drunken commanders?

[omarquatar]

in my latest game of peipus, playing the russian side, after i had carefully placed my troops on top of the hill and in the scrub to await the teutonic onslaught, alexander newsky himself anarchy charged as soon as the enemy approached, disrupting an infantry unit before him...now, he is the overall commander, i.e. representing the player, so i think at least THAT unit should stay put unless ordered to move
this was not the only case, therefore i'd like to submit a poll

[deeter]

Hate to bang a drum here, but leaders aren't part of BGs on the table top so never go anarchic, although they have the option to join in the charge before combat is resolved.

Deeter

[TheGrayMouser]

I agree, if leaders are going to remain stuck in BG's they should anarchy (would be nice if they were individual entities though)

Hey Omarquatar, if you dont want Nevski to anrachy, maybe make his unit light spear instead of lance?

[stockwellpete]

in my latest game of peipus, playing the russian side, after i had carefully placed my troops on top of the hill and in the scrub to await the teutonic onslaught, alexander newsky himself anarchy charged as soos as the enemy approached, disrupting an infantry unit before him...now, he is the overall commander, i.e. representing the player, so i think at least THAT unit should stay put unless ordered to move
this was not the only case, therefore i'd like to submit a poll

Depends on the commander, Frank.

[omarquatar]

I agree, if leaders are going to remain stuck in BG's they should anarchy (would be nice if they were individual entities though)

Hey Omarquatar, if you dont want Nevski to anrachy, maybe make his unit light spear instead of lance?

no, i will make him lead a halfnaked slinger unit

[TheGrayMouser]

I agree, if leaders are going to remain stuck in BG's they should anarchy (would be nice if they were individual entities though)

Hey Omarquatar, if you dont want Nevski to anrachy, maybe make his unit light spear instead of lance?

no, i will make him lead a halfnaked slinger unit

He he , just a suggestion, although on the Pepius map (lots of swamps etc ) a light spear cavalry BG actually might, under certain circumstances, be up a poa in impact combat vs the Teutons.
I have noticed in many of the scenarios(mostly Hellenisic battles) that come with the game, the leader cavalry units are often made light spear whereas the rest of the cavalry force is lancers.

[omarquatar]

I have noticed in many of the scenarios(mostly Hellenisic battles) that come with the game, the leader cavalry units are often made light spear whereas the rest of the cavalry force is lancers.

well, if this is meant to avoid anarchy charges, then my proposal should be better
but i don't know anything about the hellenistic period...certainly Alexander was leading an armoured heavy cavalry druzina, so i'm afraid i won't follow your suggestion
in general, i'm not that much uncomfortable with the anarchy rules, except for commanders and absolutely the overall commander

[TheGrayMouser]

Not sure what the designer(s) had in mind in some of those scenarios, but it certainly would stop anarchy for leaders.
I dont own the TT list for 13th c Russians... The Druhzina might very well be light spear/bow/swords instead of lancers... Will have to wait for that expansion for the PC to come out

[omarquatar]

I dont own the TT list for 13th c Russians... The Druhzina might very well be light spear/bow/swords instead of lancers... Will have to wait for that expansion for the PC to come out

maybe we can find some other historical sources apart from FOG lists, if needed

[CheerfullyInsane]

Not sure what the designer(s) had in mind in some of those scenarios, but it certainly would stop anarchy for leaders.
I dont own the TT list for 13th c Russians... The Druhzina might very well be light spear/bow/swords instead of lancers... Will have to wait for that expansion for the PC to come out

They are.
Sup., Armored, Undrilled Cavalry with light spear and swords as secondary weapons.

[stockwellpete]

I voted "yes" in the poll because, to me, "anarchy" is when troops disobey orders (and charge at the enemy). So, to a certain extent, it is a contradiction to have "anarchy" for commanders because they are the ones giving out the orders in the first place. I suppose that you could argue that secondary commanders might disobey the C-in-C, but then they are likely to disobey with most, if not all, of their contingent, not just themselves.

[omarquatar]

I voted "yes" in the poll because, to me, "anarchy" is when troops disobey orders (and charge at the enemy). So, to a certain extent, it is a contradiction to have "anarchy" for commanders because they are the ones giving out the orders in the first place. I suppose that you could argue that secondary commanders might disobey the C-in-C, but then they are likely to disobey with most, if not all, of their contingent, not just themselves.

yes pete, that's exactly what i wanted to say, in my broken english

[Morbio]

I voted yes for the overall commander, purely because if the overall commander can't keep discipline in his own troops then it's not a battle, just a bar-room brawl...

... now there's a thought, unit's armed with chairs, beer bottles, pool cues, pool balls....

But seriously, I really struggle to see that, in a time of absolute rule, people like Alexander, both feared and loved, would have his elite Companions charge off against his orders, but this was all too common when I used to play some of the historical scenarios.

[deadtorius]

I did have a run of commander anarchy at one time, seemed only my generals were anarching, the rest of the army seemed to behave itself. I lost a few commanders to say the least so I would like to see them anarchy proof, they are supposed to be holding the rest of the army back so why do they make a bad example and go running off on suicide runs?? The Alexander scenarios are the worst for anarchy commanders, Al will take off in almost every game when the enemy is in range, contrary to what he is supposed to have done which was wait till there was a gap in the enemies lines then he charged in with his companions, not much of an uncontrolled anarchy thing going on there. Seems he lost his cool once he had exploited the gap and then did the anarchy insane thing.