Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Larry Essick]

> I am afraid I will have to disagree. I feel shooting is
appropriately
> effective in Warrior. I also think shooting played a role in far
more armies in
> more situations to a greater degree than is commonly accepted.

I think that what takes place in Warrior (and in the DBx family too)
is that missile troops are more often seen and so have a
disproportionate effect in the tournament. It isn't a matter of
historical interaction but one of tournament play.

Shooting is often too effective, however.

As an example, Muslim archery was not particularly effective against
Crusaders. But, in a Warrior context, which army would you prefer to
be running? Late in the crusader era, the western crossbow was an
extremely effective counter to the comparatively weak bows of the
Muslims.

Nonetheless, in Warrior (and, it is a weakness of all rules covering
our period) a B is a B is a B. They all shoot the same range with the
same factors and have the same impact.

Was Magyar LC shooting so effective against western knights? If so,
then how did a numerically smaller force triumph at Lechfeld? In
Warrior those K would be classed as HC with some being Irr C or even
Irr D. It is only possible to fight Lechfeld in Warrior by really
working on the numbers and doing something to reduce the B shooting of
the LC or to restrict their ability to evade.

I understand the reasons why this is as it is. The rules cover
thousands of years and don't really go into the differences in weapons
that would be needed. So, Warrior does the best it can -- and that is
fine (particularly when you realize that every other system has the
same problems).

The real difficulty comes in tournament play where there is an
imbalance in favor of missile troops, including army composition in
which missile troops are often over-emphasized compared to their
historical numbers.

For example, consider the Normans. Norman archery was not a
significant factor at Hastings and there is evidence that the Saxon MI
outshot the Normans (even though in Warrior they cannot shoot at all).
But, a Norman army can choose to take a very large number of B and
field them as LMI. This lets the Normans soften up the Saxon line,
maybe even disorder it, and that makes it possible for the Norman HC
to burst through. This did not occur historically, not even close.

So, the problem is not with trying to create a good dynamic but in how
armies are composed and in the rush to use missile troops during
competition.

All part of the group dynamics.

Larry