Army sizes

[caliban66]

Well, I??m actually reading Tucidides, and I find it a very interesting writer, who, after 2300 years, still seems to be modern (which is the key of being "classic", I think). Well, in most of battles he describes, the size of armies is, as average:
1000-1500 hoplites
400 archers
800-1500 light troops
20-400 riders. (Yes, I mean 20)

Look, I??m not considering a couple of battles involving more than 6000 troops per side, just considering the majority of battles described.
Well, under AoW, that would make:
4-6 element bases of hoplites
2 element bases of archers
2-6 element bases of light infantry
1-2 element bases of light cavalry/medium cavalry elements.
That is, moreless 12 element bases, like DBA.
Does AoW involve these kind of battles, or it only tries to represent bigger battles? How small battles can be with these rules?

[hammy]

This is one of the reasons that the troops scale in AoW is not a fixed one. The idea is that an army is a representation of all the forces available to a general. Where a battle that is not a historical refight or a campiagn game is played both sides will be of equivalent sizes if not of the same scale.

If you consider the Thessalian army that I may use in Leeds this weekend I will have:

1 BG of 4 light horse
1 BG of 6 light foot archers
2 BG's of 6 light foot slingers
3 BG's of 6 light foot javelins
1 BG of 8 medium foot Thracians
9 BG's of 6 hoplites

If you take that as your average army then each base represents about 30 men but the army will function much as it would for the real general.

In a historical game against say a massive Persian army then the Greek force may well end up much more like your suggested force.

If you don't do something like this you end up with Early Libyan armies of many tens of thousands like you do in DBM. It is unlikely that the libyans ever managed to field that many troops but not having a Libyan army would be a shame.

Hammy

[rbodleyscott]

Of course, doing as Hammy suggests will mean that the shooting ranges are out of whack for the scale of the game. However, you will get a better balanced game if you use the normal shooting ranges rather trying to increase them in proportion - which would also mean increasing the movement distances accordingly to prevent the shooting having an excessive effect. All sort of other side effects would also kick in.

In practice it is much simpler to ignore the scale discrepancies and play the game as normal, scaling the forces up to the usual number of bases. (Usually 50-100 per side).

This will also give a better spectacle.

[caliban66]

I see. Thanks for answering.