Early saxons VS cavalry

[Sirstroud]

just a quick question, how would the early saxons fair againts well, "any" cavalry? because theyre all infantry, and no spears (excluding the javelins, but i dont think they'd want to fight cavalry .) or elephants?
cheers-

[gozerius]

They should be up 1 at impact except against lancers, and down one vs armored in melee. As long as the cav chooses to fight you you have a good chance of winning. You need to watch out for them trying to turn your flanks, and shooty cav will be hard to catch.

[Sirstroud]

yeah, i was thinking of fielding 1 or 2 archer BGs, with ana additional Javelin BG, for long range support

[Sirstroud]

oh, and the good old shieldwall'll be usefull

[Skullzgrinda]

I notice your tagline. In WRG 7th Edition, I used to be a proud Anglo-Danish commander. After a number of encounters with a proud Carthaginian commander, I decided to become a proud Skythian commander, and have never regretted that decision. Cavalry is like money - you can do so many more fun and exciting things if you have an abundant supply.

Your infantry will be forced to plod into defensible positions, then wait while your opponent chooses when, whether and where to attack you. Beowulf and the Battle of Maldon notwithstanding, your army will be forced by its tactical limitations to be . . . passive! Trust me, this will grow old.

If I may humbly suggest, by all means paint your warbands, but keep them kind of generic. There is a difference in appearance between the Migration Period Germanic warrior and the Dark Ages Germanic warrior, but it is not insurmountable. To this infantry base, you can add whistles and bells to make such armies as Gepids, Merovingians, Carolingians, etc. There is no need to make your army principally a cavalry army, but a moderate amount of cavalry will go a long way to making your games more interesting.

Don't think that you have hairy Romans. Undrilled warbands are not at all like drilled Roman maniples or Macedonian phalanxes, or even drilled hoplites.

I love the same army and milieu that you do, but it is not a fun army until you can work in some degree of combined arms. The foot by themselves are mere oxen, unless you are playing a similarly limited army. Such match ups are rare to nonexistent in tournament settings. Here endeth my two cents.

[Sirstroud]

I notice your tagline. In WRG 7th Edition, I used to be a proud Anglo-Danish commander. After a number of encounters with a proud Carthaginian commander, I decided to become a proud Skythian commander, and have never regretted that decision. Cavalry is like money - you can do so many more fun and exciting things if you have an abundant supply.

Your infantry will be forced to plod into defensible positions, then wait while your opponent chooses when, whether and where to attack you. Beowulf and the Battle of Maldon notwithstanding, your army will be forced by its tactical limitations to be . . . passive! Trust me, this will grow old.

If I may humbly suggest, by all means paint your warbands, but keep them kind of generic. There is a difference in appearance between the Migration Period Germanic warrior and the Dark Ages Germanic warrior, but it is not insurmountable. To this infantry base, you can add whistles and bells to make such armies as Gepids, Merovingians, Carolingians, etc. There is no need to make your army principally a cavalry army, but a moderate amount of cavalry will go a long way to making your games more interesting.

Don't think that you have hairy Romans. Undrilled warbands are not at all like drilled Roman maniples or Macedonian phalanxes, or even drilled hoplites.

I love the same army and milieu that you do, but it is not a fun army until you can work in some degree of combined arms. The foot by themselves are mere oxen, unless you are playing a similarly limited army. Such match ups are rare to nonexistent in tournament settings. Here endeth my two cents.

thanks, i'll keep that in mind, i played a demo battle as a celt army with a few charriots versus a roman army, close battle, i ended up winning

[Sirstroud]

oh, i think i might switch to the middle-anglo-saxons, i bought wolves from the sea yesterday at the hobbyshop