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Post by jim1973 on May 1, 2019 13:35:51 GMT
Hi all.
Asking for some advice for Saxons facing a raiding Viking army. Seemed to be getting trounced and not really causing any damage. Any ideas would be welcome!
Cheers
Jim
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Post by mark leslie on May 2, 2019 3:44:44 GMT
Helmets? What TV has taught me is that combat efficiency increases markedly the fewer helmets evident. Your welcome!  |
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Post by Cromwell on May 2, 2019 6:45:26 GMT
Not having played this combo I cannot really give much help. But to my mind perhaps using terrain to your advantage. Keep the shield wall as it were whilst trying to disrupt and isolate or overlap the Viking units.
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Post by jim1973 on May 2, 2019 11:20:19 GMT
I was thinking along similar lines. I suspect that creating a battlefield where you can bookend your line of Spears with terrain would help. The fast Blades can still fight at +3 in the terrain and Saxons only have 1 Ps. I'll have to look at the Allies.
Jim
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Post by paulisper on May 2, 2019 12:07:02 GMT
Get on a hill... and stay there đ
P
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eg407
Beneficiarii
Posts: 97
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Post by eg407 on May 2, 2019 13:49:01 GMT
To be fair, a large number of Saxon armies were smashed by raiding Vikings in history! So it is an expected outcome.
Allies with mounted, or possibly using your single PS to block recoils once the lines are joined? The use of terrain is also a possible, but take care as your relatively static Sp will be easily outflanked by 3Bd!
The only other trick I know is to try not rolling 1s!
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Post by medievalthomas on May 2, 2019 21:03:55 GMT
Well we (really Joe Collins) put in the Shieldwall (side support) rule to a help the Saxons v. Vikings. Try this allow both side support AND rear support for Spears.
TomT
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Post by lkmjbc on May 2, 2019 22:10:37 GMT
Side support plus recoil on equal scores mean that the Saxons have a slight advantage in combat. Against the "Fast" blade however, this is difficult. Terrain is somewhat helpful. Hills are good if you are on them... small woods can help a small amount as the vikings can't group move through them.
Another huge change is that the Saxons have 3x 4Bd. This is a nice step up over 2.2.
So, in short...
Try to get on a hill.
Try to engage as many as possible... once they are in combat... they can't out-maneuver you.
Remember that you lost in the end historically.
Joe Collins
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Post by Haardrada on May 3, 2019 4:48:43 GMT
Far from it for me to side with the Saxons but I'm suprised no one has suggested a river.
At the very least it could slow the Vikings down.
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Post by timurilank on May 4, 2019 8:30:03 GMT
Joe mentioned the Saxons having 3 x 4Bd, but adding a Viking ally can double that number or if you are feeling lucky add the Berserkers (3Wb).
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Post by primuspilus on May 17, 2019 4:22:47 GMT
Side support plus recoil on equal scores mean that the Saxons have a slight advantage in combat. Against the "Fast" blade however, this is difficult. Terrain is somewhat helpful. Hills are good if you are on them... small woods can help a small amount as the vikings can't group move through them. Another huge change is that the Saxons have 3x 4Bd. This is a nice step up over 2.2. So, in short... Try to get on a hill. Try to engage as many as possible... once they are in combat... they can't out-maneuver you. Remember that you lost in the end historically. Joe Collins Actually, Joe, no, the Saxoms combined with the Romano-British, and then they (under Alfred) thumped the Danes pretty well (they were not called Vikings till the Victorian era, apparently). Guthrum was forced to convert to Christianity, and the Lodbrokks seem to have vanished after a short period. But Anglo-Saxon language and writing survived, and displaced spoken Norse. The armies of Wessex were tough to beat! |
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Post by jim1973 on May 17, 2019 8:21:20 GMT
Side support plus recoil on equal scores mean that the Saxons have a slight advantage in combat. Against the "Fast" blade however, this is difficult. Terrain is somewhat helpful. Hills are good if you are on them... small woods can help a small amount as the vikings can't group move through them. Another huge change is that the Saxons have 3x 4Bd. This is a nice step up over 2.2. So, in short... Try to get on a hill. Try to engage as many as possible... once they are in combat... they can't out-maneuver you. Remember that you lost in the end historically. Joe Collins Actually, Joe, no, the Saxoms combined with the Romano-British, and then they (under Alfred) thumped the Danes pretty well (they were not called Vikings till the Victorian era, apparently). Guthrum was forced to convert to Christianity, and the Lodbrokks seem to have vanished after a short period. But Anglo-Saxon language and writing survived, and displaced spoken Norse. The armies of Wessex were tough to beat! I think also I missed a trick with terrain deployment. I will look at how I can give the Saxons the best chance to anchor their spears even if not all of them are in line. It's one of the thoughts that keep plaguing me with spear-Heavy armies. Do you look for terrain where you can deploy 8-10 elements in a shieldwall (which also looks great and historical)? Do you sacrifice width for a better chance to secure the flanks (IMHO most srmies didn't have reserves in the ancient period (except Romans)? Decisions, decisions...That's why DBA 3 is so enjoyable! Jim |
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Post by primuspilus on May 17, 2019 14:18:02 GMT
Hi Jim, got any archers? lol...
Also I read somewhere that the Saxons may have at least had a small capacity for cavalry (didn't Ragnar lead a raid specofically to seize large numbers of ... horses? Presumably to build Cv/LH of his own to counter Wessex/Mercia?). You may want to look at allowing some (small?) mounted contingent for Saxons. An ally perhaps?
Bd are a bit more vulnerable to mounted than to foot, and Sp/LH/Cv make a fun combo.
My suspicion is the Danes would never have built such a trading empire without some ability to use and deploy horse formations from somewhere at some level as well. Like hoplite armies, I suspect Saxon and Danish armies were more Cv-heavy than the contemporaneous writers celebrate?
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Post by Tony Aguilar on May 17, 2019 14:52:24 GMT
Which Saxon Army?
Which Viking army - III/40b or c?
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Post by jim1973 on May 18, 2019 5:16:07 GMT
Which Saxon Army? Which Viking army - III/40b or c? The campaign was set in 791AD. So Middle Anglo-Saxon III/24b v Viking III/40a. Cheers Jim |
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