Magna - Possible Army List Change

[lionheartrjc]

Proposal to change MAGNA army lists to allow Long Spear units in 6s as well as 4s.  Possibly also apply to some drilled units that do not have the melee expert characteristic.
Would welcome player thoughts on this.

To be clear, no plans to change any PACTO or MAXIMUS lists.

Richard

[AlecJH]

Assuming you are referring to infantry units I would support such a change. I have found that long spears in units of four get swept away quickly by devastating chargers in Magna, this change would go some way towards countering that.

Alternatively, and preferably, in order not to have an artificial difference between units keep them in fours and allow infantry long spear units in Magna to keep their +1 combat bonus when only one rank deep. This can be justified by the assumption that individual bases in Magna represent more men than bases in Maximus so are in more ranks.

[lionheartrjc]

Assuming you are referring to infantry units I would support such a change. I have found that long spears in units of four get swept away quickly by devastating chargers in Magna, this change would go some way towards countering that.

Alternatively, and preferably, in order not to have an artificial difference between units keep them in fours and allow infantry long spear units in Magna to keep their +1 combat bonus when only one rank deep. This can be justified by the assumption that individual bases in Magna represent more men than bases in Maximus so are in more ranks.

I am referring to infantry units.

If they kept their +1 combat bonus in melee combat they would be better than melee expert...  Doesn't seem justified.

Richard

[nikgaukroger]

Proposal to change MAGNA army lists to allow Long Spear units in 6s as well as 4s.  Possibly also apply to some drilled units that do not have the melee expert characteristic.
Would welcome player thoughts on this.

To be clear, no plans to change any PACTO or MAXIMUS lists.

Richard

This seems very sensible to me.

[Hayung_is]

Not a super experienced player but can attest to already wishing some long spear units came in 6s and then drop them out of the list when I had to field a 4.

They're a challenging characteristic - for the points paid you can find yourself outclassed, and even in ideal conditions, if you've lost your 2nd rank you're on evens, so allowing 6s gives the player some extra agency on the cost to performance.

[SteveO]

But the unintended consequence would be making them as big as late medieval pike keils.

[lionheartrjc]

Another possibility which is being looked at is having a specific MAGNA rule change so that  Long Spear in melee combat gets +1 in a single rank against any.  The second rank would (similar to pikes 4th ranks in Maximus) be regarded as an engaged base so that they couldn't be moved to create a new file.

Richard

[SteveO]

That might work😊