So I've heard a few times that Punic Wars and Successors are now better under 3.0 in that the two historical sides are more balanced against one another...
My question/discussion is why? What rule changes (or army list changes?) caused this to be true?
Is it the side support? The Ps improvement? The rear support surviving (on another thread) better? What happened?
As a Punic player, who dabbles in Early Greek Hoplites, I'm not complaining but would love to know what events precipitated this improvement?
Discuss...!
The short answer to your many questions is, "Yes".
For Punic Wars...
The starting point I would guess is the army lists. Including the Romans 4Ax allies in the army list is a major addition. It really helps to simulate the Punic war battles.
The same can be said for including the Gauls as 4Ax... again, this takes away weirdness of the Gallic Warbands fighting in ways they didn't.
Both these changes would have helped the fight in 2.2 as well.
The real changes come with the rules...
Blades are now impetuous. This certainly helps to produce Cannae like situations with the Romans pursuing into possible danger.
Spears now have side support. Though the Carthaginian list has a weird 3 Spears (give them 4 during the 1st & 2nd Punic Wars) the Spear may now fight on almost an even playing field with Blade. Again a Cannae like occurrence is now possible.
Ps now fight as light skirmishers... this is self explanatory.
Solid Auxilia take their proper place against Cav. Having a +3 vs mounted, recoiling them on equal scores, and killing them on a double give 4Ax a powerful role against Cavalry.
Elephants are now decent... under 2.2 they were dreadful.
The constricted setup helps prevent Roman single lines and encourages deployment in depth.
For the Pike era...
Pikes are now impetuous. They cost no pips to keep in combat.
Elements must conform. If I could have a dollars for everyone that "cocked" and element at an angle in 2.2 and prevented my pikes from contacting...The rules for moving into contact may be the most significant change of all.
Elephants as stated above.
4Ax as stated above.
All the above conspires to make these period play much better. A simple change in the recoil rules for Ax and the addition of grading factors make it just about perfect in my mind.
I would rate Hannibal's Spanish and Gauls as Superior.
I would rate 1/3 the Punic War Blades as Inferior.
I would rate 1/2 the Successor Pike as Superior (Silver Shields and whatnot)
Alexander's Hypaspists are Superior as are the Companions...
That about sums it up for me.
Joe Collins
