At a recent convention, a fellow Society of Ancients member accused me of utilizing the rules to provide that his Early imperial Roman army had no chance of defeating my Aztecs. Although true, I thought this a bit cheeky on his part. After all, I had graciously (or so I thought) pointed out to the Roman that six heavy cavalry attacking ten Jaguar Knights on a steep hill had a three factor disadvantage--one because of disorder and opponents halted on higher ground. I even suggested that he could cancel the charge. But it seems that there were a number of steep hills on the table and all were conspicuously occupied by Aztecs with slings. In addition, there was a gully and my side was lined with Aztecs with slings and others with two-handed choppers. My opponent conceded with iII grace. Most players seem to feel, as did the Roman, that tabletop terrain is a function either of chance or of aesthetics. The Roman placed hills in my set up area! On the contrary the selection and placement of terrain is an important, if not the most important tactical decision of the game. In the above-described situation, the Roman had very little hope of success although close order legionnaires are superior to loose formation Aztecs in the open. Poor terrain selection with average tactics always loses when confronted with good terrain selection and average tactics. When selecting and positioning terrain, the tabletop commander should consider at least three factors: the types of troops in his army, the types of troops in his opponent's army, and the peculiarities of terrain with respect to both melee and the reaction test. In general, the following rules seem to be useful. Armies with high quality impact cavalry or infantry want a minimum of difficult terrain with reasonable amounts of gentle hills to interfere with hostile archery and to provide morale and melee advantages. Armies with large numbers of archers want the maximum number of difficult terrain pieces such as bogs, marshes ' and sand that slow movement without interfering with archery. Armies with large numbers of loose or dispersed formation foot seem to do best with large numbers of difficult terrain pieces. I lean to steep hills and woods. Light cavalry armies want as little terrain as possible (an occasional gentle hill has its uses). Good combined arms armies still need open spaces for the melee, hills for morale and archery, and difficult terrain to anchor flanks. On to specifics. The rules have a significant morale handicap for troops who have enemy uphill or unfriendly cover within 150 paces. Troops who halt to receive a charge and are uphill of their opponents have a two factor melee advantage. Troops who charge downhill have a one factor melee advantage. Most battles are resolved in the center sector. Therefore, the canny player will often place a hill just outside either his left or his right deployment area. The hill should be placed within 150 paces of the table's center and close enough to the player's deployment area to allow him to occupy it without combat. Of course, the hill should be visibly occupied. Chance does play a part in retaining the hill. In order to keep the hill, the placing player must roll a three. Many players place a second hill in the other deployment area to maximize their chances of keeping at least one. Choice of troops dictates type of hill. Steep is most appropriate for loose and dispersed formation infantry and occasionally for levy archers. Gentle is generally appropriate in all other cases. When giving orders, remember that archers with a height advantage can fire over other bodies more than 200 paces from the archers and at targets within 150 paces. Your orders have to have enough flexibility to permit the necessary spacing. Also remember the restrictive interpretation rules when setting up your deployment. Hostile troops surprised under occasion 5 on page 23 of the 6th Edition rules have a three factor disadvantage when testing reaction. I, therefore, try to keep a reserve unit just behind the crest of the hill to pop out when a hostile unit breaks. With luck, it may be enough to start the entire enemy army on the run. The trick works almost as welI with any other type of cover. Woods are very useful for surprise and have the same archery tactical factor advantage as do all other forms of cover. In addition, there is a two factor disadvantage for unfriendly cover. Placement for surprise and as archery bases should have the same parameters as hills. However, woods can be placed within your deployment areas thus greatly heightening the tactical advantages of surprise and eliminating the need for movement to occupy them. Woods also have several defensive aspects. Woods, or other difficult terrain, placed in your opponent's central deployment area maximize the chances of his dividing his army and your defeating it in detail. A piece of woods 360 paces by 120 paces (permitted by line 16 on page 15) in an Indian army will force the Indian general to force march to meet deployment requirements on page 16 under paragraph 10. It seems elephants are not permitted in woods and who has ever seen an Indian leader on anything else. If the casualties due to the forced march do not kill the general, the archery casualties should Woods are useful for screening hostile archers and for guiding hostile advances. A woods set well to one side or other of the table's center and forward of the deployment areas pretty well seals off a large area of the table from use. Woods can also be used to anchor a flank. Difficult terrain is also very useful in slowing down the enemy advance. If it is soft sand, bog, marsh, or gullies it does not restrict archery. Cavalry is not permitted through marsh. Oh, to face a Hun army with 100 levy archers in the Priapet marshes. Pick large pieces of terrain. The larger the terrain piece, the longer it will take enemy troops to walk through it under galling archery fire. The terrain should be close enough to your deployment areas to permit you to line the near sides and far enough to allow you to fire into your opponents deployment area if he has an idea of just sitting and making you come to him. Close order troops and cavalry who attack you across such terrain will be disordered under cause 1. Gullies are excellent defensive terrain pieces. In the first instance, cavalry can not move across gullies. (Number 10, page 31.) Therefore, gullies provide significant deterrents to flank marches when placed on the threatened flank running 360 paces in a line towards the enemy baseline. They also provide an excellent defensive position when placed approximately 100 to 160 paces from the front edge of your deployment area and parallel with it. Close formation foot are disordered in it. Arguably you have an uphill advantage. Gullies may be useful for surprise. At present, the rules do not define uphill or vision with respect to gullies. in my area they do not confer an uphill advantage and are treated as woods for vision. Other people have different ideas. Maybe the WRG people will hire a proof reader soon. Villages, and especially walled villages, obscure archery, confer a cover morale and archery factor advantage, and provide a huge melee advantage. Lining a village wall with levy archers allows the archers to beat an equal number of phalangites. Assuming a charge bonus, no archery, and even die rolls, the phalanx kills 20 people in the first turn of melee and must rol I up two to get one per figure on the levies. The levies cause 26 casualties in the first turn of melee. If there is average archery, the pikes will break in the first turn. How does one defeat terrain? String is the first weapon and clear areas come in very large sizes. Placing a gully along your baseline or a village to the rear of your wings reduces your opponent's chance of retaining a like piece of terrain to one in six. Placing woods on your opponent's hills or between his hills and his deployment areas reduces their effectiveness as staging areas for charges. Woods between his hills and your baseline has the same effect and ruins the hills for archery as well. However, the best answer is to use the terrain to your tactical advantage. Attack troops in the open or in terrain where you can win the battle. Avoid your opponent elsewhere. Remember the flank march. Respone: letter to Editor (v4n6) Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IV #4 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1983 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com