Fighting BUA

Hi Erik

First up you need to define what type of BUA. If it's a city or fort then yes the defenders get +4 to their tactical factor if in close combat or shot at. However note the para on page 10 'Close combat against a city, fort or camp' you fight foot factors for both attacker and defender.

For results see the first line(s) under each combat results section (i.e. if you draw, lose or double) on page 11. Generally defenders of cities or forts or camps either survive or are destroyed.

Not sure why you think defenders are easy to kick out, e.g. even an Ax on 3 + 4 =7 against anything else should be fairly secure. On a straight fight even a Blade would have to outscore it on the dice by 3 or more to destroy it. Put a blade or spear in there and they are pretty secure.

Hope that helps
Mark

Yes Stevie there are quirks in the rules.

I think my favourite re BUA is if you have Art shooting out they do so on a factor of 2, but as soon as enemy Art shoots at them, their own shooting factor goes up to 6, as they get the +4 for being shot at.

Lesson:- don't use Art to shoot at other Art in a city or fort!

yes, it's true if you let several ennemies units free to attack your beloved city or Fort, after all it's a strategic pt!
most of the time ennemies try to assault camp, as it's easier than besiege a city or Fort!

Here is a cunning little trick you could play (which although cheesy and exploitative, is still allowed)...
...use a City as a trap to get an easy ‘quick kill’ on an enemy element.

The Situation
Have something weak defending the City (denizens will do nicely), but have a couple of powerful
friendly foot elements already in front-edge contact with the opposite side of the BUA.
The assaulting enemy will easily win, move in, and begin sacking.
Next bound your troops, with their front-edges already in contact with the defences, will automatically
counter-attack for no PIP cost...and since sacking troops do not get the defence bonus, and will be
destroyed if they recoil, it’s the same as a ‘quick kill’.
(I’m assuming that your victorious counter-assaulting troops don’t sack their own City (!), so they’ll
automatically become the new garrison as soon as they move in, and can claim the defence bonus)

The relevant rules are: page 7 paragraph 3 says:-
“Sacking: When a garrison or denizens are destroyed in close combat, any one assaulting enemy element
 (except elephants or a mobile tower) occupies the city and sacks it until its player has a PIP score of 5 or 6.
 The sacking element can then either garrison the city if eligible to do so (mounted cannot become a garrison), or vacate it.
 Prior to that, the sacking element doesn’t get the garrison tactical factor in close combat and cannot shoot or be shot at.”

...and Winning the Battle on page 12 says:-
“Victory: A city occupied by the enemy during the battle which has not been re-captured or been subject to a revolt counts
 as 2 elements lost if it was used as a camp, or 1 if used with a camp.”

There is a rather major flaw to this trap, which turns it into a "self-trap" really.
I would be absolutely delighted if an opponent presented me with this proposition, delighted.

No, I'm not going to tell, I don't want to ruin the problem for everybody else, not sporting.

Also, who knows, you might be tempted to use the ploy if we ever meet, which would be nice (both, the meeting, and the use of the trap)

Ha!  You have the advantage because I wouldn’t use such an obviously flawed and exploitative ploy.
Nonetheless, once the Covid lock-downs have ceased, I wouldn’t mind demonstrating ‘City Traps’...
...not because I think it’s a good tactic with no flaws, but because I like to play realistically and I
would just use it to demonstrate that sacking is another one of those “wouldn’t it be a good idea if”
rules that has not been playtested properly to identify all its ramifications and side effects.

I suppose players could follow the sacking rules to the letter where it says “any one assaulting
enemy element (except elephants or a mobile tower) occupies the city and sacks it”, giving the
assaulting troops the choice of which element moves in...which in itself is a daft rule, as simple
common sense would dictate that the assaulting element that climbed the scaling ladders and
fought their way onto the battlements should be the element that storms into the City first...
...not some other blokes who were merely using their ladders as a decoy to distract the defenders.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter: whoever enters the City will sack it, not have the defence bonus, and
will be destroyed when they recoil (plus the counter-assaulters could also choose who moves in).

                                                 -----------------------------

A question for the DBA community:-
Should friendly troops recapturing their own city be treated as if they were ‘sacking’ the place
(thereby making ‘City Traps’ less viable), or should they not sack their own city and automatically
become the new garrison with the full defence bonus as soon as they make a successful assault?
(thereby making ‘City Traps’ more attractive for the defender and the original owner of the city)

The sacking rules on page 7 don’t specifically say either way.