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Author Topic: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!  (Read 1358 times)

Offline duc de limbourg

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Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« on: November 26, 2020, 09:08:08 AM »
Can dux be used for an Roman Early imperial force. Have some figures lying around so was thinking in using these.

Offline SJWi

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2020, 11:42:39 AM »
Personally I wouldn’t say so. “Dux” is aimed unashamedly at late 4-6th century warfare with less effective infantry and higher quality Comitatus cavalry. If you want to use EIR figures you might want to look at Two Fat Lardies’ “Infamy” rules.

Offline Irregular Wars Nic

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2020, 12:57:51 PM »
Personally I wouldn’t say so. “Dux” is aimed unashamedly at late 4-6th century warfare with less effective infantry and higher quality Comitatus cavalry. If you want to use EIR figures you might want to look at Two Fat Lardies’ “Infamy” rules.

SJWI, not sure if you are refering to Dux Bellorum or Dux Brittaniarum. I presume the latter given the reference to Infamy.

The two Dux games are very different and I would expect that with some slight reworlking of the army lists, Dux Bellorum (a splendid game!), would give a good EIR game (i.e. a shieldwall heavy army with the hurled weapons strategy would work for legions). We used it very successfully to play hoplite battles quite a number of times.


Offline SJWi

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2020, 01:20:30 PM »
OK. My comment was based on an understanding of the rules. I will bow to your experience.

Offline duc de limbourg

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #4 on: November 26, 2020, 02:00:39 PM »
Thanks for the replies.
I myself really ment Dux Bellorum from Osprey (I am probably the only one who doesn't love Two Fat lrdies rules  lol)

Offline Easy E

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2020, 04:27:46 PM »
Dux Bellorum can be made to fit.  The Romans will just be shield wall infantry. 

Cavalry is not super powerful in the game, which is why I think it works well for Romans, Greek Hoplites, and EIR Barbarians.  It would struggle being used as Parthians and the like.   



Of course, I think just about any game can be "made to fit".   lol
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Offline duc de limbourg

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2020, 08:13:55 AM »
Thanks.
Was thinking about first using just Roman auxiliary foot and mounted as stationed in a auxiliary fortress at the Rhine frontier. Must be no problem with Dux I imagine.

Offline SJWi

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2020, 09:10:50 AM »
Duc,  having  seen the error of my ways with my earlier answer I think your plan sounds excellent. We Brits tend to fixate on Hadrians Wall for "Roman Skirmish", but I am just finishing Philip Parker's "The Empire Stops Here", which is a journey along the Roman frontiers Absolutely fascinating . When COVID is behind us and I retire, I fancy a road-trip to see a lot more than I have to date. 

Offline Doom Beard 78

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2020, 09:04:15 PM »
I was intrigued by the idea of using these rules for hoplites however, online reviews raise this a concern

The potential for drawn out combats means that a shieldwall vs shieldwall game would be a particularly unattractive proposition. In combat both sides would roll 3 dice, needing 6s to hit, and normally each cancelling one hit. Such a combat would likely go on for a long time with little damage suffered. The author actually suggests you avoid this type of match-up, but that rules out a lot of potential games.

I can envision the rules working for warbands v shieldwalls but hoplites v hoplites seems tortured.  I am intrigued in how you managed to get this to work

Offline guitarheroandy

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2020, 11:48:44 AM »
I played Dux Bellorum quite a bit when it first came out, using Arthurian armies for which it was intended. We stopped playing it because it became a bit predictable. My Romano-British shield wall held long enough for my cavalry to win the flanks and roll up the Saxon war band lines. This might be because we weren't good enough at designing scenarios where that wasn't such an option (although that isn't the case with other rules we've used) rather than being an issue with the rules or maybe I just stumbled on a winning formula that my opponent couldn't break at the time. It's still a good set for an occasional game but isn't something I'd play regularly any more.

I agree that shield wall vs shield wall would be a very long slog (we never tried that in our games), so hoplite warfare of the 'phalanx v phalanx' variety could be tedious in the extreme if the rules were used for that.

Of course you could use the rules for EIR vs barbarians but the 'shield wall' infantry type isn't really a great fit for Romans. Although, that said, the differences between the shield wall and barbarian infantry might be enough to satisfy some players using the rules for that purpose.

Offline SirRoystonPapworth

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Re: Dux Bellorum usable for EIR?!
« Reply #10 on: November 30, 2020, 07:13:43 PM »
We found it a slogging match to start with.

After that we stopped buying extra lips. Game changer! That improved the game a lot.

 

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