Alexander's Successors 323-47 BC
Gametesting the WAB Successor Army Lists
WAB Successors overview
Army lists and guidance for the Successors
The Successor of Alexander the Great WAB supplement covers the following armies:
Early Successors (including a number of variants listed below) deal with the leaders who
fought over Alexander’s former empire (323-272 BC)
Macedonian Early Successor Army
Royalist (Perdikkan) Early Successor Army
Ptolemaic Early Successor Army
Antigonid Early Successor Army
Eumenid Early Successor Army
Seleucid Early Successor Army
Lysimachid Early Successor Army
“Sea Kings” Early Successor Army
Eastern Frontiers Early Successor Army
Epirote armies
deal with the army of
Pyrrhus of Epirus in his campaigns in Greece, Macedonia, and Italy (301-272 BC)
Successor Empire armies cover the armies that settled in to Alexander’s former
territories and fought dynastic struggles amongst themselves and were overthrown by Rome
and Parthia (272-46 BC).
Successor Empire Armies:
Seleucid Successor Empire Army List
Antgonid Successor Empire Army List,
Ptolemaic Successor Empire Army List
Pergamene Successor Empire Army List,
Bactrian Successor Empire Army List
Bactrian Greek Successor Empire Army List
The last Successor army is the Pontic army (100-46 BC) that is a conglomeration of
Persian and Hellenistic army styles. This is one armies to successfully use a phalanx.
A number of enemy army lists are presented to match the Successors:
Galatians are a barbarian spin-off army that uses throwing spears and has few skirmishers,
and includes Scythed Chariots.
Parthians have heavily armored cataphracts supported by horse archers, or they may add in
Hellenistic allies.
Hellenistic Greeks represent the armies that fought the Lamian War (322 BC), against
Galatians at Delphi (279 BC), formed leagues to fight Macedon, and were overthrown by Rome
(146 BC). The army variants are:
Greek Rebellion Army
Spartan Revolt Army
Aetolian League Army
Achaean League Army
Hellenistic Greek Army
Maccabees represent the army of Judas Maccabeus that defied the Seleucid empire and
eventually gained independence for Judea from the failing Seleucids.
In addition there are lists of peripheral troops which include the Mercenaries and
Territorial Troops that made up Successor armies. Sometimes these territorial differences
are what separate one army from the next. The numerous army lists along with the extra
territorial and mercenary selections allow myriads of combinations that will allow the
player to explore different combinations within the same army.
In all there are twenty six armies possible, with some having small variations within
them.
What are the differences between the armies?
As stated above the armies tend to be different based on their peripheral troop
selections, but many have specific core troops that make them totally unique.
The Early Successors are the most similar armies, after all they are just an offshoot of
the Alexander Imperial list of AtG. Some armies have access to special troops like Scythed
Chariots and elite phalanxes, others must make do with mercenaries and utilize their
territorial troop advantages. All these armies have a phalanx and a core of elite
cavalry like Alexander’s army of conquest. All these armies have access to
untowered elephants
The Epirote army is a bridge from the Early Successors to the Successor Empire
armies. This army relies on Galatian auxiliaries in the Greek campaigns and has
access to Italian allies against Rome. This is the first army that used towered elephants.
It is a phalanx army that is augmented by good mercenary cavalry and light troops. It is
one of the most complete combined arms armies in the Successors book.
Successor Empire armies emphasize the differences between the Successors as they settled
in to their wars.
The Seleucid army has the largest army, and has the best cavalry, eventually developing
cataphracts to support the phalanx. Seleucid light troops are not as good quality as some.
Seleucids have access to troops from Anatolia to India, and have the most access to Indian
elephants. Seleucids also offer the ability to form imitation legions.
The Ptolemaic army has access quality mercenary phalanxes augmented by their Egyptian
levies. Ptolemaic armies also include Palestinian, Nubians, Arabs, Galatians
and African elephants in their armies. Ptolemaic imitation legions are included for
player that wish to game the very late empire wars.
The Antigonid army of Macedon has the largest and most feared phalanx, but does not have
as solid cavalry support arm. Antigonids have access to Bastarnae, Galatians, Thracians,
Greeks, and Illyrians. Antigonids are the only army to use staff slingers in the
field.
The Pergamene army is one of looser lighter forces supported by good cavalry. This is a
Successor army that rarely uses a phalanx or elephants, but relies on Galatians to fill
the role of line infantry. The Pergamene army relies heavily on
their outstanding artillery corps.
The Bactrian armies are Eastern armies that had excellent cavalry and
elephants. Their phalanxes were probably not as effectively used as their light
infantry. Bactrians have access to many frontier troops, especially missile cavalry.
The Bactrian Greek version allows access to Indian allies, including longbowmen, but this
far eastern army cannot get many of the choices available to the western armies.
Parthians and Galatians
round out the mix of enemies that could also ally with the Successor states. The Maccabees
are offered as a counter point ot the Later Seleucids. This list focuses on the Maccabean
revolt, intrepid gamers could easily adjust this list to use as Hasmonean for games
against Romans Nabataeans or others.
The Pontic army is a merging of the Persian with the Hellenistic, which
one would expect form this area bypassed by Alexander’s conquests. Persian style
cavalry may choose to have xyston or throwing spears. The phalanx is very ornate, but they
look better than they fight. Numerous other extra cavalry can be chosen from elite
Sarmations to lesser effective Armenian Cataphracts. The army on the whole is brittle but
is very large and seems appropriate for its quirky commander Mithridates VI eupator.
The army uses an abundance of Scythed Chariots, but has no elephants.
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01/28/11