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Are units classified according to types, like hvy infantry, light infantry, etc, and do those types have different bonus? BTW I think I missed in the Persian units showed in the web Horse archers

ORIGINAL: Iñaki Harrizabalagatar
Are units classified according to types, like hvy infantry, light infantry, etc, and do those types have different bonus? BTW I think I missed in the Persian units showed in the web Horse archers

Units are based on a combination of factors: type (e.g., cav, infantry, archer, slinger, elephant), armour (heavy, light, none), weapon type (javelin, pike, arrow, stones, lance) and training (none, poor, warrior, veteran and elite.) With a combination of these, you determine the unit type. Each combination of factors determine bonus -- e.g., higher armour gets a higher defensive bonus. There are also bonuses for units based on their enemy. So, cav against pike infantry suffer a negative bonus.

In terms of the Persian units, we currently have a large number of horse units. I don't believe that any of them are archers, but that is certainly something that could be added. We are trying to use the units on the campaign based on the historical units that were part of the real armies.

Deride

ORIGINAL: Iñaki Harrizabalagatar

Are units classified according to types, like hvy infantry, light infantry, etc, and do those types have different bonus? BTW I think I missed in the Persian units showed in the web Horse archers

Iñaki,

yes, there are a lot of different types of units. The 'armies' links at our web page shows many of the unit types. we are adding more to this and the entire Egyptian army has to be added. Different weapons have a 'rock paper sissors' effect against other types. For instance, cavalry get a large bonus for charging compared to other units and spearmen/pike get a huge bonus if defending against a cavalry charge (but not an infantry charge). War elephants have special berserk rules etc.... The key components are the base type of unit (inf vs cav vs chariot etc..), the armour (none, light, medium, heavy), the weapon (spear, long spear/pike, bow, sword etc..), the unit's training, and its morale. These are the base factors that determine the ability to dish out and take damage. As well as the units facing relative to the target and any height or terrain advantages.

ORIGINAL: Deride

In terms of the Persian units, we currently have a large number of horse units. I don't believe that any of them are archers, but that is certainly something that could be added. We are trying to use the units on the campaign based on the historical units that were part of the real armies.

Deride

BTW what are the sourcess you are based upon? I imagine you will not take the
historical sourcess, like Arrian saying 1 million Persians at Arbelas, seriously. What are the scale, for units, how many soldiers each one?

ORIGINAL: Iñaki Harrizabalagatar
BTW what are the sourcess you are based upon? I imagine you will not take the
historical sourcess, like Arrian saying 1 million Persians at Arbelas, seriously. What are the scale, for units, how many soldiers each one?

We are using a number of resources, but the primary book for numbers/types of troops is Osprey. (Of course all sources are biased, so we aren't being 100% literal in terms of numbers.) While we want to maintain the spirit of history, we are intent on making the game fun, so we are using some creative license in numbers of troops, battle settings, etc.

The units themselves are made up of stands (individual figures.) Each figure represents 500 soldiers. So, 4 infantry figures could make up a stand -- representing 2,000 soldiers. So, if you want to represent an army of 100,000, you would have 50 units each with 4 stands.

Deride

Osprey books have very unqueal academic value, some are excellent, some are crap, I have not read those on Alexander´s campaigns though. However, from the units listed by several ancient writers (Arrianus, Plutarchos, Curtius and Diodoros mainly) I would add to the list in the web several more units
For the Macedonian army:
Hypaspistai (elite macedonian pikemen/light infantry, depending on duties)
Pezhetairoi (macedonian pikemen), better than asthetairoi
Illirians and Thracians (javelinmen) they will look very different from your agrianians, adding a "barbarian" touch
Greek allies both light infantry and heavy cavalry, besides hoplites
Odrysian (thracian cavalry) again a light cavalry with a barbarian look

For the Persians

Sakai (scythians) armoured horse archers
Bactrian kataphraktoi (armoured heavy cavalry)
Parthians and Hyrcanians are also metioned, and they were probably unarmoured Horse archers
Greek mercenaries of all types in Persian service
Some other nations, like Syrians, Armenians, Carians
The "Cardaces" pikemen, inspired on the macedonian phalanx, but very poor quality

BTW, are you also including baggage trains? They add a great degree of realism, and could be very useful to limit deployments before battle.

Inaki,

Thanks for the great information. In answer to some of the questions:

1. In the game, there are a lot of Greeks fighting for the Persians. Memnon plays a critical role commanding the Persian and Greek mercanary forces in Granicus. We just did not add greek mercs to the persian troop roles on the web so as not to confuse the averager person not familiar with the history.

2 We model the 'baggage trains' as objectives. For instance, in Gaugamela, Alexander must defend his baggage train or lose VPs. So, they are there but not as "units".

The best of the Osprey books we use are "The wars of Alexander the Great", by Waldemar Heckel and "Alexander 334-323 BC: Conquest of the Persian Empire" by John Warry. I highly recommend the Warry book. Very good read.