Post by stevie on Apr 10, 2021 12:36:04 GMT
Here are some thoughts on re-creating historical campaigns.
An ancient campaign was a yearly affair, ending with a rest in ‘winter quarters’.
Usually (but not always) there was a single major battle fought during that year.
A continuous series of these yearly one battle campaigns made up an entire war.
A war ended when one side either gained a complete victory, or until war weariness
set in and the exhausted parties finally signed a truce.
For example, ignoring any skirmishes, sea battles and sieges:-
Alexander’s conquest of Persia Hannibal’s invasion of Italy
334 BC: Battle of Granicus in Anatolia. 218 BC: Battle of Trebia in Cisalpine Gaul.
333 BC: Battle of Issus in Syria. 217 BC: Battle of Lake Trasimene in Etruria.
332 BC: (Alexander occupies Egypt). 216 BC: Battle of Cannae in Apulia.
331 BC: Battle of Gaugamela in Mesopotamia. 215 BC: (start of delaying tactics, avoiding defeat)
Notice how there was one major battle in each year, and that the defeated army, far from
being smaller, was actually larger (but of a much lower quality) in the following year.
This could be reproduced using the ‘ladder’ map system, suitably illustrated to Mr.E’s
excellent high standards, with each map move representing a single campaign year.
Cromwell’s ‘warchest gold talent coin system’ could be used to raise fresh elements
at the end of each campaigning year, with low quality troops such as Psiloi, Auxiliaries,
and Hordes being far cheaper to recruit than the other more powerful and useful elements,
thus simulating the defeated army becoming larger but of a lower quality after each defeat.
Sometimes it took multiple separate wars before an opponent was finally defeated.
Alexander conquered Persia and Caesar conquered Gaul in a single war, but Rome
had to fight 3 Samnite Wars, 3 Punic Wars, 3 Illyrian Wars, 3 Macedonian Wars, and
3 Mithridatic Wars before these peoples were finally crushed and erased from history.
Therefore some sort of ‘war weariness’ system is needed to prevent inconclusive and
indecisive wars from going on forever (perhaps the war will end after say 5 battles,
so that both sides can tell when their people are becoming tired of the conflict, and
to grab as much territory as they can so that they can start the next war a generation
or two later in a more favourable position?).
However, sometimes several major battles were fought during the course of a single year.
This can be simulated by having each map move representing a single season, with 3 of
these seasons a year with an end of year winter quarters period.
This would require a much longer map, with many more regions (say 4 or 5 times as many).
Perhaps it could be made of three ‘ladders’ running in parallel, say something like this:-
Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region
CAPITAL Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region CAPITAL
Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region
...with the historical terrain in the centre ‘ladder’, but with harsher compulsory terrain in
the upper and lower ‘ladders’, and armies that advance cannot receive any new recruits.
This gives players more freedom and more strategic decisions...although defeated armies
will spend most of their seasonal moves running away and falling back to buy time (and new
recruits) to rebuild their army, until they feel strong enough to face another engagement.
Another consideration is special rules for certain wars.
The Second Punic War 218-202 BC was in fact two separate wars occurring simultaneously,
in both Spain and Italy, with neither side feeling strong enough to assault their rival’s capital
until they had secured victory in Spain (and war weariness didn’t seem to be a problem).
The Peloponnesian Wars of 460-404 BC required the elimination of all the allies before the
enemy capital could be assaulted.
And the Hundred Years War of 1346-1453 was really a series of separate wars, each lead
by a different commander, with the earlier wars being decided by a single major battle.
An ancient campaign was a yearly affair, ending with a rest in ‘winter quarters’.
Usually (but not always) there was a single major battle fought during that year.
A continuous series of these yearly one battle campaigns made up an entire war.
A war ended when one side either gained a complete victory, or until war weariness
set in and the exhausted parties finally signed a truce.
For example, ignoring any skirmishes, sea battles and sieges:-
Alexander’s conquest of Persia Hannibal’s invasion of Italy
334 BC: Battle of Granicus in Anatolia. 218 BC: Battle of Trebia in Cisalpine Gaul.
333 BC: Battle of Issus in Syria. 217 BC: Battle of Lake Trasimene in Etruria.
332 BC: (Alexander occupies Egypt). 216 BC: Battle of Cannae in Apulia.
331 BC: Battle of Gaugamela in Mesopotamia. 215 BC: (start of delaying tactics, avoiding defeat)
Notice how there was one major battle in each year, and that the defeated army, far from
being smaller, was actually larger (but of a much lower quality) in the following year.
This could be reproduced using the ‘ladder’ map system, suitably illustrated to Mr.E’s
excellent high standards, with each map move representing a single campaign year.
Cromwell’s ‘warchest gold talent coin system’ could be used to raise fresh elements
at the end of each campaigning year, with low quality troops such as Psiloi, Auxiliaries,
and Hordes being far cheaper to recruit than the other more powerful and useful elements,
thus simulating the defeated army becoming larger but of a lower quality after each defeat.
Sometimes it took multiple separate wars before an opponent was finally defeated.
Alexander conquered Persia and Caesar conquered Gaul in a single war, but Rome
had to fight 3 Samnite Wars, 3 Punic Wars, 3 Illyrian Wars, 3 Macedonian Wars, and
3 Mithridatic Wars before these peoples were finally crushed and erased from history.
Therefore some sort of ‘war weariness’ system is needed to prevent inconclusive and
indecisive wars from going on forever (perhaps the war will end after say 5 battles,
so that both sides can tell when their people are becoming tired of the conflict, and
to grab as much territory as they can so that they can start the next war a generation
or two later in a more favourable position?).
However, sometimes several major battles were fought during the course of a single year.
This can be simulated by having each map move representing a single season, with 3 of
these seasons a year with an end of year winter quarters period.
This would require a much longer map, with many more regions (say 4 or 5 times as many).
Perhaps it could be made of three ‘ladders’ running in parallel, say something like this:-
Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region
CAPITAL Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region CAPITAL
Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region Region
...with the historical terrain in the centre ‘ladder’, but with harsher compulsory terrain in
the upper and lower ‘ladders’, and armies that advance cannot receive any new recruits.
This gives players more freedom and more strategic decisions...although defeated armies
will spend most of their seasonal moves running away and falling back to buy time (and new
recruits) to rebuild their army, until they feel strong enough to face another engagement.
Another consideration is special rules for certain wars.
The Second Punic War 218-202 BC was in fact two separate wars occurring simultaneously,
in both Spain and Italy, with neither side feeling strong enough to assault their rival’s capital
until they had secured victory in Spain (and war weariness didn’t seem to be a problem).
The Peloponnesian Wars of 460-404 BC required the elimination of all the allies before the
enemy capital could be assaulted.
And the Hundred Years War of 1346-1453 was really a series of separate wars, each lead
by a different commander, with the earlier wars being decided by a single major battle.
Hello here is the first version of the map is a bit greenish after being hosted by pinterest i do not know why, the original file's color are more balanced
