Slitherine

Well, Mr. Smith, I am really looking forward to this next set of rules.

I just found the site, so I don't know much about the set so far. However, my pet peeve has been a problem with most rules sets regarding bow armed cav. Unless one plays on a huge table and/or with little figures (say 6mm), I have not found many rules systems that correctly address bow armed cav mechanics. Basically, they are supposed to shoot and flee, but often times due to their immense range they are just chased off of the table in a round or two. Since Turks (of various shades) are my favorites, the dysfunctional and (IMO) ahistorical problem makes most rules sets unappealing to me.

So, how are they handled in this set? A suggestion that I have not seen so far for the "chased off the table" issue would involve them coming back on within X# inches/cms (depending on scale) from the spot that they left the table. I'm not a designer, so I don't fully grasp the pros and cons of this as a rule.

Well, I'll give the rules a go. I'll pick up the Crusader v. Turks army list and see how it plays.

Cheers!
Jason

Hello Jason.

I think you will like the mechanics of bow armed cavalry in FoG. We have given it a lot of attention in the development process and carefully balanced their interactions with other troops.

Bow armed cavalry do shoot in FoG (that may seem a redundant statement, but they don't explicitly shoot in every well-known set of rules) and do evade.

There is usually plenty of room for them to do so, but it is possible to drive them off the table if they are careless. Because it is fairly hard to drive them off table, we do not allow them to return. However, troops that have evaded off the table don't count for as many "attrition points" toward army defeat as if they had been destroyed or routed off table.

We think the balance is good, and you should have fun with the Crusades theme book. Just don't try fighting knights in close combat without softening them up a lot first.

Richard

rbodleyscott wrote:Hello Jason.

I think you will like the mechanics of bow armed cavalry in FoG. We have given it a lot of attention in the development process and carefully balanced their interactions with other troops.

Bow armed cavalry do shoot in FoG (that may seem a redundant statement, but they don't explicitly shoot in every well-known set of rules) and do evade.

There is usually plenty of room for them to do so, but it is possible to drive them off the table if they are careless. Because it is fairly hard to drive them off table, we do not allow them to return. However, troops that have evaded off the table don't count for as many "attrition points" toward army defeat as if they had been destroyed or routed off table.

We think the balance is good, and you should have fun with the Crusades theme book. Just don't try fighting knights in close combat without softening them up a lot first.

Richard

Hey Richard, Thanks. I'm sure looking forward to doing minis again. I really enjoy crushing the life out of those knights. Usually people who take them are ... hmmm... of a certain type (thinking that they have supermen) and I like disabusing them of that notion while they chase me around uselessly! Looking forward to later Ottomans, Mamelukes, Samurai and Mongols.

Thanks again. I'll preorder tonight.
Jason

iamspamus wrote:Hey Richard, Thanks. I'm sure looking forward to doing minis again. I really enjoy crushing the life out of those knights. Usually people who take them are ... hmmm... of a certain type (thinking that they have supermen) and I like disabusing them of that notion while they chase me around uselessly! Looking forward to later Ottomans, Mamelukes, Samurai and Mongols.
Jason

You can run out of space if you evade in a linear fashion - effectively the knights bulldozer you off the table. If you deploy in a fashion such that the knights start to get seperated then you have a game. Also, whilst knights are very good, they are expensive, so their support troops aren't always as good. So you can kill a knight army by going after the support troops (although you have to leave enough facing off the knights to pin them).

I wrote four battle report on this site from a recent comp I attended (Warfare 2007) using Medieval Russians vs various knights - see viewtopic.php?t=4569 for the first game or look for 4 game reports entitled Warfare 2007 Fog Report (1) to (4).

neilhammond wrote:

iamspamus wrote:Hey Richard, Thanks. I'm sure looking forward to doing minis again. I really enjoy crushing the life out of those knights. Usually people who take them are ... hmmm... of a certain type (thinking that they have supermen) and I like disabusing them of that notion while they chase me around uselessly! Looking forward to later Ottomans, Mamelukes, Samurai and Mongols.
Jason

You can run out of space if you evade in a linear fashion - effectively the knights bulldozer you off the table. If you deploy in a fashion such that the knights start to get seperated then you have a game. Also, whilst knights are very good, they are expensive, so their support troops aren't always as good. So you can kill a knight army by going after the support troops (although you have to leave enough facing off the knights to pin them).

I wrote four battle report on this site from a recent comp I attended (Warfare 2007) using Medieval Russians vs various knights - see viewtopic.php?t=4569 for the first game or look for 4 game reports entitled Warfare 2007 Fog Report (1) to (4).

Cool. I just remember playing VB and with the 36" or 48" range or whatever, you could set up pretty much anywhere and you bounced off the table. I'm looking forward to the set.

Ciao!
Jason