Actions with Alexander

Wargaming with Macedonians (in 7^th & DBM)

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Any list of the greatest generals, commanders or leaders will include Alexander the Great - even Hannibal's list included Alexander. So there is a ready supply of information about the army, campaigns, battles, etc to get the prospective general hooked on the Macedonians. Indeed, my own interest was kindled so many years ago that I can no longer recall why I first built a Macedonian army.

I believe I began to play with the army under 6^th Edition. The army certainly began with the old 15mm Minifigs strips; indeed, some of those first 15mm figures are still in front line service with the army. I used to play regularly with the army under 7^th Edition, and it was the army I used as part of the Guildford team when we won the 'World Championships' in 1989. More recently (i.e. over the last 6 months), I've dusted the army off and begun to play with it under DBM; though with (so far) less success than under 7^th.

The Macedonian army is a typical balanced all arms army with light and heavy infantry, and light and heavy cavalry. However it is not typical in that the Phalanx and Companions both offer an odd mixture of powerful attacking capability and brittleness. For example, consider the Companions: in DBM they are Knights, so are powerful, but are also Fast so are also brittle; in 7^th they are lance armed and able to fight in wedge so can deliver a very powerful charge, but are shieldless so are very vulnerable to missile fire. This means the Macedonian army is a precision instrument, which can slice through an opposing army or shatter on impact.

The secret of success is getting the various parts of the army to work together as a combined arms force, aggressively seizing the initiative and delivering a concentrated blow in time and space. In particular, when playing out of period, the Companions will often be faced by large numbers of dangerous enemy cavalry, so they must not go out to face them. Instead the Companions should be used as a threat in being, to support the infantry and exploit success. This means leading with the infantry, while using light troops to keep the enemy from turning the flanks.

7^th Edition

Army organisation (or form) should follow from function. Thus a typical 1500 point 7^th Edition army would look something like this (based on Book 1, list 36, Publ 1981, with typical World Championship amendments):

Basic strategy is to Attack with Alexander's command, typically on the right wing - using the Hypaspists as the key offensive units supported by pikemen and Companions. Coenus supports Alexander closely with either Attack or Probe orders, while Parmenion has the awful job of holding up about half the enemy army (with Probe orders). Success requires the ability to throw odd light units forward to delay the enemy, while manoeuvring the heavy infantry behind this screen and ultimately landing a concentrated blow on the selected portion of the enemy line. Therefore, practice moving in a dispersed group and concentrating to fight: this strikes me as a poor simulation of real ancient battlefield behaviour.

It is worth considering doing tricky things, such as force marching all the infantry and cavalry (except Companions) when fighting armies such as Aztec or Inca - this can upset their plans and balance tremendously and deny them space to retreat.

DBM

The same idea that form should follow from function applies to DBM: below is my present 400 AP army organisation.

As before, Parmenion has a light wing designed to delay the enemy. However, unlike before Alexander and the Companions are deployed with the main central command. Originally under DBM, I had Alexander and the Companions in the right wing command, but I found this less than satisfactory for three reasons. The first was that Alexander then had too many different groups and troop types to control easily, which meant he tended to be short on PiPs. The second was that the Companions naturally ended up outside and in front of the Hypaspists, so tended to get into combat too soon. The third was that Alexander's command was the primary combat command, so took losses and its collapse would leave the army without much hope.

The above structure avoids these problems. The Companions can sit in reserve till required, and are well placed to exploit any gap that may open in the enemy line due to the pressure applied by the phalanx and Hypaspists. Casualties tend to be more evenly distributed across the commands, and each command has a simpler mix of troops (i.e. tends to operate in less distinct groups).

The army's high aggression (4) is important as it means it is liable to be the invader. This means the army is able to deploy second, so has more chance of obtaining surprise through deploying well to one side or other of the table: note the army easily fits within half the table width. The army is also able to move first, so can push light horse forward to delay the enemy and attempt to seize the initiative by moving forward (as quickly as possible) with either the phalanx or Hypaspists.

Summary

Overall the Macedonian army is not the simplest army to use, due to the mixture of different troop types and need to fight a precision combined arms battle: it repays perseverance. Equally it is not a one-dimensional army, but has a range of troop types and tactical options. Also there is a lot of information about the army and a lot of debate about how to represent the various troops! Just look at the differences in the classification of Hypaspists and Thessalians in the above lists.