Command Magazine Alexandros - Play Test (2) The Battle of Gaugamela

The Battle of Gaugamela .. where the "King of Kings" .. the bearer of the Holy Flame of  Zoroastrianism ... has chosen to fight the upstart Alexander. Darius' forces are enormous having used four turns of replacements to good effect, amassing every little (and big) troop counter he could lay his hands on. Darius III was even 'provoked' to attack Alexander before he received useful reinforcements of pike and light troops from Macedon (see below, [Persians are Orange/Yellow - Macedonians are Light Blue - Greeks on Persian side are Red - Darius' Royal Family are White] the massed ranks of foot [including Greek mercenary hoplites] hold the Persians centre, with massed archers and cavalry [an experiment combination] on the flanks [intending to outflank] and an assortment riff-raff left in reserve [including a chariot and an elephant] guarding Darius' Royal Family): 

The Macedonians are a thin line "but incredibly hard". Parmerio leads the attack [Note: Only one box can 'attack' with its front line on turn one]. Darius III (me) had great hopes of inflicting grievous loss on the approaching Macedonians with missile weapons but the arrows and spears bounced of the heavy armour of the pikes and heavy horse (see below, Darius III is quickly reassessing his tactical deployments - they certainly didn't call me Darius the Great):

One light Persian unit killed outright and three routed. Still plenty more where they came from [gulp - my extensive second line means I can still fight for the left wing] as the Macedonians retire back to their original box. Perhaps my horses will be able to do better (see below: already I am thinking of deploying my [Darius'] reserves to my "halved" left- not a good sign):

Darius tries to outflank on the extreme right and throws his cavalry at Parmerio. The Persians/Greek  suffer light casualties but Parmerio is locked in combat and in the following turn suffers a step-loss and forces a leader casualty roll. Parmerio the old war-horse of Phillip falls in battle as a true warrior (see below: this was a welcome turn of events for Darius - better a lucky General than a talented one):

Alexander is spurred to try and end this quickly he attacks Darius' Royal Guard and they too are locked in combat. Meanwhile the Persian archers are finding some success on the Persian Right Flank. Darius continues his great enveloping outflanking moves (see below, the Persians are extending their lines and becoming thinner as a result - and possibly vulnerable to counter attack. Darius is worryingly in combat with Alexander - something he should not be doing [4 versus 9 leadership ratings tells you why]):

The Persians are considering a sneaky win by getting four units in the Macedonian reserve box. This causes a flight of the lights back to the Macedonian "camp" to forestall this cunning plan. Alexander at this point commits an all out attack along the line. "Let the die decide" is the Macedonian battle-cry (see below, that must have been very strong wine they were drinking last night - see now that Darius is safely in the second line of the centre box, away from Alexander and his Companions. Alexander has already survived one leader casualty roll, contemptuously shrugging it off):

The result is a sea of carnage. Both sides wings are exhausted. They are incapable of real offensive action. The Persians look strong in the centre but their best troops the Greek Mercenaries are down to their last steps. With night fast approaching Alexander senses one last chance to grasp victory, otherwise Darius may slip away (see below, Alexander seems intent on cutting his way through teh first line to Darius himself):

Two Greek Mercenary Hoplite units are torn apart and Alexander is locked in combat with another. The Persian line is crumbling their second line troops are poor, Darius throws them forward to bleed so night will save him. Alexander rolls his combat [a 6 but "low was good"] and his unit receives a step loss which means a leader casualty roll .. made by the Persian [a "1"] which means KIA .. but the special Alexander rule is invoked and this is ignored but a re-roll is required (see below, "gulp" this is getting tense):

All dice rolls are made in the "basin of fate" [also known as the 'Saturday morning pancake mix bowl"] and the tinkle of the dice on the glass echos .. and stops. Another "1" .. "snakes eyes" .. Alexander falls from his horse, the Greek Mercenaries have avenged Memnon .. an Empire of Man falls .. the Acheamenid Empire is saved and the course of history is changed (see below, "Oh Fortuna"):

Night is falling. The battle has been horrendous. The death toll exceeded the routing boxes. The pursuit of the Persians. The Persians possess still 'fresh' Cavalry and Light Troops, these will undoubtedly take its toll and it is unlikely that any of these brave Macedonians will ever see their home again (see below, "Game Over"):

A good battle with such a fortuitous end of game die roll. We still consider this a play test as we are fathoming out the nuances of a tactical system. We have re-bagged the original armies and we will try this battle again. Assuming a victorious Alexander it will then be the second part of the campaign system (to Afghanistan and then to India - then a return to Babylon). Watch this space for more details. So impressed with this old classic game. Taking a look back through my other Command Magazines and Issue 14: Midway looks appealing!

Command Magazine Alexandros - Play Test (1) The Battle of Granicus and the Campaign System

The hand of Alexander reaches across the game board and Persians tremble - they thought the Anthenians and Spartans were trouble, he is about to rewrite the history books. Alexander lands with the Macedonian Army in Ionia and immediately faces the Greek General Memnon who in charge of the Persian Army at Granicus (although in history Memnon was forced to fight Granicus by his Persian Overlords - his suggested strategy was that of "scorched earth" and retirement into the depths of the Persian Empire, but he was overruled by the Satraps had too much [possessions and income] to lose). So Alexandros has a "special turn one" tactical game (see below, Granicus was fought with a a tactical system almost a pre-cursor to Phil Sabin's Lost Battles - though without the nuanced detail):

Alexander does far better than history as the troublesome Memnon is captured early on causing an "Army Rout" (see below, Memnon's fate can be left to the readers imagination - I don't think it would have been a pleasant one though, a Greek fighting for the Persians, historically I think he was wounded but annoyingly for Alexander lived to fight another day, many a day in fact and was a constant thorn in Alexander's side):

Memnon is replaced with a "zero value" Persian  leader ... and the army scatters into two adjacent provinces [actually I got this wrong as you need a leader to move troops so they would have all gone to one province]. The Macedonians invest Sardis and the Satrap throws open the gates as opposed to resist the siege [advanced riule]. The conquest of Persia has started (see below, Alexander presses on to cut the Gordian knot Halicarnassus falls to Parmerio):

The Persian army retreats and Alexander leads his Macedonians all the way round to Lydia, killing the remaining Persians and having his revelation at Ammon he is the "King of all Men" (see below, no Persians in sight .. they are all gathering around Darius in Babylon):

Darius is waiting in Babylon - be not fooled by the absence of a stack of troops as they are "off to the side" (see below, rather than build up defences Daruis elects to spend all his reinforcement points on the Royal Persian Army):

The turn track shows that Alexander has gotten off to a speedy start. His "coastal strategy" has picked up areas adjacent to the sea hexes but that means there are a lot of interior Persia held provinces which feed Darius with reinforcements for his army. Alexander by this time has fought two large battles - the initial Granicus [as historical] and [a smaller than the historical Issus encounter] one in Lydia (see below, we are less than a quarter of the way through the whole campaign):

The Macedonian has to leave a chain of garrisons [of at least one step] to conquer the area in the name of Alexander (see below, each garrison is one less step in the Alexandrian Army):

Again the newly conquered Egyptian lands must also be garrisoned. This time Alexander uses local (Persian) levies from his reinforcement points to rule in his name. Many a Macedonian grumbles at this but they understand and prefer to have extra Macedonian troops to face Darius in battle (see below, if a counter is one step and has different colours on reversed sides it can be used by either player - first come first served [blue for Macedonian and sand/yellow for Persia]):

The two armies move adjacent to each other. The Persians decide to take the initiative and attack - this means combat resolution on the tactical battle display (see below, note a white counter is a "depleted province" marker which means large armies would role for attrition id they stay in it):

Next: This is set up for The Battle Of Gaugamela (or Arbela) to be played

Command Magazine Issue 34: Death and Destruction and Issue 10: Alexandros

I was doing a lot of rummaging around in the loft and garage and came across my boxes of zip-lock games from XTR Corporation, aka Command Magazine. In their heyday they rivalled and IMHO surpasses Strategy and Tactics. I started looking through them in more detail and ruminating. I (for some reason now lost to me) had separated the magazines from the games in different boxes. Hence I naturally spent a whole afternoon "pairing" them back up. Alas there was a missing copy. I remember having a copy of issue # 34 "Death and Destruction/Gazala" but I had that sinking feeling Ihad leant it out (and although I later asked the person in question) it was never returned - I distinctly remember the Western Desert, Rommel and Gazala being the reason for the request. I had hoped that I had merely misplaced it but alas, by the end of the evening I could see no other place it could be (the "box search" had extended to 'all other corners' of the house. Sharing the burden with my friends is the closing sessions of Ramillies, they commiserated and advised wargames shows and online searches .. so I Googled and end up visiting SecondChanceGames (see below, and came up trumps with Issue#34):

Making a "good" out of a bad I also spotted what I think is arguably Command Magazine's best game "Alexandros" from Issue #10 (it runs neck and neck with Issue #14 Midway [double blind game of the classic battle]). This was one Command Magazine missing from my collection, although I had played with a friends copy and remember the bitter taste of Persian arrows felling my attempt at being Alexander (but it was a great game). As well as a (Macadonian biased) campaign system it had an innovative little tactical battle system which I plan to use with my collection of DBA armies (see below, it seems to be a fore-runner of Phil Sabin's, Lost Battles in gridding the battlefield area - one definitely to play again, whereas Death and Destruction is the "monster game" addition to Proud Monster, aka Barbarossa 1941):

Note: Although I cannot say that I would play "all" of the Command Magazine games, there are quite a few pearls in amongst them. They were heavily criticised towards the end re: play-testing but still retained great insights into the periods they covered. I am left with one remaining "mystery" in that I have the Command Magazine and one game from Issue #44 but the Sealion game is "missing". I have the awful feeling I have put this one "somewhere safe" as part of a project - but where? The searcj parties are still out looking ;)