Making The Mongols Better.

An interesting idea Robert.

If I understand you correctly, you’re saying have the Mongols roll for PIP’s as normal,
but their opponents use the ‘Blind General Hidden PIP’s’ procedure, so they won’t
know in advance how many PIP’s they’ll have to spend, making decisions trickier.

My only concern is how this would be applied to other similar mounted armies.
Would the I/43abc Kimmerians & Scythians, the II/37 Parthians, the II/38abc Hsiung-nu &
Juan-Juan, the II/58 Alans, the II/61abcd Wu-huan & Hsien-pi, the II/69a Sassanids,
the II/80abcd Huns, the III/6b Emishi, the III/13a Avars, the III/14a Bulgars,
the III/30ab Magyars, the III/74ab Seljuq Turks, the III/80 Cumans, the IV/46 Ilkhanids,
all receive the same ability?

And what about those armies with about 50% of their elements being LH, such as
the II/40 Numidians and the II/57 Later Moors and the like…would these be exempt?
If so, why?
Just where will the cut-off point be?

Or should it only apply to the IV/35 Mongol Conquest Army, as they did create a
phenomenally large empire (but the same could be said of the Huns, who’s own
empire only fell apart after Attila’s death because he never had the insight to
impose a strict bureaucratic and administrative system like Genghis Khan did…
…which in no way reflects on the Huns mobility and effectiveness on the battlefield).

There are other ways of improving LH, such as:-
        Joe Collins “LH move for free in the first bound” (see fanaticus.boards.net/thread/3202/request-playtesting )
        Paddy’s “LH only pay ½ a PIP to move” (see fanaticus.boards.net/post/25578/ )
        My own “LH ignore overlaps, like Ps” (see fanaticus.boards.net/post/30985/ )
        “Invaders get to choose the table size” (as mentioned by Timurilank above)
         …not forgetting of course Phil Barker’s own “LH get rear-support”.
(Of these five, I’d use at least four of them together.
Now who says a LH army are wimps! )

Robert, I play tested a lot of mods with my Mongols and Skythians trying to make them historically representative. What worked for me was leaving all the factors the same BUT allowing LH or groups of entirely LH move for 1/2 PIP. It doesn’t make them disproportionately good but it does address the inherent bias BDA has against LH. Try it - it works!

I tried this, and even with armies that are low LH, it helps them out too. It's a great rule. Not overpowering, but makes them a little more nimble.

Try this:

Give Mongol LH Evade:

Convert a Destroyed Result into a Flee Result if the losing Element has a higher Movement Allowance in the Terrain occupied by either Element. This applies in Close and Ranged Combat but is negated by Bow armed Elements in Close Combat.

This allows them to dash away from danger and draw opponents forward. If you use this rule you can get rid of the "Shock" Result against Knights as they now draw Pursuing Knights forward where they can be cut off and Hard Flanked (the actual Mongol tactic).

In addition make Mongols Fast (so they gain +1MA but Recoil on Equals from non-Fast). Using some Fast Cav to represent some Mongol Elements also helps (you could consider giving them Evade too).

I've pondered allowing them to ignore Corner Overlaps like Ps but have not tried this yet. The above rules have been playtested and work well.

Thomas J. Thomas
Fame & Glory Games