"Pikes vs Pila in Pontus" Topic

The latest amateur effort by a solo ancients wargamer . . .

Please feel free to visit

link

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.

Cheers,
Chris

I'm curious. Since you weren't reenacting an actual battle in this case but a simple head on clash between two armies, and you weren't limited by availability of models, why did you decide to have significantly more points of Pontic troops? Surely that would have made your result more or less inevitable.

I like to see Pontic troops triumph over the Romans; after all, what have they ever done for us? But I just wonder why you decided to play it as you did.

Cheers,
John

Hello John,

First, thanks for taking the time to read and remark.

To be candid, I did briefly toy with trying to stage Sulla's battle with the Pontics (the one with the scythed chariots and the breastworks, etc.) but was not quite sure how to best approach this using Tactica II.

As to the "significantly more points" query, well, checking the original and revised figures, I note that the Pontics had 632 more points and 129 more "massed unit figures." If my math is correct, this point advantage represents around 7 percent of the total points in both forces.

The difference in composition and points was a result of a general approach to not having equal points armies. It is rare, I think, to run across historical battles wherein the opposing sides are evenly matched in terms of numbers. Additionally, with the army lists provided, it is sometimes challenging to field a well-balanced force.

Appreciate your "hidden" reference to The LIfe of Brian movie.

In sum, the main impetus for this large game was to see how the Roman legions did. One of the attractions of Tactica II, qualifying this assessment as a novice player, is the ability to better represent Roman legions on the tabletop as compared to other rules. For example, I cannot really deploy a Reublican or a Marian legion using Armati, Triumph!, or L'Art de la Guerre.

Thanks again,
Chris