Slitherine

Two related questions:

- Is the availability of Steppe terrain a requirement for a solid tourney army? Most of the middle east armies get Ag and Developed but no steppes...

- What should the terrain choices be for a steppe horse army? Should you take more open or take some of the uneven hoping to A) take picks away from your foe and b)use them to block up the table for other terrain in a way that doesn't hurt your LH much.

What if you choose Ag as your terrain picks?

ethan wrote:- Is the availability of Steppe terrain a requirement for a solid tourney army? Most of the middle east armies get Ag and Developed but no steppes...

No, agricultural is perfectly viable. (cf Ilkhanids or Mamluks)

- What should the terrain choices be for a steppe horse army? Should you take more open or take some of the uneven hoping to A) take picks away from your foe and b)use them to block up the table for other terrain in a way that doesn't hurt your LH much.

I have seen steppe opponents do this, but in my view it worked to their detriment as there is really no lack of "bad" terrain in the steppe list, so they can't really deny it to their opponents except by placing open spaces. Although uneven does not disadvantage LH, it is a safe place for MF to hide from their cataphracts or heavy cavalry.

What if you choose Ag as your terrain picks?

Works OK for me. Just place the compulsory open field and 2 open spaces.

When I choose the steppes, I tend to pick all the bad terrain and placing it somewhere where it is of no use and using minimum sized pieces of course. It's quite funny watching your opponent placing open fields which are no obstacle to your LH.

Julian

I've also usually taken the "bad" going in the steppe optiosn as well when using the Seljuqs to ensure that they are minimum sized.

Agricultural is fine as well - found that using the Mamluks - and I've also found that uneven ground isn't that safe for quite a lot of MF (mostly those without Spearmen) if you put good cavalry into them

From the tips list on terrain:

604. LH-heavy armies need manoeuvring room so you want to second move forward at the start of the battle to stake out room and slow the enemy’s advance. Steppes are the preferable terrain choice, followed by Agricultural and Desert. With Initiative in Steppes, there are three good terrain strategies. The simplest is to take 2 large size open areas to block additional terrain as much as possible. A second approach is to take 2 12 MU open areas with the same goal, and to take a minimum size gully and brushy hill to use up those terrain choices – the other player is then limited to one brush and some uneven ground (which is like open ground for LH and Elephants). The third approach takes this further by taking the gully, brushy hill, and the other two brush, all minimum size, leaving the opponent only with broken ground. The obvious disadvantage of actively placing bad terrain is that you don’t have the chance of rolling a 6 to remove it entirely – you may have more terrain than otherwise, but more control over placement, so the “activist” approach depends on having good terrain doctrine.


Steppes are preferable for maximizing potential terrain control as above, but not a necessity. Against some undrilled opponents seeking to try an army sweep, chunks of difficult terrain they are force to maneuver around can actually be helpful by breaking their front line and potentially allowing more concentrated shooting or flank opportunities.