When I wrote ANCIENT ARMIES-THE MANY CHOICES (Vol V, No 4), I realized the article was not the final word on troop lists. But I didn't know I would be back so soon to pick up and continue the article. The weekend after that issue was released, I received a number of phone calls asking me questions such as "Why didn't you cover the army?", "What
about the ?", and "Let's see some more". So here it is, more lists, some thoughts on researching your army, and some more ideas on how to pick that army.
First, let me talk about the troop lists themselves. They were originally developed to meet the needs of honesty in tournament play and as a starting point for research. They still meet this need. But in the U.S. they have become "set in concrete", and are considered by many to be the final word in friendly games as well. This may be taking things a little too far. For example, if a member in your group has 52 Byzantine Scutatoi but the list only allows 48, give him the option of using all his figures. The lists are meant primarily as a guideline, and as long as he is not trying to gain an advantage, relax the lists a little - after all, a friendly game is just that.
The same holds true for research. Many of us, including myself, have been burned by guys with `personal' lists that just happen to be extremely powerful under the rules. The personal list with the pike-armed berserker elephants fighting in wedge comes to mind. However, a lot of good research has been suppressed because of these few bad apples. Research is an ongoing process, so for a friendly game, let's treat the personal list on its own merit. If the list is well documented, send it to Phil Barker; he may use it in his next list update. Research is a necessary part of our hobby, so let's encourage it. Tournament play must be closely governed by the lists, but let's be a little more flexible otherwise.
Yes, the lists both encourage and stifle research. However, the gamer should still do the best job he can to obtain, paint, and organize his figures within historical parameters. The lists cannot do this for you. For the beginner, the WRG Armies and Enemies series make a good starting point for research on an army. The books are compiled by such respected names as Ian Heath, Duncan Head, and yes, Phil Barker. Some of the better ones are the Macedonian and Punic Wars, Imperial Rome, and any of the Ian Heath works. I am especially pleased with Heath's most recent, Armies of the Middle Ages, Vol II, as this book covers armies almost unknown in the U.S., such as the Theodorian Byzantines and the 15th Century Persians. The Ancient Armies of the Near East should be available by the time you read this. The wealth of detail contained in these books are worth the rather high price. By the way, some of these books have gone through several editions, so try to get the most recent.
After you are familiar with your army through the WRG book, look in the back at the author's references. Heath and Head both give extensive bibliographies that will give you an idea of what to read next. Osprey also puts out some good small books about specific armies and Slingshot (the British/International Society of Ancients Magazine - 30 dollars a year airmail) is aimed specifically at ancient wargaming. For some reason, many U.S. gamers are put off by Slingshot, and I will admit, it can be a very frustrating magazine to read. However, Slingshot also represents some of the very best research being done in our hobby, and is the sounding board for most of the fresh ideas and research that comes along. At least one member in your group should get Slingshot to pass along hobby and historical tidbits. Slingshot impacts the WRG troop lists because anything Slingshot finally decides upon will probably provoke changes in the troop lists somewhere down the road.
CHOOSING YOUR ARMY
One thing that needs to enter your decision making process is possible expansion in the future. For instance, if you build an Alexander Successor Army (Seleucid, Early Asiatic, etc.), you usually have about half the figures for almost any other Successor Army. So be sure the figure manufacturer of your choice makes the figures for your potential expansion, or if another manufacturer makes the figures, ensure they are size compatible with your first army's figures. Just because the ad says they are 25mm doesn't mean they will be even the same size as your original figures.
I would like to bring up an idea from my first article. Play your potential army several times before you spend money on it. If a friend can't loan you similar figures borrow any figures and `dub in' the army. This step is needed to give you playing time with the army to ensure you like the `personality' of the army on the gaming table before you start building.
Before we start the list review, let me expand upon three constant themes from last time. First, irregular cavalry armies are disadvantaged in 6th Edition WRG because they take a long time to perform even simple maneuvers. Whether this disadvantage is slight or significant depends on the players on both sides of the table. The irregular cavalry commander will usually try to outscout an opponent, and set up to attack straight ahead. His opponent will often try to force the irregular cavalry to maneuver by having to go around difficult terrain, etc. If the irregulars have to maneuver, the swiftness of their attack slows down to a crawl.
The second reoccuring theme is: missile-fire cannot win alone. Large blocks of missile troops usually make opposing players hesitate for a few games, but eventually ways will be found to defeat the missile troops. Because each missile figure must shoot at the nearest enemy figure (if no higher priorities exist), a continuous line of foot advancing on the missilemen can take the punishment of the three or four turns until they close with the enemy. So an entire army of missile troops will usually lose against a determined foot attacker. However, missile-fire is very effective in supporting a friendly shock unit's attack, and this is a successful role for missile troops.
The last theme is: a shield is desirable for some and wasted points for other shock cav. SH Cataphracts and SH Knights almost never count shieldless and the two-points-per-figure could be saved for other things. However, for all other shock cav. a shield is a nice thing to have if you must fight an enemy strong in lance-armed cavalry or one with plenty of missile troops.
To continue where I left off last article, let's now take a look at a number of armies from the WRG Troop Lists. Hopefully this review will give you some ideas for your next army by covering the strengths and weaknesses of armies you may not be familiar with. As you may remember, my ulterior motive is to entice you into building any army other than one of the `standard' 20. I will use 1250 points as the reference for my army comparisons. Last article I started with the early armies. To give equal time, I will start this review with the later armies and work my way through to the early ones.
BURGUNDIAN ORDONNANCE:
This late Knight army has all you would expect from the period, with shieldless SH Knights, crossbows, longbows, and pikes. The 2HCT unit and the REg. B archers are good hand to hand, and there are even some handgunners added for spice. But there are several drawbacks: The mounted longbowmen are expensive, and there are required knights and pikes with Reg C morale. There are also required handgunners and even organ guns. In short, there are lots of required points that you could often do without. And to this day I can't understand why this army is allowed 21 regular command factors and their chief opponent, the Swiss, can have only 7. It may be accurate, but the Swiss have too few units to fight on equal terms with Burgundians or any other foe.
ISLAMIC PERSIAN:
Phil Barker says this is possibly the most colorful army of all, and I'm inclined to agree with him. The main (and practically the only) shock troops are supplied by the Persian EH Cav. These troops can have various weapons and armor, and can be I rr. A morale. Also there are cheap missile L Cav and a 50 man block of levy archers to provide effective missile support. Drawbacks: The one small woods unit could use some help, and there is no close infantry support. This is an irregular cavalry with the standard maneuver problems. Some of the EH Cav are required JLS to go along with their lance, and could be considered waste points, but those Javelins come in handy against light troops. By the way, if you dismount your EH Cav they become EH Infantry armed with LTS, JLS, bow and shield, with a morale class of Irr A or B. These EH Infantry will water the eyes of an unsuspecting Roman player. Because the Persians wore so many different types of armor, a few figures (Sassanid Persians, etc.) can be found to work for this army. But as far as I know, no figures like #26-#32 in Heath's latest book are made. This is a shame, because if the figures were done well, this would be an army to own.
MEDIEVAL SPANISH/PORTUGUESE:
One of the best of the knight armies. Few required points, lots of shieldless SH Knights, some can even be Reg A. I n addition to the knights, there are some fair to good L Cav, the Javelinmen are cost effective woods troops, there's lots of missile support, and in the early option you can have a large English contingent. Drawbacks are not many: No effective close order foot and the infantry morale is only fair. Of these armies, the Portuguese are by far the best, followed by the Aragonese.
MAMLUK EGYPTIAN:
An attack cav army. Plenty of irregular EH Cav backed by a few regular cav units to maneuver and protect the flanks of the irregulars and take advantage of any openings. Some good woods troops, light cav, and cheap foot missile support. Weaknesses are: No good close formation foot, the support troops' morale is not that good, and not enough regular command factors.
LATER HUNGARIAN:
Much of the credit for keeping the Ottomans out of the rest of Europe goes to this army. Lots of interesting options, especially in the late period. The attack cav has excellent morale, and the SH Knights can even be regulars. There are two German SH Knight wedges, the Vlack and Serbians contribute good light cav, and there are some good foot. Handgunners provide short range but powerful missile fire, with some cheap bowfire for longer range support. There are good close order foot with 2HCT. Drawbacks are: required hussars with shields but no JLS so the shields are almost wasted points, no woods troops, and the 2HCT H Infantry are Reg C.
THEODORIAN BYZANTINE:
Here are the Byzantines in their final blaze of glory as they recaptured Constantinople from the Crusader Franks and desperately held it for almost 200 years. A number of interesting troops, but no great ones. Lots of good morale, light and heavy can and a large number of EH Knights. There's even one SH Knight wedge. Also you can cover the board with LC horse archers, though I'm not sure why you would want to. The Mongols and Genoese make good allies, as do the Serbs. Drawbacks are: the required L Cav are too many and too expensive. EH Knights are too expensive for their effectiveness, and there is not much in the way of woods troops without the Genoese. Enemy cav can often run the Varangians down.
AYYUBID EGYPTIAN:
Most Crusader players don't think Saladin's troops should be high morale regulars. However, the Franks might have a distorted view of history. In any case, the Ayyubid's attack cav have good morale, all armed with lance, and are backed up by some fair to good L Cav and foot support troops. Even a couple of good woods units are available. The Syrian ahdath can perform much the same function as the Sassanid Levy, and the ahdath can also add some limited missile support. Weaknesses: not enough horse armor for the attack cav and no good shock close order foot. Most of the regular cav are required bows, and since these are the primary hand-to-hand units in the army, the two points for the bows could be better spent elsewhere.
MEDIEVAL SCANDINAVIAN:
An army that has aroused much more interest in England than in the U.S. so far. If you can handle Irr C class troops, this might be the army for you. The late option is usually used because the knights can delete their almost useless shield and the foot are armed with the always powerful 2HCT. The German knights can beshieldless also, and are useful even though Reg C morale because they can fight in a wedge. Drawbacks: the CB is the weakest missile weapon in WRG, and at least half the foot will have it. Also the army requires HC sergeants with Irr C morale. Usually the foot are in fairly large units, so the flanks are vulnerable. Unless you are a consistantly lucky player, the army's morale will occasionally let you down.
BERBER:
The main strength of this army is the Med. Infantry. The Murabits have three different close order foot, all effective. Other strong points are the close order missile troops, and high morale L Cav. The medium camels, if used with care, can be well worth the point investment. Drawbacks are: too many required L Cav, almost no foot or cav armor except the HC Christians (and they are armed with JLS, not the lance) and not much infantry staying power hand to hand.
GHAZNAVID:
Possibly the best elephant army around. Up to eight Irr B elephants with pike-armed crewmen. And the best part is, none are required. So an opponent may prepare for elephants that don't show up. Other strengths are few required troops, some interesting and useful cav, and enough close, woods, and missile troops to give the army a balance.
This is a good army, but there are drawbacks. Except for the elephants, the shock troops are only fair. Elephants and regular cav are expensive troops so the army has fewer units at 1250 points than I like. If they engage quickly and are properly supported, the elephants can carry this army to many a win. But if the elephants fail, this army is in trouble.
NORMANS:
An army that works well against most historical enemies because the Saxons, etc., have only limited bowfire capability. The Normans are a HC army with good missile fire support from their infantry. The Normans can form a wedge, which is useful against infantry enemies and sometimes is effective against cav. The HC is vulnerable to missile fire, especially bows. There are some close order foot, but good mainly for support. Light cav are there, but not that effective.
WELSH:
I've never seen the Welsh as a wargame army, but because I've read 'Famous Welsh Battles' three times, this army appeals to me. At 1250 points, the Welsh could field a 50 man block of spearmen (front rank Irr B LHI, LTS, sh; second rank JLS, sh) 150 Longbow and four or five Viking units thrown in. There can be a few light cav, but the Welsh are primarily an infantry army. Good woods units but no close foot and not much infantry staying power (except Vikings). The Welsh have no regular units, and because of this and the static longbowmen, the army doesn't maneuver well. It you like painting figures and spending money, this might be your army, as the Welsh can field almost 300 figures at 1250 points.
AVAR:
An attack shock cav army. Not as vulnerable to bows as the Lombard's horses, etc., because of the optional horse armor. The supporting Light Cav is only fair. Fair woods troops and some light infantry bowfire support with the Slavs. Avar players usually field every EHC they can and send them up the middle in an impetuous assault, while the Slavs, etc., attempt to hold the flanks until the EHC break through. The Avars have a lot of historical flavor, possibly because of their arrogance. The Avars even taught the Byzantine a few things.
LOMBARD:
This is you basic cheap shock cavalry army but with a few twists. The strengths of the Lombards are numerous HC and MC lancers with infantry missile support. The Avar allies can give the Lombards some EHC and LC skirmishers, and some weak woods troops. Better allies to shore up the Lombard's weaknesses are the Arabs. They can offer I rr B, LC, some good woods troops and some close order foot, if needed. Drawbacks: an irregular cav army with resultant maneuver problems, and the HC and MC are very vulnerable to bow fire.
PATRICIAN ROMAN:
Good irregular close order foot with fair to good woods troops. The Legionarii aren't what they were in earlier centuries and are usually avoided. The Franks, etc. now are the solid infantry Patrician Generals rely upon. But the Franks will need help after the initial round of melee unless they are in fairly large blocks. The Alans also make good allies. This army has many good troops, but no great ones. These Romans can, however, have a very balanced attack.
HUNNIC:
Due to circumstances beyond their control, the Huns don't do that well on the wargame table. Skirmish cav tactics won't work against an experienced opponent and the Huns don't have enough shock cav to win a direct assault. The Gepids are useful allies, as are the Heruls. There are no woods troops available. The Huns cav beat some foot armies, especially irregular foot armies, but don't build this army if you have ego problems about winning.
THREE KINGDOM CHINESE:
Good shock cavalry with the SH Cataphracts and H Cav lancers. Standard Chinese M Infantry with some less-than-ideal Reg D Heavy Infantry troops. One drawback is morale, with the shock cav. having the only decent morale in the army. Other drawbacks are: no good shock infantry and no woods troops.
MITHRIDATIC:
I occasionally see this army, but I rarely see it win. For some reason this army is less than the sum of its parts. The main attraction for this army is the scythed chariots, but six chariots aren't enough to make this army a winner. There are some good attack cav., but these are either shieldless Sarmatians or 1/2 Irr C Armenians. There are good woods troops, but not enough pikes. Except for the Bastarnae, who cannot be used with the Armenians, the foot morale is only fair. Missile troops are around, but not in great numbers. There are so many vulnerable troops to coordinate and protect, that it takes a very good gamer to win consistantly.
BACTRIAN GREEK:
Good regular cav and cheap pikes supported by horse archers and longbows. The Bactrians can either have lots of good attack cav with Saka EH Cav. or numerous effective foot with the regulars and Indians. This is a balanced army with inexpensive troop types. The main drawback is the required elephants. Other drawbacks are: only average morale for the foot troops, and an expensive required chariot if more than 40 Indian figures are used.
LYSIMACHID:
An interesting successor army. With minimum Thracian allies, this army has plenty of good morale mixed HI and MI pike units. Cavalry wedges with good morale assist the pikes. Woods troops are provided with the required Thracians and the Illyrians. With the Thracian allies, the light cav. morale improves, and even more woods troops are available. Weaknesses: Few missile troops, even with the Thracians, and shieldless cav that must be protected from missiles. This army lacks the armored cavalry, numerous elephants, chariots, and missile troops of other successors, and the Lysimachids will be hampered when fighting successors who have these troop types.
NEW ASSYRIAN EMPIRE:
An army that is better than the sum of its parts. The chariots and the shieldless, javelin-armed EH Cavalry are not exactly world-beaters. Neither is the half-jav. and half-bow armed infantry. But with the darts for the infantry, the irregular sacred vehicle (for a regular army), and lots of missiles for support, this is a finesse army that, in the right hands, wins more times than it should.
KUSHITE EGYPTIAN:
A very colorful army that is fun to use on the table. The list requires light chariots and H Cav. armed with JLS, and these troops have fairly low hand-to-hand factors. But all Kushite mounted troops can be made Irr A, which will add to their offensive capability by being impetuous. There are massive amounts of cheap foot missile fire and inexpensive woods troops. You can also upgrade the foot to Irr A, but I don't recommend you usually do so because missile support troops are just that. The Egyptian allies add Reg A chariots, light cav, some weak close order foot, and lots more bowfire. Drawbacks: Even when impetuous, the chariots and H Cav are not overwhelming so must be supported by missiles. The foot troops lack staying power.
MYCEANEAN GREEK:
This early army can not stand up to later opponents well. The primary reason is the Greek's main attack arm, the chariot, does not work very well under 6th edition WRG. Other drawbacks are no woods troops and no shields for the light infantry. The advantages are few. A fair number of missiles, lots of cheap infantry, and Epics by Homer to read while your chariots are routing off the field.
Conclusions
Again I would like to say that this review reflects my own gaming experience and bias. This time the armies were a little more obscure than in the first review. By that I mean these armies are not seen as often as armies in the first review were. But as before, I am hoping people will build these armies in greater numbers to add variety to the wargaming tables. There are fringe benefits even at tournaments for playing lesser known armies. There are psychological advantages to be gained when using an army your opponent is not familiar with. When asked by your opponent what army you are using and you respond "Prussians", he will often stare at you blankly and respond with something like, "I'm playing Ancients, what are you playing?". Or after several minutes of fruitless search, your opponent will ask "What troop list book are the Ming Chinese in?". Small pleasures are often the best. Using a lesser known army can also help in the army painting competition. The Judge won't spend much time looking at your troops if yours is the 10th Selucid army he has seen today. But if it's the first Kushite Egyptian army he has ever seen, he will be inclined to stick around a little longer because of the unusual troops.
I was very pleased with the response from my first article on the WRG Troop Lists, and I hope this article has also been of some benefit. An article I would like to see within these pages would be a good campaign article for ancients. If anyone is interested, please write to THE COURIER. Good luck with your next army.
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