Slitherine

Are fortifications worth the price?
A I am forced to take a bunch of average protected medium foot spearman and to keep them alive I was thinking of getting some fortification since there is a good chance I will not get to pick the terrain.

Thoughts?
Irondog

irondog068 wrote:Are fortifications worth the price?
A I am forced to take a bunch of average protected medium foot spearman and to keep them alive I was thinking of getting some fortification since there is a good chance I will not get to pick the terrain.

Thoughts?
Irondog

Short answer:

Portable Defences are worthwhile.
Field Fortifications aren't.

They should be ok in rough, remember that most other MF are protected too.
You should always get some terrain.

Field fortifications tend to reduce how aggressive you are and if you don't plan on fighting with the MF they'll be more useful hiding behind your army giving rear support.

Either way, I don't think fortifications are needed.

they have some utilities but you must have a good plan to support them!

I think they might make Heavy Artillery interesting - a couple of strong points 15 MU in (and put the Artillery down last so you can choose facing). Not a game winner but will make things different. Linear defenses are not much good. If you man them then the enemy just go round and overwhelm your flanks. Dig in totally and you are in for a draw.

irondog068 wrote:Are fortifications worth the price?
A I am forced to take a bunch of average protected medium foot spearman and to keep them alive I was thinking of getting some fortification since there is a good chance I will not get to pick the terrain.

Thoughts?
Irondog

I often take them with my later assyrians.

The drilled MF foot go behind it and get extra movement to sally forth or sit there and as an anchor.

Ive seen them used effectively:
- in a MF army to string across gaps between terrain but you need to then be aggressive everywhere else ior flank march or you are in for a boring game.

- In a roman army deployed in the centre manned by poor legion and the rest of the army on one flank to push and swing the door shut to fight on a 3 foot frontage.

- I used them with an Ottoman army last week and deployed them in the middle with 2 artillery and janissaries either side. Then had the superior cav on either side and some cavalry reserve BG of 2 bases behind the defenses. The Cav push up and if things get tight they evade back. if the enemy press beyond the foortifications they open themselves up to flank attacks. My LF coudl act unoposed in teh centre due to the artilelry cover.

I

Protected MF offensive spear are not super troops, but they are hardly worthless. Used carefully they can be quite handy.

irondog068 wrote: there is a good chance I will not get to pick the terrain.

You always get to choose some terrain pieces and it is likely that there will be something on your side of the table. So most of the time you should find somewhere safe to put the MF.

They can be useful against an army that has no serious shooting capability and your only shooty stuff is unarmoured bow or longbow. You can use it to anchor the centre and press on the flanks. Tough to get right but it can enable you just long enough to win on the flanks. Burgundians facing Principate or LRR for example.

Sometimes I take one or two if I have points left over - they normally have no impact though but can allow something to deployed further forward.

Polkovnik wrote:

irondog068 wrote: there is a good chance I will not get to pick the terrain.

You always get to choose some terrain pieces and it is likely that there will be something on your side of the table. So most of the time you should find somewhere safe to put the MF.

This is of course a lie. When choosing terrain I always expect that most will end up where I can't use it. That way I can be pleasantly surprised from time to time