Defending against Horse Bow
Re: Defending against Horse Bow
Yes give it a try. Certainly has a psychological effect on how you handle your pips. Just roll in a cup and give it upside down to your opponent. Only he knows what you've got. (& same for his turn)
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Philip McBride
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Re: Defending against Horse Bow
This has been an extremely useful thread for me today as I've been solo gaming Greco-Bactrians vs Parthians. Usually, the Greco-Bactrians are a balanced, hard-hitting army who win most of their games. But today, they were stymied by the flanking swarm of horse archers and I couldn't figure out how to hold the mounted bowmen at bay. So I reread this thread, picking up some good insights from the designers of the Triumph! rules and a couple of experienced gamers.
Probably the best advice offered was not particularly horse-archer-defense-specific. Rather it is just smart thinking regardless of your opponent. Here it is: Do not use every available movement pip early in the game to gain a quick advantage if it's going to create more 'groups' than you can roll pips to move later in the game when you really need to block or flank an enemy stand. That's not intuitive for me as a tabletop general, but is sure makes good sense.
I was also often overlooking the 16MU command range restriction for the far-flung horse archers. That's just a stupid 'Duh' on my part. A challenge of solo gaming is not having an opponent to call me out on basic stuff like that.
There were some good thoughts on how to use the Greco-Bactrian Indian archers, and a suggestion to deploy flank protecting troops in blocks, not lines, of four stands to make use of the pass-through abilities of open order troops and be more responsive to unexpected enemy thrusts.
All was helpful enough that while my Dallas Cowboys are getting thumped by the Denver Broncos, in another quick solo game the Greco-Bactrians held their flanks and beat the nasty Parthians for a change. While the Boys in Blue continue to flounder.
Probably the best advice offered was not particularly horse-archer-defense-specific. Rather it is just smart thinking regardless of your opponent. Here it is: Do not use every available movement pip early in the game to gain a quick advantage if it's going to create more 'groups' than you can roll pips to move later in the game when you really need to block or flank an enemy stand. That's not intuitive for me as a tabletop general, but is sure makes good sense.
I was also often overlooking the 16MU command range restriction for the far-flung horse archers. That's just a stupid 'Duh' on my part. A challenge of solo gaming is not having an opponent to call me out on basic stuff like that.
There were some good thoughts on how to use the Greco-Bactrian Indian archers, and a suggestion to deploy flank protecting troops in blocks, not lines, of four stands to make use of the pass-through abilities of open order troops and be more responsive to unexpected enemy thrusts.
All was helpful enough that while my Dallas Cowboys are getting thumped by the Denver Broncos, in another quick solo game the Greco-Bactrians held their flanks and beat the nasty Parthians for a change. While the Boys in Blue continue to flounder.