Events After Alexander

Reprinted by permission of HMGS-East

Looking back at all the battles that I have recreated, I think one of the fundamental questions that must be asked is, was this what Alexander intended when he did not name his Successor? This article is a recollection of my recreations at HMGS conventions that pondered this dilemma.

Alexander the Great, master of the known world, died in Babylon during the summer of 323 B.C. When asked, "to whom, Alexander, shall the Empire go?" Alexander replied, "To the strongest." At least, that is what Perdikkas claims he said! From that point on came one of the longest, most brutal, underhanded, ambitious and important periods of history. Unmolested by outside forces, Alexander's cadre of officers had the opportunity to fight for control of the known world using strategy and tactics refined by a genius. What better period could one ask for to recreate on the tabletop?

These were my thoughts when I settled on this period as the basis for the JodieCon event I was crafting. The JodieCon Campaign conventions were a unique opportunity for expanding the typical miniatures wargame, where an operational campaign was run over a three-day weekend with conflicts resolved using miniatures on the tabletop. Held at the U.S. Military Academy Prep School (USMAPS) in Ft. Monmouth, NJ, JodieCons have modeled some of the most important campaigns throughout history. Past conventions included the German invasion of Crete in 1941, Gettysburg 1863, Waterloo 1815, and Monmouth 1778. The website is online at JodieCon.html and here you can read and view many articles and pictures from these exciting events. The JodieCon Campaign series were the brainchild of Major Pete and Jodie Panzeri who organized the logistics of each event. Old Glory miniatures was a major supporter of these campaigns and thousands of their figures were used exclusively at each event. Phil Viverito also graciously consented to support the Successors event with his Classical Hack rules (Classical Hack) and by coming to the event with some of his judges to referee.

After participating in many of the JodieCon Campaigns, I felt that the community ought to be exposed to the Ancient world and that the time after Alexander would fit into the JodieCon concept perfectly. This campaign of the Diacochoi's great funeral games would determine just who was "The Strongest."

The campaign was designed to begin a little after the time of the Babylonian Settlement in 323 BC. When Alexander died the generals present, mostly his Somatophylax (Bodyguard) and Companions (elite heavy Cavalry unit), split the Empire up amongst themselves. Most were merely interested in taking as much power as they could at the expense of the generals that were not present in Babylon. Knowing this, once all had been agreed upon, they gathered what forces they could and fled to their assigned satrapies (provinces) to dig in. Perdikkas' first move after the Settlement was against the satrapy of Cappadocia, which had been bypassed by Alexander during his campaign east. Perdikkas defeated the rebellious Persian satrap (governor) in power there and installed Eumenes as the new satrap. At this moment in history in 322 B.C. the JodieCon Campaign would begin.

The reason for mass conflict came quickly enough as some of the generals were growing leery of Perdikkas' consolidation of power and began to plot against him, whereas others pledged their allegiance to Perdikkas. Thus there are two major sides at the start of this conflict, but as history clearly showed, alliances were made and broken with impunity and the only thing for certain in these matters was utter uncertainty. Each general had finely honed armies trained in the best warfare tactics known to the world thus far. Their theater of war spanned most of the known world, and there were no strong outside influences that could distract or unite them. The stage was set for monumental battles.

At the start of the campaign were seven Hegemon, leaders of one of the seven major factions in the game. Other players took the role of a Strategos within one of the factions, but they were free to enter and leave factions at will (just as they did in history). The Hegemon and Strategos had separate conditions for victory which were not necessarily complementary, creating extra tension for the players involved. This JodieCon was a major undertaking and was scheduled for August of 2000.