I thought I'd write this thread in order to see the opinions of people here. I'm not amazing at Rome so I generally depend on second guessing my opponent and countering his army man for man. But recently whilst playing against a Carthaginian player I decided to toughen things up and rather than choosing one of the Roman factions, I chose Macedon. I'd say Macedon is my most polished game.
Carthage – 6 sacred band infantry (Bronze , Gold)
4 sacred band cavalry (1 Chevron , Gold , Gold)
4 slinger ( Gold )
4 Spanish Mercs ( Gold , Gold)
Macedon – 6 royal pikemen ( Bronze , Gold)
3 companions ( Gold , Silver)
6 Cretan archers ( Gold )
4 phalanx pikes ( Bronze , Bronze )
The battle progressed pretty normally, he made the first move. After a very brief skirmish where my Cretans defeated his slingers quite easily, an interesting battle developed, he sent forward all his infantry and prepared a hammer and anvil. I sent my phalanx pikes to protect my rear whilst my royals engaged his sacred band infantry. This meant that his cavalry advantage was nullified and thus the battle hung in the balance. Negating my cavarly who didn't dare charge and my Cretans who were busy shooting his sacred band, the battle was 6 units of royal pikes vs 6 units of sacred bands. So I thought I'd conclude the results of the battle.
Firstly, as both our generals were part of our pike groups, due to supeior numbers ( 261 royals against just 161 sacred bands) my general was rather safe, at the side whilst his was on the battle line. As a result his was the first to fall.
Secondly, again to due to superior numbers, those on the sides enveloped his flanks, causing a good amount of damage.
Thirdly, once the initial phalanx battling ceased and it went to hand to hand fighting with swords, my men were less tired, probably due to the fact royals wear less armour.
Due to all this and the possible that the sword (rather than the pikes) of said units were not dependent on attack values as displayed on the unit card, my royal pikemen won the battle rather easily.
Thus I reached the following conclusion : A battle where both Royals and Sacred band pikes are matched in unit cards, on one long battle line where neither side has missile support, morale support or strength in the fact the enemy is tired, royal pikes will win the fight.
It was a different story was the Sacred Band Calvary vs Companions battle though as no clear advantage in either numbers or stats were present for said companions. The sacred band also had more upgrades and thus this report is slightly biased, but after gaining a large advantage due to initial charge bonus, around when both units were at 50 units the companions lost the remainder of their men very quickly indeed. Thus the only way for a unit of companions to effectively defeat the SBC is to cycle charge until a sufficient advantage has been had.
Any thoughts? Is Carthage truly better than Macedon?
Carthage – 6 sacred band infantry (Bronze , Gold)
4 sacred band cavalry (1 Chevron , Gold , Gold)
4 slinger ( Gold )
4 Spanish Mercs ( Gold , Gold)
Macedon – 6 royal pikemen ( Bronze , Gold)
3 companions ( Gold , Silver)
6 Cretan archers ( Gold )
4 phalanx pikes ( Bronze , Bronze )
The battle progressed pretty normally, he made the first move. After a very brief skirmish where my Cretans defeated his slingers quite easily, an interesting battle developed, he sent forward all his infantry and prepared a hammer and anvil. I sent my phalanx pikes to protect my rear whilst my royals engaged his sacred band infantry. This meant that his cavalry advantage was nullified and thus the battle hung in the balance. Negating my cavarly who didn't dare charge and my Cretans who were busy shooting his sacred band, the battle was 6 units of royal pikes vs 6 units of sacred bands. So I thought I'd conclude the results of the battle.
Firstly, as both our generals were part of our pike groups, due to supeior numbers ( 261 royals against just 161 sacred bands) my general was rather safe, at the side whilst his was on the battle line. As a result his was the first to fall.
Secondly, again to due to superior numbers, those on the sides enveloped his flanks, causing a good amount of damage.
Thirdly, once the initial phalanx battling ceased and it went to hand to hand fighting with swords, my men were less tired, probably due to the fact royals wear less armour.
Due to all this and the possible that the sword (rather than the pikes) of said units were not dependent on attack values as displayed on the unit card, my royal pikemen won the battle rather easily.
Thus I reached the following conclusion : A battle where both Royals and Sacred band pikes are matched in unit cards, on one long battle line where neither side has missile support, morale support or strength in the fact the enemy is tired, royal pikes will win the fight.
It was a different story was the Sacred Band Calvary vs Companions battle though as no clear advantage in either numbers or stats were present for said companions. The sacred band also had more upgrades and thus this report is slightly biased, but after gaining a large advantage due to initial charge bonus, around when both units were at 50 units the companions lost the remainder of their men very quickly indeed. Thus the only way for a unit of companions to effectively defeat the SBC is to cycle charge until a sufficient advantage has been had.
Any thoughts? Is Carthage truly better than Macedon?