Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

Gentlemen,

I want to echo the points made in that chasing the cycle is like trying to
guess the lottery. The true goal is to know your own army and how it works
rather than trying to know the cycle. It is the old game of "rock, paper and
scissors," no matter what you select there is something out there that can beat
it. A player who applies the factors of METT-TC and knows how to exploit the
strengths of his army while avoiding the strengths of the opponent will
normally win. Jon and others are on point, that time and effort is best spent
in
knowing your army and the terrain. Knowing the enemy comes only through
fighting different armies and getting the "feel" of how your army fights them.
Lastly, use an army that matches your own fighting style. Everyone has an army
that just "works" for them. An example is the Vikings. I have seen a player
that wins with them. Bottom-line is go with what you know and what fits your
style, instead of chasing the cycle.

Jamie Gentry
Outrider 6


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One of the reasons I'm looking for a weak and worthless army like hoplites is in
order to develop myself to become immune to cycles through hopeless enjoyment.
The few tournaments I play every year I see the same thing mostly in that there
will be a roman army, there will be a chariot with LMI bow army and there will
be an elephant army. Occasionally there will be a barbarian foot army and a K
based army.

My hoplites are an example of an army that would never effect the cycle nor be
part of it.

To fully break the cycle I know that I must have a counter for all possible
enemy troops, tactics, and battlefield conditions. With Normans, Hoplites, and
Samurai this is impossible since each is weak in certain terrain environments
and tactical conditions. Therefore, initial troop selection and list building
is critical and a known weakness for me. In large part this is exactly why I
asked for help on my list building, and knowingly or not each of you have
indicated weaknesses and offer help based upon anti-cyclic troop combinations.

So, my thoughts more consice are that everyone recognizes the cycle fairly
early, then works their chosen list in order to be prepared to some degree for
each. As Jon said, this is perhaps a cycle of prefered auxillery troops
percentages. For example, do I take more LI B, or should I prepare for anti-LI
tactics with LI J/sh? Do I buy pavise for my CB, or do I skirmish them? Do I
buy the HTW for Aztecs or stick with JLS/D? Each of these questions fit Jon's
premiss of players trying to anticipate and counter the cycle based upon minor
troops. the major forces remain EL, SHK, 4Hch, SHC, LHI J/sh, HTW or Pike armed
infantry. Now the question is do you anticipate countering the major troops
(impact troops) or do you want to counter the minor troops? I think what Jon is
saying is that people tend to counter anticipated enemy minor troops with their
own minor troops. So, perhaps the cycle that has evolved from recognition of
the main cycle is a secondary subversion cycle that has
almost nothing to do with key units as we perceive them.

That is my skreed for the day
Wanax



Lord of the Meadehall of men! Aknowledged professional sack lounger. Creator
of semi-lifeforms in their millions. The good looking twin, though sinister in
thought and deed. He who would produce but for 7 years of inactivity punctuated
by frenzied finger touching. Smooth.

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This is just my opinion, but to me the measure of a good gamer isn't what he
does with the best army in best terrain against a nominally inferior opponent,
but how he does in bad terrain with a bad army against a nominally better
opponent. Some of that does come down to the die rolls, but as I learned Monday
against Jon, you can roll an average of +2 in every combat and still lose.

To me Warrior is not a "complex" game. Its a game of subtleties, which take
more than a few games to figure out. For myself, I need to play it more often.

Todd