Events after JodieCon: Fall-In 2000

Considering how much time and effort I had expended on the JodieCon that occurred just after Historicon, and also the amount of player enthusiasm I had encountered, I was encouraged to keep the theme going and run further Diadochoi events at HMGS conventions. I decided to keep things moving forward from the time period the JodieCon Campaign took place in and so my battles focused on one of the main contenders of the early Diadochoi period, Eumenes.

At Fall-In 2000, I ran "Brother vs. Ancient Brother" alluding to the fact that these generals were once all allied with one another under Alexander. The battle for the Hellespont (321 BC; Diodorus 18: 29-32) was one of the first battles fought after Alexander's death in the Successors' civil war. Eumenes, a firm ally of the leading Successor, Perdikkas, was sent to the Hellespont to block Antipater and Craterus from crossing into Asia and meddling in his plans of taking over Alexander's Empire intact. Perdikkas meanwhile traveled south to deal with Ptolemy's growing power in Egypt. Eumenes was to take Perdikkas' brother Alcetas and Neoptolemus with him on the campaign.

Neoptolemus however was jealous of Eumenes, a mere Greek with so much power over Macedonians, and thus plotted against him with Antipater. On being discovered, the faction commanded by Neoptolemus fought against Eumenes but were soundly defeated. Neoptolemus ran with what cavalry forces he had left to Antipater and Craterus.

Antipater and Craterus meanwhile were able to easily cross the Hellespont into Asia. They held a war council and decided to send Antipater directly south towards Perdikkas to overwhelm him. Craterus, meanwhile, was to deal with Eumenes and then join Antipater in the south. Sensing time for revenge, Neoptolemus joined Craterus' army to fight against the miserable Greek, Eumenes.

Both commanders were able to field 20,000 infantry but Eumenes barely had time to gather a phalanx and properly train them, whereas Craterus brought veteran infantry to the battlefield who were rather inspired by their charismatic leader. Eumenes (despite being a Greek) was an excellent battlefield commander and sensing a weakness in Craterus' cavalry force of 2000, decided to gather a larger and better cavalry force of 5000 men in an attempt to thwart the Craterus' better infantry.

Both leaders decided to line up their phalanxes in the center with cavalry on the wings. Light infantry, while not specifically mentioned, were presumably in front. Craterus commanded the cavalry on his right and assigned the left to Neoptolemus. This put Eumenes directly across from his nemesis; Alcetas I decided to put on Eumenes' left wing.

Craterus and his wing were fighting in advance of the phalangites but his horse stumbled causing him to fall whereupon he was trampled to death. This caused the wing to panic and they were forced back to the phalanx line. On the left wing, things were getting personal. Eumenes and Neoptolemus recognized one another and came together in personal combat. The two exchanged blows and then pulled or knocked each other off their horses. After a brief struggle on foot, Eumenes struck Neoptolemus in the neck and killed him. This caused the left wing to flee to the phalanx line. Craterus' army signaled defeat.