Yes, the BSBoBSMoBSHwLSPT have their first "non-friendly" battle tomorrow against Classical Indians fielded by Gordon, as part of Central London Club's "B4AD" tournament. Looking at the possible list for Gordon's army, the likely threats are:
1) Lots (and lots, and even more lots) of medium foot bow/sword troops. Well, their archery at any rate - once in contact the BSBoBSMoBSHwLSPT should knock them out pretty quickly. It's getting there without base loss and drops in cohesion level that could be difficult.
2) Hephalumps - at least 2 and up to 12 of these horse-bothering pachyderms
3) Chariots - up to 8 of them
My spies report that the Indians recently fought against 2 Chinese armies and had nine 8-base battle groups of the MF Bw/Swd troops with 4 other battle groups (1 of which must have been Nellies, 1 some crap cavalry and 1 some crap light foot javelin troops). However, their Chinese opponents would have been MF-heavy so Gordon may be fielding a different mix of troops against my cavalry-heavy Sarmatians.
So, what will my army look like?
the BSBoBSMoBSHwLSPT (obviously, but this time with no mere "protected" lancers!)
some light foot javelin troops to handle the oliphaunts
some light foot bow troops (I have to take at least 12 bases if I take any non-allied foot)
some more cavalry
Apparently some naughty Roman Equites told my light horse that Carthaginian cavalry is good fun to taunt, and they were last seen heading in the direction of North Africa so won't be joining my army tomorrow night (or will they?).
So, will there be an AAR for this battle? Well, there will be a brief report - now that I'm onto my tournament matches I don't want to give tooooo much information away. My other two opponents are followers of my blog after all ;)
Once all three tournament matches are over and done with I will be posting detailed AARs with lots of pics as you have come to expect.
About Me
- TamsinP
- London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
- A mythical beast - a female wargamer! I got back into wargaming in the summer of 2011 after a very, very long break and haven't looked back since. I must admit that I seem to be more of a painter/collector than a gamer, but do hope to correct that at some point in the near future. My gaming interests span the ages, from the "Biblical" era all the way through to the far future. I enjoy games of all sizes, from a handful of figures up to major battles (see my megalomaniacally sized Choson Korean and Russian Seven Years War armies).
The BSBoBSMoBSHwLSPT?? What the hell is that, is it a secret code or something???
ReplyDeleteThe Indian bow are a big problem. I would suggest either
ReplyDeletea) Sending your cavalry in 1 base deep. This lengthens the line and also means that his +POA is negated. It also means he can't pick on one BG but has to shoot straight ahead (priority targets) which may help lessen the blow. But remember his second rank can also shoot.
b) By being 1 base deep it also gives you the chance to evade if things get nasty.
c) If you go in with armoured cataphracts, the bows shoot at a -POA at them (so are probably your best bet). They will also muller medium foot swordsmen at impact and melee.
d) OR ignore the front completely. Let them come on a bit then use your light horse archers to go around the sides and round the back to pepper his rear. His elephants will find it hard to catch up and turn to address this. Indian bow are (I think) undrilled and hard to get to do much except go forward as well. So you could use your light horse to pull his troops out of position ( they can't just sit there and be shot at) and as soom as his lines break up, send the cataphracts in for the kill against isolated units. You have the mobility - use it!
@Ray - it's from my previous post - "Big Scary Block of Big Scary Men on Big Scary Horses with Long Scary Pointy Things"
ReplyDelete@Phil - no cataphracts for Sarmatians in FoG. The Armoured Lancers would negate the +POA for the archers, so they would be the battering ram, with protected lancers as rear support
A-ha!
DeleteI like the way you have to build your army to the opponents weaknesses and strengths and can as well.....
ReplyDeletegood luck for tonight ;)
ReplyDelete