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Author Topic: Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans  (Read 3835 times)

Jilu

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Re: Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #15 on: November 14, 2023, 01:39:00 PM »

Can a Roman Legion ever be reasonably regarded as a 'poor' tug? unless historically appropriate and list specific, so no downgrading to poor, so no boltshooter equipped poor legionary 4's behind the line. You want that then its average, with ME as well or some such

so perhaps championing list alterations for more restrictive Roman lists might be a better way as I think the rule system has it about right.


i would agree about restrictions.

But yes Roman poor  TUGs?
now what about the Raw legion raised after the catastorphic battles against Hanibal ? The Pompean legions in Greece?
i wonder what training they had perhaps not poor, but perhaps not drilled or flexible, no shield cover  ?

No differnence is made between the consular legions (4 legions) and the levied ones, perhaps these consular legions could be superior, and the levied average?

The superiority of the Roman army was a combination of factors : of manpower, of wealth, of organisation, of politics of philosophy, of the sentiment of belonging to a nation  and the will to win, all of this in a continuity in time and circumstances regardless of the rulers. 
The kingdoms the Romans faced were different and less homogenous, except for Cartago that was  beaten due to a lack of resources to maintain a prolonged war.


As for imperial Romans, half the armies were auxilia, in the first half on the first century where it is not even sure the auxilia fought in roman fashion.
Perhaps and equal number of legio and auxilia should be imposed ?

I remember reading that there was a Batavian Preatorian Equites unit, and that it was disbanded upon Nero's death. This unit seems lost ?

Honestly i do not know, the timespan allowed for the roman armies is perhaps to large, maybe segementing them as per the wars fought might be better.

It is normal that we complain, a lot of us have known the mistakes made with DBM and 7th edition.
Rendering armies useless is not optimal for the players especialy if you have to recruit new players, we have already lost players due to list changes.
That is why downgrading barbarians is controversial.
For Gauls and similar i would agree for  javelinmen, charge only, short spear. but there is something missing in the feeling of these troops. Perhaps mellee expert is missing,
Perhaps something is missing in the weapon types allowed, spear protection was invented for Byzantines, perhaps for Gauls and Britons or Early germans, Warrior characteristic that would give a +1 vs foot if in 2 or 3 ranks deep?
Or melee expert for half a unit, or 1/3 of a unit?

What you do in producing the armylists it is a great and thank you.


Liberate me ex infernis

tarnowski1

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Re: Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #16 on: November 14, 2023, 02:02:14 PM »

Can a Roman Legion ever be reasonably regarded as a 'poor' tug? unless historically appropriate and list specific, so no downgrading to poor, so no boltshooter equipped poor legionary 4's behind the line. You want that then its average, with ME as well or some such

so perhaps championing list alterations for more restrictive Roman lists might be a better way as I think the rule system has it about right.


i would agree about restrictions.

But yes Roman poor  TUGs?
now what about the Raw legion raised after the catastorphic battles against Hanibal ? The Pompean legions in Greece?


sorry that is what I meant by 'unless historically appropriate and list specific' so for those and similar Roman examples the list would include a line allowing their downgrade to poor. You can still have the poor legions but no blanket free choice on it.

nikgaukroger

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #17 on: November 14, 2023, 02:29:07 PM »
Nik you know better than me that if positioned good the cretan archers can easily target the auxiliary units of the Roman army or roll a skull when charged in the plain by average legionaires (which means either stayed pinned on a white+ dice or risk a charge with potential green dice

As a tactic i was involved with superior legions, after i had cleared them from the softer targets

Now i do not have the tools to hit even the soft targets like average legionaires with shooting or with dc going on green vs green or to +2 from shatter

it is difficult now to win with some armies even the peripheral units, not the core veteran units

At the risk of getting away from the core points of this discussion I would suggest that for Cretans to get into position to shoot weaker parts of an enemy, the enemy needs to be cooperative in this to a degree. Having played against a 3 Cretan unit Seleukid earlier this year with an army that was almost entirely Average, it is not too tricky (IMO) to neutralise them if you think ahead a bit about how you can shove SUGs around, etc. - in that game the 3 units did practically no damage.

They are effective if the opponent plays "straight up and down" - i.e. is cooperative as I mentioned.

Likewise the DC troops can be rather neutered by manoeuvre to limit the bases they contact with.

Obviously in both cases the whole thing is dynamic so I am not saying that counter-measures will be successful all the time; player experience and skill obviously plays a big part.
"The Roman Empire was not murdered and nor did it die a natural death; it accidentally committed suicide."

nikgaukroger

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Re: Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #18 on: November 14, 2023, 02:36:37 PM »

As for imperial Romans, half the armies were auxilia, in the first half on the first century where it is not even sure the auxilia fought in roman fashion.
Perhaps and equal number of legio and auxilia should be imposed ?


Just to comment on the first point there - I think there is possibly a case for some Auxilia to be differently classified prior to the Flavians; a nice little research project maybe?

On the second point I have to point out that by design the MeG lists are very light touch on that sort of prescription. A good thing or a bad thing depending on your viewpoint. If that were to change I really don't think you could single out a specific small subset of the lists to impose a reduction of flexibility on - that would be unfair to say the least; we would have to try and be as even handed as possible which would have knock ons to (probably) most lists. Lot of work too  :P


Quote
I remember reading that there was a Batavian Preatorian Equites unit, and that it was disbanded upon Nero's death. This unit seems lost ?

Covered by the Superior cavalry option in the EIR list I would think.
"The Roman Empire was not murdered and nor did it die a natural death; it accidentally committed suicide."

badhabum

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #19 on: November 14, 2023, 03:04:47 PM »
OK I'll sent a PM to RJC and NIK a bit later  8)

But what most UK players and conceptors do seem to forget is that while you have the opportunity to discuss game philosophy intra-muros, we, in France, Belgium and Greece we also discuss intra-muros and have our way of judging armies but this creates 2 community and two way of feeling things..

The general feeling is that romans are overpowered. They have too many SUP ( we do not even speak of their weaponry and so on it's the number of SUP ) yet again and again they were defeated .What did win the campaigns was their organisation, supply and so on.

Also the famous "balance" between pikes and legio is non-existent and false. Speaking of history, the romans never won a frontal action against pikes, NEVER . They were repulsed, had a pretty tough time even to survive but were saved by flank charges and so on ..so it would be up to the consul to engineer it but being SUP the roman will usually have the upper hand even at impact which is ahistorical. it's not your experience in UK well it's the experience in France, Belgium and Greece and we value our experience

So perhaps we should discuss it but not here on the forum and not in bad temper .

UK should listen to the continent that should listen to UK

nikgaukroger

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #20 on: November 14, 2023, 03:11:29 PM »
So perhaps we should discuss it but not here on the forum and not in bad temper .

I think the wider the range of contributors the better; the forum isn't perfect but allows many inputs. I'm not keen on only including (often) self appointed gatekeepers.
"The Roman Empire was not murdered and nor did it die a natural death; it accidentally committed suicide."

badhabum

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #21 on: November 14, 2023, 04:26:56 PM »
The problem is that due to language problems, most of the Belgian, french and Greek players will not intervene on the forum but speak to their " leading" players or the people they perceive as leading players. So may I invite you to discuss the matter on the french forum in french ?

Did you not notice that suddenly you have more messages from Greek players that never intervened ? that does say a lot

On our WhatsApp, most Belgian players agree with the greeks

nikgaukroger

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #22 on: November 14, 2023, 04:36:54 PM »
Did you not notice that suddenly you have more messages from Greek players that never intervened ?

It is a great development.
"The Roman Empire was not murdered and nor did it die a natural death; it accidentally committed suicide."

nikgaukroger

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #23 on: November 14, 2023, 04:42:25 PM »
The problem is that due to language problems, most of the Belgian, french and Greek players will not intervene on the forum but speak to their " leading" players or the people they perceive as leading players.

And nothing will stop that continuing. However, IMO, if we hold discussion here in what is effectively public, then the players can see what we are all saying and contribute directly or through others to whom they pass on opinions. It is more likely to encourage participation, some indirectly maybe, and enhances openness - as opposed to hidden away in a DM thread.
"The Roman Empire was not murdered and nor did it die a natural death; it accidentally committed suicide."

LawrenceG

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Re: Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #24 on: November 14, 2023, 05:52:12 PM »


But yes Roman poor  TUGs?
now what about the Raw legion raised after the catastorphic battles against Hanibal ? The Pompean legions in Greece?
i wonder what training they had perhaps not poor, but perhaps not drilled or flexible, no shield cover  ?

No differnence is made between the consular legions (4 legions) and the levied ones, perhaps these consular legions could be superior, and the levied average?

Consular legions were also levied, of course.

FWIW I think average legions should have ME as compulsory as that is intrinsic to being a legionary. If they are raw, then they would be poor but still ME.
They should still be drilled and flexible (as Bodley-Scott once said: "The only thing raw regulars can do well is drill") and you don't need any expertise to hide behind a huge shield.



Lanceflint

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #25 on: November 14, 2023, 07:02:04 PM »
A significant part of the argument about Roman ME is the training they had, quite essential if you were a peasant who had no fighting skill or experience whatsoever. I might suggest that being a junior member of a warlike warrior, at least aspiring, tribe would mean that you grew up with the desire to emulate your seniors and be more of a natural, `instinctive` fighter?
A generalisation of course.
To that end I think the option to give legionaries ME is the correct route and not to give it to most barbarian who fought in a more individual style./
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Jilu

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #26 on: November 14, 2023, 09:04:12 PM »
that is why i propose to give ME to barbarians in the first rank, it will give them the ability to fight the romans, yet over time they might crumble.
They will for sure hold their ground better.
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Lanceflint

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #27 on: November 15, 2023, 01:24:33 AM »
That is not a totally unreasonable suggestion.
Another might be that rather than having separate units of superior barbarian nobles then these could form the front rank of mere average warband types? This would give them more of a threat at impact and also a bit more clout in the ongoing melee.
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Roger

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #28 on: November 15, 2023, 08:11:18 AM »
 i think we are wandering into "historically accurate" narrative again, and away from an  "accessible and playable" Wargame.

FWIW the Romans where one of histories great adapters, adapting there armies continually over time as well as with geography and threat, there is an argument for the "historically focused" for a different composition at every Battle!, which would make the permutations ridiculous in the context of a wargame.

Cretans are not the only skilled shooters in the list and are a lot easy for legions to deal with than some of the skilled cavalry armies :( 

if superior Legions where so over powering you would see them continually on top table and winning tournaments, which you don't, i am sure Paul could actually give you the stats. what they are actually good at is not loosing a boon for new players.

I think we have reached a point in list evolution where we are discussing conflicting opinions, so why don't we put any changes in as optional?  that gives both organizers options in constructing theme's and  players the choice to vote with there feet with which armies and changes are either popular or playable?

Robin

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Re: Changes to "barbarian mercenaries" vis a vis Romans
« Reply #29 on: November 15, 2023, 08:17:53 AM »
Don’t be so sensible Roger 😂😂😂