Post by jim1973 on May 17, 2020 13:12:56 GMT
We were on the obligatory family walk today, as the only form of outdoor entertainment allowed, and as we crossed our river here in Melbourne I naturally started to think about DBA.
It is not a big river, perhaps 30-40m across, and about 2m deep. It's not even in the same league as the Nile or Danube, which are listed as possible Waterways in DBA. Yet, I cannot see any meaningful ancient combat occurring across a River such as this, which raises the question of how the ancients fought across rivers and what were the characteristics of these rivers at the time of battle.
Now, stevie has given us a wonderful understanding of how Alexander crossed rivers previously but the idea of crossing anything above knee high in the face of the enemy seems incredulous to me.
Anyway, why am I ranting on the House Rules thread? Well, I thought that one way to negate the River defender terrain tactic is to allow any army to "land" on the defenders side of the river (on either flank) up to three elements exactly like a littoral landing, simulating fording elsewhere by part of the army ( e.g. Battle of the Hydaspes). No need for a new mechanism, just a new opportunity to use it. This may help push rivers to the flanks, which seems more in keeping with historical accounts.
Cheers
Jim
It is not a big river, perhaps 30-40m across, and about 2m deep. It's not even in the same league as the Nile or Danube, which are listed as possible Waterways in DBA. Yet, I cannot see any meaningful ancient combat occurring across a River such as this, which raises the question of how the ancients fought across rivers and what were the characteristics of these rivers at the time of battle.
Now, stevie has given us a wonderful understanding of how Alexander crossed rivers previously but the idea of crossing anything above knee high in the face of the enemy seems incredulous to me.
Anyway, why am I ranting on the House Rules thread? Well, I thought that one way to negate the River defender terrain tactic is to allow any army to "land" on the defenders side of the river (on either flank) up to three elements exactly like a littoral landing, simulating fording elsewhere by part of the army ( e.g. Battle of the Hydaspes). No need for a new mechanism, just a new opportunity to use it. This may help push rivers to the flanks, which seems more in keeping with historical accounts.
Cheers
Jim
