What to do with Ax?

Hey everyone,

I asked a similar question a while back about the proper use of PS and got a lot of good advice.

My new question is 'what to do when your army has just 1 or even 2 Auxilia?' What's their role?
I realize that it will be different depending on what type of army you are facing, but just in general, how do I use them best?

Thanks,
Steve

Ax are bad going bullies, great for holding bad terrain and using it against heavy foot and mounted. They are also very speedy for infantry and can, therefore, sometimes threaten enemy flanks quite effectively. They also are also sometimes good for hunting down annoying enemy Ps, especially if you are short on mounted to do the job.

[Chris Brantley]

Control the bad going, is the usual answer. Use them to flush out pesky Psiloi and to safeguard your flanks as your battle line passes by bad going features.

Auxilia are faster than most of your foot, and work well offensively in situations where their extra movement comes in handy, such as attempts of overwhelm an enemy flank with numbers. Your Aux can get there quicker than his non-Aux foot reinforcements.

At +3 to +3 (and no WB quick-kill), they are effective in slowing down a warband assault. Ax vs. Wb tends to be a shoving match.

Against other foot, Auxilia are not easy to kill, but will get shoved around by Blade and Spear unless you can find a way to use your movement advantage.

Keep them away from Artillery...at +3 vs. +4, they make attractive targets compared to other foot.

I don't recommend using Aux to stop mounted unless you have to, but the +1 rear support option against mounted gives them a fighting chance against Cv and an advantage over LH. Just avoid the Knights.

If you are lacking in mounted, they do a passable job with their 3' movement screening your rear from LH end runs.

It depends on what the rest of your army is made up of and what the opponent's army is made up of.
The is an excellent article entitled, well, "Auxilia" in the "Tips and Guides" section of the DBA Resource Page that will answer a lot of your questions; it inludes a probability table of Ax kills, recoils, and being destroyed against all other types. Amazing!
What I would not do with Ax:
-expose them on good going against heavy foot or mounted: against the former Ax will eventually loose the initial push-and-shove (largely because they will initialy recoil and then cause the adjoining element(s) to be overlaped) while the latter-though only Kn can QK Ax-can quickly outflank them with their faster movement and then hit them from side, behind, etc.
-use Ax to guard the camp: well, only if the camp needed defending by all means and I had noone else to use. Ax offer great versatility in the field and I'd rather use them there.
-when contacting enemy inside BG (Ax's element) with more than 1Ax, try to hit your opponent in a line rather than column to maximize Ax's effectiveness. This takes foresight on the part of the general and luck on the part of the dice (since you depend on PIPs for that).

Little Caesar

As everyone says: terrain is the key.

I recently played Norse-Irish (III/46) against Norman (III/51) and just squeezed a win (4-3).

Being a Littoral army, I reserved 2 units of Auxilia and landed them next to a marsh, where they promptly eliminated one element of lurking Psiloi and then chased-down and flanked another. On my other flank the Dice Gods smiled and I even beat off an attack from combined Norman Cav and LH!

I like Auxilia and even have an Illyrian army (I/47), nicely described by the Two Davids as a "wheelbarrow" army!

http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~kuijt/BBD...ssessment.html

Dunctator

If you have 1 or 2 auxilia, don't think of them as "controlling" a patch of BGo; think of them as supporting your other (good-going) troops who need to move and fight adjacent to a patch of BGo. The mechanics of it will vary according to which good-going troops we are talking about. But 1 or 2 Auxilia are quite adequate BGo resources for Big Al (Alexandrian Imperial), which is a fundamentally GGo army.

Just make sure you understand what I am saying in this: there is a huge difference between participating in a bad-going scrum, and using one or two bad-going troops to support the bad-going flank of a good-going scrum. The first case requires both a lot of BGo resources and an enemy who is willing (or forced) to also play mud-hockey. With 1 or 2 Aux you can't play that game. But 1 or 2 Aux is the perfect size for the second case.

I'm a strong believer in the idea that mobility is the key to victory in DBA, so I find Ax to be extremely handy and versatile elements. I like the fact that they can close with bow elements from outside shooting range with a single pip move. They often have a poor reputation because of their vulnerability to heavier foot elements and knights, but as everyone else comments, you can address that by keeping them in bad going.

In New World armies, like the Incas or Zapotecs, the Ax have no mounted enemies to worry about, and they virtualy become kings of the battlefield. Sure, Blade elements can hammer them at +5 to +3, but can they catch them? Ax are especially tough on bows, who find it hard to get away from them.

Another thing I like to do with just one or two ax is use them to physically link troops on either side of a piece of bad going. At some point in the game, they issue from the woods or rough and cover or overlap an enemy that might otherwise wrap my line.

Andy Hooper
Seattle

Hunt Elephants!

Auxilia also make good elephant escorts. They aren't too good against heavy foot and mounted, but mixing them in an elephant line gives those other types some trepidation. The Ax are good escorts since they have the speed to keep pace with the elephants. I think the Burmese (and many other SE Asian armies)and Numidians are good candidates for using this tactic.

Originally posted by Little Caesar:
Hey everyone,

My new question is 'what to do when your army has just 1 or even 2 Auxilia?' What's their role?
... how do I use them best?

Thanks,
Steve

Steve,

1 or 2 Aux are essentially support elements and most of their uses have already been detailed.

1) Contest or neutralize bad going adjacent to your good going troops.

2) Exploiting a 'bad going path' into your enemy's rear or flank.

3) Hunting or screening Elephants, Ps, Bw, or offsetting Wb.

4) Extending a HI line in good going if the enemy has no knights.

5) Support troops for El.

6) Natural opponent for Wb in both good and bad going (needs Ps support in GG). Watch your flanks!

7) Carefully used against heavier foot (not double ranked Pk) for short periods while you exploit an advantage elsewhere (IF you don't have Ps to perform this role).

8) With Ps support in good going they can also take on and hold for some time Cm, Cv and Lh, despite their lesser mobility.

9) Mobile reserve for HI (has the speed to fill holes in a HI line).

[ December 14, 2005, 10:13: Message edited by: Pthomas ]