As I said... ALMOST...

It's one thing to sort-of do a refight, but that isn't always as satisfying as... well, I'm a wargamer, what if...

In this case, got up to the point of the last post and started looking at things from a wargamers viewpoint.

Now, one thing to remember. I tend to type these posts in a kind of 'real time'. The things I've typed so far is where I'm at after my last post. Everything that happens next in the post... hasn't been done yet.

So, now done, let battle recommence.

The Persian plan was to hit the Macedonians as they crossed the river. However, the 'real' Issos involved the Greeks on the hill just sitting there... seemed to me a lot better to pin the Macedonians in the centre with the Greeks and move the cavalry to the flanks...

So here we have the Greeks coming off their hill while the scythed chariots hit the javelins as they emerge from the river.

Masses of Persian cavalry heading for the Macedonian left flank.

While other Persian light cavalry hit Alexander and his Companions on the Persian left.

As pretty much expected - javelins destroyed, but next move chariots will hit the phalanx.

As not expected... sometimes, the dice just aren't with you...

Technically the Companions were destroyed but routing takes a better photo.

At this point I don't think there's much hope for the Macedonians so I ended today's post here - but will do and record the rest of the battle anyway.  Perhaps Macedonians could have done with a unit of light cavalry here as well, but some things are just fate.

Almost but not quite Issos...

Having spent a lot of time on  Minifigs recently I thought it was about time to do something with Garrison.

I decided to go with an Alexandrian versus Persian battle and Issos seemed a good starting point.

Initial setup. General scenario, Alexander and a few friends forcing a river crossing against a force of Persian cavalry and Greek mercenaries.

The Persians. At Issos, the Persian army was 50:50 Persian cavalry and Greek mercenaries. However, the Greeks took no part in the battle until after the Persians were beaten and simply sat on a hill. Further, I didn't have a bigger hill. So seemed reasonable to just use enough Greeks to fill the hill. Those windows at the back make photography awkward.

Macedonian right flank - Companions, Hypaspists and start of the phalanx covered by a few light archers.

The Macedonian centre. 3 48 strong phalanx units covered by some light javelins.

Macedonian left - Greek cavalry covered by some slingers.

First move, Macedonians start advancing to the river and expanding their frontage. Persians start moving to cover the river but making sure to hold back the cavalry behind the scythed chariots.

Macedonian cavalry move a bit to the right as they approach the river while the archers start to cover the gap. If the Persian cavalry look a bit washed out... those windows behind them make photography a bit awkward...

View from behind the Macedonian army as the Companions reach the river.

View at the end of the first move just before the Companions have reached the river. The Macedonian left is in danger of being a bit outflanked. If the river at the bottom of the picture looks strange, could be because I ran out of narrower sections.