From: Larry Irons

We played a Magnesia-like scenario today at the monthly Colorado Military Historians (CMH) meeting. Shooting at elephants and chariots in the game made me think about the historical situations versus the game. In the actual battle, Eumenes II knew that shooting at scythed chariots and elephants would disrupt them and cause the animals to panic. In the case of the scythed chariots, the Cretans and slingers were able to shoot at the Seleucid scythed chariots and caused them to panic and run down the Seleucid left flank taking almost all of the good troops with them.

Later in the battle when the Seleucid left and right flanks were gone, the Romans advanced onto the phalanxes. The phalanxes formed square with their elephants interspersed between the squares. The Roman missile troops shot at the elephants to cause them to panic, and some did trampling phalangites here and there. Eventually the phalanxes surrendered to avoid any more slaughter.

In today's game, we noticed that it was very difficult to cause casualties to the elephants and chariots. If these types of units are single stand then there will never be a chance to cause a morale check from shooting.

I believe that one way to simulate the Magneisa battle is to require elephants and chariots to check morale after receiving any shooting casualties. In fact it would allow the possibility of the animals to panic and run back through their own troops. I am certainly recommending this rule for the Magnesia scenario.

[This is why I like to leave scenario-based rules changes up to the scenario designer. You can actually provide any sort of additional, optional rules to make the scenario adhere close to the actual historical results you are attempting to simulate. This sounds fine.

In gaming terms, elephants are mostly a psychological weapon as they are certainly not world-beaters in a close action against most foot. If they can disorder the foot by forcing them to fail a morale check before they hit, they have a good chance of winning. If the foot are steady, however, it will usually be a long day for the elephants....]

And Finally….after all is said and done, this is the beginning of the sixteenth year of SAGA! With this issue, we are making strides to bring more historical information into the newsletter. Wargame battle reports and tournament results are fine, but with well-researched articles such as John's and Jim's, SAGA will continue to provide the best of both worlds.

One other point, the Foundry version of Medieval Warfare is finally nearing completion. As I have not seen a proof of the rules yet, I can only tell you what I have been told. The rules themselves will be 64 pages long, with 32 pages of color, sixteen in front and sixteen in back, complementing the text along with many b/w drawings.

When will all this be occurring? Soon, I'm told, soon. I'll keep you informed. Be sure to keep in touch at www.saga-publishing.com.