The I/14a ‘4Bw’ warriors...

Those are some good thoughts Arnopov.

I must confess that in my mind I always equate 3Bw as loose formation ‘irregulars’ while
4Bw are close formation ‘regulars’. Indeed, I tend to apply this to other foot as well, such
as irregular loose formation 3Ax and regular close formation 4Ax (although some 4Ax are
just naturally stubborn irregulars), and irregular disordered loose formation 3Wb and
naturally stubborn irregular close formation 4Wb.

It helps to explain why DBA ‘fast’ troops move quicker...it’s their formation, or lack of it,
that determines their speed, not their training or the amount of equipment they carry.

Of course things are different for mounted troops. Cavalry and 3Kn, be they irregular or
regular, are always in a loose formation, while Cataphract 4Kn are always in a tight close
formation (and LH are always in an open spread-out skirmish formation, as are Psiloi).

Speaking of Psiloi, I think this troop type would be far more appropriate for the I/14a
Early Bronze Age North European warriors. Their primitive bows are not going to be
nearly as powerful as later versions (and certainly not as good as composite or recurved
bows) so should have a shorter range and much less killing power.
Psiloi fits the bill well.

Oh, and while I am in rant mode...
...I simply refuse to believe that every single Early Bronze Age bowman laid-down his
weapon at exactly 1 minute past midnight on January the 1st in the year 1400 BC!
It is far more reasonable to assume that this transition was a gradual process, and that
some tribes persisted using their older traditional weapons and didn’t get the memo
(this was the pre-broadband era after all).
So I want my I/14a Psiloi armies to have I/14b Auxiliary armies as an enemy as well.
                                                            

Arnopov is correct the Bow mess was the result of committee compromise. For many months Bow were +3 v. foot when shooting like DBMM but the DBA Old Guard revolted and so Phil lowered it (and then they left anyway).

So stuff got taped on to do what we could. LBs & Cbs got Cry Havoc v. Knights etc. But problem remains: good bow are one of the most effective troops types of the period while crap bow were one of the lest effective (shooting a bow esp a big militarily significant bow is very difficult requires high skill - to shoot in organized volleys requires high disciple or long standing experience).

The solution fortunately is simple and well within standard DBX mechanics: Shooters +3/+4; Bow +2/+4 - so you have long end massed shooters to torment unarmored horses and high end shooters able to stand up to even Heavy Foot in the right conditions. Also they need to be able to outshoot their lessers. If your playing in an era, or with a particular army where bow is significant, you need to use D3H2 which solves this problem.

TomT