Thoughts on Sp vs Kn

There is a possible alternative:-
See fanaticus.boards.net/post/10089/

And a similar thing happened to the Scots Greys at Waterloo…
…once they charged, they just kept going and couldn’t be rallied.
(See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Scots_Greys#Waterloo )

I have since done much playtesting with this idea, and it works quite well.
Especially at Carrhae in 53 BC, with the Roman legionaries and cavalry
occasionally pursuing the recoiling and fleeing Parthian horse archers,
drawing them out of position. And the engagement at Lechaeum in 391 BC,
where Iphicrates’ peltasts destroyed a Spartan ‘mora’ of 600 men by drawing
them out of position and surrounding them.
(See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lechaeum#Battle )
It even works at Magnesia in 190 BC to make Antiochus and his right wing
cataphracts pursue the broken legionaries back to their camp (in DBA, 4Kn
are not supposed to pursue, even though there are several historical examples
of them doing just that).

Having random pursuit might seem a bit harsh on weak troops, but Psiloi usually
flee from most foot, and Auxiliaries have to beat the Blades combat score in the
first place…an Ax has only 3 chances out of 36 of pursuing a Bd or side-supported Sp,
and only 2 chances out of 36 of pursuing a Pk column.

Having said that, it’s only fair that I mention that my mates don’t like it (Philistines).
They say it’s purely luck based, and there is already too much luck in DBA as it is.
They much prefer their little metal soldiers to always obey orders, as if they were
nothing more than remote radio controlled robots, that always do as they are told
and never have independent minds of their own.

Or, if you want wargames where troops don't always obey orders then maybe play WRG 6th edition or similar, where you have to roll for morale and then check actions allowed against the different morale class of each unit involved.

Of course a game can take about 3hours to play and I think I've seen more arguments and heated debates over WRG 6th Edition games than any other rule set.

Come come, gentlemen.  Put it behind you.

My Swiss finished a few. 🪓😁⚒️

We did add a house rule for campaigns that if a unit routed only a General could attempt to rally it by joining the unit(often in route!).