Also, I think that the ability to make your pike regiments have the front rankers with, hand weapon, shield and light/heavy armor and crossbow wouyld be nice, you get a nice stand and shoot reaction, followed by the 4 ranks atacking with your front rankers having a 4+/3+ save.
I've already tinkered with some ideas like this, but I feel "mixed" units like this belong as part of the "regiments of renown" list, not a part of the Dogs of War list. But rest assured, I do have lots of interesting ideas like this.
Zweihanders and forlorn hope are very nice ideas and would work well but should probably be dropped on thematic grounds.
Forlorn hope is not a part of this list. The Zweihanders are perhaps a bit of a fluff contradiction as zweihander is a german name, and the Tileans are basically itallians. However, the two handed greatsword goes hand in hand with the pike thematically, and I think it adds a crucial high strength component to the pike formations that allows them to deal with heavier troops where the pikes would otherwise bounce off. They're not super tough (they're actually kind of squishy) but thematically and gameplay wise I think they're a good fit. I just need a good italianesque name for them. Any ideas?
I like the idea of introducing handguns but I think they will be chosen more often than crossbows which reduces the flavour of the army. On this line I dont like the idea of normal bows as the list is based on Tilea i.e. italy where they were not commonly used. Some nice ideas are crossbow equiped cavalry and possibly smaller crossbows that were often used from horesback just functioning as a variety of crossbow. I really see horsearchers with normal bows as thematically wrong.
Crossbow infantry should definately have access to the pavise and light armour. The pavise will work easiest as a shield but if you wnat it a bit more complicated try only allowing its use against shooting. All the same dwarf missle troops do not seem unbalanced by thier acccess to shields.
I don't think pavises are a great idea for crossbowmen. At 8 points a model, I always struggle to get earn their points back, and I shudder at the idea of making them more expensive. However, I'll consider this as an option, since so many people want to play with it. We'll see how it does in playtesting.
I've also decided that crossbows would be neat for light cav, so I'll add that in in the next revision. No repeater crossbows though.
As far as bows go, remember that DoW light cav are considered to come from all over the world, so you'll have various cultures using different weapons or combinations of weapons. So bows are certainly reasonable.
Some sort of "fodder" class infantry is definately need but I dont feel halberdiers really cut it, maybe free company as someone suggested and give them access to light armour.
First of all, the fodder guys are NOT halberdiers. I gave them the halberd as the default weapon, as I think halberds compliment pikes nicely. However, they need not be fielded with halberds if you don't want them to. I wanted to make these guys very bland and boring, so as not to overshadow the pikemen, while still allowing them to serve a useful purpose. I wanted to address a real weakness of the list without overcompensating for it. I may sex them them up a bit, but for the early draft I think they're fine.
I like the idea of introducing handguns but I think they will be chosen more often than crossbows which reduces the flavour of the army.
I've given this some thought. Because the crossbow is such a "Tilean" weapon, i hate to introduce handguns and dillute that imagery. What I may do is add a limited amount of handgunners as a regiment of renown or a special choice, or something of that nature. I'm still tinkering!
That being said, where are the Norse berserkers? Did I miss them or did you (PP) remove them for some reason?
Don't get me wrong. I like the Norse marauders, but thematically, I think they were out of place. I may utilize them in some other manner, but I felt that the other choices I've added are more thematically appropriate for the basic list. My army list actually has a lot of close combat punch so the marauders should not be missed too much.
I feel the problem is you have to start with the 'feel' or 'look' or 'ethos' or whatever you want to call it for mercenaries.
That is what we are talking about - 'mercenaries'. Which means they fight for reward. So before you can validate a troop choice you have to validate how or why it wants a reward.
With Tileans, Estalians, Border Princes, humans from Araby, Cathay, Norsica, Kislev, and even Bretonnia you can justify money/gold. Same with dwarfs and halflings ( they can buy exotic food and spices icon_wink)
Ogres already have the fluff, and maybe Orcs could earn teeth ............
Then bringing in the other races gets trickier. If you cannot justify the reward, then for example Skaven would be very awkward - some races may just not qualify.
This is the heart of the mercenary issue. Obviously, it makes very little sense for a skaven army to hire Tilean crossbowmen, for example, so what I am attempting to do is create "race specific" options that will fit in with the armies. For example, the skaven already operate on a quasi-mercenary level already with thier clan structure. So skaven mercs would be clan specific "one-off" units of skaven troops rather than human mercenaries... perhaps utilizing skaven units from the experimental lists along with some units of my own design.
These troops will represent specialized units not usually seen on the battlefield. Not unique, like regiments of renown, but much more rare than the typical rare choice. These specialty troops will not be a part of the Dogs af war list (because why would Tileans hire a bunch of skeezy ratmen?), but they will exist alongside the list so that these other races will be able to utilize a mercenary system that actually fits in with the existing army.
But this is the last and most difficult step of the process. I'm hammering out the basic DoW army list at the present. Mercenaries for hire will be a separate and more complex issue to be addressed in the future.
