Pyrrhus's Macedonian Wars

I'm continuing Pyrrhus's adventures, this time in Macedon. This campaign is purely fictional, following upon Pyrrhus's defeats in previous campaigns in Italy and Sicily.

Fearful of having Pyrrhus as a close neighbor, Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia, tries to eliminate the Epirote king on the high seas. This merely provokes Pyrrhus. Upon landing in Epirus, Pyrrhus gathers his army and marches into Macedonia.

Battle of Lugios

Antigonus confronts Pyrrhus's invading army near the little (fictional) village of Lugios.

The opposing armies:

• Antigonus (blue) - Archers, pikes, and elite cavalry in the front line, lots of spears in reserve.
• Pyrrhus (red) - Ferocious armored elephants, archers, and elite cavalry in front, spears and armored pikes in reserve.

Pyrrhus unleashes his elephants (left), but the archers pepper the beasts with arrows. The elephants rout. Meanwhile, Pyrrhus's archers are not so accurate. The Macedonian pikes advance through the hail of arrows and cut down the archers.

The Macedonian arrows continue their success. Desperate, Pyrrhus orders his cavalry to charge the enemy's counterpart. There is a brutal melee that leaves both sides blown

Pyrrhus's pikes find themselves alone. They retreat from the field.

Battle of Ambracia

Pyrrhus retires to his home country while Antigonus pursues. Pyrrhus makes a stand at his capital, Ambracia. As Antigonus prepares for a siege, Pyrrhus sallies out to challenge the Macedonians.

• Pyrrhus (red) fields elephants (ferocious armored), pikes (armored), and elite cavalry with spears and archers in reserve.
• Antigonus has archers, pikes (armored), and elite cavalry with 3 spears in reserve.

Pyrrhus drives off the enemy cavalry while his elephants stomp the archers.

The elephants continue their rampage, this time taking out some spearmen.

Pyrrhus then wipes out more spearmen. His cavalry is spent. The elephants then rout more spearmen.

Antigonus abandons the field.

Battle of Telikos

This time Pyrrhus pursues. Outside of the (fictional) town of Telikos, Antigonus confronts Pyrrhus.

Same order of battle as previously.

• Pyrrhus (red) fields elephants (ferocious armored), pikes (armored), and elite cavalry with spears and archers in reserve.
• Antigonus has archers, pikes (armored), and elite cavalry with 3 spears in reserve.

Again, Pyrrhus's elephants scatter the archers. But Pyrrhus's cavalry charge fails and his horsemen rout.

The archers try to stop the Macedonian cavalry. They fail.

The cavalry then overruns some spearmen. On the other flank, more spearmen sacrifice themselves to take out the elephants.

Aftermath

Because his army has suffered many casualties, Antigonus lets Pyrrhus retreat into Epirus.

Later, delegates negotiate a truce between the two kingdoms. But Pyrrhus's eye begins looking for new lands to conquer (try to at least). When will he ever learn?