The Indian army

deadtorius · Post by **deadtorius** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:22 am

Well after a few new starter battles with the Indians I noticed that Anarchy is rampant in the army, especially amongst the cav and chariots who just love to charge off into pikes and spears... or lights. The foot holds the record for most refused charges, once against a broken unit even, in a single game. Can't wait to see how my TT Kushan's do against Blatherguts Romans... or his Spanish if he is in a good mood.
Lots of colour in there and a fun army, but I would suggest free deployment as having the archers out back is a waste, I prefer them to start out front so they can shoot for a few turns before the enemy closes and it keeps the over anxious cav boys in check.
good job Slitherine

iversonjm · Post by **iversonjm** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:37 am

I have some other questions, in no apparent order:

Elephant swordsmen?
Heavy Chariot swordsmen?
Lance-armed Indian cav?
and where are the bow/swordsmen foot?

deadtorius · Post by **deadtorius** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:47 am

Yah I noticed the elphants with swords too, must be specially trained to carry them in their trunks and wave them about. I questioned the weird troop types that are not in the book, apparently until the Indians make the army builder they will remain a weird fantasy army. You think since they were going to go so weird they could have done elite armoured elephants with swords wouldnt you?

JayRaider · Post by **JayRaider** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:19 am

I don't think i like the idea of fantasy armies at this point.
I'd like to see the PC be as close to the tabletop game rules and army lists as possible.
Don't get me wrong, great fun to play but i hope this isn't an example of move away from the TT game lists/values etc.

CharlesRobinson · Post by **CharlesRobinson** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:23 am

I agree, they need to stick as close as possible to the Army lists in the books. Most likely, the scenario was not screened well before adding it to the patch. It is a fun one though that I really liked. Would like to see it with the changes that make it fit the rule books though. I just love the figures for the Indian Army.

JayRaider · Post by **JayRaider** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:31 am

CharlesRobinson wrote:I agree, they need to stick as close as possible to the Army lists in the books. Most likely, the scenario was not screened well before adding it to the patch. It is a fun one though that I really liked. Would like to see it with the changes that make it fit the rule books though. I just love the figures for the Indian Army.

I just love those Indian Archers

deadtorius · Post by **deadtorius** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:35 am

This is definately a defensive army though. On the TT you need to pass a cohesion test to charge with MF archers and this army has the most anarchy I have ever encountered between rabid cav and chariots and foot who refuse to charge. Still a fun army, got my first batch of Indians almost finnished for my TT army

CharlesRobinson · Post by **CharlesRobinson** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:39 am

The offensive is not bad, I just did well with an aggresive tactic for the army. Although all the archers and Medium Infantry armed with light spears do lend more to a defensive battle - especially with the hill and rough terrain ready made for the army in its immediate deployment area.

deadtorius · Post by **deadtorius** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:40 am

Yes hiding amongst the palms is not a bad idea for those boys thats for sure.

jomni · Post by **jomni** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:22 am

deadtorius wrote:Yah I noticed the elphants with swords too, must be specially trained to carry them in their trunks and wave them about. I questioned the weird troop types that are not in the book, apparently until the Indians make the army builder they will remain a weird fantasy army. You think since they were going to go so weird they could have done elite armoured elephants with swords wouldnt you?

Nothing wierd about elephants with swords.

Some elephants were clad in vast caparisons of metal plate armour. In India, where the use of war elephants became something of an art, lengths of chain, maces or swords were fastened to the beasts trunk. Some had specially designed swords attached to their tusks.

Read more at Suite101: Elephants in Warfare: The use of War Elephants on Ancient Battlefields. | Suite101.com http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/art ... z0a0yXNdPm

Examinondas · Post by **Examinondas** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 10:28 am

I love the automatic charges by lance-armed cavalry!

They add more chaos and uncertainty to the battlefield, and remove part of the unrealistic unit micro-management.

IMHO, more unit types should do the same, specially if out of command radius (e.g. Caesar at Ruspina had to order his legionaries not to charge against the numidian light troops of Labienus).

CharlesRobinson · Post by **CharlesRobinson** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 10:32 am

Yes, I know about the armor and armorments of the Elephants, but this is already taken into account by the rules for Elephants. The army list for the table top game does not list Elephants as swordsmen.

Examinondas · Post by **Examinondas** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:36 am

I think jomni was joking...

The problem with the swords as melee is wide spread, since the editor seems to be hard-coded now to add them to a few unit types (LH and cavalry at least).

I hope it's a bug and not a "feature" intended as a solution for some balancing problem. If the latter, it would be rather unimaginative and, even worse, would remove freedom from the editor (besides, it would introduce a change with respect to the TT, as JayRaider wrote above)

keithmartinsmith · Post by **keithmartinsmith** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:32 pm

The Indian list errors are all mine

.

I had this working fine but somehow included an early version of the army in the patch! The weapons errors will be fixed in the next update.

So for now the Cavalry are better armed but cannot evade the Pikemen

The bowmen can shoot but get zapped due to their lack of swords (they get usually zapped anyway but at least the swords slow the rate of decline)

The Elephants have experimental 6 foot swords.

More a Z'indian than an India list.

Apologies
Keith

JayRaider · Post by **JayRaider** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:40 pm

keithmartinsmith wrote:The Indian list errors are all mine .

I had this working fine but somehow included an early version of the army in the patch! The weapons errors will be fixed in the next update.

So for now the Cavalry are better armed but cannot evade the Pikemen

The bowmen can shoot but get zapped due to their lack of swords (they get usually zapped anyway but at least the swords slow the rate of decline)

The Elephants have experimental 6 foot swords.

More a Z'indian than an India list.

Apologies
Keith

Hey no problem.
Things like this can happen.

deeter · Post by **deeter** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:55 pm

This scenario is included in the tournament. Will we be playing the existing version?

Deeter

deadtorius · Post by **deadtorius** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:09 pm

You know Keith I might actually miss the super Indian army when it gets all straightened out, guess my TT classic Indian army won't be quite as butt kicking on Blatherguts troops. Got the first batch done, running them as Kushan one of these days to try them out.

CharlesRobinson · Post by **CharlesRobinson** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:34 pm

Hi Keith,

Can we still make fun of the Elephant swordsmen?

PS: I just love the minaitures!

Just to cool.

Examinondas · Post by **Examinondas** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:46 pm

Since we are discussing the topic of war elephants, I think everybody should read the link below, which contains important information regarding their tactical capabilities

http://www.hat.com/Curr2/Bx8141ME.html

Post by **IainMcNeil** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:08 pm

You'll be playing the scenario as it is.

The Indian army

The Indian army

I Agree

Re: I Agree

Offensive is not bad

Elephants

Reply to Keith