Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Mark Stone]

You don't pay a command factor for the unit containing a general.

Consider upgrading from EHK to SHK; the extra "punch" is worth the cost.

Get shields or 2HCW for your longbowmen. Having them count shieldless at contact pretty much dooms them.

Consider getting a second general. You'll have more opportunities for impetuous charges. Not absolutely necessary, but something to think about.


-Mark Stone

[Ewan McNay]

Format is fine.

I echo many of Mark's comments, especially the value of SHK, and have some others:

*take the LB guys as LMI, not MI: that alows them to (i) skirmish and (ii) enter rough terrain without penalty. You can leave some without 2HCW or Sh, if you like, just be aware that they can *never* get into a fight. Consider having more 4E units, _maybe_, but that's a matter of taste.

* the LI are not bad, but may not be needed given how much missile fire you have

* I'd take the billmen in 2E units, use them to go through gaps/hit flanks

* I would not take the Brigans in a 1200-point force (use LB with 2HCW and maybe LHI if you need to fight melee in the rough; try to avoid doing so).

I think I would take a second general even at 1200 (definitely would at 1600) because SHK generals are so cheap (the cost of an SHK figure plus the 'fre' command points for a general's unit is almost as high as the cost of a general).

For a first pass, this is remarkably good . Congrats.

[Tim Grimmett]

FWIW--

Take shield vice 2HCW; the 2HCW will give you the illusion these guys can actually fight in H2H and you'll get them in trouble.

Buy stakes; one for every two elements of longbowmen.

If you insist on having LI, I would buy the Reg LI w LB.

Dump the billmen; dismounted knights can perform the same function.

I run a mix of B, C, and C/D longbow units.

To echo Ewan, you are on the right path.

[Frank Gilson]

I generally agree with the comments so posted. I've run 100YWE before successfully, with some of the following principles.

The regular knights as SHK/HK dismount effectively when 'stiff' foot units are required, so Brigans and Halberdiers are generally unnecessary. SHI/EHI 2HCW/JLS are quite good in those roles.

Dave Stier and I followed the philosophy that longbowmen should be generally loose order and if LMI then half shielded, if LHI then half 2HCW. Six element units are most appropriate for LMI, four element units for LHI. You can also have one or two units of 2E Reg C LHI 2HCW,LB. They attempt to charge flanks or vulnerable units that are at the halt, etc.

On 1200 pts it's very hard to upgrade morale on the longbowmen as it requires buying a Reg A SHK CinC at great extra expense. On 1600 or 2000 pts you can certainly consider the morale upgrade.

You can save some points, especially on 1200, by taking longbow elements as Reg D (just leave one front rank element in such a unit as Reg C so you can prompt charge without a waver test.) If you don't run any HI or LHI LB and thus no 2HCW, then you can use the early period and quite a lot of Reg D longbowmen.

Figure out the temporary fortifcation rules as this list can take and aggressively place one or two segments of Ditch.

Frank

[Terry Dix]

[Frank Gilson]

Terry is correct. If you can half-shield things, you generally do so. You just need to realize that now getting hit on the left flank will likely result in a shieldless bonus for your opponent, and that expanding elements when you follow up an opponent can result in your shieldless guys having to fight.

These are not serious defects and the point savings is very worthwhile.

As 2HCW only fights from one rank, buying it for any figures that are highly unlikely to fight is a waste of points.

[John Murphy]

My free advice and worth every penny...

I think you have the knights right, but be prepared to use them strictly as a counter-punching force or dismounting at least a good part of them. Being regular for a shock unit seems to be only somewhat useful in terms of manuever and while okay if generals the other knights will have to have their charges timed well to be able to be impetuous which makes them a bit less useful. But it can be done and it will be good practice if you ever decide to play Later Crusader with military orders which I actually think is a somewhat similar though less capable almost all across the board army (the pundits are not likely to see it that way though). Overall, though, think in terms of almost using the knights against most enemies in pairs mounted/dismounted as the regular mounted are much more effective hitting something the dismounted knights have already stuck to.

The longbows are the tricky ones to build in this list, and there are a lot of differing views on them. But it seems the key is to think what you are going to use them for (doh!), as they can serve a variety of roles.

I had originally done this making them multi-facted troops capable of doing in a pinch a nember of things not-very-well but decently. THe idea being making them homogeneous would be the lowest mental load over the board. I made them all 4E units LHI front LMI back with the front rank getting 2HCW's. THis way they can shoot and not be shieldless LMI, they could fight hand-to-hand not well but in a pinch. But this not a recommended approach even for a beginner. This had the result of really just making them real expensive troops that really were no better than much cheaper LMI LB - because really I had the knights to do the fighting and these were just over-priced shooters or even worse they were not good enouigh for the hand-to-hand role I thought I had designed them to be able to do in a pinch but were close enough for me not to realize it.

So I think a mixture of longbow types is a good thing and still not too complicated to handle. Maybe make most of your longbowmen cheap shooters as 6E LMI LB with front rank shields (there are actually plenty of things out there that can out-shoot longbowmen, particularly in the sense that LMI shooting with both hands are more susceptible to risking waivers, and they need an option to duck behind the shields plus they help DEFEND in combat which is more important than how many hits they can score since killiong in HtH is not their role but survival in general is). SInce these work best as numerous as possible you might leave all these bigger units C class.

Then you might have a few smaller units than you can put into gaps and direct to gang up on enemy units with shooting, and that can be used in follow-up or gap-inner-flank-attack roles in place of dismounted knights if absolutely necessary, these can be added 2HCW for this role and maybe even get their front rank uparmored to LHI so they survive as smaller units (talking 2E here for that kind of cost) but they would definately be best to get a morale boost which will make them better able to counter etc.

SOme people like stakes, I think they are cheap but kind of a waste and for a beginner maybe not a good idea as this is another thing that can encourage you to do something with these troops theat they really can not do. Being not the greatest in HtH their mobility is a big factor in their favor and you are tempted to toss that out by dropping stakes. My thoughts, most folks do seem to take them though.

The combination of knights which are effective both mounted and dismounted and longbowmen which can shoot and skirmish and a few of which can follow-up into an enemy which just needs little push is a very potent one. And this is a great army to learn the game with I think.

But you will be resigning yourself to a dearth of light troops - I mean truly bad as if I remember this is about one of the worst "big contender" armies in this regard (can't these guys at least get some Irish kerns or Welsh or something though?) - and this really means the other guy is going to have the initiative for much of the battle and you will need to be patient and look for your chances, BUt that said it is no reason not to play it. AND LEARN THE TERRAIN RULES tp cut the frontage down, except you are even really short on troops that can fight in bad terrain except for those few longbowmen who get 2HCWs!

THen when you decide you want an army that can rush across the table and charge something impetuously maybe you will start playing Moldavians!