Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Chris Bump]

Scott,

Your commentary on the Nike Byz's was enough to push me over the
fense and inspire my investment in that army in 25's. In doing my
own research, though, I am finding or rather failing to find data
that supports the Menaultoi being armed with Pike. At first glance I
was excited about the ability to have 8 elements of EHI armed with
Pike, but the notion of a full phalanx in the Nike army seems off and
I have certanily not found anything to support my creating such a
formation. Wouldn't just arming them with LTS that always fights at
2 ranks be more accurate? Or since they were an anti cav troop,
fights at 2 full ranks only against cav?

As an ancillary, it seems that there is at least some evidence that
the weapon choice for the menaultoi should include 2HCT. Apparently
these troops were initially created as a defense against the various
enemy heavily armored cav and their preferred tactic was to kneel
with their short spear, topped with a long slashing blade, and attack
the undersides of the enemy horses. Besides the description in the
Taktica writings supporting this, circumstantial evidence exists in
that both DBx and WAB categorize these troops as the equivilent of
billmen. Presumably they have done some historical research as well.

Thoughts?
Chris

[Frank Gilson]

With the available options, these special Nikephoran infantry
are 'fine'.

2HCT would actually be worse against cav than LTS or LTS,JLS or P.

If it's an anti-cav role you want, you can make LTS,JLS,D,Sh backed
up by Bow which are anti-cav, heavily anti-elephant, and play a
significant anti-infantry role...without even dipping into the Reg B
or EHI.

Frank

--- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, "cncbump" <cncbump@v...> wrote:
>
> Scott,
>
> Your commentary on the Nike Byz's was enough to push me over the
> fense and inspire my investment in that army in 25's. In doing my
> own research, though, I am finding or rather failing to find data
> that supports the Menaultoi being armed with Pike. At first glance
I
> was excited about the ability to have 8 elements of EHI armed with
> Pike, but the notion of a full phalanx in the Nike army seems off
and
> I have certanily not found anything to support my creating such a
> formation. Wouldn't just arming them with LTS that always fights
at
> 2 ranks be more accurate? Or since they were an anti cav troop,
> fights at 2 full ranks only against cav?
>
> As an ancillary, it seems that there is at least some evidence that
> the weapon choice for the menaultoi should include 2HCT.
Apparently
> these troops were initially created as a defense against the
various
> enemy heavily armored cav and their preferred tactic was to kneel
> with their short spear, topped with a long slashing blade, and
attack
> the undersides of the enemy horses. Besides the description in the
> Taktica writings supporting this, circumstantial evidence exists in
> that both DBx and WAB categorize these troops as the equivilent of
> billmen. Presumably they have done some historical research as
well.
>
> Thoughts?
> Chris
>

[Chris Bump]

Frank,
You miss my point all together. I am speaking strictly from trying
to represent the troops historically. An EHI Pike block two across
by four deep would be a nice counter to virtually all but elephants,
but I was pointing out that I did not think that the option to create
such a formation was an accurate representation of either Byzantine
tactics nor capabilities. Given the adoption of list rules to afix
more accurate capabilities to various 'specialty' troops, I was
proposing a different and what I thought a more historical option.
You'll note that I was not asking for more, but actually less.

Chris

--- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, "Frank Gilson"
<franktrevorgilson@h...> wrote:
>
> With the available options, these special Nikephoran infantry
> are 'fine'.
>
> 2HCT would actually be worse against cav than LTS or LTS,JLS or P.
>
> If it's an anti-cav role you want, you can make LTS,JLS,D,Sh backed
> up by Bow which are anti-cav, heavily anti-elephant, and play a
> significant anti-infantry role...without even dipping into the Reg
B
> or EHI.
>
> Frank
>
> --- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, "cncbump" <cncbump@v...> wrote:
> >
> > Scott,
> >
> > Your commentary on the Nike Byz's was enough to push me over the
> > fense and inspire my investment in that army in 25's. In doing
my
> > own research, though, I am finding or rather failing to find data
> > that supports the Menaultoi being armed with Pike. At first
glance
> I
> > was excited about the ability to have 8 elements of EHI armed
with
> > Pike, but the notion of a full phalanx in the Nike army seems off
> and
> > I have certanily not found anything to support my creating such a
> > formation. Wouldn't just arming them with LTS that always fights
> at
> > 2 ranks be more accurate? Or since they were an anti cav troop,
> > fights at 2 full ranks only against cav?
> >
> > As an ancillary, it seems that there is at least some evidence
that
> > the weapon choice for the menaultoi should include 2HCT.
> Apparently
> > these troops were initially created as a defense against the
> various
> > enemy heavily armored cav and their preferred tactic was to kneel
> > with their short spear, topped with a long slashing blade, and
> attack
> > the undersides of the enemy horses. Besides the description in
the
> > Taktica writings supporting this, circumstantial evidence exists
in
> > that both DBx and WAB categorize these troops as the equivilent
of
> > billmen. Presumably they have done some historical research as
> well.
> >
> > Thoughts?
> > Chris
> >
>