Dominate Romans

cankre · Post by **cankre** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:53 pm

Here is a list I am toying with. I am a fairly new player and just wanted some comments on this list. It is a 900 point list for a open tournament.

4 TC's

6 stands - Legion - HF, Armored, Sup, Drilled, Impact foot skilled swordsman (84)
6 stands - Legion - HF, Armored, Sup, Drilled, Impact foot skilled swordsman (84)
supporting bows for both legions (brings each unit to 9) (36)

6 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (54)
6 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (54)
6 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (54)
6 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (54)

4 Cataphracts - Heavy Armor, Superior, Drilled, Lancer Swordsman (80)
4 Cataphracts - Heavy Armor, Superior, Drilled, Lancer Swordsman (80)

4 Auxiliary Archers - MF, Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (24)
4 Auxiliary Archers - MF, Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (24)

4 LF Archers - LF, Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (20)

4 Huns - LH Unprotected, Average, Undrilled Bow (32)
4 Sagitaarii - LH Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (40)
4 Sagitaarii - LH Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (40)

900 points on the button!

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:07 pm

I hate myself, but change the 4 sixes to six fours of auxilia.

You do realise you will be detested by players that have not lost their morals and gone over to the dark side.

cankre · Post by **cankre** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:14 pm

philqw78 wrote:I hate myself, but change the 4 sixes to six fours of auxilia.

You do realise you will be detested by players that have not lost their morals and gone over to the dark side.

Why 4's? I have played them that way before and they just do not seem to have any staying power.

Why will this list make me detested by other players?

dave_r · Post by **dave_r** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:17 pm

cankre wrote:
philqw78 wrote:I hate myself, but change the 4 sixes to six fours of auxilia.

You do realise you will be detested by players that have not lost their morals and gone over to the dark side.
Why 4's? I have played them that way before and they just do not seem to have any staying power.

Why will this list make me detested by other players?

This list is universally known as the "Morally Bankrupt Dominate Roman" in that all he romans are average and all the support troops are superior. If you get the full 9 BG's of four Armoured, MF then hey can whizz around like nobody's business and cause merry hell.

Hence Phil's comment above about being hated by other players.

cankre · Post by **cankre** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:23 pm

I must stink then...cause when I try that...I lose. BIG!

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:33 pm

Yours is not completely morally bankrupt, but it is still Roman. Even worse Dominate Roman.

I'm sure there is some sort of charitable organisation you can join that will help with your plight, before you descend to the depths that Dave R suggested.

cankre · Post by **cankre** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:40 pm

philqw78 wrote:Yours is not completely morally bankrupt, but it is still Roman. Even worse Dominate Roman.

I'm sure there is some sort of charitable organisation you can join that will help with your plight, before you descend to the depths that Dave R suggested.

Like stay in units bigger than 4's??? LOL

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:51 pm

I feel dirty now for suggesting this. But since you are new

Drop the 4 archers, a unit that is going to do very little, to poor then you can have superior Huns.

Reduce all the Legio and Aux BG to minimum size, 3x6 and 6x4.

Think about dropping dropping 1 or 2 BG to improve your number or quality of supporting BG.

Since you have proper Legio and Cats its still not fully bankrupt.

I'm off for a shower

ShrubMiK · Post by **ShrubMiK** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:58 pm

Alternatively, if you feel like you prefer bigger BGs, play it your way

There's a pretty universal feeling that the smaller BGs give you an advantage - but that is likely to depend to some extent on how you play. Half the fun of these games is developing your own style IMO, which may turn out to be similar to the prevailing wisdon, or it may not. And of course there is nothing stopping you trying out 4s now and switching back to 6s later if you don't like, or the other way around.

The best use for unprotected MF archers unfortunately in these rules is keeping them safely out of the way providing rear support to more survivable troops - and as a last chancy line of defence if you need to turn something to take on some LH that have zipped past your flank and into your rear. If you have *average* legionaries then one of your BGs of 4 MF can provide very cost-effective rear support for 2 BGs of 8 legionaries.

One other thing - is it not mandatory for the Huns be sword+bow LH?

willb · Post by **willb** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:51 am

The multiple units of four that have been recommended are sometimes referred to as "The Dom Rom Swarm". See http://www.madaxeman.com/wiki2/tiki-ind ... nate+Roman for tips.

grahambriggs · Post by **grahambriggs** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:24 am

I would recommend not going down the swarm route for Dominate Romans until you have a lot of experience. It's very good at what it does, but needs to be played "just so" in order to do it and if not it can go horribly wrong.

Is there an option to have supporting bows for the Auxilia as well? That might be a cheap way to give them a bit more staying power (i.e. 4 Aux + 2LF).

In terms of the army in general I would add in some more skirmishing LF if available to help the legions get forward quickly.

You have lot's of different troop types in the army. So the risk is that you can be overmatched in one department. Co-ordinating the troop types will be the key challenge I imagine.

Robert241167 · Post by **Robert241167** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:12 am

Hi Graham

You can have LF support for the Auxilia but only get 1 BG of 4 bases of LF in the army.

Rob

stenic · Post by **stenic** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:35 am

philqw78 wrote:You do realise you will be detested by players that have not lost their morals and gone over to the dark side.

Only if he follows your advice...

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:08 pm

grahambriggs wrote: Is there an option to have supporting bows for the Auxilia as well? That might be a cheap way to give them a bit more staying power (i.e. 4 Aux + 2LF).

I'd go 4+2 for legiones and auxilia - you can actually deploy them with 3 HF/MF in the front rank and 1HF/MF + 1 LF in the second a lot of the time.

cankre · Post by **cankre** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:05 pm

Ok, Here is a redo on the list using your suggestions. I have 36 points left over. I could get another 4 pak of auxiliary, or something else…How does this list look like?

4 stands - Legion - HF, Armored, Sup, Drilled, Impact foot skilled swordsman (56)
4 stands - Legion - HF, Armored, Sup, Drilled, Impact foot skilled swordsman (56)
4 stands - Legion - HF, Armored, Sup, Drilled, Impact foot skilled swordsman (56)

supporting bows for the legions (brings each unit to 6) (36)

4 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (36)
4 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (36)
4 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (36)
4 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (36)

supporting bows for the Auxiliary (brings each unit to 6) (48)

4 Cataphracts - Heavy Armor, Superior, Drilled, Lancer Swordsman (80)
4 Cataphracts - Heavy Armor, Superior, Drilled, Lancer Swordsman (80)

4 Auxiliary Archers - MF, Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (24)
4 Auxiliary Archers - MF, Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (24)

4 Huns - LH Unprotected, Average, Undrilled Bow, Swordsman (48)
4 Sagitaarii - LH Unprotected, Superior, Drilled Bow (40)
4 Sagitaarii - LH Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (32)

stenic · Post by **stenic** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:17 pm

Unprotected MF archers are begging to get wiped out unless you hide them away, in which case they are a waste of points. You might use them as support for the Aux but never use them in neither a fight nor bowfore exchange.

The +POA for enemy firing at your UP MF will quickly see your BG evaporate as they take more hits and are likely to lose bases and drop levels faster than you can put them back in hte box

cankre · Post by **cankre** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:31 pm

The MF archers were put in just to be cheap support for the aux.

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:32 pm

Which puts you at risk of losing 2 BG instead of just the one when the aux go. Rear support is worth it for big hard BG as they are less susceptible to the vagaries of dice rolls.

cankre · Post by **cankre** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:09 pm

Ok..Got to play last night. I used the following list.

4 TC's

6 stands - Legion - HF, Armored, Sup, Drilled, Impact foot skilled swordsman (84)
6 stands - Legion - HF, Armored, Sup, Drilled, Impact foot skilled swordsman (84)
supporting bows for both legions (brings each unit to 9) (36)

6 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (54)
6 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (54)
6 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (54)
6 stands - Auxiliary - Armored, Ave, Drilled, Lightspear Swordsman (54)

4 Cataphracts - Heavy Armor, Superior, Drilled, Lancer Swordsman (80)
4 Cataphracts - Heavy Armor, Superior, Drilled, Lancer Swordsman (80)

4 Auxiliary Archers - MF, Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (24)
4 Auxiliary Archers - MF, Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (24)

4 LF Archers - LF, Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (20)

4 Huns - LH Unprotected, Average, Undrilled Bow (32)
4 Sagitaarii - LH Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (40)
4 Sagitaarii - LH Unprotected, Average, Drilled Bow (40)

900 points on the button!

Observations. WOW! My legions finally did something! I broke 3 units with them! I played against a Chinese army with lots of Cats and mixed units. My own cats did not fair too well as I had to put them on the flank against 2 cat units and 2 mixed units…They did their job in holding the flank…but were eventually overpowered!

The MF are pretty sweet also…surprised how well they did for a change.

Over all the army works OK…I just can't seem to figure out how to hold flanks late game.

The 4 pak archers suck…they are gonna go. I lost the game late trying to win it…I sunk 3 light units into a LF unit…whiffed and ended up losing all 3!

How embarrassing!

My opponent rolled like a god all nite! I lost 3 generals! How many times can somebody roll a 12 in a row anyway!

Great game! I will be heading out to Cold Wars for my first FOG tourney! Should be good fun as I really miss playing competively! I played Fantasy Battle competitively for years but quit after the last edition cause the rules suck! Since then FOG has taken its place and I don't think I will ever play that other game again!

Now I just have to get as good at FOG as i was in WHFB!

It's actually nice learning a new ruleset!

babyshark · Post by **babyshark** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:42 pm

Can't wait to see you at Cold Wars.

Marc