Strange Battle

[VigaBrand]

Hi,
can someone explain how that was possible?
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I'm not the host, so I can only give you my trn file. Please explain, I feel that I don't understand this game anymore. I had better Leader, no penaltys 1400 combatpower vs 400 and I lost.
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[Ebbingford]

What is the discipline level of your best legion in the battle compared to his?
I'm guessing his was a lot better, combined with the terrain, but it doesn't look good, a force of 50,000 getting held up by one of 7000......

[vaalen]

Were you fighting in a mountain hex? I could see this happening in RL, where the attacking force could only fight on a very narrow front, and be unable to use most of its men. Suetonius Paulinus defeated Boudicca in a battle where he faced even higher odds, while defending a very narrow front. of course, those were Briton warriors, not legions led by a great commander.
I believe frontage is taken into consideration in AJE.

[Bohémond]

You can have a look at detailed battle report.

It will give information about frontage, etc....

Regards

[VigaBrand]

It is hill.
My best Legion has the same values as his. 5-5-8 (Def-Off-Dis).

[James D Burns]

Were your commanders active (were his?)? Were there any command penalties? What was your attack posture?

My guess is you had orange/orange attack posture and your commander decided to retreat due to very high casualties against the first assaulting legion. Frontage probably forced a small 1 legion wide battle and it was commander choice to retreat. Pursuit then killed even more men. Had you gone in Red/red you probably would have won but would have suffered very heavy casualties.

Think of orange/orange setting as an order to preserve a units fighting ability, so leaders will pull back quite often before they carry the day. If you want to win a fight you need to order them in red/red, but be ready to need some serious down time for recovery after.

Jim

[VigaBrand]

Hi,
I set red/red because I want capture a city, so my commander was active.
Was that bad luck or must I count every time with such strange results? I wonder, because I never seen that before.

[James D Burns]

With red/red I would have expected heavier losses. Now I'm thinking you had low cohesion or something due to the move into the region (rain/storm?). Check the text messages you usually see an announcement if an assault is called off due to running out of cohesion. Otherwise perhaps its just really bad die rolls.


Edit: Went in and took a look, the issue here is national morale. You are in the very low 70s and Caesar is 120, that's almost double your morale level, your troops are breaking in droves. You need to defend and play some decisions to raise morale before you go looking for attack opportunities. More than likely your guys are breaking the first time they have any kind of morale check and his guys are passing almost every time. I assume failed morale checks creates cascade effects so elements that move up to replace the routed elements are even worse off than the first line of elements morale wise.

Jim

[VigaBrand]

Oh, okay. So NM is effectiv in battles? I was thiniking, that the NM only change the maxcohesion and hat no dircet influence in battles.

[James D Burns]

National morale level effects cohesion levels and cohesion recovery ability. Cohesion effects combat morale, here's the rule:

11.7.2 Morale Checks During Combat Round
Elements that suffer losses in a combat round (due to either
Shooting or Melee combat) must immediately pass a Morale check.
Morale checks made during a combat round use the element’s Cohesion value.
The Morale check is modified:

if the checking element is Militia fighting in their own home area,

if the checking element is defending in fortifications (or trenches),

if the checking element is defending a symbolic objective (e.g. its home or capital region),

if the checking element has previously suffered losses.
If an element passes the Morale check, it may continue fighting normally. If an element fails a Morale check during
a combat round, it is considered ‘Routed’. Routed elements (and units) are considered to have left the field in panic
and may no longer participate in the battle.

If you look at the bottom of the combat reports, you can see over 20 elements of yours routed and only a few of his did. I assume (don't know for sure) that national morale also effects the willingness of an officer to stay and fight. That's why I was surprised your losses were so low for red/red orders. Your guy gave up the fight due to low morale. Pocus would have to confirm a lot of what I'm saying but it makes sense.

So think of your army as an armed mob that flees as soon as pointy things touch it and Caesar's troops are hardened disciplined professionals willing to stand and die if need be. Get your morale up out of the penalty areas and your troops will begin to behave like real soldiers again.

Jim

[VigaBrand]

Hi,
yes and I didn't see, that this province was mountain. I was thinking it is hill because of the green color.