Battle of Ipsus - 301 BC

[abou]

The Battle of Ipsus could widely be considered as the definitive battle of the Wars of the Diodachi. The result was the defeat and death of Antigonus, who was incredibly successful up until that point, and his kingdom centered in Asia Minor.

The battle took place near the city of Ipsus on a wide plain in 301 BC. Although this is nearly three decades before EB's start date (and indeed I think it is about the limit that one could go outside of EB's time frame), it seems that many of the innovations that lead to the versions of the Hellenistic units that we know and love began a little before this time. The best example I can think of is the increased size of the sarissa used by the phalangites. In fact, the only major anachronistic element I can think of is the Celtic longsword used by Hypaspists, which was incorporated into their equipment after contact with the Galatians. If you are willing to look past this you hopefully should enjoy this battle.

The only full record of the battle comes from Plutarch's Life of Demetrius (relevent chapters are 28-30). Sparse fragments of the battle as described by Diodorus Siculus survive and indeed provide important details, but the numbers come Plutarch.

Antigonus
70,000 infantry
10.000 cavalry
75 elephants

Seleucus
64,000 infantry – at least 20,000 of which were light troops brought by Seleucus
10,500 cavalry (Possibly 15,000, but this latter value could be a misprint by Bar-Kochva)
400 elephants
120 chariots, which may or may not have been actually used in the battle

As you were reading that you probably noticed that the numbers are general, to the say the least. So how should army composition be decided? Well, I think I have come up with a method that is at least acceptable. This method is to use numbers from the battles of Alexander to derive percentage-compositions of armies, which can then be used to approximate the units used by later successors. What also seems to be quite important is that this battle takes place at a time before the economic hardship of constant fighting brings (even if it was lax). Antigonus still had massive amounts of funds available from his raiding of the treasury at Susa and the army under Seleucus was a coalition of several other successor powers. Ergo, elite units like the Pheraspidai and Hypaspistai will be amongst those at the battle.

For the Antigonid forces I am using the numbers from Gaugamela as it took place relatively soon into Alexander's campaigns and with minimal influence from the interior of the Persian empire. Simply, this is a matter of the Antigonid kingdom's proximity to Greece. Conversely, the Seleucid forces have the Battle at the Hydaspes river in India as their model.

[abou]

Using the numbers at Gaugamela and Hydaspes river along with a small amount of tweaking, here is an approximation of the forces that could possibly have been found at Ipsus:

Antigonid

Infantry
Phalanx - 21,000
Hypaspists - 3,000
Pheraspidai - 3,000
Light troops - 15,570
Mercenaries - 15,570
Allied troops - 11,500

Cavalry
Heavy - 4,200*
Medium - 2,400
Light - 3,400
Elephants - 75

Allied forces under the command of Seleucus

Infantry
Phalanx - 17,600
Hypaspists - 3,000
Pheraspidai - 3,000
Light Troops - 29,240**
Mercenaries - 9,300
Indeterminate, possibly allies - 1,800

Cavalry
Heavy - 2,100*
Medium - 3,200
Light - 5,200
Elephants - 400

* Due to the difficulty of employing heavy cavalry they do not figure directly into my math. Half of the Antigonid heavy cavalry will be Thessalians; the other will be Hetairoi with armor bonuses to represent the shield they would have carried. The Seleucid Hetairoi will have weapon bonuses to represent the use of the kontos instead of the Antigonid xyston. This may extend to other cavalry using the kontos.

** The massive number light troops is due to the 20,000 contingent that Seleucus brought with him. It seems that one of the major factors of the battle was Seleucus's calm use of light troops to harass and demoralize the Antigonid phalanx.

[abou]

There will be two versions of this battle. The first will be a ratio of 25:1, which is for the more powerful computers out there. The second will be 40:1 so that those without powerful PCs can play this with less hassle.

Antigonid Forces

Antigonus
1 Somatophylakes Strategou (40)

Infantry
1 Argyraspidai (240)
3 Pezhetairoi (240)
1 Hypaspistai (120)
1 Pheraspidai (120)

Lights
2 Toxotai Syriakoi (120)
1 Sphendonetai (120)
1 Peltastai (160)
1 Toxotai Kretikoi (110)

Allied Greeks
2 Agrianikoi Pelekephoroi (115)
2 Hoplitai (115)

Mercs
1 Peltastai (160)
1 Thraikoi Peltastai (160)
2 Misthophoroi Hoplitai (155)


Demetrius
1 Somatophylakes Strategou (40)

Cavalry
1 Hippeis Thessalikoi (88)
1 Prodromoi (96)
2 Thraikioi Hippeis (68)
2 Elephantes Indikoi (6[18] and 7[21])

[abou]

A little more tweaking to the numbers, but nothing offensive to sensibilities.

Allied Forces

Seleucus
1 Somatophylakes Strategou

Infantry
3 Pezhetairoi (234, 234, 236)
1 Hypaspistai (120)
1 Pheraspidai (120)

Lights
3 Peltastai (148)
2 Kavakaza Kofyaren (200)
2 Thanvara Payahdag (100)
1 Artish Pada (200)

Cavalry
1 Daha Baexdzhyntae (100)
5 Elephantes Indikoi (11[33])


Antiochus
1 Somatophylakes Strategoi

Mercs
2 Misthophoroi Hoplitai (124)
1 Misthophoroi Peltastai (124)

Cavalry
1 Mada Nizhak Asabara (100)
2 Mada Asabara (70)
1 Elephantes Indikoi (12[36])
1 Chariots (5)

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Not sure about where to station those pheraspidai in relation to the rest of the troops abou. Wish I could be more help here, but surely some other folks would know that better than I.

[paullus]

When you say misthophoroi hoplitai, do you mean the ones with the thureoi? Because I'd shy away from using any of those troops at this early a date. I think the misthophoroi hoplitai are the only units on your lists to which this concern would apply, so not too big a deal. Good luck setting it up, it would be a fun battle to have.

[abou]

Well, as long as no one objects I'll just put them to the left of the phalanx. Plus, I think this works well for the descriptions for the Hypaspists and Pheraspidai as having fought themselves in the first years of the Diodachi comflicts.

@ Paullus
Don't worry. By Misthophoroi Hoplitai I mean actual mercenary hoplites, not Thureophoroi. At the early stages of planning the battle I was tempted, but realized that it was definitely too early for those units to be used.

[abou]

You know, it is interesting when reading the description of the battle because I have come to the conclusion that instead of deploying mercenaries and allied troops behind the phalanx as Alexander would or even on the sides, it seems as Antigonus positioned them in front of the phalanx. This would do two things - the first of which is to protect the Antigonid elephants and the second would be to counter the Seleucid elephants, which appear to have actually been busy preventing the return of Demetrius. The consequence is that there were no troops to protect the rear of the now vulnerable phalanx, which was then harassed by Seleucus's skirmishers. If this wasn't the case, then I have no idea how Seleucus would have managed to slip his skirmishers around the unprotected flanks of the phalanx.

I think it also seems as though there weren't any elephants screening the cavalry on Seleucus's left flank. Although Bar-Kochva states that Demetrius circumvented the elephants, I can't help but think this would be a bit too difficult and therefore undermine what appears to be a major portion of Seleucus's strategy. My opinion is that the cavalry was left intentionally exposed so as to appear to be an easily exploitable mistake for Demetrius, who would then find himself prevented from returning by the elephants.

[abou]

Here is a beta of the battle. Let me know what you guys think and how it flows - especially if it is too easy due to the massive amount of elephants.

25:1 Battle of Ipsus
40:1 Battle of Ipsus

[Laman]

It would not say too easy. Lost, bad. Probably because I misused my elephants, was somewhat over-confident. Fun battle. Used the 25:1 version.

[TWFanatic]

I've just played this battle. Excellent work, abou, I enjoyed it very much. Managed to win a clear victory on medium with the 25:1 game.

[helenos aiakides]

I am a newbie, could someone tell me how to install and play it please

[Eduorius]

You must download the zip file and extract them in

\EB\Data\world\maps\battle\custom

[helenos aiakides]

You must download the zip file and extract them in

\EB\Data\world\maps\battle\custom

I don't have the file "battle" when i open "maps" i go straight into "custom"

[bovi]

Then you try them both.

[helenos aiakides]

bovi, i don't know what you mean

[bovi]

Extract into \EB\Data\world\maps\battle\custom and \EB\Data\world\maps\custom . One of them should work, I guess. But I think Eduorius knows where they're supposed to be.

[helenos aiakides]

I don't have the battle folder, thats why i doesn't work, would creating another work?

[helenos aiakides]

I did it and it worked, thanks guys

[helenos aiakides]

Sorry to post three times in a row,

I thought of Ipsus as a great clash of hellenic heavy cavalry but on this battle there is very little

[abou]

Not really. It was a trap set up by Seleukos and Antiochos to draw away the Antigonid heavy cavalry. Antiochos feigned a retreat drawing Demetrios into the valley. Seleukos' elephants then closed the valley.

Other than that, we don't have the nitty gritty details of the battle.

[Mylae]

a good battle. i've loosed slightly just because i set up a reserve of light infantry that had to run a lot to get in the core of the battle - and then get crashed by what remained of enemy phalanxes and cavalry :(
an error that will never occurr again.

[abou]

Well, it is cool that you had a hard time with it, and glad that you enjoyed it. The same for the other players out there. Another battle that you guys should have trouble with will be Antiochos III's fight against Molon - another battle with a reserve line that seems to have proven critical to Antiochos' victory.