Victory Results:
 52 %
Record a victory for BOTTOM ARMY  48 %
Total plays 144 - Last reported by SimSportPlyr on 2025-01-25 03:17:34

Historical Background
The Wars of the Successors led to the establishment of three Hellenistic Kingdoms: the Antigonids (Macedon), the Ptolemies (Egypt) and the Seleucids (from Asia Minor to India). The Seleucid Empire began to fragment, losing Judea and most of its eastern provinces and parts of Asia Minor. Antiochus III became ruler at the age of eighteen in 223 BC, and immediately began restoring his empire. In 217 he retook Judea and marched on Egypt with 62,000 foot, 6,000 horse and 103 elephants. Ptolemy IV, with a much smaller army, enrolled native Egyptians into his Greek phalanx, to bring his numbers up to 70,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and 73 elephants. The two armies met at Raphia on the Egyptian frontier. Both armies deployed with their phalanx in the center and cavalry on the wings. Antiochus began the battle by charging forward with his right wing cavalry and breaking Ptolemy's left. The young Antiochus impetuously pursued the fleeing cavalry before him. Meanwhile, the Egyptian right swung forward into action and defeated its counterpart. With both wings wheeling in opposite directions, Ptolemy ordered his center to attack. Surprisingly, the Egyptian phalanx got the best of the veteran Seleucids and Antiochus’ entire army broke and fled. Antiochus withdrew, and Ptolemy recovered Judea. Despite this defeat, Antiochus went on to re-conquer his lost provinces and restore the great Seleucid Empire. Ptolemy, on the other hand, soon faced a major rebellion led by the Egyptian soldiers he had trained for the phalanx.
The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. The rest is history.

Light Infantry   Light Bow Auxilia Medium Infantry     Warriors Heavy Infantry Light Cavalry     Medium Cavalry Heavy Cavalry   Elephant     Leader  
3   2 1 2     1 3 2     1 1   2     2  
Light Infantry   Light Bow Auxilia Medium Infantry       Heavy Infantry Light Cavalry     Medium Cavalry Heavy Cavalry   Elephant     Leader  
4   2 3 2       2 1     2 1   2     2  

War Council

Ptolemaic Army (Use Eastern Kingdom blocks)
• Leader: Ptolemy
• 5 Command Cards      

Seleucid Army (Use Greek blocks)
• Leader: Antiochus
• 5 Command Cards      
• Move First

Victory
8 Banners

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Elitesim replied the topic:
1 month 2 weeks ago
We found this game to be surprisingly luck-driven despite of the high flag count. Ptolemy does not have his forces in the best positions (elephants next to numerous allied units, Warrior and Cav units unable to easily deploy, etc.) and the Seleucids get to go first.

We played this game four times and got nasty first turn results for Ptolemy all four games. Sometimes Ptolemy was able to recover and sometimes it was a disaster for Ptolemy. Ptolemy only won once in the four games and it was close (8-6 with lots of one-step units on each side).
The other games were:
8-1 (bad luck and bad decisions by Ptolemy)
8-4
8-3
elrohirthehasty replied the topic:
4 years 6 months ago
Ptolemy killed by Antiochus's elephants early in the game! Most fighting on the flanks early, then only in the middle at the end. Lack of a leader in the center enabled Ptolemaic defeat.
Valvorik replied the topic:
4 years 7 months ago
Two plays, wins for Ptolemy each time but each time narrowly. The high victory banner requirement meant the battle went back and forth quite a bit.
Stanislav27 replied the topic:
6 years 4 months ago
6 battles in the fifth round of our boardgame group's CCA tournament: 3 wins for each army.

Seleucid - Ptolemaic (8-3)
Ptolemaic - Seleucid (8-6)
Seleucid - Ptolemaic (8-4)
Seleucid - Ptolemaic (8-3)
Ptolemaic - Seleucid (8-3)
Ptolemaic - Seleucid (8-6)