Warrior Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules
A Four Horsemen Enterprises Rules Set
 
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Organising Commands

 
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Raphael
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:51 pm    Post subject: Organising Commands

Hello All,

I see quite a few people post their army lists here, but not broken down by commands.

My question is, is it usually better to have a mixed ability command or one designed for a specific role?

So, in an Ancient British Army would it be better to have the light troops in one command to skirmish on probe and concentrate most of the Warband with wait or attack orders for example?

Thanks,

Raphael
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Ed Kollmer
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:36 pm    Post subject:

Interesting!
My gaming record disqualifies me as any kind of expert or someone to copy. Actually, it might be a reason to not do it my way.
But I used to try to make commands set up MAYBE like napoleon corps. A little bit of each type. LI, HI/MI, HC or some combination thereof.
I did make LC and HC commands as roving attack squads or flank marches.
I would like to hear others opinions.
Ed/Leonidas Kollmer
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lilroblis
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:38 pm    Post subject: Organization of commands

Really it is preference and tining - you set up commands after you see the terain, and I would look at my battle plan and then change commands - there are strong arguments eiher way - but I tend to think about how I want the army to fight in the particular battle - also so far I have had much better luck with mixed commands
Robert
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Ewan McNay
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:46 pm    Post subject:

The 'it varies' answer is completely correct: it's driven by deployment desires, hence by terrain, and by the enemy to be faced. I tend to set up command in left-to-right fashion, with each having some skirmishers in front; but for instance in my Sassanids, the most common setup has all of the main strike units in two small commands without skirmishers, able to be deployed last and in tight groups.
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Raphael
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:39 pm    Post subject:

Thanks for the helpful advice/suggestions. It does become clearer now that I realise command make-up isn't decided until after you see what the terrain set-up is!

Raphael
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Mark Stone
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:54 am    Post subject:

For many years I tended to follow a "left - center - right" breakdown for my commands, basically envisioning command structure horizontally. This is the easiest way to do it, and the way that minimizes setup mistakes. Over the years, though, I found a couple of problems:
    * When a battle goes badly, it tends to do so in a very specific area (for example, collapse of the right flank). If all the troops in the trouble spot are in the same command, then you're much more likely to get a command going into retirement.

    * Even when a battle is going well, the prompting you need to do is frequently all in the same spot (for example, collapsing your opponent's right flank). If only one general is commanding all those troops, you run out of prompt points quickly.


So these days I tend to organize commands vertically: "skirmishers - main battle line - reserve". Your commands are less likely to go into early retirement, and you are much more likely to be able to muster all the prompt points you need by using more than one general to prompt on a critical part of the battlefield.

A word of warning: setup is harder this way. You have to think more about where you place each unit, and you really have to get the spacing right so that you don't create traffic jams on Bound 1 march moves. But setup is something you can practice on your own, and you will get the hang of it. So I highly recommend making the effort to figure out command structure suited to vertical deployment.
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Ewan McNay
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 5:04 am    Post subject:

There are two caveats to Mark's approach (which I agree is, in skilled hands, powerful): first is the one he notes that it is harder to visualise spacing in some ways. Second is specific to the command deployed furthest forward, typically a skirmish command: be very aware that this command is likely to be in contact all along the line early on. Hence, in the flip side to Mark's comment about losing a command in one (left-to-right) area of the battlefield, the risk is that if the enemy can pressure this command in a couple of places rapidly - and LI in particular can often be shaken or routed if the enemy is willing to take risks and/or losses in return - then your whole skirmish line may go into retreat at once, and you likely just lost control of the battlefield *everywhere*.

I've been playing very little, alas; but I know that folks have been paying a lot of attention to trying to cause an early command break by focussing on enemy lights.
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