Thinking of starting Successors

[Westbury]

In the opening moves the Satrap centre trundled forward while the cavalry headed for the flank while the Imperials essentially split about the centre, the 2 right hand pike heading for their opposite numbers while the left 2 plus the Hypaspists and the elephants wheeled left to try and shut off the route round, which meant the loose order Hypaspists got out in front and the faster elephants veered towards the peltasts on the Satrap right.

[Westbury]

The bulk of the early action took place on the threatened Imperial left. In trying to avoid the fast approaching Hypaspists the satrap cavalry wheeled past and presented their flank to a volley of arrows which shook one of the units and pinned it in place creating a bit of a road block 
With the clock ticking another cavalry unit got into it with the Hypaspists and that didn't go well  The great outflanking move was not going well.
The skirmish cavalry were doing a decent job of getting in the way of the pikes although the arrival of the elephants spooked the horses, fortunately the peltasts started doing some damage to the grey beasts.

[Westbury]

Over on the other side of the battle the slow advance was favouring Attalus as the more numerous skirmishers were annoying the Imperial pike and creating a level of caution in the Persian pikemen.
Ultimately we got into a clash of pikes which after several rounds featuring several opponents - one unit of peltasts deserves special mention for briefly duking it out with a pike block before being completely crushed  The upshot was that the Persian pikes broke and fled to the camp, pursued slowly by their opponents and several skirmish units hoping for some loot, the Argyraspides punched through their opponents line but this just created the situation of of it and it and the other opposing pike just circling each other like two dreadnoughts trying to get into position to fire. 

[Westbury]

Back with the cavalry, it continued going horribly wrong; the Hypaspists essentially chewed up 2 units and a 3rd was on it's way to the camp to lick it's wounds - rallying at the camp is a one shot deal, it didn't 
The elephant/pike advance continued, forcing the skirmish cavalry back and unhinging the peltasts from the main infantry line, the only consolation was that the peltasts killed their elephant but this was all a bit 'so what'

[Westbury]

Attalus now got a bit desperate; he could see the enemy cavalry finally arriving, so trusting to the gods he rallied his one companion unit and led it straight at the lead enemy unit gambling that a good result would affect the morale of the other two.
Alas it was not to be and Attalus died with his men when the unit was wiped out 

[Westbury]

The death of Attalus sealed the game. We could have played some more but it seemed a little redundant.
As a game it played out well enough but on reflection we shouldn't have used the bigger table, with slow moving troops it can tend to make the game a bit ponderous and the extra width encourages players to deploy very linear and with no depth. With more figures of course..........
The rules are playing fine, a couple of niggles but nothing to worry about and we did completely forget a couple of things that unfortunately skewed several test results. I did have a couple of "well I'm not sure about...." moments but then gave myself a bit of a slap and reminded myself that the alleged worries were exactly what I had written in my original plan!
Another one soon I think.

[Easy E]

Looking good and a nice spectacle of a battle!

[vodkafan]

The pike blocks look very impressive Ian.

[Westbury]

Cheers guys.

[Pattus Magnus]

That is a very impressive collection and battle! So many well painted figures to look at!

[Freddy]

A great collection and a great battle!

[Zingara]

Ian, is this the project completed or are there more units to do up ?

[Westbury]

Gregor, 3 more pike blocks in progress along with the command stands then that's it. James has made me a deal on a couple of Thracian units which will be suplemental down the line.

[Zingara]

It is spectacular Ian. Have you been using the bribe / treachery aspect of the rules ?

[Westbury]

Been concentrating on the boring mechanics Gregor but good reminder!