Let's dive into some proper theory-crafting for The Old World itself, nothing specific to a single army, shall we? This time I'd like to look at the concept of Mixed Arms, what it is and why it is, as well as how it helps actually break units. I'm going to go a fair bit into detail on these two topics so let's actually get in and explore.
What is Mixed Arms?
Mixed Arms is an idea or application in warfare of using more than one type of armament, unit, etc. for a single attack or job, at least that's a rough enough explanation for our purposes. Within war-gaming, I've always thought of it as being able to perform different kinds of offense actions while applying them to a common target with reliability. A classic example is making Ranged Attacks against a unit before it reaches combat with you, thereby weakening it and giving your army better odds at coming out on top.
Being able to access different kinds of offense also allows you to have different and better answers at hand for whatever you may face on the tabletop. If you bring a force made up of things that can only excel against Light Infantry, and your opponent brings several Behemoths to the game, you're in real trouble. Dealing with diverse threats is not the only application of Mixed Arms, but it's an important and graspable starting point. Fortunately, every Faction (shown thus far) is more than capable of diversifying their units and offense so that they'll never truly be without options.
For this reason, we want to avoid putting all our eggs in one basket. That's a basic tip, I know, but I want to cover this concept from top to bottom. When we think about Mixed Arms, let's first think about it as what types of offense our army can make. Even similar looking attacks can fulfill different roles. Take a Warbow and a single Strength 3 model with a Hand Weapon. Both are pretty similar, they make a single, low Strength Attack, that is best for dealing with lighter Infantry and similar. On the other hand, the Warbow can make attacks from far away whereas the model with the Hand Weapon has to be in melee. How do those differ, what advantages and disadvantages can you assign to each?
Now, let's extend our definition out a bit. Instead of just attacks, Mixed Arms can also refer to types of units and how they interact. Chariots are an easy example: most Chariots excel at dealing with lighter units thanks to their auto-hits but they lose momentum and power if they can't charge. Compare that to a block of infantry, which might excel at almost nothing except having Ranks and a Standard. The Old World is a game, an abstraction, so units themselves have roles which can be independent of their weapons at times.
Unit Roles
Now that we have a starting point of Mixed Arms, let's break it down further within The Old World. While we discussed the types of different attacks and ways to make offense, units themselves have diverse roles which can either combine into more than the sum of their parts, work against each other, or somewhere between. You've likely heard some of these popular terms: Tarpit, Anvil, Hammer, Deathstar, there are quite a few to go around. This is just a short-hand way to communicate what a unit is supposed to do.
When discussing unit roles, we also have to understand the objective of making attacks in The Old World. Of course attacks are designed to remove enemy models, that's an easy answer, but removing models isn't typically going to happen fast enough to win the game alone. Even if you have many, many Handguns, it's going to take more than 6 Turns to shoot enough models to win! Our actual goal when making attacks is to setup favorable combats, and ultimately force enemies to flee through Break Tests. Some people may be saying "But wait, you can cause Panic Tests, or simply run away while slowly causing attritional damage." and that is correct. Those are very specific, and often unsuccessful, ways to win though and in almost all games the victor will be decided through hand to hand combat.
How do we win combats then? Well the main way is by forcing Break Tests and ultimately the opponent failing one. This used to be quite simple in older versions of the game, but in The Old World Break Tests are a lot less scary than they once were. This is because the rules have created a grey area between fleeing and hanging tough (Giving Ground), which is Fall Back in Good Order (FBiGO). FbiGO is the most likely "positive" outcome for the attacker as it pushes the enemy back a random amount (possible off the table) and allows them to count as Charging yet again, if they follow up.
Pushing a unit back is well and good, but it's not without risk. The further you push a foe, the closer you get to their lines, which can expose your own Flank or put other enemies in range of you. That's why breaking and fleeing is the best result, you generally get to go further (2d6") compared to a FBiGO which can keep your triumphant unit out of Line of Sight. Of course you can also run down the entire enemy unit in the process, and even if you don't they'll have to rally and stay out of the action for a Turn.
Having wasted paragraphs now, I think it's agreeable that the ideal outcome in a combat is to break the enemy unit. While that can and does happen over time, with each wearing the other down until the pivotal moment, it can also happen much faster. This is where tying all the concepts we've discussed into a neat package: using Mixed Arms to reliably break the opponent. So how is this actually done? The answer, usually, is going to be numbers.
In The Old World, there is a single way to break something that can be relied on: outnumbering them two to one. If a unit manages to FBiGO, but is outnumbered as mentioned, it instead flees from the weight of the opposition. Here we are at the crux of the issue, it's not enough to win a fight or simply have a lot of bodies but doing both of those things at once will get us the result we want.
Putting It Together
Just based off what we've discussed, you may be formulating some ideas in your mind. We now know that we need to win a combat, which requires more Combat Resolution than the foe, and also to meaningfully outnumber them. At first glance this should make some sense: using Mixed Arms gives us more attacks, more attack diversity, and more Unit Strength, all of which combines to break the opponent. If only it were that simple.
As mentioned, many units have quite cemented roles within The Old World and the better a unit is, the more it costs. Anyone can send two expensive, powerful units into a lowly opponent and see them off. Instead, we want to do more with less and not throw all our best at the opponent's worst as otherwise we can run into issues with positioning, traps, and many other things that are beyond the scope of this discussion. So let's explore Combat Resolution (CR).
CR is how the winner of a fight is determined and many things contribute to it. Of course Wounds add up quickly in combat, providing +1 CR each, but a wise general takes all the CR they can get. There is what I call Static CR: things you can rely on working for you such as Rank Bonus or Standards. These sources of CR don't require rolling dice, allowing you to win a fight even without inflicting a single kill to the opponent at the best of times. Most units are either good at providing Static CR, or dealing Wounds, but not both. Even those who can do both won't be able to handle certain opponents, perhaps they lack the Strength to deal with high Toughness or the AP to overcome armor.
If you throw a unit with good Static CR in by itself, you might lose when the dice don't go your way and a lot of Wounds are dealt. Conversely, your favored butchers might botch a round of attacks and lose to the opposing Static CR, typically a disaster. When we combine both these things, that's when we start to get somewhere! This is what Mixed Arms is all about, to me, making use of both Static CR and dealing damage so that you stack the odds in your favor to the best of your ability.
Let's look at a very simple example featuring two units: Bretonnian Men-at-Arms and Knights of the Realm. Men-at-Arms are very cheap but not so good at fighting or surviving, we want to rely on them for Static CR. With a Standard, 3 Ranks (thanks to Horde), and Close Order they enter most combats with a CR of +5, assuming their Ranks are intact of course. Knights of the Realm are just the opposite: while they can have a Standard and the Lance Formation they usually lack Ranks and need to rely on their powerful charge to even the odds. The Knights also have a lower Unit Strength, typically, since they cost many times what a single peasant does.
Putting these together, we get the best of both worlds. An enemy in a melee with this pairing of units is looking at a Static CR of 6 (Men-at-Arms plus Lance Formation), already a tall mountain to climb. The Men-at-Arms give us the bodies to outnumber our foe, provided we can kill some which they would normally struggle with. Fortunately our Knights are good at fighting and can provide much needed Wounds to further add to our CR while denying enemy attacks (thanks to Step Up). With everything added up, we have a good chance at breaking our foe by forcing a harsh Break Test, thanks to our CR, and then making them flee, thanks to outnumbering. Mixed Arms!
The Devil in the Details
Sadly, the scenario I've presented is not all there is to it. If combo'ing to units that do different things always got the desired result, the game would be a bit boring to play. First of all, you need to understand what options are available to you for both Static CR and for dealing Wounds, as well as how much you have to commit to each. Our Men-at-Arms aren't going to be able to provide as many Ranks against an enemy who can scythe light infantry apart, and our Knights of the Realm will struggle to get involved against an enemy who can hide in Terrain, just to give two examples. You have to know how the units you've chosen for these roles work and what they simply can't do.
Just as importantly, you need to know the odds and situation for causing the break. Do you need to do this in one Turn or risk a massive counter-charge? What are your odds of inflicting enough casualties, do you need to kill a bunch of models in order to outnumber? Just shoving things forth without knowing what's across from them is a recipe for a reversal of fortune. This is where having different types of units is beneficial, if you rely on a single type of offense then you have nothing to do when you meet its counter.
First off, the more CR you can rely on the better. Engineering a charge to the opposing Flank, for example, not only gives you another +1 but can remove the Ranks from the enemy which is a far bigger swing. Putting sufficient models in your Static CR units also helps with this, otherwise they can lose Ranks and so on as models get picked off. This is why cheap units are so great at Static CR: I'll take 30+ Men-at-Arms without blinking but the same number of Warriors of Chaos would break the bank.
There are many, many other things to take into account, more than I can detail. How fast are the units you've chosen, will they outpace each other? Is one unit likely to be shot to death before making it to their melee, if so you may need a backup unit or more bodies. What kind of enemy would your damage dealers struggle with, can you bring in something to take their role against those threats? Being able to apply Mixed Arms is a simple idea, but requires a lot of game knowledge to consistently execute.
Fortunately, every army has "starter" combinations that you can use to get a feel for this without much risk. Static CR units are easy, simply pick your cheapest unit that can have a good amount of Ranks, a Standard, and ideally Close Order. Goblins, Men-at-Arms, Ungors, Skeleton Warriors, and so on are all excellent examples of this role. Some may be cheaper while others might have better defense but the role is the same.
Picking your damage dealers is more complicated and I recommend starting with Cavalry or a Chariot if you can. The reason for this is Cavalry/Chariots are more maneuverable, allowing them to get to the Flank, but can also function on their own perfectly reasonable. Getting two infantry units into the same combat can be tricky without setting up for a Turn or more so keep it simple on yourself when exploring this concept. If you don't have a mounted option, you probably have something else with high Movement or a tricky way to get into position such as Ambushers.
Why Does This Matter?
Mixed Arms application is certainly not a requirement to play The Old World, but it is a requirement to be successful and consistent. Without overwhelming force to break the enemy you're stuck in a lot of "samey" combats with like fighting like. This leaves outcomes to the dice rolls, which you can't control, and renders many of your decisions moot. That's fine for chucking dice around with a friend or a Narrative game but if you're trying to improve and see better results from your matches, you want to keep Mixed Arms in mind.
As you get better at applying this idea, you can also improve as disguising it. One of my favorite little packages for my army, Beastmen, is a pair of Minotaurs and a Gorebull with Berserker Blade. At first glance this is just a powerful little pack of Monstrous Infantry and can do many things, not just combo with my more numerous blocks. However, the Character can separate from the Minotaurs and create two threats, possibly allowing for a Charge that my opponent didn't see coming or giving me two damage dealers where there was previously only one. Little wrinkles like that just make your plan that much more versatile and unpredictable.
Pulling off tactical maneuvers and swinging the odds in your favor are what wargames are all about for me and pulling off even a simple double Charge can feel incredibly good. Next time you play, see ifyou can spot opportunities to exploit this maneuver and then take stock of the result. Did it work, if not, why not? Were you not able to hit hard enough, did the enemy have a powerful defensive ability you couldn't handle? Asking yourself questions and learning from failures is how we grow, and even the most perfect plan never survives contact with dice. Similarly, as you get more used to Mixed Arms you'll be able to recognize it in your opponent's army and hopefully deny them their own plans.
That's all for this time, once I have Battle Reports posted I'll do my best to point out opportunities and executions of Mixed Arms. Until then, hope you enjoyed.
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