[Discuss] Strategies with Small Army Groups

[Timothy Collett]

Something has been brought up in the Proposed Marshal Changes thread  
that has troubled me for some time.  It revolves specifically around  
this argument:

>>  Conventional wisdom is that in most cases everyone should be  
>> using the same line settings.  I haven't seen compelling evidence  
>> to suggest that conventional wisdom is wrong.
>
> I have, but then again I haven't only seen, but _written_ the  
> code. :-)

Personally, I've found some situations in which putting people on  
different lines can help, and others in which splitting the army up  
into smaller groups can help.

However, the vast majority of the time, even I have not been able to  
see how splitting my forces will make a positive difference--as long  
as my enemy is still using the old brute-force, throw-everyone-you- 
can-at-the-same-spot tactics.  It's particularly a problem when  
attacking, as the defender just has to put all his men on the front  
line, behind the fortifications (or even without any fortifications),  
and if I have a large group of men trying to move in together, the  
front lines get overcrowded, only a few units can move up at a time,  
and they get slaughtered piecemeal by the overwhelming front ranks of  
the enemy.

I know that's a simplistic example, but I have actually seen it in  
action, to lesser or greater degree.  So far as *I* can tell, as long  
as any significant fraction of players stick to the "old school"  
strategies and tactics, those of us who would prefer to get more  
creative will have no choice but to do the same.

*However*, I *am* not only willing, but eager to be proven wrong.   
Thus, I would like to make this thread not only a discussion of  
whether this is the case, but a place to share strategies that can  
work to undo the problem, and a place to give suggestions, both to  
players and to Tom, on additional ways to make the "new way" more  
feasible.

I will start with a suggestion for Tom that I know full well is  
completely unreasonable and will never happen, but I must make  
anyway: please, make pincer maneuvers possible!

If it were possible to *actually* surround the enemy in battle (have  
attackers on the left and right, and defenders in the middle), that  
would make splitting up the army really, really useful, because you  
could attack from two regions on opposite sides of where the  
defenders are sitting and squash them in the middle.

Timothy Collett
Anaris Family

--

"If I live through this job without completely losing my mind, it  
will be a miracle of Biblical proportions."
~ Susan Ivanova