Last night I had the
opportunity to play FOG ancients against Alan's Successor army once again.
I fielded the same Mid-Republican Roman Army that was victorious in our last
encounter. Alan won the initiative and
opted for an agricultural battlefield with plenty of terrain pieces.
From the off I planned to play in a more decisive manner and it almost paid off. I was pleased with my all important deployment which gave me a strong centre and a right flank stacked with my best quality troops. What's more I even had something resembling a plan. Engage the pike in the centre with the legions chase the elephants off with the light horse. Sweep around with my 3rd legion from the right flank and cause mayhem.
The hill on the made an obvious point to attempt to secure however realising my legion would be too slow to capture it I set the line an inch away from it.
My first offensive action was to charge with my Extraordinarii causing a bit of disruption to Alan's light horse. Unfortunately, I failed to follow it up due to poor troop management. This caused my flank to become stalled and the old enemy of indecision set in once again.
In the centre there was a
good old slogging match between the pikes and my legions. It was 50/50 in
all respects with Alan managing to sneak a battle group around the right flank
to execute a nicely timed rear charge due to the hole left by my stalled
flanking legion.
On the left flank a
slogging match between a couple of medium battle groups continued
throughout the battle with both sides attempting to gain the upper hand. We
called a night shortly after that with us evens in the centre and Alan slightly
edging it on the flanks, giving him a one point victory.
Shame you did not get to finish your game
ReplyDeleteIan
Sadly the clock was against us.
DeleteAll the best
Jerry
Jerry, depending on whether the hill was anything other than open terrain, legions suffer less from being in uneven ground than pikes. The key to legions v pikes is to get an overlap with the legions, because you can more easily swing onto his flank than he can onto yours, because your units are 2 stands deep and his are 4 deep.
ReplyDeleteYour velites have a + POA lobbing javelins at elephants, and if the velites are protected rather than unprotected, should be able to beat up any LF the enemy has.
Andy,
DeleteMany thanks for taking the time to comment on my latest posting.
As you more seasoned FoG players have possibly noticed I am still slightly tentative about using battle groups. I notice indecision in the way I play, hanging back and waiting to be steamrollered. In my defence I would say that I have made every effort to be more decisive in my strategy and gaining a better handle on how to play an ancient army.
The table offered little or no option to disrupt the Successor pike with terrain on that occasion although I agree with you point on overlaps. In deployment I tend to spread my army too thinly attempt in an attempt to protect my flanks.
As always your remarks and incites are greatly appreciated and an aid to me in understanding how to play ancients.
I didn't see this post!
ReplyDeleteSo, looking very nice, I like so much the "pike armies", solid and very impressive on a table!
Thanks for the photos!