Alexander the Great Scenario

## Units

Hetairoi/Companion Cavalry

* Were the elite shock troopers of Alexander the Great's armies who accompanied him into the battle
* They fought with large spears and swords primarily, and only utilized shields for the most part when dismounting and fighting on foot. Occasionally javalins were used by these units
* Their armor was usually comprised of leather corslets and metal scale armor underneath
* Their helmets were Boetian in design, being made of brass, having a small visor like extnesion above the eyes, a plume of horse hair at the top, and the whoe design came to almost a dull cone shape.
* We held back at the beginning of battles and then sent to charge and attack weaknesses Alexander saw in the enemy formation
* The Herairoi were originally founded by Philip II, and initially were comprised of Macedonian royalty but as the size of Greece's armies increased and the extant of Alexander's conquests, young noblemen throughout the Greek world joined their ranks.
* The Hetairoi were looked to by many other ancient civilizations as the standard to strive for in creating elite cavalry units

Hypaspists/Shield Bearers (High - pass - pissed)

* The Hypaspists were elite and highly mobile foot soldiers in Alexander's armies
* When originally created by Philip II, these units were much like the later Praetorians, they had allegiance only to the king, not the kingdom.
* They never were large in numbers, and thus were not seen very often on the ancient battlefield
* They were made up of commoners, and initially had nobles lead them but when Alexander took over, he utilized a more more internal, merit-based promotion system
* They utilized the sarissa, a very long spear, in battle and wore little armor, with their defenses comprising only of greaves. a helmet, and a small shield. This however allowed them to be highly mobile while still being able to form formidable phalanx formations

Peltasts

* Skirmishers in Greece's armies, they were highly mobile and drawn from the lower classes of Greece, as their equipment was much cheaper than the equipment used by hoplites and other heavy infantry.
* They carried a small shield, known as a pelta, into battle as well as a small pike and short sword. In addition to this they carried javelins, their main weapon.
* Their armor was similar to that of the Hypaspitai, very little and comprising of primarily greaves, a helmet, and some kind of minimal leather armor
* They were primarily deployed behind Hoplites and other heavy infantry on the battlefield

Phalanx

* A military formation/tactic developed within Greece where 8-16 rows of soldiers armored with spears would form tight groups were those in the front held their spears straight out and the ones further back would have their spear pointed just above the heads of those in front
* Despite the great success of the phalanx formation against the light cavalry and infantry of Persia, professional and more mobile infantry such as the Roman legions eventually got the better of them and caused the tactic to become obsolete

Prodromos

* The light cavalry of Alexander's armies, they were generally used as scouts and often were mercenaries from the nomadic, pastoral regions of the Greek world
* They wore no armor save a helmet, and utilized javalins or sarissas in combat

Immortals

* The infantry that made up the majority of the Persian army during Alexander's conquests
* They trained in the use of the bow and spear, forward units would engage in hand-to-hand combat while rear units rained arrows down on enemy forces
* They quality of their weaponry and armor differed greatly from battle, as immortals were not only employed in imperial armies but the royal army as well, and naturally those in the royal army served more as heavy infantry while the average immortal served a light infantry role. However whicker shields and spears were seen in all units.
* However their light armor and lack of the same professional training heavy Greek hoplites received, greatly limited their effectiveness against Greek forces.
* The name derives from the practice of replenishing units after battles as soon as possible made their forces seem almost immortal.
* Depictions in films and TV series generally show immortals as wearing all black and having their faces and hair covered by a turban/scarf of sorts. In reality however, they likely had colorful tunics and caps when they went into battle.