The Battle of Gaugamela is a historical battle fought between Alexander the Great of Macedon and Darius III of the Persian Empire in 331 BC. It is featured in Rome: Total War: Alexander as a historical battle. You take on the role of Alexander the Great as he fights an extremely large Persian army.
Description[]
Battle objectives
- Destroy or rout all enemies.
After a visit to Egypt, Alexander set out once again to face the Persian king Darius. Alexander waited in Tyre expecting Darius to attack, but the Persian king was determined to make Alexander come to him. Eventually Alexander left Tyre and headed East with his army into Persia.
Darius offered no armed resistance to Alexander's progress into his territory, but sent the Babylonian satrap Mazaeus to shadow the Macedonian army. Mazaeus burned crops and moved already harvested grain to safer storage to deny Alexander a source of food. In doing so, he forced Alexander to move North. Darius was luring Alexander to his chosen battleground.
The Persian King set out his army in Assyria, not far from the ruins of Nineveh. With a far larger army and a wide plain on which to deploy it, Darius would appear to have the advantage by far. But an astronomical event on the eve of battle fortelling doom for the king of Persia seeded widespread panic in the Persian army. Despite their crushing numerical advantage they must have marched to fight the next day believing the end of the Persian Empire was at hand.
Units[]
Both sides have heavily elite units, with at least silver veterancy ranks for every unit and some sort of buff to their attack and defence. The Macedonian army is small and a mix of cavalry and infantry, while the Persians have overwhelming numbers. However, the Persian infantry is far weaker than the Macedonians all around, so what they have in number they lack in effectiveness. Still, the Persians have elephants and chariots at their disposal that could prove a problem for the Macedonians, as well as a good number of missile cavalry.
Alexander the Great (Macedon)
Alexander's army has a core of spear infantry, with a few supporting missile units and some elite, highly veteran cavalry, as well as Alexander himself of course. The army breakdown is as follows:
- Alexander x1
- Companion Cavalry x2
- Phalangists x5
- Cretan Archers x1
- Allied Cavalry x1
- Hypaspists x1
Darius III (Persia)
Once again, Darius has numbers on his side, sporting overwhelming numbers of infantry, though they are only basic spear infantry, as well as a unit of elephants and some chariots to boot. The army breakdown is as follows:
- Persian General's Bodyguard x1
- Greek Mercenary Infantry x2
- Immortals x2
- Hillmen x2
- Persian Infantry x8
- War Elephants x1
- Persian Scythed Chariots x2
Persian second army
The second Persian army is smaller than Darius' main one, featuring a few more units of spear infantry but also bringing along a unit of missile cavalry as well as some good heavy cavalry. The army breakdown is as follows:
- Heavy Bactrian Cavalry x2
- Scythian Mounted Archers x1
- Persian Infantry x4
Persian third army
The third and final Persian army is the smallest of the bunch, consisting of just four units and is made purely of cavalry. There's more heavy cavalry here, though two of the units also double as more good missile cavalry armed with javelins. The army breakdown is as follows:
- Syrian Cavalry x2
- Hyrcanian Cavalry x2
Gallery[]
