Roman army (east)

Playing in a 400 point tournament in a couple of weeks. Here is what I have painted and is in my list so far. It comes to 386 points so I have 14 points to spare. Not sure how to fill those points. I can take a stand of S slingers 12 or should I take 3 destiny rolls. Also looked at changing the command to fair so then I would have points for one more CL stand. Thoughts?

Roman army East
30 - Expert commander
20 - Good Command structure
70 - 2x CP Cataphractaii (35)
46 - 2 x CM Equites (23)
42 - 2 x CL (21)
64 - 4 x FP Psuedo long spear (16)
86 - 4 x FL javelin (84) [2 upgrade to vpu 5 +2]
28 2 x S lanciari (14)
386

I'd go for the destiny rolls - not only can they save your own butt but you can also use them to secure your cataphractarii get their job done, forcing your opponent to reroll a lucky 1 when he has to test for casualities.
A matter of personal taste of course

I would go for destiny rolls over a unit of slingers as well to be honest

Jim

400 pts and just one command? You should have at least 2 and the larger Command would not exceed 60% of total VD.
Should you still spare points, you can add destiny rolls and / or exploration points.

I confess I never noticed the one command. In this size army we often have three!

Jim

yes, at 400pts I use 3 or 4 commands

What is the benefit of having more than one? If I take another command that means I have to spend more points on another general and I would rather spend it on troops.

Firstly your command and control improves immensely. You can start using troops further out on the flanks, especially if you're fighting someone who only has one command. In that case your opponent either huddles in a clump or ends up being lured out of the general's zone of control and suddenly it's harder for him to recover from disorder etc.

Secondly if your opponent has only one command you've got two chances to move before him or move after him. So if you've got one command and you really want to move after your opponent, then if you win the roll, you're stuffed. But if you have two commands you and you win, you can move the one that doesn't matter. You've got two bites of the cherry.
Impetus with multiple commands is a very different game, it's far more subtle and interesting   

Jim

As Jim says, having more than one command adds so much to the game and it is the part of the rules that I like the most.

I agree with People's Champ that having more commands is less effective in Impetus. Of course it depends on what kind of army command one has. Good army command pretty much covers the whole table. Average army command effectively gives one wide berth to move where one wants. If I was using an army with poor command I would probably go with more commands.

With that being said, the tournament rules say 2-4 commands so that needs to be maintained. And I do agree that having more commands for everyone makes Impetus even more interesting to play.

We tend to play with 15mm on a table that is over six feet wide, (That's over 182u and the maximum frontage of your army is 130u    ) so there's plenty of room. Room enough to be able to send units round the flank as part of their on-table moves.

Jim

I agree that extra commands adds to the game. We are playing 400 points on 5 x 8 feet tables. I will be keeping my commander in the FP long spear and very central so he can cover alot of the table. To take another command I would have to drop a unit and they look too pretty to leave behind. Will post some battle reports at the end of the tournament. Destiny rolls for me...

I tend to build armies to over 600 points, there's always toys left in the box, but there's plenty of choice of what to play   

JIm

Jim Webster wrote:I tend to build armies to over 600 points, there's always toys left in the box, but there's plenty of choice of what to play   

JIm

I wish I had that luxury. This has been a "ohh crap that tournament is 4 weeks away and I haven't painted a thing" moment. As it stands I am just about to sit down again and engage with my brushes and paints to finish my last unit of CM. After that I have got to do all the shields (thanks god for LBM transfers) and some casualty markers. This time next week I will have just started my first game in the tournament.   

Remember my first 15mm were the old Minifigs in strips I purchased back in 1976 so I've been doing it for a while   

Jim

No supporting Sagittarii ? at 10pts a pop they're good value in this army for shooty types I think…. I always try to make room for some with my Late Romans if I can.

Certainly against Sassanids they're essential.

Jim