposite side of the table. Mike Bill and myself are on the right of this picture.

As you can see Wendel and Ken advanced evenly across their front while Mike Bill and myself had held back our center.
Turn two. Here you can see we had advanced much slower this turn allowing our missile weapons to take effect.

Turn three. Sorry no picture but more of the same missile fire and bit of positioning for the mounted units.
Turn four. The real action begins.

Both armies are fully engaged and are busy slugging it out. Casualties start building and the fight is on!!!
There is a great deal of action on both flanks.
Below is our right flank where Wendel and I are messing about with my heavy cavalry, light cavalry (since departed) and elephants fighting his cataphract cavalry, heavy chariots and light cavalry (off picture to the right). Eventually I am able to beat off Wendel loosing my light cavalry and a unit of 3 elephants in the process.

 Below we have the other flank where Ken and Bill have been fighting away for a couple of turns. Both side were almost evenly matched with a unit of heavy and light cavalry each with light infantry in support (forced out of the game prior to this picture).

In the center each side was slowly adding casualties to each other and as we assessed our position it looked like we were in excellent shape.

 Oh no! Look, We forced a unit out of the game! First blood to our team.

 Ken adds the weight of his elephants to the main fight but Bill negates them with a flank maneuver thus negating their attack.

 OH NO!!! Wendel in a flurry of die rolls has managed to turn our right flank! My cavalry and elephants are out of position to do anything to help. In the picture below we have lost 2 of our 10 main units with a third being attacked in the flank. Wendel and Ken have lost 3 units at this point and whoever looses 5 main heavy infantry units first will loose the game.

 Well it was us. We took a hard loss and it was a close game. Congratulations to Ken and Wendel for a well fought game and the laurels of victory.

So the final count was we had 5 heavy infantry left while Ken and Wendel had 6.
A great deal of fun and a special thanks to Mike who outdid himself with armies we used for this game.

Oh yes, Mikes surprise. Well it turns out that Mike is having a special birthday soon. Mike will be turning 65 this year and he and his wife Mary provided birthday cake for all of us to enjoy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!!

And many, many more! Can you believe this guy is that old? Not I.

As always we have some pictures of Mikes toys.

Special figures from a special person. Mike thanks again and we will miss these games until next spring when the new campaign season begins.
Thanks to all who stop in and hey send Mike your birthday wishes!
Good gaming,
Greg