The Will of the Senate - Out of character thread V

**econ21** · 12-05-2006, 18:29

This post is primarily for Braden and Tamur, but I thought I would make it public in case others are curious about how we are going to do this umpired battle.

It would be good if I could have your initial move to contact orders asap - they will likely be only minor tweaks of what you have already given me.

Army "divisions" and how they will work

To simplify this, please give orders only to groups (“division”) of your army. You may have a maximum of 8 “divisions” in your army.

You currently have 6 each and so may create another 2 during the course of the battle by detaching units from existing divisions. It would be foolish to try to re-arrange units locked in melee, though. Your main reserves are probably the best formations to try to break down in new divisions – e.g. if you only want to commit some at a particular time.

However, each general may be given individual orders and need not be in a division. The generals are Numerius, Appius, Manius and son. The Senate Tribune is not a general per se, although his presence in a division may give that division more autonomous capability.

The initial deployment looks like this:

Current divisions

Consular – these are the six formations that Braden ringed & labelled in his deployment diagram to me.

I. Battle division - main battle line
II. Light infantry division – slingers and skirmish detachment
III. Command division - generals and equites
IV. Light cavalry division
V. Cavalry reserve division
VI. Reserve division

Senate – I have created these after consolidating some of Tamur’s labelled formations on his diagram.

I. Battle division - main battle line inc. Manius & flanking swords
II. Light infantry division - frontal skirmisher and slinger detachment
III. Second battle division - Numerius + hastati
IV. Cavalry division (to the left)
V. Horse archer detachment
VI. Reserve division

How to draft orders

Please draft your orders in character, as if given by a real general. They should be clear and simple. The more confused or complicated, the more likely the divisional commander will mess up. Ideally, I would like to publish these orders in a battle report (after the battle is concluded – so they will be confidential until then). You may allow for contingencies, but if the orders are too complex, the divisional commander may become confused or feel constrained from acting on his own initiative. You can trust your divisional commanders to execute their orders in a competent way (you don’t need to micromanage them and tell them how to fight – I may let the AI control them to see how a division vs division fight would play out). But they will have limited initiative to respond to new developments.

What orders should cover:
- where to move, inc. facing
- which formation to engage or screen (this will help me determine facing)
- for missiles (inc. pila and javelin armed heavily infantry): whether to fire at will or who to target
- for melee units: whether to charge or prepare to receive a charge
- whether to pursue or hold ground once in place

You should also edit the jpg in Paint to indicate where you would like your units to move (both of you provided much better graphs than my pitiful attempts, so in the edit I just stuck each of yours on top of the other). Remember - movement in the advance to contact turn stops once you are within range.

**econ21** · 12-06-2006, 13:04

OK, orders for turn 2 (mid-morning), please. The situation upon advancing to contact is:

**econ21** · 12-06-2006, 14:47

To simulate the fog of war, from this point on, I will only provide partial information on the situation to each general as it is appears to them. This will be done in private to Braden and Tamur separately. I will create diagrams for the record, but will not show (bits of) them to the generals unless it is needed to illustrate a tricky point.

Tamur and Braden can of course, send me diagrams to clarify their orders but in reality, I doubt generals would scribble down maps mid-battle so any centurions receiving them may be suitably bemused.

**Braden** · 12-06-2006, 15:24

Maps I'm sending you are for OOC assistance only - a picture tells a thousand words.

FoW - would that now be realistic? both commanders are on the field and as its level ground, they'd have a pretty good idea what's going on.

I think the main thing to consider is the limited scope open to the commanders to relay any adjustments to any orders they gave at the initial advance (or before).

Certainly after melee has begun, anything more complex than "Break contact" or "Withdraw" or "charge" can really only be given to unengaged units that have visual on the commander.

**econ21** · 12-06-2006, 16:31

***********On the campaign ******************

I hope to get in turn 3 (autumn) of the campaign tonight. Any last minute orders, please let me know.

********** On the battle of Ancrya **********************

Just to say I am having e-mail problems today, so if Tamur could use a PM to give his orders, that would be good. I am hoping I can move on to turn 3 of the battle swiftly.

On the realism of fog of war - a general can only see through line of sight. He does not have a helicopter or interactive total war style map laid out. Once the lines have met in combat, I doubt he could see much - particularly on level ground. He would have to use riders to keep in touch with his divisons, but riders can be lost, reports garbled and orders can be misunderstood (think Balaclava).

As I said above:

Originally Posted by econ21

Players should act like historical armies and not try to micro-manage too much. Orders may get lost and things may slip up. The position of the 4 generals will be particularly important in determining the outcome of any fine maneouvring - if he is far away or locked in combat, he may not be able to control events. (Best avoid the RTW bad habit of using your general as a spearhead.)

(I guess the first sentence should have said "generals" not "armies".)

**Braden** · 12-06-2006, 16:57

Ok Simon,

BTW – I guess now would be a good time to send you some more order then (should cover nearly to the end of the battle, with very minor adjustment by Manius “on the field”).