An Old Midlish Rhyme
The wind from the North sings of heroes of Olde
The wind from the East makes our blood run Cold
The wind from the South smells of Spices and Gold
But the wind from the West tells of warriors Bold.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Second Thoughts

I spent a considerable time and effort convincing myself that 18 figure units, or more accurately, units with 3 bases each of 6 infantry or 6 bases of 3 cavalry, were the way to go. Maybe one day I'll learn that when I have to work that hard to convince myself of something then its probably not right. While preparing to refight Marathon, I ended up having to play with unit configurations and found that surprise, surprise, the 24 man units that I had originally envisaged were flexible and looked good.
As originally envisaged: 24 man units with 12 man light infantry and cavalry units.
Now if I do revert to 24 man infantry units, what do I do with the cavalry? Keeping to the premise that all regiments are 1,000 strong I have 2 choices: field 24 man cavalry and skirmisher units or field the cavalry and light infantry as 1/2 units or wings, for example the Skythian horse archer unit would be 24 strong but might take the field as two 12 man wings or even four 6 man troops on the day of battle. Actually having the "quarter" as an administrative and tactical sub-unit appeals to me. I have no reason to believe the Persians used such an organization but then, as I've said before, this is "MY" army.

Of course, now I'll need to paint up more troops, but that's not a bad thing.
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4 comments:

  1. Robert (Bob) CorderyJanuary 16, 2010 at 1:29 AM

    As we both know, what looks 'right' generally is right!

    As your photograph shows, the 24-man infantry units do look right, as do the12-man cavalry and light infantry units.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  2. Rob YoungJanuary 16, 2010 at 3:52 AM

    24 man units are what I generally use for close order troops, 12 man for cavalry and light infantry. I'm changing now and starting to produce 48 man units, but circumstances are different. Pike phalamxes I tended to go for 16 man units, this was because 24 man units don't work 4 deep for DBM type rules and 16 was the next best option for my former 24 figure units.

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  3. Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.comJanuary 16, 2010 at 5:59 AM

    Yes Bob, it seems a hard lesson for me at times though :) -Ross

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  4. Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.comJanuary 16, 2010 at 6:10 AM

    Ah yes DBX/WRG standard basing. For years I was pretty happy with the Armati/Comitatus/Legio style where the number of figures on the base doesn't really matter but the Warmaster 3 stands per unit is definitely limiting, esp in a period where formation changes other than march column tended to mean doubling or halfing the number of ranks. and now I've been bitten by the single figure bug!
    -Ross

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