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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).

Sunday 26 February 2012

Sarmatian Javelin/Spear Troops - in a quandary

Well, now that they are all painted and varnished (shortly to get their Klear/ink coat) I find myself in a quandary as to whether I should base them as light foot (2 to a base) or medium foot (3 to a base).

The chances are that I will never use more than the minimum 6 bases of javelin/light spear troops if they are light foot (and then would only use them as a cheap "filler" BG). However, I could see myself potentially using more than 6 bases of MF/Protected/Average/Light Spear.

As I already have 6 bases of light foot javelin troops (my Strategia et Tactica ones), there would be no harm in basing these up as medium foot. It would also make a small start towards a Dacian/Carpi army should I decide to go that route.

Alternatively, I could do a mix - 6 bases of light foot, 12 bases of medium foot.

What do you guys think?

7 comments:

  1. Probably I would go for more medium than lights, but then I don't know FoG rules.

    Based on rules I have played, medium troops are your regular infantry bulking up the foot army and backing up any heavies, whereas lights get used to occupy difficult terrain, lurk around the flanks, and climb up enemy elephants (don't feed them much and tell them how tasty jumbos are).

    Maybe have some more than the minimum, just to give more options.

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  2. "It would also make a small start towards a Dacian/Carpi army should I decide to go that route."

    More armies - more battles - more options...


    cheers
    DD

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  3. @The Marmer of Felons - for my Sarmatians, I can have up to 24 bases each of archers and javelin/light spear troops, which can be light or medium foot.
    For the archers, thee's not much point taking them as MF as they would just get in the cavalry's way with little extra benefit over LF.
    For javelin/light spear troops, unless you are using them as "filler" then there is a case for taking them as MF as at least they have *some* chance in melee....

    @DaveD - yup, always good to think ahead to other armies. Mind you, Dacian/Carpi (lots and lots and even more lots of medium foot spearmen - impact foot/swordsmen) does kind-of go against my resolution about not doing another undrilled, tribal army ;)

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  4. Erm, your javelin won't stand a chance in melee, trust me, against Tim. So LF it is, and try to lure his off spearmen with them...

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  5. @Seb - I know my javs will be useless vs Tim. Only taking the minimum 6 as poor, who will hang around the general area of the camp, adding 2APs to my total ;)

    These will be for later use, in larger (and maybe non-Sarmatian) armies.

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  6. If you already have some light troops, make them up as mediums - let's you try options. From memory, javelin armed mediums aren't battle winners, but you could use them as missile soaks to cover the Heavy cav approach moves.

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    Replies
    1. In the Sarmatian list, if you take the "javelin" troops as medium foot, they are light spear, no javelin. For the Dacian/Carpi list they'd be impact-foot/swordsmen

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