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Post by timurilank on Feb 22, 2017 21:20:01 GMT
With the standard 12 element per army the deployment area is restricted to an area 4BW from the side edges and 3BW from the centre line. Certain troop types may deploy to 2BW from the side edge.
Question: When using the big battle option are players doubling that distance to 8BW allowing certain troop types to deploy no closer than 4BW?
I have not thought much about this until recently as we shall be playing Magnesia 190 BC soon.
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Post by stevie on Feb 23, 2017 12:06:20 GMT
Nobody else has answered this interesting question, so I’ll have a go:- I don’t know. It depends on what size of BBDBA table you plan on using. Normal DBA has battlefields either 15 or 20 BW square. And BBDBA is doubles the width...so a BBDBA table could be either 30 or 40 BW wide. On a small 15 BW wide table the deployment zone for ‘heavy troops’ is 7 BW. Double this to a BBDBA 30 BW table, but also doubling the ‘exclusion zone’ to 8 BW, will still leave 14 BW to deploy heavy troops in, which sounds ok (a double sized table with a double sized 14 BW deployment area)...but you’ll have to cram a triple sized army (36 elements) into an area that is only double the normal DBA size. Some potentially useful player aids can be found here, including the latest FAQ and the Quick Reference Sheets from the Society of Ancients:- fanaticus-dba.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Reference_sheets_and_epitomes
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Post by timurilank on Feb 23, 2017 14:59:38 GMT
Nobody else has answered this interesting question, so I’ll have a go:- I don’t know. It depends on what size of BBDBA table you plan on using. Normal DBA has battlefields either 15 or 20 BW square. And BBDBA is doubles the width...so a BBDBA table could be either 30 or 40 BW wide. On a small 15 BW wide table the deployment zone for ‘heavy troops’ is 7 BW. Double this to a BBDBA 30 BW table, but also doubling the ‘exclusion zone’ to 8 BW, will still leave 14 BW to deploy heavy troops in, which sounds ok (a double sized table with a double sized 14 BW deployment area)...but you’ll have to cram a triple sized army (36 elements) into an area that is only double the normal DBA size. Some potentially useful player aids can be found here, including the latest FAQ and the Quick Reference Sheets from the Society of Ancients:- fanaticus-dba.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Reference_sheets_and_epitomes
Our standard board is 80 cm x 80 cm which doubled for big battle is 160 x 80 cm. (40BW x 20BW). Reducing the deployment by 8BW in place of 4BW would leave a deployment area of 24BW for heavy troops. I posed the question as not doing so troops could nearly reach board edge to board edge.
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Post by twrnz on Feb 24, 2017 0:30:31 GMT
I've not changed the deployment restrictions in any of the BBDBA games I've played, and to avoid confusion I use a table 1.2m in width. It seemed to work well at Conquest last year where we had a three round BBDBA competition. I'm sure people would have made me aware of issues if they encountered any.
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Post by stevie on Feb 24, 2017 7:41:51 GMT
It depends on what size of BBDBA table you plan on using. Our standard board is 80 cm x 80 cm which doubled for big battle is 160 x 80 cm. (40BW x 20BW). Reducing the deployment by 8BW in place of 4BW would leave a deployment area of 24BW for heavy troops. I posed the question as not doing so troops could nearly reach board edge to board edge. Well, if playing on a 40 by 20 BW BBDBA table then yes, as you say, there would be enough deployment room. A 30 BW wide BBDBA table, with normal 4 BW ‘exclusion zones’ = a 22 BW deployment area for heavy troops. A 40 BW wide BBDBA table, with doubled 8 BW ‘exclusion zones’ = a 24 BW deployment area for heavy troops. So I say go for it, as battlefields always look better with a nice wide gap between the protagonists and the table edge. Some potentially useful player aids can be found here, including the latest FAQ and the Quick Reference Sheets from the Society of Ancients:- fanaticus-dba.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Reference_sheets_and_epitomes
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Post by vodnik on Feb 24, 2017 9:06:59 GMT
...maybe i am affected by Art de la Guerre but my battlefields for larger games like BBDBA are 120 x 80 cm for 15m miniatures...
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Post by timurilank on Feb 24, 2017 10:33:01 GMT
Thank you all for the responses. The deployment area has not been an issue here as we use the larger board. At the club all table are 80 cm square which is ideal.
I posed the question to see if anyone else had thought about making a change.
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Post by phippsy on Mar 11, 2017 9:23:51 GMT
My observations. For BBDBA I tend to go for the 30 x 15 option. And take 4 BW either side for heavy foot. This looks OK and seems sensible. One of the key reasons for this, is that if commands are heavy foot heavy then the width of the deployment zone is 30-8 = 22 wide. As calculated previously. So flank commands can still maintain sensible proportions of heavy foot if needed, and act in the way envisaged (thinking of blade and spear lines here) and not necessarily double ranked Pikes or Warband. If there was only 30 - 16 = 14 BW which is very constrained for heavy foot armies.
Terrain - I have not got the rules in front of me, but why is it if I recollect correctly that available terrain pieces are not doubled in BBDBA? (Ie the board area is doubled). But rather one additional compulsory and one additional optional (I think) are added? This seems to favour good going armies. My Spanish Lusitanians and North Slavs with Psiloi and 3AX dominant elements definitely would prefer more bad going to be available.
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Post by timurilank on Mar 11, 2017 9:39:27 GMT
My observations. For BBDBA I tend to go for the 30 x 15 option. And take 4 BW either side for heavy foot. This looks OK and seems sensible. One of the key reasons for this, is that if commands are heavy foot heavy then the width of the deployment zone is 30-8 = 22 wide. As calculated previously. So flank commands can still maintain sensible proportions of heavy foot if needed, and act in the way envisaged (thinking of blade and spear lines here) and not necessarily double ranked Pikes or Warband. If there was only 30 - 16 = 14 BW which is very constrained for heavy foot armies. Terrain - I have not got the rules in front of me, but why is it if I recollect correctly that available terrain pieces are not doubled in BBDBA? (Ie the board area is doubled). But rather one additional compulsory and one additional optional (I think) are added? This seems to favour good going armies. My Spanish Lusitanians and North Slavs with Psiloi and 3AX dominant elements definitely would prefer more bad going to be available. For the BBDBA game, the number of compulsory pieces is now 1 -3 and the number of optional pieces are increase from 2 - 4.
If you wish to clutter the board, then increase the size of the features to their maximum dimensions. This is not a step I would choose, but you do have that option.
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Post by phippsy on Mar 11, 2017 10:23:32 GMT
Yes - just checked, and you are quite correct. Those variations still give a wide range of terrain options and influence. Thanks. Peter
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