At 12:20 24-05-97 -0400, Weitz wrote:
<<I'm considering using the army of
Charlemagne in the upcoming Historicon tournament- but I am curious as
to how well regular fast knights will hold up to a Norman army which will
have large numbers of irregular fast knights? >>
The +1 for the Irregs is partially catcalled by the mandatory follow-up of the Irregs. However the Irregs will probably also have more Kn than you too. This means that a frontal Kn charge by both of you will favor the Irreg army. However your better control and lack of impetuosity should allow you to decide where to fight. This, combined with using your supporting troops (Sp and LH) should allow you to beat Irreg Kns. The ability to march quickly by assigning dice and th ability to turn, etc of the Regs should allow your Kn to put pressure on an enemy weak spot and win before he can reinforce it.
If possible let him hit you so that you can take advantage of him being broken up and being (F) on your bound when you get to choose the order of the fights. Ideally you can put yourself in a position where not all of his Kn can hit in one round so he will go in with an overlap. Encourage your foe to be afraid that you will hit him if he doesn't charge and you will take advantage of his being (F). [(F) troops are actually better being hit than hitting, but most players don't feel this way and thus are often willing to do silly things to get into contact on their bound rather than let you hit him.
Also, remember that Kn (F), Reg or Irreg, are easy to kill and a lot will die so make sure you have suitable numbers of mobile troops (Reg Kn (F), Cv (O), LH (O) or possibly Ps (S)) as reserves to fill in any gaps that develop while your are fighting. A second line of troops as reserves are also useful to gain overlaps against impetuous enemy who advance into your formation, leaving their friends behind, and expose themselves to overlaps and flanks. Overlapped Kn (F), even with the +1 for being Reg or a Gen, die pretty fast on the other guys turn.
Of course a couple of well placed suicide
charges to break up the enemy's formation early in the game can be
devastating if the enemy looses control.
This should allow your Cv, LH and Reg Kn to come in a and pick off
scattered enemy Irr Kn (F) with overlaps.
It should also make it easier for you to outflank him as he will be spending
his PIPs trying to regain control and won't be
able to respond to your flanking threats.
BTW, try not to get your generals locked in
combat early on. It will cost you PIPs and being (F) they are pretty
vulnerable. I find that they are most useful
as part of their command's tactical reserve. They can just sit back and
direct things early on, later they can be committed to stop a break through
when the enemy kills one of your Kn, in this role the
extra +1 combined with overlaps for an impetuous enemy allows them to have
a good chance of quickly killing their
foe.
Overall, the Reg Kn army, especially if it
has decent supporting troops, has a good chance of winning, just you usually
have to do something more sophisticated than
a simple frontal charge.
I am not arguing about the results of a single bound but the results of combat over several bounds. The object as I see it is not to draw first blood, but to be the last one standing with an unbroken command.
Troops are more likely to die on the bound they are (F) due to the -1. However if they suffer from both an overlap and an (F) penalty they are much much more likely to die. (Each extra -1 geometrically increases your odds of dying.) Being able to choose th order of combats is a huge advantage, but it is one that grows even greater when the lines are starting to break up. This can be quite lethal when combined with a foe who suffers the (F) penalty.
As I see it, the object of these fights is to combine the enemy's (F) penalty, overlaps due to broken up formation and the inability of the foe to reinforce his line during your bound and your ability to choose the order of the melees all at one time in order to maximize the expected number of enemy dead. After all a 4 or 5 (F) is not all that likely to die; OTOH a 2 or 3 (F) is going to be in a world of trouble.
Therefore, when fighting (F) troops, especially impetuous ones, let them hit you. After the first bound (when they don't count (F)) some will recoil and others will follow up while yet others will remain locked in melee. At this point your reserves can be brought up to fill in any gaps the enemy created by killing some of your troops and to create any overlaps now available to you. You will now get to pick the order of the combats and the combination of overlaps and (F) will prove very deadly to the enemy (F) troops. This can be particularly lethal against enemy (F) generals who have a tendency to advance alone into your formation.
In contrast, if the enemy hits the (F) troops they start out with no overlaps and their foes will have a much tougher time taking advantage of the (F) bonus to kill anything because generally you first have to get a good roll to push one enemy back and create an overlap and then the very next roll has to be good enough to kill the enemy. Furthermore, if you loose the first roll, you don't have any advantage against the next enemy element. (However the next bound that enemy who won will be vulnerable to overlaps as he pursues, often into an overlap. However as the enemy will choose the order of combat he will do them in such a manner as to try and drive neighboring friendly elements back (and follow up with his enemy elements) to remove your friendly overlaps and save that stand advancing into your formation; and even if he doesn't manage to do this the element is not (F) so the odds of it being killed while overlapped are much much lower).
In addition to these advantages, if you stand to receive an enemy charge your are more likely to be able to flank the enemy next bound and he is in all likelihood going to have to wait a bit longer to start flanking you.
BTW, I think that this logic applies even more strongly to Cv (S) (or Ax (S) fighting Irr Kn (F) (or Irr Wb (F)).
The really devious thing about all of this
is that most players running (F) troops are so worried about the
mostly-mythical dangers of being (F) on the
first round that they will do silly things to try and contact you when
you want them to hit you anyway (that
is them charging you on their bound) and even go so far as to leave extra
guys in the death zone or not fully protect
their flanks in their eagerness to get into contact and avoid the perceived
danger of being hit "while they are (F)."
Furthermore, if the general is in the front rank of the (F) troops and they choose to initiate combat on their bound, they will often be unable to move up a second line of reserves and flank guards leave them at the optimal distance behind the fighting line because their general has to move into contact before the second line can move. This means the reserves are left too far to the rear or join the move of the first line and end up in the death zones of the first rank.
If you don't believe me, try a few practice fights and see which works out better: hitting (F) troops first or taking the first blow and then hitting back. (It should be noted that I just think that this is about shifting the edge, it does not guarantee one side or the other a win, it just subtly shifts the odds in your favor).
(Of course every once in a while one side
or the other will get a lucky series of rolls and completely obliterate
the enemy and demoralize him on that first
charge, but if you are willing to rely on great dice at the perfect moment
you don't really need to consider the
nuances of desperately scrambling for every minor advantage).