Scale

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Pikemen were not used for skirmishing, as far as I can make out.

[Paul]

I'm not sure because I do seem to remember that the Swiss were trained to 'fence' with the pike.
On the whole it seems crazy though because we're always led to believe that Pikes rely on mutual protection.

[grizzlymc]

That's actually very sensible. I bet you've summarised it down from 4 pages of exceptions and codicils though.

I actually paid a lawyer 20k to do the job. I also noted that he made the point some 30 years after choosing the scale of his rules, so take it with a grain of salt.

Funnily, when you get to battles with 100k men a side in Wellingtonics, they get a bit boardgamey too. I have been thinking of how to do it and am coming up with a sort of "hold the game up" whilst units within 200m of each other resolve combat, then move on". No questions of "is the light company in angle of fire".

Besides being in Chile, one of the attractions of Liberators was the wargamey size of the armies.

[Jeremy]

Pikemen were not used for skirmishing, as far as I can make out.

They weren’t. When Alexander’s Hypspists had to perform actions outside of the phalanx, they were armed with spears.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

I was thinking more of the ECW/TYW period, but that kind of emphasises it.

[grizzlymc]

Pikemen were not used for skirmishing, as far as I can make out.

They weren’t. When Alexander’s Hypspists had to perform actions outside of the phalanx, they were armed with spears.

Isn't a hypspist a Rolling Stones fan?

[Wg Cdr Luddite]

It seems that as tech gets better, large scale battles start to get a bit boardgamey. Phil Barker once wrote that the ideal wargaming scale is the largest area where the commander could see most of the battlefield. Hence his Wellingtonics at div - corps level and his WWII at coy-Bn level.

There is something in that. Nowadays its not just about line of sight, a modern commander can watch live feeds from his troops hundreds of miles away.

[grizzlymc]

I would imagine that is a micromanager's dream.

[Buff Orpington]

The downside is that the micromanagers in chief can be in constant contact with the commanders. During Gulf War I we were asked to look at putting live satcoms into Peter de la Billière's command vehicle to allow direct comms with Whitehall. We got the gig because it would have taken the army system about 5 years to approve it. It died a death when we worked out the air conditioning requirements. I understand that the General was totally satisfied with this outcome.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

The last thing a field commander wants is politicians and civil servants second-guessing him. Bad enough to have to defeat HM Treasury before you get cracking on the actual enemy.