As for how rules systems simulate this, most make Regulars/Melee type infantry extremely effective in close combat. DBA also rewards a solid line: making it possible to "squeeze" the enemy by siezing the initiative. Both it and Vis Bellica also do a good job of simulating how, once the battle lines are joined, your choices become more limited: emphasising how important it is to get the choice of where to deploy your Regulars/Melee troop’s right first time.
The opposite tactics apply to Regulars whose primary strength is missile fire (e.g. Classical Indians, Achaemenids). Here, the tactics are to avoid combat for as long as possible and, as one contributor put it, “shoot, shoot, shoot”.
Find a good spot on the battlefield, preferably behind a defensive obstacle that borders an area of poor quality, but open, terrain (think Agincourt) and sit and wait for the enemy to attack. When actually deploying your troops, work out the fields of fire of your Regulars/Missile troops, making sure you have covered all approaches and exploited cross- or concentrated fire opportunities whenever possible i.e. into an advancing enemy’s flanks, and/or having more than one unit able to hit the same enemy. The more aggressive commander might also want to keep an eye out for the moment to launch a battle-winning counter-charge as the enemy reels back from a failed attack.
When looking at how different rules sets advantage or disadvantage Regulars/Missile troops, two areas must be examined in great detail: the ratio between speed of troop movement and range of missile fire, and the degree of flexibility allowed in target acquisition.
For your army to have the greatest possible chance of success, you want long range missile fire in a system with slow movement (WAB is a good example of this); and as much free choice of target as possible. In Vis Bellica, for example, elements fire at the nearest enemy unit at close range but, at longer ranges, the presence of Officers can concentrate the fire of several bases.
In DBM, nearly all missile fire is subsumed into close combat, with only artillery and foot archers in formed bodies shooting at longer ranges, so players wanting to use tactics like the above must choose which army to use carefully.
In conclusion, using Regulars is relatively simple. If their speciality is melee, go forward. If their speciality is missile power, stay back!
The Warbands
Warband armies are those such as the Ancient British that are made up of large numbers of average quality, irregular foot, armed with light spears and shields, supported by similarly armed light or medium horse, and large numbers of missile-firing light infantry.
I believe that they are the most challenging type of army to use, as they have the command and control problems associated with their tribal nature, combined with the fact that, troop type for troop type, they usually don’t fight as well as the armies that they are likely to face. The ‘average’ unit of Celts stands very little chance of success in a straight melee with an ‘average’ unit of Roman legionaries.
The key to success with Warband armies is to use your whole infantry force like Alexander’s Companions: striking with overwhelming numbers at a single point of your opponent’s line and relying on your support troops to hold off the rest of the enemy army until you have broken him there.
Warbands do best to attack near a flank of a solid line of "Regulars", especially if they can overlap one edge. Rather than lining up your men evenly across the field, heavily weight one end of your line and aggressively attack that end of the enemy’s battle line with everything you’ve got. The one thing to avoid is to get sucked into the “mincing machine” of a frontal melee against Regulars/Melee troops. Likewise, a “Light Brigade” charge into the front of a line of Regulars/Missile troops.
In DBA, one suggestion is to attack a flank with a double-deep line making sure you have one stand of overlap, and the other flank "held" by a skirmisher. You only get one chance to win with an attack like this, because your skirmisher will flee at the earliest opportunity, but you have a 50/50 chance of rolling up your opponent's flank, and then it doesn't matter what your skirmisher does.
In WRG 6th, one tactic is to mass your skirmishers into larger than normal units. This is particularly effective if using sling-armed lights against Cavalry or Knights armies: watch your opponent’s wedges of six figures disintegrate under the hail of slingshot fire that sixteen slingers can produce!
The Cavalry
Cavalry armies are fast-moving armies with a devastating combination of (a) massive missile firepower delivered by light cavalry and (b) powerful charges delivered by shock cavalry.
The formula for success is actually very straight forward.
The light cavalry skirmishers use their mobility to shift about the battlefield and pour fire into the stationary enemy. The enemy is almost always outnumbered in the cavalry arm so must either hold it in reserve or watch it get destroyed. If the enemy is foolish enough to charge the horse archers, they fire and retire, drawing the advancing enemy further and further from their supports. Without a fast striking force to interfere, the horse archers will fire and fire, careful to avoid any infantry missile men that can out range them.
After a period of time during which the enemy has been weakened, the heavier cavalry charges. Ideally the targets of the charge have been so decimated by archery fire that they don't even stand. The skirmishing horse is now thrown in pursuit of the fleeing enemy, turning defeat into rout.
One aspect of this army overlooked by most rules systems is their ability to pursue the enemy after the battle. This pursuit is, however, handled nicely in Warrior Kings from Two Hour Wargames. After the battle, both sides count the number of units still functioning. Any numerical superiority on the winning side can, under certain circumstances, be used to inflict more (post-battle) casualties on the losing side. This can have a huge effect in competition and campaign games where it’s not just if you win, but how much you win by, that counts.
In DBA, light horsemen are allowed to take more than one move per turn, as long as they stay away from the enemy whilst so doing. This, combined with the longest move distance of any troop type in the game, lets them get almost half way across the battlefield each turn, making them extraordinarily manoeuvrable. Most combat defeats result in them fleeing rather than being destroyed, so they aren't easy to get rid of, and as they are allowed "quick kills" against a number of troop types, they can relentlessly harass slower opponents.
Finally, one thing to note about most rules systems is that they do not allow a good simulation of the “false flight” tactic practised by some cavalry armies.
The Knights
Knights armies generally comprise a limited number of lance-armed, super-heavy, armoured cavalry supported by similar number of skirmishing light cavalry, and a body of below average quality infantry armed either with bows/crossbows or long spears. They are sometimes split from the Ancients period into a separate Medieval period, representing the fact that they are just too technologically superior to, say, a charioteer army for a battle between the two to have any more relevance than magazine-rifle armed European infantry against spear and shield armed tribesmen!
Under most rules systems, the actual ‘armoured knights’ elements of a Knights army are incredibly effective in an all out charge, but also incredibly expensive to buy as part of your army composition. In Vis Bellica, for example, a base of Knights (300 odd horse) costs the same or more to buy as two bases of decent quality foot (say 2000 men). All the principles that we have explored above for similar troop types therefore apply, but to an even greater extent.
The temptation is to use the armoured knights themselves for an all out charge at the very heart of an enemy line. This is often doomed to failure because, after an initial success, the knights are overwhelmed by superior numbers of inferior troops. The small number of knights available also makes them vulnerable to mass missile fire: Agincourt and Crecy being perhaps the most familiar examples, but light horse archers are very dangerous as well.
The knights should be saved for a smashing attack similar to that of heavy chariots or shock cavalry, above, but taking into account the fact that they are so effective in a charge that they can often succeed where the chariots/cavalry would fail. The trick is therefore to make your opponent expose a weak point you can charge: the problem is that you often won’t have the support troops to force this.
As above, again, light cavalry and missile-armed infantry should be used to tempt the enemy into over-extension. At Agincourt, it wasn’t until the English archers snuck forward into range and fired an ineffective but annoying volley of arrows that the French knights charged them: attacking piecemeal in their eagerness to get at their socially inferior tormentors.
In DBx, it is also often worth dismounting your knights and using them as infantry. It might not be historically accurate, but compare your chances of success mounted and dismounted against the enemy troops you are facing, and act as appropriate.
Emerging General Principles
Those amongst you taking notes will have noticed several general principles that have emerged during our examination of battlefield tactics. In summary, these are:
1) The key to success is combined arms, not a preponderance of strength in one type
2) Use your troops for what they were designed for. Use skirmishers to skirmish, shock cavalry as shock cavalry
3) Weaken the enemy with skirmishers, and then smash overwhelming force into a single, critical point of the enemy line
4) Aim to disrupt the enemy line. Punch a hole in the middle of it; or attack then roll up a flank
Most importantly of all, you must know how the rules system that you use simulates and rewards the successful tactics listed above, and what a historical ‘tricks’ are made possible by the particular game mechanics employed. It is for each player to decide where they sit on the sliding scale of strictly historical tactics or battle-winning gamesmanship!
Notes & Sources:
1. To an extent really rivalled only by the nineteenth century period. See the excellent book The Catalytic Wars: A Study of the Development of Warfare 1860-70 by Philip Howes for more information.
2. Any wargamer intending to play the Ancients period is recommended to join the SoA. See http://www.soa.org.uk/main/index.htm for more details.
3. See www.visbellica.com for more details.
4. These were the Ancmed Yahoo forum at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ancmed/ and The Miniatures Page Ancients Discussion Message Board at www.theminiaturespage.com/.
5. Ancmed user lukeuedaarson.
6. TMP user Aldhelm.
7. Ancmed user therealhdan.
8. TMP user Thurlac.
9. TMP user Pyruse amongst others.
10. TMP user Whitemetalman.
11. Ancmed user turenneuk.
12. See the excellent article on archery ranges in wargaming by Karl Heinz Ranitzch on the SoA website at http://www.soa.org.uk/main/resource/articles/khrarchery.htm
13. Ancmed user nikgaukroger.
14. TMP user Wasteland Warrior.
15. Ancmed user luxor180.
16. Tim Bancroft
