In April last year I posted a second article about the Art de la Guerre (ADLG) Mega Table (or the table on page 22 as it's otherwise known). In it I described my reverse engineering of the combat factors in an attempt to hammer them into my head.
This afternoon I was musing on how complex the first round of combat is compared to the subsequent rounds. Whilst using my reworked table of combat factors to check a few things I spotted something amiss.
In April I attempted to separate general combat factors from those that only apply in the first round. What I spotted was; I hadn't done the same for the few "Special Abilities" (from pages 17-20) listed in the Mega Table (Javelin, Armour, 2HW, Panic, & Impact).
To me, it looks like the authors have chosen to list some abilities when the troops always have it. For example; Javelinmen always have the "Javelin" ability and so it is listed. Conversely, Light Infantry are not always armed with javelins so their entry doesn't include it. Sensible really; up to a point.
For my reworked table this causes a slight problem because, for troops that always possess an ability, the resultant set can be a slightly confusing mixture: for example Cataphracts always have "Heavy Armour" (all rounds) and "Impact" (first round only).
To rectify this I re-designed the table to fully differentiate between factors & abilities that always apply and those that only affect the first round of combat.
There are links below to all the posts on this topic and links to pdfs of the original and updated versions of the combat factor table. Please let me know if you spot any errors via the comments section.
Resources & links
- 2024 March, Combat table (web, pdf)
- 2023 April, Revisiting The ADLG Mega Table
- 2023 April, Combat table (pdf)
- 2021 November, Tackling The Quirks Of The ADLG Mega Table
3 comments :
Nice table and one 'factor' is that armour doesn't count in the first round when fighting impetuous troops. Dont know if this is relevant but it might be a caveat?
Thanks for the comment Sean. Well spotted and what a "rabbit hole" you've opened up.
Of course, you're right. The combination of armour and impetuous troops is absent from the table on page 22 and, as a result, my reworked version.
There are quite a few effects that aren't in the Mega Table and, the more I think about it the more, I wonder why some abilities are included; armour being one of them.
They've included some abilities where they're not optional and aren't explicit in the unit definition (like Foot knights). You can have armoured medium spear impact as well as plain medium spear but the table only deals with the latter leaving the player to apply any "optional" abilities.
In detail, as with everything ADLG, it's even more complicated. Armour is not always cancelled against impetuous troops but it is always cancelled in those situations where furious charge applies: impetuous foot vs foot (except WWg); various mounted vs foot (with exceptions); and El & SCh against foot (except LI & Javelinmen). [Page 18 in the rules]
Given this level of complexity I can see why the authors might have left it out. But I have my doubts that the omission was a conscious decision. The table in the rules has been revised many times but contains so many inconsistencies it's probably never been striped back and rebuilt. Plus, I suspect your point only becomes obvious when you separate the first round factors.
I could add something like "No armour against furious charge & El" to the first round tactical section but this would just be compounding the confusion above surrounding the listed abilities because it applies to all armoured units not just those listed in the table.
I'm going to have think about this.
Added a link to the revised table as a web page so you can review it before deciding to download the pdf.
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