bloodphoenix wrote:Battle result report from Pool 2 Round 1, and some thoughts on the scenario:
"Battle of Magnesia"
...The key for the Seleucids seems to be in getting the most bang for the buck out of some of those "morale-challenged" troops on their left. While I kept the Cataphracts in the fight, some of the other Poor quality (or demoralized) Cavalry were just too light weight to be of much use unless it could be maneuvered into the enemy rear, and my opponent wasn't going to allow that! So I withdrew them via the exit spaces, which was encouraged by the presence of Seleucid objective markers in those areas (in normal FOG the only way to get an unbroken unit out of the battle is to have it evade off the map edge, and the enemy still gets a point!)
historically the seleucid left just collapsed so there are incentives for the seleucid player to withdraw and disincentives for him to make a stand there.
bloodphoenix wrote:
This scenario brought into focus one thing that appeals to me very much about your scenario designs, Fogman. They allow a Player the option to do something a commanding General could do (and did) in real life, that FOG normally denies them: the ability to order units to withdraw from the battle. Its obvious (and you've said as much) that some of your design concepts are inspired by board and tabletop games, which often feature an exit point on the board/map where troops can march off the battlefield. Indeed, some excellent war-game scenarios I've played involved one player staging a "rear guard" defense with a few units against a superior force, to buy time for as much of their army as possible to march off the map and "escape", gaining points for each one that did so. In games between point-based "equal" armies, where we only receive "victory points" for routing enemy units, we become focused on a narrow definition of victory as the annihilation of the opposing army. Its very enjoyable (to me) to play FOG scenarios in which there are Strategic Objectives, and places where badly mauled or weak units can be withdrawn before the enemy destroys them.
i've played too many games where some weaker units were being chased around the edges of the map... totally ridiculous. there are some interesting scenarios that hinge on troop withdrawals, notably grandson 1476, nancy 1477, formigny 1453, patay 1429.
i think the use of objective counters are crucial in anchoring the battles to historical patterns. without them the player can maneuver his army any which way while in reality once the battle lines are set, it was near impossible, or just plain too dangerous, to rearrange them. objective counters force one side to stand and defend them and the other to attack them. if judiciously placed, they are a powerful command & control substitute. Hitching victory conditions to a percentage of enemy troops annihilated is just wrong for historical scenarios.
) I'm down to just
