And thank you very much to Pete for the excellent tourney, as well as to my opponents.
Now…….
I'm sure this has been discussed before, as it is the elephant in the room of the High Medieval tournament, but I have not seen it, so…..
So I bring the early Swiss freedom fighters of Laupen, Sempach, and Morgarten - halberdiers, we can not bring Swiss pike because we haven't switched to that weapon yet.
But my first 3 opponents, the Italians, Low Countries, and French ordonnance, DO bring Swiss pike.
Now this is not a sour grapes whining session, I did just fine in those games thank you, but had I run into The Germans or Santa Hermanidad I could have run into Swiss pike supercharging non- Swiss armies 5 times.
This is absurd historically and very annoying game wise.
It is preposterous to suggest that, particularly in the pre-Burgundian War mid 15th century, all the armies of Continental Western Europe- Germans, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Italians - had at their disposal as needed a large body of Swiss pike to anchor their line.
And the whole point of Ancients gaming, the 'How would I as Caesar do against you as Alexander?' thing, is based on bringing a historically representative army and utilizing its strengths while dealing with its weaknesses.
For example, Condottiere armies had a nice smorgasbord of useful troops to select from, but when the French and Spanish with their Swiss, lansknechts, and colunellas showed up, the lack of any powerful shock infantry was a big problem. But hey, give em Swiss and problem solved.
Similarly the Low Countries yeoman style burghers were quite tenacious and capable of defending a position, but they had the problem that they could not project force offensively. Again, give em Swiss and they no longer have the problem they actually had.
I realize the Lists are not going to change, but would humbly suggest that in future competitions the restriction ' No Swiss allies allowed' should be the default option. -Tom
