Craterus vs.
Eumenes of Cardia
Here is another Heirs
to Empire battle report featuring the armies of Eumenes of Cardia vs. his
rival Successor’s in Anatolia. These
battles took place early in the Diadochi wars between Alexander’s successors,
and helped shape the political map of the wars to come. As such, the armies were probably similar to
those that Alexander himself used in his great campaigns.
After Neoptolemus’
defeat by Eumenes, he fled and joined up with Craterus. Craterus was crossing the Dardennelles from
Greece to pressure Eumenes and force the Pro-Perdiccan loyalists out of Turkey. Meanwhile, Perdiccas himself was assembling
and leading an army to face off against Ptolemy in Egypt after Ptolemy stole
the body of Alexander.
Most of what
remained of Neoptolemus’army from his Satrapy in Armenia was easily absorbed
into Eumenes’ army to absorb losses.
However, Craterus’ force had much greater numbers than Eumenes could
muster. In addition, the core Phalanx
was made up of reliable Macedonians from Europe.
The two forces
faced off. The details of the battle
have been lost to ages. We only know the
outcome. In a daring attack, the
outnumbered Eumenes managed to smash the larger army of Craterus. Craterus himself was killed in the battle. Neoptolemus was also killed in a duel between
himself and Eumenes. It is said that
Eumenes and his cavalry unit squared off against Neoptolemus’ cavalry on
purpose to face the treacherous enemy general personally.
The Forces:
The forces are pulled from the sample armies in the
rules. They are both 54 points.
Craterus’ Army
Center
2 Bronze Shields- 1 Led by Craterus
2 Irregular Peltasts
1 Thureophoroi
Right Wing
Asphract Cavalry- Neoptolemus
Asphract Cavalry (Javelin)
Left Wing
Archers- General
Skirmishers
Skirmishers
Eumenes of Cardia
Center
Silver Shields- General
Bronze Shields
2 Thureophoroi
Right Wing
Epilektoi Cavalry
Left Wing
Companion Cavalry- Eumenes
During this battle, it is probable that the Silver
Shields were probably deployed with Perdiccas for the Egyptian campaign, and
not with Eumenes of Cardia. However, for
simplicity and uniformity of the campaign I am going to keep them with
Eumenes.
In addition, it is likely that Thureophoroi were not a
distinct and established part of the army.
Such troops played a role of that of the Hypaspists in Alexander’s
army. Since the main difference between
these troop types is the Hoplon versus an oval shield they are interchangeable
this early in the Diadochi period.
Mission:
It is unclear how this battle actually took place. Some scholars believe it must have occurred
during a river crossing or similar situation for the victory to have occurred
as described in the sources. It is
unclear as the sources that remain spend little time on the actual battle, only
the aftermath. To that end, we rolled a
random scenario and came up with Raze and Loot.
In this scenario there are 5 markers placed on the board
to represent valuable items such as wells, supplies, sacred sites, etc. The Defender tries to protect them while the
attacker tries to destroy them by attacking them in melee. Craterus was determined to be the
defender.
Set-up:
To match the situation, we changed he deployment a
bit. We made sure that Craterus and his
army was by the river, to help match the potential historical match-up. Also, this scenario allows Craterus to deploy
a bit seperated based on the location of the objective counters. This also probably helps match the situation
Eumenes and Craterus faced.
The objectives were watering holes spread across the
desert, and the river crossing Craterus and his army used. Eumenes’s deployment was pretty
standard. He was on the right flank with
his Companions. The center was his phalanx flanked by
Thureophoroi on each side. The Epilektoi
were on the left. Nothing fancy and
fairly compact and in a straight line.
The Left wing (of Archers and Skirmishers) deployed forward
to protect the watering hole, but also potentially harass the main advance of
Eumenes army. The Center was deployed
just past the river ford in an arrowhead formation. The right flank was the Asphract cavalry units
and they deployed out near another watering hole.
Turn 1:
Both sides determined their Commander’s Gaze. 7 for Eumenes and 7 for Craterus. Craterus bids 5 while Eumenes bids 0. Craterus goes first.
His Left Wing and Right wing stays put, while the center
moves up to join them and try to form some sort of battle line. The center jostles around abit to try and let
the Peltasts move slightly ahead of the phalanx units. Eumenes does not try to interrupt at
all.
Eumenes’ has his Epilektoi pivot and race towards the
farthest objective over the ridge line.
He also turns his Companion cavalry and rides closer to his center. Meanwhile, the center forces move towards the
center objective. The Bronze Shields are
lined up to run over it.
Turn 2:
Both sides determine their Commander’s Gaze for their wings. Eumenes has 7 and Craterus has 9, he has the
advantage in Commander’s Gaze. Craterus
bids 3, while Eumenes bids 1.
Craterus’ forces move forward and form a battleline with
their left wing. Neoptolemus uses his
Javelin Asphracts to ride forward and throw their Javelins at the Epilektoi,
but they are just out of range! The
other Asphracts follow suit. Eumenes
does not interrupt.
Eumenes forces respond by moving forward steadily and
confidently. His Companion Cavalry moves
up to be next to his main battleline.
The Epilektoi ride up the ridgeline towards their objective. Will the Asphracts pursue them?
Turn 3:
Craterus has 7 Commander’s Gaze across his front,
compared to Eumenes’ 7. Eumenes bids 1
and Craterus bids 0.
Eumenes’ Epilektoi continue to move down the ridge
towards the watering hole. Craterus does
not interrupt. Then, the Companion
Cavalry go into open order and head towards Neoptolemus. No enemy interruption. Finally, the center moves up. The Bronze Shields secure the objective while
the rest of the army moves to support.
Craterus waits patiently to respond, allowing his
opponent into his kill zone. The Left
wing starts the fighting. The Archers
open fire on the Thureophoroi. In addition,
the skirmishers move up and move and shoot.
One is out of range. However, the
Thureophori are reduced two armor.
From Crateru’s center the Thureophoroi move up and hurl
their javelin’s as well. Eumenes’ Thureophoroi are reduced to two Courage and
start to waver. One of Craterus’
Irregular Peltast units move up and reign Javelins on Eumenes’ Bronze Shields. To
soften them up. A Commander’s Gaze
re-roll forces them to lose one courage.
This is followed up by a charge from Craterus’ Bronze Shields, with the
second unit supporting the attack.
Eumenes troops counter-charge with a Commander’s Gaze. This reduces Eumenes’ Bronze Shields to
wavering. However, with the
counter-charge the Craterus’ troops are reduced 1 Courage.
Turn 4:
Craterus earns 9 Commadner’s gaze, while Eumenes has 6. Craterus then bids 5 Gaze compared to Eumenes
2.
Archers hit Eumenes’ Thureophoroi for another Courage
loss. Eumenes’ center general tries to
interrupt with his last Commander’s Gaze, but he fails. This is followed up by a charge from Craterus’
Thureophoroi into Eumenes troops. It is enough to break them. Meanwhile, The Skirmishers move up. Craterus’ Irregular Peltasts charge into the
main center melee. ON the other side. The
irregular Peltast move up and shoot Eumenes other Thureophoroi for 2 courage
loss.
The javelin Asphracts move up and attack the Open Order
Companion Cavalry, but fails to cause any courage loss. Eumenes manages to interrupt then. He charges into the horseman using a last
Commander’s Gaze. The weaker Asphracts
are easily shattered!
Eumenes Thureophoroi charge the Irregular Peltasts. No one has any Commander’s Gaze left to try
and evade or pursue. They just start
fighting. The damage is pretty
catasprophic as both side fight ferociously!
Both are now wavering!
Meanwhile, the Epilektoi storm a well. They change to open order and start heading
over the ridge towards the next marker.
Eumenes’ troops just need to hang on long enough for them to get to
it. However, in the center Craterus and
his Bronze Shields manage to smash through Eumenes’ Bronze Shields and force
them to rout.
At the end, Eumenes’ army takes a Collapse check after losing
two major units. However, they all
pass. In addition, Neoptolemus’ and his
Asphracts take are disordered after seeing their friends get smashed by the
Companions.
Turn 6:
Thinks look bad for Eumenes and his army. Eumenes earns 8 Commander’s Gaze, while
Craterus has only 6. Eumenes bids
4. Craterus bids 5 in an effort to win
his first turn.
Craterus uses the first turn to dangerously charges his
injured Bronze Shields into the Silver Shields supported by his other Phalanx
and Peltasts. They hit hard, but
ineffectively only reducing them 1 Courage.
The return push by the Silver Shields is enough to rout the rest of
Craterus’ main infantry force! Meanwhile,
the Irregular Peltasts rout Eumenes’ last Thureophoroi unit.
The Companion Cavalry with Eumenes charges headlong into
Neoptolemus and his Asphract unit. It is
completely obliterated, leaving the way clear for the final well. Meanwhile, the Epilektoi climb over the
ridge.
Seeing Craterus’ unit collapse, one of the Skirmisher
units breaks up and runs for it as well.
Turn 7:
Craterus has 5 Commander’s Gaze and Eumenes gets 8. Eumenes bids 5 and Craterus bids 0.
The Epilektoi and Companions meet on the third watering
hole. With that, Craterus army sees that
all is lost and falls back.
Conclusion:
Things looked bad for Eumenes there, but he managed to
pull it out in the end. Again, the
Companion Cavalry and Silver Shields lived up to their reputation. In hindsight, Craterus gambled big by charging
with his injured Bronze shields, but his dice failed him in the critical charge
and only caused 1 Courage loss. He
should have held back and used his uninjured units as a second wave. Ultimately, it might not have mattered as
Eumenes’ superior cavalry allowed him to win the day.
Ultimately, another historical outcome. Both Neoptolemus and Craterus’ units were overwhelmed. We do not know how Craterus died, but in the main
infantry push seems appropriate to me.
We do know that Eumenes killed Neoptolmus in a duel after crushing his
cavalry unit with his own, which is what happened here too! In addition, Craterus had Eumenes outnumbered
just like in the Historical battle.
Overall, a fun scenario and a fun little battle.
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