Steve & Don, Usk army choice
Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:59 pm
Usk army choice.
Following our 25mm games of AoW, in which my Sassanids did so well, we began to look at our 15mm armies to see what we had that was very similar. One of the draw backs with the Sassanids was only being able to have one unit of Cataphrates, so an army with a couple of lance armed cavalry ???Battle Groups??™ was high on the list. We had tried the elephants in the Sassanid army, but were un-impressed (how wrong we turned out to be).
We decided on Steve??™s Abbasid Arab. Funnily enough the last time we used them was the year we won the South West Doubles.
The army was made up as follows:
3 x 4 element ???Battle Groups??™ of Khurasanians who are armoured, superior, bow armed, undrilled, cavalry. These are able to shoot in AoW and can evade while in a single rank.
2 x 4 element BGs of Arab cavalry who are armoured, superior, lance armed, undrilled cavalry. These are our shock troops, good against other cavalry and all infantry except spearmen and pikemen.
1 x 4 element BG of Arab cavalry who are armoured, average, lance armed, undrilled, cavalry. These are the same as the other lancers, only being average due to points constraints.
2 x 4 element BG??™s of Berber light horse who are unprotected, average, javelin armed, undrilled, light horse. These are able to shoot with javelins and evade to all charges.
2 x 12 element BGs of Arab spearmen who are 2/3rds protected, average, spear armed, undrilled, heavy foot and 1/3rd unprotected, average bow armed, undrilled, light foot.
1 x 9 element BG of Dialami 2/3rds armoured, superior, impact, armoured, drilled, medium foot and 1/3rd unprotected, superior, bow armed, drilled light foot. These are classed as shock troops in AoW and are very good at impact.
1 x 6 element BG of Camp followers etc, unprotected, poor, undrilled, mob. This was the cheapest unit we could buy to get our army total to 12.
1 x Field commander acting as C-in-C.
2 x Troop commanders (sub generals)
We had made a conscious decision to use undrilled troops to save on points so we could have 12 battle groups. In AoW the number of battle groups you field gives you your army break number.
The mix of cavalry allowed us to skirmish to knights and good quality infantry, but take other armoured bow armed cavalry head on. The heavy infantry gave us a firm base to work around and would be good against knights and elephants. The Dialami would be good in terrain or against pikemen and spearmen, at a push.
All that was left for us to do was to decide an order of march. In AoW you deploy your troops in four alternate phases with your opponent. This allows you to react to your opponent??™s deployment. However, what you deploy last can be very important. In competition play this order of march must remain the same for every round. As it was most important that we get our infantry in the right place, we deployed these last.
Order of march
1) 1 x BG of mob, 2 x BG of Khurasanians.
2) 1 x BG of Khurasanians, 2 x BGs of Berber light horse.
3) 3 x BGs of Arab cavalry
4) 1 x BG of Dialami, 2 x BGs of Arab foot.
All that was left now was to start the first game.
Don M
Following our 25mm games of AoW, in which my Sassanids did so well, we began to look at our 15mm armies to see what we had that was very similar. One of the draw backs with the Sassanids was only being able to have one unit of Cataphrates, so an army with a couple of lance armed cavalry ???Battle Groups??™ was high on the list. We had tried the elephants in the Sassanid army, but were un-impressed (how wrong we turned out to be).
We decided on Steve??™s Abbasid Arab. Funnily enough the last time we used them was the year we won the South West Doubles.
The army was made up as follows:
3 x 4 element ???Battle Groups??™ of Khurasanians who are armoured, superior, bow armed, undrilled, cavalry. These are able to shoot in AoW and can evade while in a single rank.
2 x 4 element BGs of Arab cavalry who are armoured, superior, lance armed, undrilled cavalry. These are our shock troops, good against other cavalry and all infantry except spearmen and pikemen.
1 x 4 element BG of Arab cavalry who are armoured, average, lance armed, undrilled, cavalry. These are the same as the other lancers, only being average due to points constraints.
2 x 4 element BG??™s of Berber light horse who are unprotected, average, javelin armed, undrilled, light horse. These are able to shoot with javelins and evade to all charges.
2 x 12 element BGs of Arab spearmen who are 2/3rds protected, average, spear armed, undrilled, heavy foot and 1/3rd unprotected, average bow armed, undrilled, light foot.
1 x 9 element BG of Dialami 2/3rds armoured, superior, impact, armoured, drilled, medium foot and 1/3rd unprotected, superior, bow armed, drilled light foot. These are classed as shock troops in AoW and are very good at impact.
1 x 6 element BG of Camp followers etc, unprotected, poor, undrilled, mob. This was the cheapest unit we could buy to get our army total to 12.
1 x Field commander acting as C-in-C.
2 x Troop commanders (sub generals)
We had made a conscious decision to use undrilled troops to save on points so we could have 12 battle groups. In AoW the number of battle groups you field gives you your army break number.
The mix of cavalry allowed us to skirmish to knights and good quality infantry, but take other armoured bow armed cavalry head on. The heavy infantry gave us a firm base to work around and would be good against knights and elephants. The Dialami would be good in terrain or against pikemen and spearmen, at a push.
All that was left for us to do was to decide an order of march. In AoW you deploy your troops in four alternate phases with your opponent. This allows you to react to your opponent??™s deployment. However, what you deploy last can be very important. In competition play this order of march must remain the same for every round. As it was most important that we get our infantry in the right place, we deployed these last.
Order of march
1) 1 x BG of mob, 2 x BG of Khurasanians.
2) 1 x BG of Khurasanians, 2 x BGs of Berber light horse.
3) 3 x BGs of Arab cavalry
4) 1 x BG of Dialami, 2 x BGs of Arab foot.
All that was left now was to start the first game.
Don M