The Pointy Stick thread

[Jeremy]

And really tasty supper

[grizzlymc]

I understand that hordes of light javelin armed troops could deal with elephants. Don't think I'd have liked to be close order spear armed infantry facing jumbos.

[Essex Boy]

I would like to apologise to Paul for the nightmares. If it's any consolation, mate, I'm realising that it's not just theorising about pike blocks that gives me sleepless nights........add chariots and elephants to the mix. Arrrrrrgggggggh!

[Paul]

That’s the problem with having Ancients rules cover such a broad spectrum. Early armies may be struck down by fear at the sight of a few chariots.

The Hyksos conquered Egypt with a handful of chariots and I seem to remember a later Egyptian text making a big deal about six chariots. Early on they were weapons of terror, later they were targets.
Cavalry became more effective at the same roles at far less cost and training.

[Zenbadger]

Just found a copy of To The Strongest that I bought last year and never got around to reading. They look interesting and should work with 80mm/75mm movement trays (4 infantry or 3 cavalry frontage) in 100mm squares. That means I can use 16 man units as 1 unit for WAB, 2 units for TTS and 1 unit for Lion Rampant with a few spares.

[tim.w]

No one has mentioned Hail Caesar yet? Is that because its rubbish? I bought the Crusader Miniatures rules recently and they seem very similar to HS.

[Jeremy]

They’re ok Tim. If you like Black Powder, you’ll like HC.

[Paul]

No one has mentioned Hail Caesar yet? Is that because its rubbish? I bought the Crusader Miniatures rules recently and they seem very similar to HS.

I had heard similar criticisms of HC as I found in BP. Namely the difficulty in getting things to move etc...
I'm intending to give War and Conquest and KoW Historical a go. I'm currently chasing a cheap copy of W&C on Ebay, which I feel a bit guilty about as i've had some good, helpful chats with the author over the years.

[Jeremy]

To the Strongest for me. HC for when the club puts games on.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Having played both Hail Caesar (for Wars of the Roses) and Black Powder, I have to say that I preferred the former to the latter, as the "irregularities" within the movement rules seemed a lot more believable in the earlier era.