CYNOSCEPHALAE 197 BC

[fogman]

Fm Cynoscephalae 197 BC.zip

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In 200 BC, Rome intervened in Greece. After several inconclusive campaigns, the decisive battle was fought at the ridge of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC. King Philip V of Macedon massed his best pikemen on his right, the Greek traditional battle position of honour, and charged downhill, throwing back the Roman battle array despite difficult terrain. But at the same time, preceded by elephants, the Roman right, under consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus, surged up the ridge against the unorganized Macedonian left. For both sides it was a moment of both impeding triumph and crisis.

Designer's notes:

the challenge was to represent the terrain which is said to be mostly unsuitable for heavy infantry, especially phalangites. But the fact that Philip chose to attack means that it wasn't that bad; and the success of his right suggests so. On the other hand the Romans, despite being pushed back did not collapse. the compromise was to use a combination of clear, impassible (to break up formations), and broken. Also the Roman second and third lines were placed further behind than normal to simulate the slow grind of the Macedonian advance on Philip's right. accessory units called 'forward push' (as in Agincourt) will force the macedonians to push forward and not anticipate the roman outflanking maneuvre.

victory for the Romans, as historically, will come from clearing the ridge on the Macedonian left, allowing the decisive outflanking movement to take place.

the macedonian player needs to delay or stop the roman right from veering left into the rear of his right wing. at the same time, his superior right needs to push the romans as far as possible to get to the victory points.

Main source: N.G.L. Hammond, "The Campaign and Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC" in Journal of Hellenic Studies 108 (1988).

no fow, no double moves
109 mobile BGs, 15 turns

[amarok23]

Fogman,

These are incredible! Had no idea such subtlety could be drawn from the FoG engine.
Can't even imagine how much work it was (especially including the clearly extensive research).

I'd downloaded all 49 and can't wait to play thru them!

This might not be the best time/forum but if you ever made any Pike & Shot scenarios
I'm sure they would be equally incredible.
Seriously, the devs should hire you as a scenario designer.

Thanks so much,
Tom (amarok)

[fogman]

thanks although i doubt they would hire me for anything. the establishment here doesn't like me too much. i expose too many flaws and too much of a critic but unlike many others i don't go away. lol. but i'm looking forward to redoing a bunch of pike&shot scenarios if the stock scenarios for FoG are of any indication of the quality of the ones of Pike&Shot. try moncontour 1569 for what FoG can do with a renaissance battle if you particularly like the period. i have grand plans for a rewritten dreux 1562 and marignano 1515, as well as adding ravenna 1512 and pavia 1525.

by the way the scenarios aren't suitable against the computer. i normally play hot seat or in lords of history only. the only game where it can be done is hastings 1066 where the computer can handle playing the anglo-saxons. not as good but it will also do an ok job in bouvines 1214 for both sides.