Slitherine

Are people really going to be dragging out the deployment rulers in the middle of the battle to make sure a couple bases don't extend 5 millimeters into the center third of the table?

I'm guessing you don't get to many competitions?

petedalby wrote:

Are people really going to be dragging out the deployment rulers in the middle of the battle to make sure a couple bases don't extend 5 millimeters into the center third of the table?

I'm guessing you don't get to many competitions?

Absolutely I would. Because the option is deploy it (A) illegally because of that 5mm or (B) legally a base width over or with the BG deployed deeper. It may sound trivial but I'll have judged exactly where your ambush can be and allowing it to be one base over will make a big difference. and it's entirely within your gift to put your marker down 5mm closer to the flank so you don't have that problem.

Having said that I haven't seen ambushes deployed for ages as they aren't very effective. Though I have done it a couple of times with 16 bases of Immortals. That can spoil someone's day.

grahambriggs wrote: Though I have done it a couple of times with 16 bases of Immortals. That can spoil someone's day.

That mustn't have been a massive surprise though? That's a LOT of points that aren't on the table!

ravenflight wrote:

grahambriggs wrote: Though I have done it a couple of times with 16 bases of Immortals. That can spoil someone's day.

That mustn't have been a massive surprise though? That's a LOT of points that aren't on the table!

By the time we'd finished deployment no, no surprise at all. But they always go down last, so if I have the initiative he's deployed his whole army before he realises where the immortals are. If I have the initiative he knows a little earlier but the immortals are going to get a double move in. And if he does suspect what's he going to do? The best counter to immortals in the two armies were heavy foot. Sure, you can deploy that to face the bad going but that just takes the heavy foot out of the game (The immortals are fast enough to go elsewhere)

It's not so much to get a surprise, it's more that the ambush can get killer troops a long way forward and facing a target.

As it was one opponent was irish with viking allies. The Vikings couldn't realistically deploy in the flank sector facing a forested hill so poor LF backed by unprotected MF HW got that job and got shot down in droves. The other was Hellenistic who covered the ambush with 5 BGs of skirmishers (no idea why so many) and they got shot to pieces too.

They're not as quick to go sideways now so that tactic should be easier to cope with in V2.

Though the immortals will still be difficult to cope with

But now they don't need to go sideways as much as before as they fight better (support shooting, only a single POA down to cataphracts)

I'm guessing you don't get to many competitions?

True

Though I have done it a couple of times with 16 bases of Immortals.

Never thought of anything that sneaky. Thanks for the tip, Graham. I'll have to try it.