Slitherine

Indian forces:
6 BG of 2 elephants
3 BGs of 4 cav (average, protected, Lt spear)
3 BGs of 8 Mi archers (swordsmen)
2 BGs of 8Mi Lt spear/sword
1 BG of 6 Lt Archers
1 BG of 4 Mi heavy weapon

Mac forces
4 BGs of 12 Pike (one superior)
1 BG of 6 Lt slingers
1 BG of 6 Lancers (superior)
1 BG of 4 Lancers (elite)
1 BG of 4 LH lancers
2 BGs of 4 Lancers (average)

I was Indian, I had always played strong HF armies in the past (Hoplite, Pike and Roman) so it was a completely new experience fielding an Indian army. I some preconceived ideas of how the game would pan out, interestingly they were completely wrong.

Deployment:
Indians line: long line of Mi infantry 2 rank deep, with alternative archer, lt spear. 3 BG of elephants on each flank with cav in support.

Macedonian line: pikes in the centre cav on both flanks

Interesting Results:
1: The Macedonians only had about half the frontage of the Indian army. The elephants didn’t have any enemy directly in front of them apart from some lights. Quickly the Macedonian moved LH and cav without 6 MU of the elephants, once that happened the elephants couldn’t turn or wheel without passing CMT, which I failed 8 out of 10 times. The elephants quickly got spread out all over the table as some passed and most failed CMTs each turn.

2: The Macedonians wheeled a pike BG and destroyed 3 BGs of elephants one after another usually taking a single turn per elephant BG. Those pikes are just plain nasty as they have a +1 POA over elephants in both the impact and melee. Also as the elephants were spread out the pike always had one overlap and I failed every death roll.

3. The Indian Lt Spear Cav, Lt spear + Cav must be the worst value weapon in the game, almost never gets a POA. I used my cav one rank deep in front of the lancer units to force them to charge while setting up other units to hit them in the flank. Worked well except a BG of 6 superior, armoured lancers, 2 ranks deep + general are a very tough nut to crack. Over the course of the game I hit the lancers 3 times in the flanks but they managed to recover enough cohesion between turns to keep from breaking.

In the mean time, even with lost dice from cohesion, superior, armoured, lancer/swordsmen + general = lots of dead Indian cav. It was quite amusing watching the lancers ride down one Indian unit after another, while the Indians usually got an initial flank attack the ensuing melee phases would see the lancers come out on top. My elephants were always facing the wrong way and failing their CMT to turn. By the time they did pass the lancers had moved out of position.

4. Mi archers – rubbish, did one cohesion hit on a cav unit for the whole game.

5. Mi Lt Spear – did surprisingly well. In one notable encounter a BG of 12 pike + IC hit the middle of the Indian line. With the overlaps against the pike + some very good rolling the Mi line held. Both units were ground down, in the end the pike lost half just before the Indians, in the initial route the Indian pursed and killed the IC. The other Mi Lt Spear held against a 4 base BG of elite lancers, while the lancers did lots of kills the odd loss of lancer bases was enough to finally win through.

6. The Indians won in the end due to the small Mac army not being big enough to absorb the loss of a sacked camp.

Lessons Leant:
1. elephants don’t come with a steering wheel, set them up to go straight ahead.
2. Less Mi archers, more Lt Spearmen
3. Finish painting up those Heavy chariots

1. I have tried a historical deployment but Elephants on the flanks is better. With battle line commanders each elephant brigade can turn to target.

2. Strategy against Pikes was to try to get down lots of uneven ground that doesn't hurt the Indian MF or Elephants but does disorder and slow the Pikes. The problem is the Macedonians can find clear ground for the Pikes to act and have some MF for terrain.

3. Agree re the Cav - Elephants are enough combat mounted. I got the minimum required cavalry and used it as combat support or as rear support.

4. Can't take less than 24 MF archers. I took them as Average and tried shooting to help delay melee, with moderate success. As Undrilled, they were wrongfooted by skirmish and drilled troops when trying to line up strong shots.

5. I like the Light Spear MF and took 2 BGs. I have deployed them on the flanks and they have had fortuitously good results.

6. I had IC + 3 TCs, you took less. The IC is nice but not necesary.

Mike

Trouble with a battle line is that it is a long wheel move if you have 3 or more BGs of elephants lined up.

During our game I maxed out the open fields as it seemed the best terrain for Mi/elephants. However as with almost every game I have ever played of FOG all the terrain gets moved by the other player to the edge of the table when they do their adjustment rolls.

The Indian cav is useful in small BG as its so cheap and fast. Being cav it is a threat to flanks that the other player can't ignore. On the flip side its so cheap it doesn't really matter if the odd unit gets destroyed.

The only time I have used Indians I ended up with alternating BGs of elephants and bow but then I was facing a mounted opponent (Ghaznavid) and took it to the cleaners.