The dice decreed that the Achaemenids would attack, obviously expanding north again, and Alistair chose to attack through steep, hilly terrain, near a village, much to my surprise. I had my standard army, 2 large commands of lancers, archers, and auxilia, one small reserve of lancers and archers, and an Alan Ally with 10 Superior Light Horse. After a quick look, it appeared that I could best succeed by holding the two hills, and trying to draw him through the gaps, while using the Alans and lancers to crush anything in the open ground on my left (see map). I was concerned about the potential mayhem of the Persian Scythed Chariots, not having faced them before. Accordingly I posted the Alans on the far left, with the CinC next to them, his auxilia heading for the central hill: then the other main command opposite the hill-gap, with its archers in front, and auxilia posted in ambush on the right-hand hill. The reserve went behind this, to either cover the right flank, or if needed to support the centre.
I'm not sure quite what Alistair's plan was, as (after the battle) he explained that he'd forgotten that I could get rough-ground troops, so presumably he had planned to exploit the hills himself with his auxiliaries, while pushing his spearmen into the gap and drawing my lancers into charges against them,
On the Left, the Alans proved their usual eager selves, and raced off to probe at the Persian cavalry wing - an imposing mixture of double-ranked cavalry and light horse, while the Cinc followed up slowly - using most of his PIPS to move his Auxiliaries up onto the hill smartly. The Psiloi archers moved into the gap between the hills, while the Lancers on the right held back, and the Reserve moved smartly off to the left - after a closer look at the Persian Right, I decided they would need all the support they could muster.
The Alans duly plunged in, quickly crushing the Persian Light Horse on the extreme left, and turning the flank of the Persian formation. They also started discovering the joys of fighting as Superior Light Horse against Inferior Cavalry - even double-ranked, the Persian Cavalry was struggling. The CinC's command approached more cautiously. Meanwhile, the CinC's auxiliaries marched over the top of the central hill, down the slope, and then deployed at the edge, before the Persian Kardakes had even reached the hillslope.
The Persian left rolled forward, led by the Scythed Chariots, and with their Light Horse racing off to probe the village, and the reverse slope of the hill. We were content to await their closer approach. We also noted that, because of space constraints, the mercenary hoplites were formed up in a column as deep as it was wide.
The Alans continued their slow decimation of the Persian right: the CinC aided this by releasing his lancers in a valiant charge against the rest of the Persian cavalry. As these were of better quality (Ordinary and Superior), they did not immediately crush them all, but did rapidly drive them back, inflicting losses along the line. At the same time, the Reserve moved up to threaten the Kardakes, while the Persian reserves of cavalry rapidly redeployed in the same direction.
On the right, once they had sighted the infantry on the reverse slopes, the Persians skirted their light horse in a wide loop, coming along the base line to aim at the Sarmatian camp. The general of the Right split his lancers, moving half to support the right flank, and the rest (with himself) to support the Psiloi to the front, who were being menaced by the Scythed Chariots. At the same time, the ambushing foot showed themselves, marching down to the edge of their hill.
The Persian right now crumbled completely, under the onslaught of the CinC's lancers. Fortunately these were relatively coherent still, and, leaving a couple to pursue the beaten Persians, he turned them towards the Persian Centre. The Alans continued the pursuit, eliminating the last of the Persian cavalry before rallying. Meanwhile, the Sarmatian reserves rode over part of the Kardakes, before swinging around behind them to engage the Persian reserves now starting to arrive, while part of the Sarmatian foot charged down the hill and started briskly driving the rest of the Kardakes back. The rest of the Sarmatian auxiliaries on the central hill were redeployed to the righthand side of the hill, to present a threat to the advancing Persian foot.
On the right, the Scythed Chariots swept through between the hills, before meeting the archers. These archers held off two of the chariots, but the third crushed its' way thru, and ran into the lancers, defeating one before itself being defeated. This caused some disorder, and a part of the lancer squadrons lost control and started to advance towards the advancing Persian hoplites.
The Alans, having chased down every Persian cavalryman in sight, now regrouped, and marched hastily towards the right of the battle line, leaving a few stragglers behind. On the far side of the central hill, the remaining Kardakes were swept away by the arrival of the CinC's lancers, but the Sarmatians could make little headway so far against the arriving Persian cavalry.
However, the traitorous mercenary Hoplites, in their eagerness to reach
the lancers, strayed too close to the garrison on the central hill. At
the same time as the impetuous lancers fell on their front, the auxiliaries
swept down to the foot of the hill and engaged the flank of the hoplites.
In the ensuing melee, the confusion amongst the hoplites resulted in the
destruction of six of their number, and this, combined with the complete
loss of the Kardakes, was enough to break the Persian centre, and with
it the rest of their army