an alternative to limiting nos of BGs...

[will05]

I am not really up on this swarm thing, but it seems to me that the rules deal with them in a somewhat historical way. You can bring them to battle, but because they are elusive it is difficult to get more than a draw. If this is the case then aren't the rules working properly. These armies find it difficult to defend infrastructure, and this is where they would seem to be vunerable. So rules for campaigns and sieges seem to me to be the way forward. Not so good for one off games though!

[carlos]

But since you have to pay for various levels of commander, from inspired down to field, why not pay for BG commander too? 5 pts per BG?
granted thats not in the original spirit of this thread, which searches for non-rules inspired ways to defeat large BG armies.

Problem is that makes any cheap and small BGs unplayable severely limiting army choice. While it's no problem paying extra 5 pts for a BG that costs 80 already (4 drilled cataphracts for example), it's a big extra if your unit costs 8 points (4 poor LF slingers in the dominate roman lists).

[grahambriggs]

I am not really up on this swarm thing, but it seems to me that the rules deal with them in a somewhat historical way. You can bring them to battle, but because they are elusive it is difficult to get more than a draw. If this is the case then aren't the rules working properly. These armies find it difficult to defend infrastructure, and this is where they would seem to be vunerable. So rules for campaigns and sieges seem to me to be the way forward. Not so good for one off games though!

Are you thinking of them as being swarms of skirmishers or mounted troops? Yes, those can be swarms but can be easy enough to deal with. The swarm that does best in the UK is that of Romans!