Besides the high cost of a 6-base BG of superior knights, there is the increased vulnerability to death rolls. Supposing one fights on a 4-base frontage and half the dice against it are hits, that's 4 hits, and a death roll of 1-2 when it doesn't lose . Put 5 bases on the line and it goes up to 1-4....

stefoid wrote:

Polkovnik wrote:They can also be used alongside a BG of knights or chariots when facing enemy missile troops. The enemy have to split their shooting (frequently making it ineffective), yet you can still charge at full effect.

thats actually a bloody good idea.

Fire-splitting is a vital FoG technique, IMO.

Hi folks; I was the player with the charging knights. By my reckoning I wheeled the knights to contact the LH had it stood, then went straight. Ethan Zorick had taught me that a charging BG was not required to wheel to maintain pursuit of an evading BG. That is, skirmishers cannot park in front of e...

I use 2 Swiss pike units and a 12 unit poor pike unit (and this one seems never to lose and is a bit of a magnet for offensive spears) as well as lots of LB, some handgunners and a minimum of knights. I haven't worked up the nerve to run poor shock troops, but with Swiss on the flanks, a general, a...

Can the halberdiers be in BGs of 4? You could turn those 6 BGs into 13 and have a Swiss Swarm of 19 BGs! Actually, I don't know if I like that idea, but it would fun to try. I would consider this (assuming 4's are allowed): 5 x 8 HF 3 x 4 HF You can give rear support to the entire line, and the supp...

philqw78 wrote:Why do you need so many drilled knights? If its point and let go undrilled would be more cost effective.

I agree. If you put the knights into a single battle line then only the two outside BGs need to be drilled.

All this talk has gotten me to buy some pikemen and longbow so I can morph my medieval french in to ordonnance. What has seemed to work best for you guys against contemporary armies? Ordonnance men-at-arms are regular. I don't know what they wore, but it might not be the individual heradry of the m...

I've a hunch that Superiority is more important at the end of the battle line, where it can be overlapped (in close combat and shooting alike) and it might have to form orb. Maintaining cohesion is absolutely vital to the survival of a BG in orb.

That makes sense. The battlegroup takes the CT to bolster, not the commander.

hazelbark wrote:1) the downside of HF is uneven terrain can be common.

You can say the same about knights. At least legionaries don't lose PoA in disordering terrain, unlike spears and knights.

shall wrote:Maybe eagles are swifter in different parts of the world.

Is that an African or a European eagle?

There are perks to forming up BGs in 3 or more ranks....That said, undrilled troops do have to pass tests/dice rolls to expand. True, you can wait to be charged then conform to the chargers.....That takes some time. Oh, I do the 3 ranks bit. Trouble is, those undrilled units/BGs that just do not un...

4 Poor French Longbow are a cheap 16 point battle group and can pitch in with some shooting if you handle them right - safer left in terrain somewhere. I have shot up more than one marauding LH BG with these. Also, in the late game when the situation gets chaotic, they can get opportunities to snea...

marioslaz wrote:A little exaggerated to speak about world conquer, since in southern Italy arrived just 200 men Enough to give the birth to a dynasty, but a little few to conquer even just Italy

Trying to outdo Belisarius?

OK, the question is: How many enemy files fight on each side of a BG in orb? In hazelbark's example, a 12-base BG in orb looks like this: ^^ ^^ ^^ VV VV VV Always two files wide to its front or rear, no matter how many bases. If only one enemy file fights on a side, then the 10-12 base orb fights wi...

I have never fielded more than 2 BGs of drilled knights and with only a couple of BGs I am not that sure they were worth having. More drilled knights just means you end up paying for them as drilled and using them as undrilled. I once ran a Teutonic Order list that had a battle line of five BGs of ...

hammy wrote:In shooting you get one dice for every 2 bases.

In the impact phase light foot lose one dice for every 2.

Ahhh... thank you.

Supporting shooters provide 1 dice per base of support shooters so if you are fighting one base you get one dice of supporting shooters, two bases two dice etc. Once you have determined how many dice you start with you then apply any dice losses, light foot support shooters lose one dice for every ...

babyshark wrote:Some horrid soul once told me that CMT stood for "Country Music Test" and now I can't get it out of my head. No matter how hard I pound it on the wall.

Marc

That horrid soul might be me. <evil_grin>

nikgaukroger wrote:...there was an attempt to call Complex Moves "cunning stunts" I believe, but it failed for some reason ...

HA! I'm willing to keep it alive...

...and hope I'm not prone to spoonerisms.