Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

Hi - I haven't contributed before. My name is Chris Cameron, and I've
been playing for a while.
I play Mycenaean Greeks, with some success; I echo the unit size
comments made by Mark Stone and others. Mostly I want to talk about
2Horse Lchs armed with only JLS, a bit of a specialty of mine...

Mark is right; they don't beat anything. They compensate for this by
causing unease (enough said) and having a rare capablity that is tough
to exploit - (okay, it's two things) the ability to charge all possible
targets where other lights coudn't, and the ability to break through
under a wider set of circumstances. They are almost never front line
troops, especially in an army with actual cavalry (he said with pain in
his voice) but they do have many uses beyond causing unease.

As a unit size argument is what's called for, I'll say that mine are in
two sizes, 3E chariot units and twos. Threes, because Chariots can
skirmish three deep and this can be very handy for generating
firepower... IF you have absolutely secure flanks. Three E units of
Irr. Lch can actually form 2 ranks, unlike regs, so are even more
flexible. this is not a tactic for the light of heart, as you must have
room to deploy, room to evade, and room to break off. It can be
difficult to generate that much room.

Light chariots working closely with JLS or B armed HC are an effective
method of dealing with enemy skirmishers. They are very tough opponents
for Alexandrian shieldless lancers (ask anyone up here...)

Knights are always a problem, whether you are a book one army or not.
I'll leave this to other experts, except to say that mounted knghts are
vulnerable to shooting like all cavalry, and dismounted knights are
remarkably vulnerable to slingers (due to small unit size) and... Light
Chariots.

Figure, on a 2E front, an 8 Figure unit of SHI, 2HCW vs 2E of Irr. B Lch
(JLS). 2HCW vs Lch is a 4; 8@4 do 24, or 2 CPF. Lch charging Imp do 4
horses at a 7, plus 2 crew (remember, this is 2E) at 0. The Lch's
inflict 26. The SHI recoils disordered, and is never heard from again.
I like to then break through (no immediate waver test as per the rules,
sorry) but making room for a big unit of angry warriors to hit the
disordered SHI next bound... This, of course, assume that everyone rolls
even. Actually, no one will ever roll even, but on average, the
chariots should win and that makes it too high a risk for the knight
player. No Knight player can afford to allow his VERY expensive Knight
units to be run over by your Lchs, who are virtually free. The use of
Lch's in this way will not win any battles (except against a Knight
player who's never seen it) but it should discourage dismounting and
thus allow you a full range of other options against the mounted
knights. Don't get me wrong; this is a very difficult game to play at
best, but the Lch gives you some options that you might not otherwise
have. On 1600 points, my Mycenaeans generally have 12-16 chariots,
depending on my mood. Of course, I have no other cavalry to speak of.
But enough of my woes...

I again agree with Mark about later Hebrews. And yet, I say with a huge
whine, that I can't think of a famous victory by the Later Hebrews over
a notable opponent in period. Or rather, to be precise, I can't recall
(and I'm a Bronze Age historian these days) a period source suggesting
that the Hebrews were the Ne Plus Ultra of Chariot warfare...

And finally, everyone who likes chariots should note the new list rule
allowing chariot runners to mount on the same base as Chariots (rather
like elephants). While it has its problems for the chariot player, it
is very, very powerful. A Hittite skirmishing Hch has the possibility
of firing 10 figs from a one element front at range 40, and receiving
fire at a 0. It is nice that most Biblical warrior armies will now be
able to shoot Midianite Arabs back into the desert... so sad that I
play the only chariot army without runners. (A list discrepancy that
still puzzles me, and that now guarantees that Trojan/Anatolian Chariots
will rule my Mycenaeans every game. Sigh.)