Tactica - Warband ?

[Keith]

After seeing the effectiveness of Roman Legions vs my Warriors the other night , I was wonderign what people's thoughts are on how to deploy and fight with your Warriors.
My main battle line was 3 BG's of 10 HF , I deployed them 5 wide and went forward , didn't do too good.

So I'm thinking that they should probably be deployed deeper and side by side , to make the romans fight more than one BG, then the hits are spread out and I take fewer losses. The with a BG behind for support.
But if you bring up a warband to support, you run the risk of them being disrupted when the warband in front eventually breaks and runs.

So I have no idea and am open to suggestions.

[stecal]

I had the same problem even with BG of 8 4 wide. You tend to hit 2-3 of the small Roman "2x2 maniples" Shooting the armored Romans to disorder seems to have little effect

I am thing going 3-4 deep might be better.

Or perhaps using MF instead of HF and relying on their greater move to get first impact, then to run away when broken without being caught.

Will Early Germans be MF or HF? Or will there be a choice as per Gauls?

[carlos]

You should search for Simon's report on Godendag using Gauls. You need to go deep (3 deep at least), delay the impact in the centre until you've won at least one flank, and because you are cheaper, use rear support.

[rtaylor]

But if you bring up a warband to support, you run the risk of them being disrupted when the warband in front eventually breaks and runs.

Foot can support at up to 8 MU behind the supported troops. Since the cohesion test for a routing BG is taken before the rout move, supporting BGs can avoid a CT for the inital rout at least.

[Keith]

Yeah , that's true you can avoid the initial test , but the supporting unit is going to be disrupted when the routing unit runs through them ?

[shall]

Beatin Romans with Gauls ...... not that its easy.

Basically you need to stack everything in your favour in the area you are fighting and then you need to avoid fighting a long line of legionaries by breaking up there formation with width and pressure in one area. Then your numbers count. remember anytime you get a double overlap on a 4base BG you are at an advantage becuase you have 8 dice to 4 on 5s vs 3s. This looks equal but the difference is that they can only do 4 hits max and you can do 5/6/7/8.

Several things you need...

Army desing

Go for 12s for the main BGs and some 8s to provide rear support. Put the rear support in column behing 2 12s.
Go for 4 TCs as you will need to stick them into combat at almost every opportunity
This is why you go for 12s so you get maximum upgrade from a general
Always deploy with some bases in the rear. One of your big advantages is that you can soak up damage without losing dice. I generally gop 5 wide with 2 at the rear if a general is going in. Then they have real staying power. Everytime the Romans lose a base they lose a dice - not true for you.

Then be patient and try to pull the enmy line around a bit with skirmishers and cavalry. On a fairly open table you can often get round the side of the Roman and pressure it. This will force some legionaries out of the line to deal with the threat. Then a well timed charge with generals in can cause havoc. You are evens at impact and the Romans can't cope with losing very well. They almost always lose a base. The legionaries are class stuff so they will fight back but if set up right from the beginning you will often win the battle of attrition as Roman bases whittle away.

Golden rule though - don't got charing 12-20 wide lines of leginaries head on. If the legion is well organised and in fin fettle they will general cu you to pieces .... as they did historically.

Have fun

Si

[Blathergut]

I haven't tried this yet, but:

What about running little BGs, of 6 (well...6 if you are Spanish, 8 I guess if Gaul) in column? Would cause some frontage probs overall, but the Roman bases would have an impossible (if , all but impossible if 6 task of causing a test. The deep file can take the casualties while the Roman can't.

Doesn't give general's much to do tho...hmm...just a thought

As for the problem of broken BGs flowing back through support...if the 12paks run 3 wide, 3 BGs side by side, one support BG of 8 in two ranks behind the middle front BG will allow at least the two side fronts to flow back and shift around...maybe a general with the middle one to help?

[pbrandon]

They take a test if they lose on their frontage and if they do take a test, only the first three ranks of the BG count when determining BG size, so they are likely to be at least -1 for 1 per 3.

Plenty of spare bases to feed in though!

Paul

[Blathergut]

Dang...missed that little line in the HPB definition...rats!

ah well...

so you lose out if you are more than 3 ranks deep....hmm...does that apply to pike phalanxes too??

[carlos]

Dang...missed that little line in the HPB definition...rats!

ah well...

so you lose out if you are more than 3 ranks deep....hmm...does that apply to pike phalanxes too??

Oh yeah! That rule was written like that on purpose to make both pike phalanxes and BGs in column weaker to shooting and combat.