CARTHAGINIANS
Remember Hannibal? Rome did. It’s an interesting list in Armies of Antiquity because Hannibal won most of his victories with cunning manoeuvres and cavalry, yet most armies that I have seen on the table do not make use of this cavalry. Generally they will consist of excellent heavy infantry and lots of light infantry with heavy throwing spears (ouch!). They usually make full use of a couple of elephants as well! The Carthaginians are a solid army and a number of firms are busily working on figure ranges. An army that will become much more popular once the
Hannibal supplement is released. If I could pronounce Carthaginian properly, I would field this army more often!
NORMANS AND CRUSADERS
If only we drooled about these lists in the same way as the Samurai. You can field some far more colourful Spanish and medieval armies if you wish, and brightly-painted, heavily armoured knights look tremendous on the tabletop. The Normans and Crusaders are from the same general time period as the Samurai, yet obviously the armies never met. Both the European armies and Samurai fought the Mongols however! The ferocious charge rule is very powerful, and the game can be over quickly, yet these armies tend to suffer in a war of attrition or against big blocks of infantry who can fall back in good order. To use them well, you need to support your Knights with fast moving light troops or advance at a slower pace with infantry in support. A quick and cheap way to get a WAB army, as you do not need many models (knights are expensive points wise!), and if you do basic armour paint schemes, easy and quick to paint.
NOMAD HORDES
The Mongols and the Huns, two names to strike terror into the Western World (and for the Mongols just about every where else). Not quite the same in Warhammer Ancient Battles though! If the list is picked poorly, they can create some incredibly boring games as the Nomad player dances around trying to avoid hand to hand combat and never getting the big win. The crafty Nomad player will set you up for a charge though, so be warned. Nomad players should take care against armies with lots of missile fire in my experience, especially the Egyptians and their highly mobile chariots with good armour save. Infantry armies should reduce ranks and increase their frontage, thereby reducing the Nomads chances of getting round the rear. Alternatively, if you are drilled, let them get round the rear, and make use of your abilities to trap them. Some Nomad players now use the Huns from the Fall of the West list with more infantry. There are good ranges of figures available - Gripping Beast for Huns and Qualicast for Mongols spring to mind.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Indian Armies can look tremendous, especially with their elephants. If you like to stand and shoot, this is the army for you! Many of the infantry and archers come with double-handed weapons as well. Low leadership can be the army’s downfall however. The Greeks are really good if you roll well for Oracles, but you do need to expect a couple of early losses while you learn the army. Your formation set up and deployment are very important here. The list is very generic and will benefit from a full army list with the different city-states highlighted, especially Sparta. Later Roman armies are very popular with players and the Fall of the West army list covers many variations and possibilities. It will appeal to those of you unsure where to start collecting if you choose to use a Warlord army. This can consist of Barbarians, Nomads and Later Roman units. You can then expand your preferred choice from there. The Egyptians are also a popular army, but like the Greeks take a bit of getting used to. You need to do well in the early exchanges of missile fire to have consistent success with the Egyptians. Make the best possible use of the firepower from the chariots. The Vikings obviously stir up great images of bloodthirsty warriors but have yet to reach their full potential as an army list. This will be rectified upon release of the
Shieldwall supplement.
ARMY DESIGN
Most armies have special rules and gimmicks. This is all well and good, but when putting an army together, consider the following points. Make your infantry blocks big where you can. For Barbarians this means thirty models or more per unit as an example. My largest infantry unit is a forty strong Mycenae Greek thrusting spear and bow armed unit, eight figures wide. Double handed also are far more useful in WAB, you strike last but with a general guideline of fours to hit followed by twos to wound, you do tend to mount up the casualties. Whilst generally having poor statistic lines, skirmishers and light troops are very important in WAB. Make sure you understand the rules for flee and pursuit so you can make the most of skirmishing troops. Remember that a 4 point skirmishing peasant can kill a 20 point legionnaire and they can make a real mess of cavalry and chariots if they get to charge. Get the most from your light troops, it will win you games. As to army composition, read the background material on your chosen period and select your army accordingly. Surprisingly to many first time players from other game systems, the best way to win at WAB is to use your army in the same wayas it fought historically. That’s certainly my experience anyway.
BASE SIZES AND SCALE
For those of you who have historical miniatures based up for other game systems, and want to try WAB, just make up some simple movement trays to place your figures on. Guidelines for basing are in the WAB book and generally a standard infantryman will be on a 20mm square base, although you can use multiple bases if required and this saves lots of work. Presenting the correct frontage is important however. Generally the game is played using 25/28mm figures, but if you want to use 15mm scale, change the inch measurements to centimetres and the game works fine (if you are using a metric system already, just half the distances).
FINALLY
All the various armies in WAB have their strengths and weaknesses, and as a general rule I would always recommend you choose an army and period of history that interests you personally, rather than one that you feel might win a lot of games, because ultimately you will be disappointed. Within Warhammer Ancient Battles, a foot soldier with a weapon generally has the same statistics regardless of time period and his location with in the world. Many times you will need to roll fours to hit, fours to wound and your opponent will have a five plus (as an average) armour save. Most combats tend to be won by a difference of one or two combat resolution, so if the General is near, your break tests will be requiring a seven and you can have a re-roll with the army standard bearer. Therefore, the strength of winning at WAB is in tactical play and attacking the flanks of your opponents core troop blocks. I tend to describe the game as a combination of chess with dice rolling to remove the pieces! Mentally it can be very challenging, and stretch your nerves to the limits, so line up your army on the field of battle and remember, as Maximus says:
“On my command, unleash Hell!”
