Battle of Hydaspes – refight with Sword & Spear Rules.
This is an abridged version of an article that was published earlier this year in the Society of Ancients' Slingshot journal.
The Battle of Hydaspes was the battle chosen for this years SOA battle day. I didn't attend the battle day, but we staged a refight of this battle a couple of weeks later, using my Sword & Spear rules.
I used the Slingshot articles about the battle to work out the numbers of units, using the suggested ratio of one figure representing 100 men. This resulted in 30 units on the Indian side against a Macedonian army of 20 units.
We were playing this as a four player game, so I split each army into two commands, roughly equal in number of units. Some of the Macedonians were delayed at the river crossing, so the second Macedonian command would deploy further back than usual, and would not be able to activate any of its units in the first turn.
The Battle
The Indian army deployed with the poor quality infantry in the centre, with elephants in front. The mercenary and guard infantry were on the flanks of the poor infantry, with chariots in front and cavalry on their flanks. The majority of the chariots and cavalry (including all the heavy chariots) were on the Indian left.
The Macedonians deployed with Alexander's command facing the Indian left. The Companion cavalry and horse archers faced the Indian chariots. The phalanx was in the centre, with allied foot and mercenary cavalry on the far left.
In the opening turns Alexander's command advanced and the chariots on the Indian left went forward to meet them, hoping to force contact before the superior Macedonian horse archers could outflank them. The Indian right pushed forward to attack the weakest Macedonian forces opposite them.
The mounted forces on the Indian left / Macedonian right quickly engaged, with first blood going to the Bactrian cavalry who quickly routed the Indian light chariots and also killed the general fighting with them. However their pursuit took them into charge range of the Indian second line cavalry, who then routed them in turn. This unit of Indian cavalry performed with particular heroics, as they went on to defeat a battle worn unit of Companion cavalry, then chased off a unit of light horse archers.
Other than this one success, the Indians struggled on this flank. They frequently could not activate their units at the right time whilst the better quality troops they were facing could activate more easily, gain bonus dice in combat and rally from any hits suffered.
The Companions saw off the Indian heavy chariots in two or three turns of melee, and the one supporting unit of elephants that the Indians could get over to the left flank was defeated by the elite Hypastist phalanx.
In the centre the straggling Macedonians arrived and advanced the phalanx in support of Alexander's command on the right. The main Indian foot line hardly moved, as the focus of both Indian commanders was on their flanks.
Another rare success for the Indians took place when elephant escort javelinmen threw javelins at and caused a hit on a Macedonian phalanx unit, and the elephants followed up with a charge, inflicting four hits (which is the highest number than can be inflicted in one melee combat). This meant the phalanx was one hit away from breaking.
On the Indian right the chariots, cavalry and elephants advanced against the weaker Macedonian left, who attempted to pull units back in order to avoid being overwhelmed.
With the collapse of the mounted wing on the Indian left, losses were building up and the left command was forced to take army morale tests, leading to further losses. The phalanx continued to advance towards the Indian foot line, and Alexander led his victorious companions around the flank of the Indian line.
Eventually the Indian right contacted the Macedonians opposite and started to inflict some casualties.
However, it was not enough to save the day for the Indians. Alexander's Companions survived two turns of shooting from Indian archers before they were in position to charge in flank of the Indian foot, already weakened by failed morale tests. The Indian foot were large units so would each take five hits to break, but they could not be easily turned to face the flank threat, and enough of them to take the army to its break point were soon defeated. The Macedonians were victorious.
We all felt that it was a successful refight, with the outcome being reasonably close to the historical one, and certainly seeming plausible. The Indians suffered a heavy defeat, but not without causing a few casualties to the Macedonians. The game went smoothly even with the number of units involved – it was by far the largest game of Sword & Spear we have played, but was completed in three hours. There was plenty of drama and action, with high points being the rare Indian successes with cavalry and elephants, and Alexander leading his Companions successfully against the Indian chariots and cavalry and then rolling up the Indian line to complete the victory.
