Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[joncleaves]

In a message dated 11/14/2000 07:38:29 Central Standard Time,
harlang@... writes:

<< Now lets look at this from a real life perspective, are telling me that the
members of unit B's right flank would stop approaching towards the enemy
and would simply stay on line with the left flank of unit B and all of unit
C. ... To me it seems that soldiers within unit B would simply move
forward and attack both the front and flank of unit A. >>

No disagreement. On the other hand, wouldn't the poor bastards on the flank
of the contacted unit fight or would they just stand there and get hacked in
the side?

At various points, a rules writer must strike a balance between playability
and realism. I am doing so here. In a few cases, some players may get a few
less figures fighting than they did when 'wraparounds' were allowed. However:

1. Hitting a guy in the flank is just as easy/hard as it was before. The
difference is that those who knew how to work the 'wraparound' interp
sometimes got to hit the front face as well.

2. We are trying to attract new blood into the game. As Scott points out,
we have not been able to write a satisfactory version of this mechanic for 15
year veterans of the rules; there is little chance we are going to get it
right for new guys.

3. The question becomes what are we getting out of continued work on such a
rule? So in a few cases a guy can bend a block into what would be the only
formation like it? You got the flank, and that sucks for your opponent. Be
happy with it.

4. I will also point out that this thing is mostly used by guys charging
from the extreme limit of their charge range from as tight an angle as
possible. This kind of control is not realistic for the type of armies
simulated or for the level of command the player represents.

At the end of the day, I am a 'mechanic for effect' rules writer. The
mechanic of having a unit line up on another's flank and the flanked unit
getting to do NOTHING to the flanker works just fine.
If I thought this rule necessary, which I very definitely do not, I also do
not think it would be worth the six months (minimum) needed to get it right.
We made a new timeline when we decided to add Fast Warrior and I am currently
ahead of schedule. I plan on keeping it that way.

And for those of you who are reading this and planning on sending me your
'solution' to the problem of writing this rule, save it. The issue has been
closed for some time.

Jon

[Harlan Garrett]

Jon and Crew,
 
Lets take a couple of minutes and look at wrap around from a real life perspective.  If you charge a unit (A)(3x2) with two units (B & C)(2x2).  If unit C charges unit A and hits it head on.  Additionally, unit B also charges unit A and hits its front left corner at an 45 degree angle to unit A and has enough movement for each element to wrap around and squarely line with the flank and the front elements.  See below:
 
BB  CC
BB  CC
 
      AAA
      AAA
 
    BCC
    BCC
BBAAA
    AAA
 
Now lets look at this from a real life perspective, are telling me that the members of unit  B's right flank would stop approaching towards the enemy and would simply stay on line with the left flank of unit B and all of unit C.  By this logic, unit B would have to pivot on its center line so its left elements can move forward and line up with unit A, while unit B's right elements are going to move rearward so that it can line up with the rest of the unit.  To me it seems that soldiers within unit B would simply move forward and attack both the front and flank of unit A.
 
Just my two cents,
Harlan D. Garrett
(817) 608-0727 (Home)
HarlanG@AirMail.Net (Home)