FoG battle school

[cothyso]

This is getting unacceptable, unfortunately. It'a e REAL PAIN to do have to two-three Print Screen + Alt Tab + Paste sequences for each damn screenshot you want to make. And by Alt-Tabbing you have all the chances to move the viewport of the intended screenshot, so you usually have to re-position it in two of three times.

THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE, AND IT NEEDS FIXING NOW!!!. It makes creating threads like this, and any other AAR an unbelievable painful process, which means no one will make them anymore, which cuts a form of attracting new customers and hooking the newbies in.

Please add a Make Screenshot shortcut key who would drop automatically named screenshots in a screenshot folder in the same FoG user data folder (where the custom scenarios folder is too). This is my last AAR/tutorial/presentation ever until the taking screenshots bug and problem is solved in FoG. Thank you!

Thread opened to comments.

[cothyso]

LoEG Season 3 IF Division A (9th game)

cothyso (Later Hoplite Greek) 17/40 vs Xiggy (Galatian (Macedonian Invasion)) 63/49 (DAG game)
2010.11.03 - 2010.11.10


BATTLEFIELD
oh no, not that damn crops field, again! (later composed screenshot)


This maps evokes bitter memories to me, ie the 20+turns chasing game against Ironclad's rabbits. In the end it proves it isn't the case in this battle, though.. Thanks God!!!


PRE-BATTLE PREPARATION phase

[Learn to]As long as you don't know the army nation list you're going to play against, a mandatory thing you need to do is to open the DAG and have a look at opponent's army list. See what troop types does he have, troops quality, how many available for each type, army building variants (ie if battle's number of Battle Points [BPs] chosen allows him to mess with different pickings from within this list). If battle's total BP and enemy's army list allows him variants, it's safer for you to consider that he would most probably pick the one which is the best against your own army list.

Also, you should also consider tinkering with your own list in order to patch the weaknesses and exploit the strngths of your army list's compared with your opponent's one.[end]

A quick look over Xiggy's Galatians reveals an ocean of undrilled superior protected HF (impact foot swordsmen), with lots of undrilled superior armored HC (most probably he'll pick the armored ones, instead saving BPs to buy eve more HF's, as 500 BP already allows a LOT of HF) a few MF/LF and some chariots.

This means I can keep my usual Later Greek Hoplites army list without doing any modifications. Actually, I have yet to modify it, as all the 10 games I've played until now in the LoEG Season 3 IF Division A were done using the same list. Truth to be said, even if I've picked up the left-overs (as I was almost, if not even, the last admited participant and I had to pick up from whatever lists were left after all the IF Division A and Division B participants picked up whatever lists suited them), this LGH list is a very versatile one, allowing me to pick up a very flexible Order of Battle [OOB], allowing me to deal with all the situations encountered on a battlefield without having to modify the list considering opponent's specifics.

The backbone of the LGH list are the Spartan allies, with their superior drilled protected HF (offensive spear). My LGH OOB contains all the superior HF, HC (including 2 spartan allied HCs, which are somewhat of a nuisance as they cannot be controlled by my greek Chief in Command [CiC], but still are useful, sometimes, in protecting the flank of the spartan allied wing if battlefield's situation requires me to mass my cavalry on the other wing; they will play some of the most crucial roles in this battle) and the MF I could get.

[Learn to]What you should know when picking up your OOB:
- I am ALWAYS preferring quality over quantity (which means my usual army list is the Macedonian one, yet, as I told you above, it was already picked up), with the corolar that in 99% of the games I am playing I am outnumbered, most of the times, massively It is only a personal style of play, you can as well go with mass armies everyone else is complaining they're swarmed with around here
- you will never have enough commanders. Most of my army lists have 3 commanders, usually an inspired CiC and two field SubCommanders (SC/subs) (for better battlefield manoeuvring (Double Moves [DM] are only allowed if under a commander area), prevent anarchy charges, helps with Cohesion Tests [CTs]/neighbour Rout Tests/Rally Tests and so on)
- make sure your commanders' BattleGroups [BGs] are drilled ones, to allow them easy battlefield manoeuvring (as you'll constantly walk them behind your main battle line to the most important action places in order to boost the involved almost crumbling/breaking through BGs)
- use cavalry for your army commanders if you can, specially for the CiC/inspired ones. some of your commanders will be linked with foot army groups, and won't need too much movement, so it would be ok to have them as foot BGs, but you might want to have some cavalry ones too, for mobility in all sort of fast evolving battlefield situations
- use weak BG's for your army commanders, and keep the strong BG's for your main fighting force (as usually you won't commit your commanders into the fray, risking their lives, unless in desperate situations in which you will lose the battle if you won't do it)
- you will never have enough cavalry
- you NEVER have enough MF, period! MF are your best option for rough terrain patches, woods, forcing an atop hill defensive position, catching harassing enemy LF/LH. You will learn to love them, or you will die (remember Alexander's Agrinians)
- as the backbone of my army list is HF, I am interested in closing up as fast as possible therefore I don't really need LF. Yet, LF's are VERY useful for delaying enemy encirclements (use them to screen your flanks, preventing ememy's DMs flank/encirclement manoeuvres), just make sure you'll keep them out of enemy's reach (the new SaS 1.3.6beta patch custom BGs behavior will help a lot with this). Also for scouting behind enemy's main battle line in FoW games (LC is good for the same reason, too).[end]

DEPLOYMENT phase

turn 01


Lost initiative, so at the deployment time, my opponent is already deployed, but I'll have to make the first move, which might actually be a good thing considering the nature of my army list/OOB which tends to have me closing in as fast as possible with the enemy.

As usual, the auto-picked DAG battle maps up are pretty crappy. This one has the left third covered with crops, which will give my MFs some meaningful work to do (told you about MFs!). The right half is beautiful plain, with the kind of green grass horses are in love with

[Learn to]No Fog of War [FW] means I can't prepare any kind of nasty surprises for my enemy, as everything will be visible on the battlefield. Oh well, neither will him! Yet, I find this NO FoW pretty annoying. Even if there are only a couple of people who are refusing to fight with FoW, FoW is optional in LoEG. An option I don't understand and I find it disturbingly unrealistic, as many ancient battles were won/lost exactly because of the terrain features/main battlelines hiding details regarding what was happening behind them.[end]

Xiggy will most probably mass his HF in center, in a loooong line aimed to envelop me, with his cavalry on the right plain (his left) and his MF/LF on the left (his right)

Considering all of this, my battle plan is putting itself on the table: a tightly packed central HF battleline (allowing me some battleline modification liberty before closing up with him) which will push forward to close fast with the enemy and pin him there, with the MFs massed on left (crops) to repulse/catch their screening skirmishers and hold a defensive position at the ditch while the massed cavalry on the right (plain) will trample the galatians under their hooves, yay ME!!! I've put the allied spartans on the right wing in order to add the 2 extra HC to my greek cavalry wing and make it my main spear thrust which, hoping to swarm him and win the battle in there (plan A). The massed MF on the left may also play nicely as a second retirement plan, as they can try to force a win in the over-crops battle and try an envelopment (plan B).

[Learn to]Forget about camps, it is not worth detaching valuable troops to loot enemy's camp as those troops will be blocked looting for an undetermined period of time. If you have some spare LF/LC, of if winning the battle stays in those ~2 points, then do it. Otherwise, no way! Also, if you have some MFs close to your camp and the enemy threatens it, send them in to attack the stunned looters for some free points. Otherwise, let them have it. You'll have it back, together with theirs, after you'll win the battle anyway![end]

Now.. Come on here, you barbarian!

[cothyso]

CLOSING-UP phase

turn 01a oh no, not that field, again!


As I've suspected, it turned that the Galatians stretched their great numbers across the whole battlefield, with a strong HF center, LF/MF on their right and cavalry on their left.

[Learn to]What we have to do is to identify, considering the batttlefield's situation (the terrain and the newly revealed enemy's OOB and deployment), enemy's army groups [ag] and their hinted intention, and also separate my army into operational army groups.[end]

Have a look at the second screenshot (the one painted by the michaelangelo's masterful's hand itself )..

Galatians:
- ag A: a thick double row of galatian HF, the backbone of his army. Lead by a field commander (the guy with the two socks pole).
- ag B: a mass of undrilled HC. all of them freaking SUPERIOR!!! I haven't paid too much attention to galatians army in DAG, just had a quick superficial look, and the result is this surprise: not that most of them are armoured, but they are all actually superior. At this point, it was clear that my cavalry right wing not only can't win in there, but they can't even face this and stand their ground for too long, so I have to do something in there, and fast.. That about my pre-battle A plan of actually winning the battle with my "mass" cavalry on my right!!! No leader.. Hmm..
- ag C: a reserve group of HF, with a troop commander. Much thinner, it seems to be kept in there to support the advanced skirmishers screen, its battle usage having to be figured out after he sees my deployment
- ag D: 4 MFs. Just right for the crops from the left part of the battlefield, but not enough to be a real threat. Coupled with the supporting HF ag C and the screening LF ag E, it might try something though
- ag E: a LF skirmishers advanced screen, prepared to harass my left wing

The Galatians seems to be willing to play some advanced delay game on the left (a thin HF line behind a thin LF screen, with some HF just in case I would try anything on that side), smash me with their strong center HF and swarm me with them horsies on the right. rrrright!

Greek alliance:
- ag A: drilled spartan HF with a field commander. advance forward and slightly to the right, to allow ag C fill in the center in order to stretch the line
- ag B: drilled greek HF with a field commander. advance forward and slightly to the left, to allow ag C fill in the center in order to stretch the line
- ag C(new, previously in ag A as left backing support): undrilled spartan HF. advance forward and fill the centre in order to stretch the line
- ag D(new, previously in ag A as right backing support): drilled spartan HF. advance forward and right into a right wing wedge to secure the flank (delay encirclement)
- ag E: me horsies. inspired commander. fast forward and right, to meet the Galatian stampede and try to hold it still until I figure out what to do
- ag F(new, previously in ag F+G harvesting party): fast forward and left, try to get first to the ditch and hold it with your teeth
- ag G(new, previously in ag F+G harvesting party): fast right, try to get to the right wing and help it face armageddon

As the Galatians are seeing the right plain empty, they'll move their cavalry in there to envelop me. This will drag the rest of their line towards the right, which helps them repositioning their battleline going way too far on the left, with no greek BG's in there to face them. So, their whole line will probably move as a whole forward and (slightly, to still have some manoeuvring room left in there at the edge of the battlefield) to the right.

The greeks have to stretch their battleline (ag. B) a little bit towards the left (slightly), to not let their HF ag C envelop their left and match it face to face (at the ditch, hopefully), while fill the gap with the new C division detached from ag. A. As it is somehow clear that their HC superior ag B will try to envelop me, I've detached another D divison from ag B in order to improvise a short sort of a refused flank (lol!), while my HC ag. E will go as fast as possible to meet and hold them before they are going down too much over us. Yet.. their HC swarm seems to be undrilled, which means they can't manoeuvre as good as my cavalry.. And they have no leader neither, which means my inspired CiC may help my average HC hold them even longer than I thought, or maybe even gaining some sort of transparent upper hand in there.. hmm..

Due to the desperate situation on the right wing, I had to completely ditch my second plan to force a left wing MF over-crops fight and win, and split the MF in two groups, ag F to hold the left wing's flank and move the ag G divions towards the right across the battlefield to try to help my cavalry resist the onslaught and maybe, MAYBE!, gain some upper hand in there.. one must at least hope

turn 01b well, there we go (end)


the new greek alliance battle line starting to take the new intended shape

turn 02a here we go again (start)


as predicted, the galatians moved in a block forward and slightly to the right. galatian ag re-distributed (to match their newly displayed intentions)

the greeks are continuing their emergency plan started in turn 01.

as it will be proved later, the greeks made a BIG mistake in here: overhelmed by the threat on their right flank and with all the manoeuvring needed to handle it, they've forgot they are facing Galatian impact food swordsmen, with a +2 PoA in the impact phase. and with their centre streched (by ditching it back support when forming the ag C and ag D subdivisions), their battleline might be penetrated at the first contact by the Galatians. and with no reserves, this means doom..

turn 02b here we go again (2) (end)


the new greek battleline, with its both flanks slightly refused. seems that - Galatian undrilled superior HC + greek drilled HC + inspired leader + ag G = new win plan C

turn 03a here we go again (3) (start)


the galatians closing in for the kill. galatian ag re-re-distributed (to match their newly displayed intentions). HC ag B1 advanced too much, with B2 way behind, leaving its inner center (left, as seen by greeks) unprotected

greek battleplan modified (yet again!), to match the terrain (HF ag B reaching the ditch) and the galatians mistakes (gap-to-be between galatian HF center and HC right wing, HC B1 too advanced and unsupported)
- ag A: forward and pin the galatian ag A and to preserve the galatian HC ag B1's flank unprotected
- ag B: splited into 4(!!!) new ags: B1 to push galatian LF ag E (together with MF ag F), B2 to stay in place and hold the ditch (threatening to charge the enemy BG's entering it), B3 to move forward and form the greek main battle line together with HF ag C and A, and B4 to move towards the center and assure backing support to greek HF ag C against the thick galatian HF ag A center (they haven't figured out their mistake from turn 02 yet!)
- ag C: forward and form the greek main battle line together with HF ag A and B4
- ag E1: close in and pin galatian HC B1, to allow greek ag D strike its unprotected flank
- ag D: move in charge range against galatians HC B1 unprotected inner flank
- ag E2: link ag A with striking ag D, prepare to move in and strike the thin galatian HF center/ HC right wing link
- ag F: repluse galatian LF ag E (together with HF ag B1)
- ag G: move right fast to support HC ag E1 and speculate any poping up advantage

not only the greeks haven't perceived their mistake from turn 2 (lack of backing support against +2PoA impact swordsmen), they also did a new one: haven't moved their two field subs to support the stretched center battleline (B4+C+A)

turn 03b charge! (right wing cavalry clash)


greek setup for the right wing cavalry engagement

turn 03c here we go again (4) (end)


greek battleline, waiting for galatians' charge

[cothyso]

BATTLE phase

turn 04 battlelines clash


galatians charge. small gap between their HF center and HC right wing. pinned galatian advanced HC have their inner flank exposed to greek HF charge

greeks finally perceived the two mistakes they made regarding their center when they saw the disastrous results of turn 03 galatians' charge: 4 disrupted HF BGs and 2 fragmented HF Bgs, with the whole greek alliance center's inner left wing threatening to crumble (1 disrupted and 1 fragmented BGs). Looking for the causes, I saw the "overlooked" +2PoA bonus the HF impact foot swordsmen got on their charge (impact phase). the whole greek center is in great danger.

[Learn to]the order of the battle sequence is EXTREMLY important.
do not mindlessly charge your BGs, but try to strike first where you can wreak the greatest damage, situation which can be exploited by the subsequent charges
always remember that CT/cohesions drops cand only be 1 in each phase (impact/melee/adjacent BG rout tests/auto-routs).

initiative is VERY important (charging instead being charged), depending on situation you might want to have it, or cease it [end]

greeks main battle sequence:

- light magenta (right wing HF/HC vs HC charge):
1 HF1 charge gHC1 (impact) -> gHC1 disordered
2 HC1 fights disordered gHC1 (melee) -> gHC1 fragmented
3 HC2 charge gHC2 (impact) to pin it -> gHC2 disordered (lucky)
4 HC3 charge disordered gHC2's flank (impact) (no impact flank PoA bonus?!!)
5 HF2 charge fragmented gHC1's flank (impact) -> gHC3 breaks off + fragmented gHC1 routs -> gHC4 disordered

6 HC4 fights disordered gHC4 (melee) -> fragmented gHC4
7 HC5 charges gHC5 (impact) to pin it (and prevent it flanking HC1 or HC2)

8 HC6 charges gHC6 (impact) to pin it and secure ag A's and HF2's flanks
9 HC7 charges gHC7 (impact) to pin it and secure ag A's and HF2's flanks

- light blue (move MF troops to cover for any center crumbling HFs + as the previous right wings' attack not only that holds on, but also seems to succeeded, they are no longer needed in here for support):

10, 11 MF moves left to cover ceter routs/support
12 MF moves up towards the gap small gap between the galatians HF center and HC right wing (gap with its edges pinned up by the two spartan HC)
13 MF moves left to cover ceter routs/support
14 CiC closes in to support greek alliance's ceter's right wing fragmented HF BG


- yellow (center HF vs HF melee)
1 HF1 fights gHF1 (melee) -> gHF1 disrupted
2 HF2 fights gHF2 (melee) -> gHF2 disrupted
3 HF3 fights gHF3 (melee) -> gHF3 disrupted
4 fragmented HF4 fights disrupted gHF3 -> HF4 routs ->1 hex gap
5 HF5 fights disrupted gHF4 (melee) -> fragmented gHF4
6 disrupted HF6 fights gHF5 (melee -> (lucky)
7 field commander moves left behind battered HF ag C to support it
8 field commander moves up-right behind almost crumbling HF ag B3 to rupport it
9 disrupted HF7 with behind adjacent field commander in support fights gHF6
10,11 backing up HF ag B4 moves back towards the crumbling HF ag B3 to cover any eventual rout-caused gaps
12 disrupted HF8 with field commander 2 hexes behind in support fights gHF7
13 HF9 fights gHF9 -> gHF8 disrupted
14 disrupted gHF10 fights disrupted gHF8
15 HF11 charges gHF9 -> gHF9 disrupted (lucky)
16 fragmented HF12 behind adjacent with field commander in support fights disrupted gHF9 -> (lucky)


- light green (left wing MF/HF vs LF/MF cahrge)
1,2 HF charges same gHF to stop it go trough the ditch's gap
3 HF kept threatening charging any galatian HF entering the ditch
4,5 MF/HF charges LF to repel it
6 undrilled HF moves to 6b (turns away from enemy to prevent anarchy charges); if drilled would have moved to 6a to threaten charging any galatian HF entering the ditch
7 undrilled HF not touched to not provoke anarchy charges; if drilled would have moved to 7a/7b to support HF6 and threaten charging any galatian HF entering the ditch
8 MF moves up, closing in to gMF
9 MF charges LF to repel it
10 MF moved up to support MF9

turn 04 (end) (3/40 vs 6/49)

[cothyso]

turn 05


light blue - right wing cavalry melee
1 HF charge HCa in the rear (impact) -> HCa fragmented
2 HC fights fragmented HCa (melee) -> HC routs (unlucky) (no subsequential adjacent cohesion drops) (why no victorius unit advance if a routed unit is removed (has nowhere to retreat)?!!)
3 HC fights HC (melee) -> HC disrupted (lucky)
4 HC fights disrupted HC (melee) -> HC routed (lucky) -> another HC disrupted (routed unit going through)
5 HC charges HC (impact)
6 HF charge HCb (impact) -> HCb disrupted
7 disrupted HC fights disrupted HCb (melee) -> HCb fragmented


yellow - center right (1-5), center (6-13) and center left (14-19)
1 HF fights disrupted HFa (melee) -> HFa fragmented
2 HF fights disrupted HFb (melee) -> HFb fragmented
3 HF fights disrupted HF (melee) -> HF routed -> Ch disrupted and HCa disrupted (adj rout test) + ChC fragmented (routed unit going through) + Ch breaks off
4 CiC charges fragmented HFa (impact) -> HFa routed -> HFb routed (adj rout test)
5 HC fights disrupted HCa (melee) -> (unlucky) (no cohesion drop)

6 HF fights disrupted HF (melee) -> HF fragmented
7 HF fights HFc (melee) -> HFc disrupted
8 MF moved in to support fragmented HF from behind
9 fragmented HF fights disrupted HFc (melee)
10 field commander moved left to support fragmented HF (and closer to the problematic center's left flank)
11 HF fights HFd (melee) -> HFd disrupted
12 fragmented HF with back adjacent field commander support fights disrupted HFd (melee) (actually was played as 20, because I've forgot to do it with all the Alt-Tabbing to take screenshots and write )
13 HF kept in place in case fargmented HF(12) eventually routs (if moved behind fragmented HF wouldn't let any space for it to retret when routed, and would risk routed unit retreat through disruption)
14 HF charges HF (impact)
15 HF fights HFe (melee) -> HFe disrupted
16 disrupted HF with back adjacent field commander support fights disrupted HFe (melee)
17 fragmented HF fights HF -> greek fragmented HF is routed (trying to do 18a and move the field commander behind in support might not really help in here, as the fragmented HF unit is too exposed and will surely be routed soon, disrupting the field commander)
18b field commander moved to left (closer to the left wing fighting)
19 HF kept in place to threaten a charge if an enemy HF moves in place of routed HF(17) to attack HF(11) on its flank (which should do fine if this happens, as it has adjacent backing support in form of a field commander and msot probably will hold its cohesion)


light magenta - reservers (now it's clear we don't need any on right wing/center right, so we move most of them all the way back to the left!)
1,2 MF moved fast to the left
3,4 MF/HC moved left and up, to speculate the last remaining of the center right's anticipated rout and try to envelop the still holding center left

light green - left wing
1 MF charges LF (impact) -> LF breaks off, MF advances, Ch inept commander breaks off, MF charges HFa -> HFa disrupted (this movement should have been done before all the fighting on the center left, as it would have helped pushing away their inept commander and prevent the galatian units having it helping with CTs)
2 HF charges disrupted HFa (impact)
3 HF kept in place to assure backing support with CTs
4 MF fights disrupted MF (melee) -> MF fragmented
5 HF fights disrupted HFa (melee) -> HFa fragmented (forgot about this, it should have been done after (2))
6 HF fights (disordered) HF (melee) -> HF disrupted (forgot about this, it should have been done after (5))
7 MFa charges MF (impact) -> LF breaks off
8 disrupted MF fights MF (now with MFa in support)
9 disrupted MF repels LF


turn 05 (end) almost done (6/40 vs 24/49)

[cothyso]

turn 06 mopping up



light blue - right wing cavalry melee

1 HF charges disrupted fragmented HCa in the rear (impact) -> HCa routs, disrupted HCb routs, HCc disrupted
2 HC fights disrupted HCc (melee) -> HCc routs
3 HC charges HCd (impact) (to pin it up)
4 HC moves up and left (to position for flanking/rearing HCd)
5 disrupted HC moves up and left (to position for flanking/rearing HCd)
6 HF charges HFa in the rear (impact) -> HFa fragmented
7 HF charges fragmented HFa (impact)
8 HC charges fragmented HFa (impact)
9 MF charges fragmented HF in the rear (impact) -> HF routs
10 HC moves up and left (to position for flanking/rearing the center's right flank)
11 disrupted HC moves behind field commander (to rally)


yellow - center

1 HF fights HF (melee) (unlucky)
2 field commander HC fights HF (melee) (unlucky)
3 HF fights HF (melee) -> disrupted HFa
4 disrupted HF fights disrupted HFb (melee) -> HFb fragmented (lucky)
5 MF charges fragmented HFa (impact) -> HFb routs, HFa fragmented
6 HF fights disrupted HFb (melee) -> HFb fragmented (preparing for a probable chain rout with (9))
7 HF fights disrupted HFc (melee) -> HFc fragmented (preparing for a probable chain rout with (9))
8 field commander HF moved fast right to support the fragmented HFa's attack and get closer to the line's gap to help with the other CT's)

9 fragmented HFa cupported by and adjacent behind field commander HF fights fragmented HFd (melee) -> (better than attacking it with the steady HF first, only to have the fragmented HF fight a steady enemy HF, leading to a very probable rout) greek HFa routs (still routs, but it was the only chance to try to salvage it, and it fled pretty close to our field commander, having a real chance to be rallied at the end of the turn)

10 HF fights fragmented HFd (melee) -> HFd, HFc and HFb routs, HFe disrupted (even more than we've hoped for!)

11 HF will stay in place (it is time to take a little bit of risk and attack with the field commander's HF, even if [Learn to]it not advised to use a commander in a fight other than for a desperate attempt to keep/restore the ballance of the whole battle[end], as the overal situation it is in greek's favour, and by moving it, we make room for a succesive melee + impact against an already disrupted enemy BG, which might lead to it's rout and other eventual disruptions, restoring the local balance of center's left flank and breaking the enemy's line without having to hold until the already victorious center right elements can envelope and strike in flank or rear)

12 field commander HF charghes HF
13 HF fights disrupted HFe -> HFe fragmented
14 HF stays in place just runing a little bit to the right, to can be eventually moved next turn in support fot he two now disrupted HFs; we'll use HF (11) for this charge, as it will open the room for field commander HF (8) to move behind for support in the next turn
15 HF (11) charges fragmented HFe -> HFe routed

16 HF fights disrupted HF (forgot about it, doesn't appear marked at all in the tactical screenshot)

light magenta - reserves
1 fragmented HF moved closr to the CiC (to rally)
2 MF moved up to protect field commander (12)'s left flank
3 MF moved as to the left as possible (and a little bit up, as the allowed left movement is not so great)

light green - left wing melee

1 fragmented MF moved away to the left(to attract LFs) and then faced-about
2 MF fights HF (melee)
3 HF fights MF (melee)
4 disrupted MF fights MF (melee) -> MF disrupted (lucky)


turn 06 end (12/40 vs 44/49)

[cothyso]

turn 07 slaughter


turn 07 end (17/40 vs 63/49)

battle end


CONCLUSIONS

Galatians' mistakes:
- single simple battle plan (draw everything in a line and push forward) and inflexible deployment
- no strategic reserves
- lack of enough leaders
- bad usage of leaders (no leadership support for cavalry's left wing neither for center's left flank)
- bad usage of tactical reserves
- no HF/MF support for enveloping cavalry's left wing (in a clash against better armoured cavalry led by an inspired CiC and supported by HF refused wing)
- gap occurred between center's left flank and left wing, with no strategical/tactical reserver at least trying to cover it
- improper center charge = improper usage of impact foot swordsmen (better send them in two or even three successive waves to speculate the cohesion drops of the first wave and any eventual enemy's battleline gaps caused by anarchy charges, than all-in in the same wave)
- strong right flank (and overlapping enemy's one!) kept on reserve without reason, and sent into action way too late (only after the left flank was already shattered into pieces and the battle was lost)

Greek alliance's mistakes:
- no center main battleline tactical reserves (to offer adjacent behind support against cohesion tests triggered by a impact foot swordsmen with +2PoA enemy battleline charge)
- no center main battleline leadership cohesion test support against the above mentioned +2PoA charges (only late in the battle when the situation became desperate)
- wrong assessment of the enemy's cavalry flank/greek's cavalry flank (I had a quick look into DaG and saw armoured cavalry, haven't crossed my mind the opponent might prefer the protected one to lower the costs, and haven't properly checked after the armies were deployed, the real battlefield situation was actually greek drilled average armoured HC + inspired CiC vs galatian undrilled superior protected HC with no leader which is kinda even; the ag D forming the refused right flank would have been enough to tip the balance in my favor in there, without the need of diverting ag G too; which would have allowed a much stronger left flank or formed tactical reserves to support the main battleline against the +2PoA charges), only discovered way too late in the battle

The greek alliance's mistakes lead to unnecessary battle loses (the battle ended with 17/40 for the greeks, instead wit hless than 10/40).

The whole battle was won by only 2 Bgs (the HF forming the detached ag D), which were forming the refused right flanks and were promptly used to exploit the unprotected enveloping galatian's cavalry (forming its left wing), which led to a collapse of this wing and, together with the gap developed between galatian's center left flank and its left wing, allowed the greek alliance to roll up the galatian's center from its left.

[Scutarii]

Great AAR!!! need time to read it but looks great

For your problem with images... you can use this program http://closecombatseries.net/CCS/module ... t&lid=3325 you only need unrar it (dont need installation), execute, define a key to take captures and define a destination folder+image name format and et voila

[cothyso]

There are many screenshots taking utilities. Fraps for example (much better than the UOSU one, I think). But not that is the point. The point is FoG needs to be fixed as pressing Print Screen key is not working as it should and is with any other programs running in Windows 7.

[Scutarii]

Well, i know others but this is easy to use and portable (dont need instalation)... and i never use the games feature to take screenshot, i prefer use other like this to have screens where i want and with the name i prefer not where game say

PD: i test the print button and works fine in Vista

[IainMcNeil]

Cothyso - if there is an issue with screenshots please post to tech support. Print screen is a system function not related to the game. If its not working it is not somethign we can do anything about.

Adding an in game screen dump is possible but takes some time so we'd rather invest the time in new features.

I only stumbled on this by accident so please post any follow up to tech support.

[maximvs]

I use Clipboard (free software) - you can save up to 25 screenshots, and then edit and paste etc.

Here's the link if you are interested http://www.m8software.com/clipboards/fr ... eeclip.htm

Hope this helps!

[cothyso]

battle ended, added turn 07 and some conclusions. modified some of the other posts. marked the [Learn to] General FoG advice [end] sections

[Xiggy]

The big issue with galatians is they lack mobility. That hinders a lot of what you can do. I did not change my list for the greeks. Not upgrading the mounted to armored hurt more than more generals did.

I need to customize my lists more. I tend to play one list. One size does not fit all.

[Alan_Bernardo]

I use Snag-It. Very easy to use. Never, ever considered using in-game screen captures. They are never any good and are extremely limited.


Alan