Post by stevie on Dec 10, 2017 12:14:27 GMT
Good points as always Timurilank.
I just have a couple of observations.
Yes, you’re right about ‘Bold Commanders’ usually being the ones to conduct flank marches and ambushes.
But this is not always the case.
I wouldn’t class Xerxes as bold, but he did use a flank march to surround the Spartans at Thermopylae.
In many cases it was just good fortune that caused troops to arrive from a direction that the enemy was not expecting, such as happened to Pyrrhus at Asculum, to the Gauls at Telamon, to the Romans at Adrianople, to the Seljuk Turks at Dorylaeum, and to the Lancastrians at Towton.
And although LH and Ps were usually the troops of choice when planning an ambush, in many of the historical examples listed above it was heavier troops that conducted the arrival from an unexpected direction.
But I do see what you mean; yes, on a wide table you can often orchestrate what looks like a wide flank march…
…but these lack the surprise effect of a true flank march or ambush, as your opponent can see them coming.
As for the victory conditions, we found that having just 9 elements facing 12 was sufficient incentive to attack them!
Anyway, it’s a lot simpler than having the victory conditions going up and down depending upon who has or hasn’t arrived.
One last thing about campaigns.
The aggression roll of ‘3’ is fine for a single one-off game, but it is luck dependent.
A better system for a series of say 5 or more games, or for a campaign of an unknown number of battles, is to give each player a card with a particular stratagem written on it, which they can only use once.
Alexander for example could keep a “Flank March or Ambush” card in his pocket when he fights at Granicus, Issus, and Gaugamela, but if the Persians flood the table with bad going (such as the difficult hills at the Persian Gates), he could use the card to conduct a wide off-table outflanking manoeuvre in order to get behind them.
Darius on the other hand would have a different card saying “Two Extra Elements Available” (chosen from the most common elements in his current army), which he could use once to simulate the huge Persian force at Gaugamela.
This would give players more freedom and allow them to be more cunning when to use such stratagems…
…but they need to think carefully, as they could only use their card once, so they had better not waste it.
(I plan on posting several more of the most common frequently used stratagems sometime in the coming months)
Some potentially useful player aids can be found here, including the latest June 2017 FAQ and the Quick Reference Sheets from the Society of Ancients:-
fanaticus-dba.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Reference_sheets_and_epitomes
I just have a couple of observations.
Yes, you’re right about ‘Bold Commanders’ usually being the ones to conduct flank marches and ambushes.
But this is not always the case.
I wouldn’t class Xerxes as bold, but he did use a flank march to surround the Spartans at Thermopylae.
In many cases it was just good fortune that caused troops to arrive from a direction that the enemy was not expecting, such as happened to Pyrrhus at Asculum, to the Gauls at Telamon, to the Romans at Adrianople, to the Seljuk Turks at Dorylaeum, and to the Lancastrians at Towton.
And although LH and Ps were usually the troops of choice when planning an ambush, in many of the historical examples listed above it was heavier troops that conducted the arrival from an unexpected direction.
But I do see what you mean; yes, on a wide table you can often orchestrate what looks like a wide flank march…
…but these lack the surprise effect of a true flank march or ambush, as your opponent can see them coming.
As for the victory conditions, we found that having just 9 elements facing 12 was sufficient incentive to attack them!
Anyway, it’s a lot simpler than having the victory conditions going up and down depending upon who has or hasn’t arrived.
One last thing about campaigns.
The aggression roll of ‘3’ is fine for a single one-off game, but it is luck dependent.
A better system for a series of say 5 or more games, or for a campaign of an unknown number of battles, is to give each player a card with a particular stratagem written on it, which they can only use once.
Alexander for example could keep a “Flank March or Ambush” card in his pocket when he fights at Granicus, Issus, and Gaugamela, but if the Persians flood the table with bad going (such as the difficult hills at the Persian Gates), he could use the card to conduct a wide off-table outflanking manoeuvre in order to get behind them.
Darius on the other hand would have a different card saying “Two Extra Elements Available” (chosen from the most common elements in his current army), which he could use once to simulate the huge Persian force at Gaugamela.
This would give players more freedom and allow them to be more cunning when to use such stratagems…
…but they need to think carefully, as they could only use their card once, so they had better not waste it.
(I plan on posting several more of the most common frequently used stratagems sometime in the coming months)
Some potentially useful player aids can be found here, including the latest June 2017 FAQ and the Quick Reference Sheets from the Society of Ancients:-
fanaticus-dba.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Reference_sheets_and_epitomes
