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Hydaspes, 326 B.C. The Indian King Porus was prepared for Alexander's arrival. He had set his forces up on the banks of the river Hydaspes. With the forces arrayed against him Alexander decided against a direct frontal assault. He sent his cavalry out to ride up and down the river while he scouted out a crossing point. He found a place 17 miles from his camp. The crossing point was chosen because a wooded island screened the crossing from the other bank. With a plan in mind he sent back for boats that had been used in a previous river crossing. Alexander crossed himself, at night, at the head of his companions and a select force of other cavalry and some infantry. When Porus got word of this he sent his son out with some cavalry and chariots to stop the Macedonian. The chariots became bogged down in the mud from where it had rained and became useless and Alexander sent his horse archers up to deal with the rest of the Indians, which they did handily. Porus's son died in this endeavor along with about 400 other Indians. With Alexander approaching Craterus, who was in charge of the main Macedonian force, started to cross. Porus left some infantry with some elephants to oppose this crossing while he directed his main force to attack Alexander. With a strong force of elephants and infantry in his center Porus forced Alexander to attack one of his wings. As the Indians withdrew their cavalry from their right wing to meet Alexanders attack on the left wing, some of the companions crossed the Indian front and followed those cavalry around behind the Indian lines charging them in the rear. This threw the entire Indian left onto the Elephants in the center. At this point the Macedonian infantry charged and were roughly handled until the density of the Indian line reached a critical mass and the elephants stampeded through the Indian ranks causing much destruction. Porus tried to save the situation by making a final charge but he was wounded in the attempt and left the field. Location: India Warhammer Ancient Battles Order of Battle: Macedonians: Characters: Alexander 18 Hypaspists Cavalry: 12 Companion Cavalry About 3000 pts Indians Characters: Porus 24 Indian Swordsmen Elephants, Chariots and Cavalry: 12 Indian Cavalry
About 4600 pts Note: Again we have a problem with the massive number of elephants. I tried to keep this in line with the number in the last battle but give enough to have them make a real mess out of the Indian army and have a substantial effect on the battle. You may wish to reduce the number of elephants significantly. In all likelihood Porus himself was riding on one of the Elephants at some point during the battle, if not all of it. Bibliography: Alexander of Macedon by Peter Green
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