Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Mark Stone]

Quoting "WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com" <WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com>:

> Message: 25
> From: JonCleaves@...
>
> In a message dated 3/17/2004 3:43:02 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> spocksleftball@... writes:
>
> > My thoughts on terrain are less passive waiting than using it as a
> > channeling device. Still there is something to be said for
> > cover
> > when facing missiles >>
>
> At the higher levels of play, terrain is easier to 'defeat' than 'control'.
> This is deliberate, as terrain should play a minor, if important, role in any
> ancient/medieval simulation.
> A comp player will know that he can reliably get the center clear and may
> face one flank with rough terrain and will have planned accordingly. There
> will therefore be 3/4 of the table that the other player cannot hide in and
> must have some other plan for.
>

Jon is dead on with this one.

My armies are always some flavor of:
- good LC, good LI
- loose order shooters
- knights
- something else to help the knights get the hand to hand work done

With that mix, I fully expect the battle to be fought either in the middle of
the table or on my opponent's side of the table. Also, given the variety of
troops I have, I really don't care what kind of terrain you throw down on my
side of the table. Somewhere in my army I have troops that are comfortable in
any terrain type.

So to me, terrain picks are all about opening up the terrain on YOUR side of the
table. Here's my recipe (25mm assumed here):

Pick #1: Road
Pick #2: Open Space

The road goes one elment's width in from the center line on your side of the
table, from flank to flank. That means, even if I flub all my other picks, that
no difficult terrain will be closer than 180p to the center line on your side of
the table.

If I get the road, then the open space goes parallel to it, in a thin oval 1240p
in length, and midway between the road and your rear edge, and starting about
280p from the flank edge.

This has several consequences:
- nothing that is at least 240p across can fit between the road and the open and
be an element away from each
- nothing that is at least 240p across can fit between the open and your rear
edge and be an element away from the open
- nothing that is at least 240p across can fit between the open and the flank
edge and be an element away from the open

With two picks I've now marked out a rectangle covering one flank sector and
three fourths of the central sector on your side of the table in which no brush,
no woods, and no marsh will fit. Additionally, the front 180p of the remaining
flank/central area is similar mandated as open.

If you want to hide in terrain in the corner left to you, be my guest. I will
hunt you down and dig you out.

I'll get the above combination of terrain picks about 1/4 of the time (more if
I'm in home climate): whenever I pick first and get both road and open, or
whenever you go first and miss your first pick (and I get mine). In the
remaining 3/4 of cases, most of them are close enough to the above not to affect
my tactics, and not to offer you the kind of shelter you're looking for.

So terrain is not the answer. An army that wants the battle to be decided in the
open can generally assure that will be the case.


-Mark Stone