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The tactical situation is that the Persian have to clear a pass by nightfall; so they have a limited number of turns to defeat the smaller Carthaginian force.
Carthaginians
1 X IC
2 X TC
1 X 4 Chariots
1 X 4 Liby-Phoenician cavalry
1 X 8 Sacred Band
2 X 6 African spears
1 X 8 Sicilian Foot (used Illyrian figures)
2 X 6 Light Foot
1 X 6 Slingers
1 X 4 Archers
Persians
4 X TC
1 X 4 Gd Cavalry
2 X 4 Persian Cavalry
2 X 8 Immortals
2 X 8 Persian Foot
1 X 4 Saka Horse Archers
1 X 4 Bactrian Horse Archers
1 X 4 Other Horse Archers
1 X 8 Kaspian Archers
The board was 6' deep by 4' wide. The right of the Carthaginian position was a gentle hill rising to difficult hill terrain. On the left was a gentle hill covered with open woods (plantation). Terrain off board on both sides was "difficult" and therefore precluded flank marches. To the rear of the Carthaginian position was a village.
The open woods presented a bit of a problem so the Carthaginians deployed just outside of the woods with their Sicilian foot as their cavalry, slingers and archers. While the Persian archers would have cover they'd be reduced to a single rank for firing. In addition, the 4 MU visibility meant that the Persians would have to come within charge reach of the Sicilians to shoot at the Carthaginians. The centre and right of the Carthaginian line are shown in the picture below:
The Carthaginian centre had the Sacred band and one of the African spear BG. The chariots were a reserve but deployed to check any Persians coming through the brush (Broken ground). Spanish light foot provided a screen for the chariots. The extreme right had another African spear with its flank on the 2nd tier of hill (difficult hill) with Libyan light foot out front screening the spearmen.
Time did not allow the Persian a plan of outflanking nor one of a long drawn out shoot and scoot. With a larger army, the Persians decided to apply pressure on all fronts with the right wing clearing the open woods and falling on the Carthaginian centre. The Saka and Bactrian cavalry supported by the Kaspians would advance on the left, the Immortals and Persian cavalry in the centre, and the Persian foot and other horse archers on the right. The Guard cavalry would be in reserve. Below is a picture of their advancing forces showing their centre:
The end result was that the Persian army was defeated. On the right the Persian foot were attacked by the Sicilians, who despite taking on 2 Persian BG defeated both. This caused the Persian plan to unravel as the Immortals in the centre had hoped to eventually see their junior brethren coming to their aid by attack the Sacred band and African spears in the flank. Alas, that wasn't to be. The Immortals advanced within effective firing range with the intention of disrupting the Carthaginians. However, the Carthaginian charged the Immortals and eventually broke them. On the left the Persians were having some success by temporarily disrupting both the Libyans and the African spears, but they didn't seem to have enough arrows as the Carthaginian commander there bolstered his troops before they Persians could another successful round in.
It's a bit of a challenge for the Persians as the Carthaginians have interior lines and the terrain is very limiting. However, next time I would have paired up a horse archer BG with a Persian BG, instead of sending to LH BG against the Carthaginian right. An LH BG paired with a cavalry BG would have allowed the Persian cavalry to have attacked once the African spears were disrupted. The risk would have been that the Africans could have charged the cavalry as there wasn't room to deploy the cavalry in a single line. On the Persian right, things should have gone better - losing 2 BG to one BG of Sicilian MF! Will have to give those Sicilians (actually Illyrians pretending to be Sicilians) as this is the 2nd game they've beaten the odds.
Picture of Persian foot entering the woods - unaware of the Sicilian devils awaiting them:
Finally, a gratuitous pictures:
The Carthaginian chariots deployed for a prior game on the same terrain against the Persians.
A view of the Carthaginian centre (chariots, Spanish LF, Sacred Band) from the front:
