Slitherine

Impact and Melee POA’s for roman legionaries V steady deep Pikemen. Assuming pike are protected and legionaries are armoured.

In Impact The Romans get ++ for being Impact foot, but the Pike get + for being steady pike and + for being 4 ranks deep. This makes the impact phase an equal fight.

In Melee the Romans get nothing for being skilled swordsmen so long as the pike are steady. The pike get + for being pike and + for 4th rank. The legionaries get + for heavier armour. So in this case Pike fight with a + in the melee phase.

If the Pike lost a fight enough to become Disrupted then in the melee phase the Romans would gain ++ for skilled swordsmen making the net effect + to the Romans. I also think the Pike would lose one dice in 3 because they were disrupted (not on that page of rules so may have remembered that wrong).

Is the example I give above correct?


IMPACT POA
Light Spear mounted against any if no other net POA.

I am not really sure what this means. Am I right in assuming that if you disregard this POA and all other POA’s balance out with no advantage to either party then the light mounted spear get +, otherwise it never takes effect



Thanks

Andy

Yes and Yes.

Additional points.

IF the pike loose the impact combat they will suffer a -1 on the CT due to being foot loosing impact combat to impact foot. So the Romans have a very minor advantage in the impact combat.

If the pike are disordered by terrain they also let the Romans get the + for SSw.

miffedofreading wrote:If the Pike lost a fight enough to become Disrupted then in the melee phase the Romans would gain ++ for skilled swordsmen making the net effect + to the Romans.

Skilled swordsmen is a + not a ++, so the net effect is even (Except the pikes will be losing 1 dice in 3).

Almost. In impact the factors are as you say.

Ditto in melee if the pikes don't become disrupted (i.e. either the win the melee, or lose but pass their CT).

If the pikes lose and become DISR then the factors are:

Romans: + for SSw; + for heavier armour
Pikes: + for pikes in 3 ranks; + for 4th rank of pikes.

So, the factors are equal. EXCEPT, the Romans are on full dice, the Pikes will lose 1/3rd of their dice because they are DISR.

If the pikes lose again and become FRAG then they're really in trouble because they lose all their factors and the Romans are on a ++ advantage.

OTOH, if the pikes hold initially, the odds swing in favour of the pikes because formed pikes have an +POA edge against legionaries.

In terms of the mounted lt spear POA, you are essentially correct. If the impact factors are even then the lt spear gives the unit an edge. For example, Bow Cv vs Lt Spear Cv at impact. Factors are equal so the Lt Spear confers an +POA advantage. If its Lancer Cv vs Lt Spear Cv, the lancers get the lance +POA. In that case there a net POA advantage (to the lancers) so the Lt Spear doesn't count.

Neil & Richard,

Sorry you are of course right. Romans are ++ in impact not melee, got the two mixed up for a second there

Think I am getting the hang of the combat system. Looks good. Still rereading the movement rules a few times to get them straight in my head.

I feel sure that they are actually quite simple, I am just not seeing it yet

Impact and Melee POA’s for roman legionaries V steady deep Pikemen. Assuming pike are protected and legionaries are armoured.

In Impact The Romans get ++ for being Impact foot, but the Pike get + for being steady pike and + for being 4 ranks deep. This makes the impact phase an equal fight.

In Melee the Romans get nothing for being skilled swordsmen so long as the pike are steady. The pike get + for being pike and + for 4th rank. The legionaries get + for heavier armour. So in this case Pike fight with a + in the melee phase.

If the Pike lost a fight enough to become Disrupted then in the melee phase the Romans would gain ++ for skilled swordsmen making the net effect + to the Romans. I also think the Pike would lose one dice in 3 because they were disrupted (not on that page of rules so may have remembered that wrong).

Is the example I give above correct?

Nearly right. If the Pk are DISR they lose 1 dice in 3. But they don't lose POAs unless they have lost bases and ranks or have gone FRG. So Pk are set up to stay fairly solid and collapse badly if they end up FRG at any point. In 2nd round its + and + for the Pks for Pk and 4th rank. Then its + for Sk Sw and + for Armour to the Romans. So equal POA but - on 3 frontage - 6 Roman dice (sup) to 4 dice (ave). So bad for the Pks.

IMPACT POA
Light Spear mounted against any if no other net POA.

I am not really sure what this means. Am I right in assuming that if you disregard this POA and all other POA’s balance out with no advantage to either party then the light mounted spear get +, otherwise it never takes effect

Yep that's it. Ignore this POA and look at all others. It then acts as a tie breaker so that if there is no other POA a + is applied. This basically means that a LS POA can give a + for you in circumstances such as vs MF spearmen or against mounted with no lancer POA.

LS on Cav seems crap compared to Lancers, until you charge some MF bowmen in the rough and really, really wish you had LS instead of lancers...

carlos wrote:LS on Cav seems crap compared to Lancers, until you charge some MF bowmen in the rough and really, really wish you had LS instead of lancers...

Or until you want to evade some juggernaut and then find out that cavalry lancers cannot evade.

Or until you want to charge medium foot spearmen.

Yes, it's truly one of the troop types that has advantages beyond an initial reading of the rules.