The Battle of Halicarnassus, also known as the Siege of Halicarnassus, is a historical battle fought between Alexander the Great of Macedon and Orontobates of the Persian Empire in 334 BC. It is featured in Rome: Total War: Alexander as a historical battle. You take on the role of Alexander the Great as he besieges the settlement.
Description[]
Battle objectives
- Capture settlement
- Destroy or rout all enemies.
In 334 BC with the crossing of the Hellespont complete, convinced by the Granicus victory that he would have no need of a means of retreat and most importantly weary of meeting its high upkeep costs, Alexander dismissed his fleet. He planned to defeat the Persian navy by different and indirect means: be seizing all Persian-held ports.
With the Persians in temporary disarray Alexander began seizing the coast cities in his path. Many of these were nominally Greek anyway, though they had acknowledged Persian masters for some time previously. The town of Miletos offered some resistance but inevitably fell. Halicarnassus was a different matter though. The defences were good an Memnon of Rhodes had arrived to rally the Persians. Unwilling to leave this difficult target a thorn in his side, Alexander besieged the city, eager to sweep aside the defenders before they could escape to cause trouble elsewhere...
Units[]
Alexander's army is smaller than the Persian army, but it is more well trained, with higher veterancy infantry as well as damage buffs to most of his units (+2 (silver) damage buffs). By comparison, the Persian melee infantry is formed nearly exclusively of Greek mercenary infantry, while the few Persian melee units are fresh troops with no buffs or veterancy. The Macedonian army is lacking cavalry, however, something the Persians have several units of, though both sides have several missile infantry troops. The difficulty of this battle comes from the fact that the Macedonians, and therefore the player, is assaulting a walled city in a siege battle.
Alexander the Great (Macedon)
Alexander's army is comprised exclusively of infantry, both heavy and missile of about equal numbers, though there are more missile units overall. There is absolutely no cavalry other than Alexander himself. The army breakdown is as follows:
- Alexander x1
- Hypaspists x5
- Phalangists x6
- Agrianian Javelinmen x2
- Cretan Archers x2
Orontobates (Persia)
The Persian army is comprised of around a third cavalry units. The melee infantry is split at around half Greek mercenaries commanded by Memnon of Rhodes and regular Persian infantry, though the mercenaries are more veteran than the Persians. There are also a few archer units for the Persians. The army breakdown is as follows:
- Mercenary General's Bodyguard x1
- Greek Mercenary Infantry x5
- Immortals x3
- Mardian Archer x4
- Heavy Bactrian Cavalry x1
- Barcanian Horsemen x2
- Scythian Mounted Archers x2
- Kardakes x2
Gallery[]
