Jaxartes River 328 BC

Macedonian vs Scythians

Historical Background
By 329 BC Alexander had completed the subjugation of the eastern Persian satraps, and his army was building a new city, Alexandria Eschate, on the banks of the Jaxartes, to guard his northeastern frontier. A Scythian force under their chief, Satraces, arrived on the opposite bank. The Scythian force was mostly horsearchers who were about to launch a major raid. Alexander decided to attack and defeat the barbarians to dissuade them from future raids. Alexander set up catapults to deal with the horsearchers during the potentially difficult river crossing. When the catapults opened fire, a number of Scythian horsemen were immediately struck down. The horse archers cautiously backed away from the river. Alexander’s troops quickly crossed en masse. Once safely across, he sent out a few units of horse and foot as bait. When the Scythians, as expected, had surrounded the Macedonian detachment, Alexander sent in the rest of his horse and light infantry to block their retreat so they could not avoid Alexander's heavy foot units. After some brief hand-to hand fighting, Satraces was killed and the Scythians broke and fled. Although the bulk of the Scythian army escaped, they knew that the Macedonians could beat their tactics. Alexander had succeeded in forcing a victory against the swift steppe horse archers where Cyrus the Great and Darius I had failed.
The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. The rest is history.

War Council

Macedonian Army (Use Greek blocks)
• Leader: Alexander
• 6 Command Cards
• Move First

Scythian Army (Use Eastern Kingdom blocks)
• Leader: Satraces
• 5 Command Cards

Victory
5 Banners

Special Rules
• The Jaxartes River is fordable.

• When Alexander is attached to a unit, the unit will battle with 1 additional dice in Close Combat.

• The Greek Companion Cavalry is a special unit. Place a special unit block in the same hex as the Companion Cavalry unit to distinguish it from the other units. The Companion Cavalry will ignore 1 sword symbol in Close Combat and may ignore 1 flag.