Art De La Guerre

[PHGamer]

An Armload of Armenians
Historicon has three L’ Art de la Guerre tournaments this year.
This is round 1 of the last tournament. Themed Classical.
So today, the war-leader, Lekaso and his brothers will lead the Thracian Hill tribes against the Armenians, led by Tigranes the Great.
https://philonancients.blogspot.com/2023/10/an-armload-of-armenians.html
Enjoy!
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Phil
Japanese telephones work pretty much like ours, except the person on the other end can't understand you.

[Hobleythick]

Nice report Phil. I'm interested to see an Armenian Army list. I've got some figures I'm planning on making into an Armenian army and was musing over the composition. My initial draft list had fewer Cataphracts and more Light Horse archers but I have no experience with Cataphracts in ADLG to make an informed choice. I'm also in two minds whether to use the Medium Bow armed cavalry option. I might try it just for variety. I note Spike has no foot Bowmen or LMI Javelinmen. The Armenians seem to lack much heavy infantry in the list, even Tigranes can only have a few, so you can't make much of an infantry centre even if you wanted to.

[PHGamer]

I am not enamored with cataphracts in ADLG. It's the same armor bonus whether you are fighting mediums or heavies.
And being unmaneauverable is a killer.
_________________
Phil
Japanese telephones work pretty much like ours, except the person on the other end can't understand you.

[KevinD]

True, but they are pretty good in period, especially against armored foot. If they still prohibited Missile support from applying to them they’d be better…

[Hobleythick]

Thanks both. I thought Cataphracts were not unmaneuverable but had a sort of halfway house restriction like pikes. So far my Macedonian Phalangites have done okay but I'll check the rules to make sure I haven't misunderstood.

[KevinD]

You’re right, they (Cataphracts and Pikes) are not unmaneuverable (see errata re. P 16) but are treated as if they are when trying to turn 90 or 180 degrees. (See p 34-35). (No penalty for wheeling or moving short thought nor apparently for expanding or contracting.)

Paying an extra CP to turn 90 hurts their operational mobility a bit. However paying the extra CP and losing another UD to turn 90 can really hurt them tactically. It makes it much more difficult for them to respond to an enemy flank threat. It also means that when they break through an enemy formation it is more difficult to flank the adjacent enemy and roll up his line.

Using other cavalry (such as HC Impact) to cover their flank can help with some of these issues … and give you a better chance to catch enemy evaders.

Overall I’m not real impressed by them but they are useful versus enemy HI or Bw.

I think the concept behind Spike’s Armenians was to lean into the army’s strength in a theme tournament. He could try to use terrain (Strategist helps here) to hinder swarming opponents and the two groups of Cataphracts’ frontal hitting power to smash opponents on a narrow frontage. The couple of imitation legions gave him a bit of HI if needed. He had some mounted Skirmishers to delay losing on the refused wing(s) and cover the flanks of the Cataphracts. He avoided using the trash infantry that would just be targets for the enemy.

[PHGamer]

Hobleythick, You are right, Cataphracts are "mostly" unmaneauverable. Like Pike, they can move short distance. And I think are not subject to difficult maneuvers when extending or contracting.
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Phil
Japanese telephones work pretty much like ours, except the person on the other end can't understand you.

[PHGamer]

I just finished a writeup of Samurai, with all MI, vs Parthian. Again lots of terrain, but drastically different results. It should be published next month.
_________________
Phil
Japanese telephones work pretty much like ours, except the person on the other end can't understand you.

[Hobleythick]

Thanks for the comments guys. I have most of the figures, so I might as well paint them. t will be a voyage of discovery to use them.

[PHGamer]

You're welcome! My very first ancients army was a cataphract army, Palmyran. Lots of cats, supported by horse bow, foot bow, and as many Roman foot as you could want. That of course led to many expansion armies.
In that day, the rule set of choice was WRG 6. And one of the caveats of cataphracts was they counted shielded, even when not. Then WRG 7 came out, and that bonus was not grandfathered along, but the cost for being shielded was maintained. And that began the decline of the cataphract armies in the ancient gaming.
With ADLG, being shieldless is not a consideration, and frankly, I don't miss that detail.
But I do feel that cataphracts are not cost effective. Their closest equivalent is Heavy Knight, Impact. Cats are 1 point cheaper, but also only +1 vs mounted where as the Knights are +2. And the Cats impact is negated by mounted impact. Then you add their special maneuverability problems, it is a poor value for 1 point of savings.
_________________
Phil
Japanese telephones work pretty much like ours, except the person on the other end can't understand you.