The (Unofficial) Great Battles of History
Battles of the Successors of Alexander the Great
The first module for Deluxe Alexander, which is required for play.
This module add four successor battles to the Alexander system:
Balance: 65% Ptolemy
Attraction: A slightly outnumbered phalanx, with strong elephant and cavalry support, tries to dislodge a well-led larger force behind prepared defenses. The only one-map battle in the module.
Ptolemy Advantages: Leadership, numbers, LC MA, caltrops, Army Withdrawal level
Demetrios Advantages: Elephants, cavalry numbers
You definitely need the errata for this scenario, because it has some important rules changes and setup fixes.
The hexes marked "X" contain caltrops, which make the hex impassable and inflict a dieroll's worth of TQ hits on elephants that move adjacent. Best of all, elephants routing because of caltrop hits do not rampage, so Demetrios can't just charge the beasts in to mess up the skirmish line. The caltrops don't have to set up as shown -- they can be deployed anywhere within two hexes of Ptolemy's skirmishers. If you leave no holes in the caltrop line, you can prevent anyone from getting in, but then no one can get out, either.
In terms of cavalry, Ptolemy's left flank is outnumbered, which is only partially compensated for the MA of '9' possessed by the LC there. They can always OW out of danger, but doing so exposes the flank of the phalanx.
Ptolemy's right is also outnumbered in cavalry, but is in much better shape. Many of Demetrios's mounted units are LN rather than HC, and Ptolemaic leadership is superior. Seleucus and Ptolemy make a great dynamic duo, as each has an initiative of six, and so can give orders to all six Egyptian HCs for each activation. The high initiatives mean they'll be getting a bunch of activations, too, via Momentum.
In the center, Demetrios has an elephant line which is concentrated against the weak Ptolemaic SK and LP, but Demetrios would be nuts to follow the historical route and send the EL in amongst the caltrops. They're much better employed putting hits on Ptolemy's phalanxes, if Boitos can bring up his PH in support. Scaring away the enemy cavalry is also useful, and there are interesting tactical possibilities by moving to either (or both) flanks.
Unfortunately for Demetrios, his leaders begin too far away to give line commands to the elephants on turn 1. There's a tough tradeoff between getting the elephants moving (which impedes the enemy cavalry) and getting the rest of the army going (which is needed to support the elephants anyway). After several playthroughs, I'm still not sure of the best strategy.
The force mix here is a nice example of the rock-paper-scissors nature of the GBoH system. Ptolemy's best defense against the tuskers is missile fire from his skirmishers -- three hits and the elephants rampage. The skirmishers are vulnerable to Demetrios's lancers, who are in turn vulnerable to the Egyptian HC, who must beware the elephants, completing the circle.
Withdrawal levels are low enough here that every rout point counts. Usually EL losses are easily shrugged off, but when Demetrios loses all of his elephants then he's halfway to his withdrawal level. Accordingly, PH loss is even more disastrous than usual. In one of my games, Ptolemy foolishly advanced his phalanx line past the protection of the caltrops, leaving a hanging flank, and in the ensuing activations of Demetrios and Peithon, Ptolemy lost four PH. Game over.
Size isn't usually very important in GBoH, but both sides should look out for the Slave LN with a size of 1. It's bad enough facing attack superior HC with LN, but it really adds insult to injury when the attacker gets four column shifts for the size differential, too.
All in all, a good scenario with a couple of interesting strategic options (whither the EL?), and better balanced than most. Demetrios has an uphill battle, but he can still win given one or two crucial dierolls, or less-than-perfect play on Ptolemy's part.
Clarification: I assume the "Thracian Slave LN" counter mentioned in the setup is the "Tarentum Slave LN" counter.
