Last Word on Light Troops

OK, I admit it. I am a perfectionist. I want all things intellectual to be nice and neat - complete - tidy. The August article on light troops by Michael Pace (which critiqued W. Robinson Mason III's earlier article) was very valid. In particular, I agree that terrain advantages are not sufficient reason to buy light troops. But as much as I agreed with him, Mr. Pace left me saying "and...And...AND..." Yes the Middle-earth game design highly favors heavy infantry (HI) and heavy cavalry (HC), perhaps 95+% of all recruitments should be either HI or HC. But W. Robinson III was attempting to do some interesting mental gymnastics as to just when light troops might be appropriate in the game and I'd like to honor the intellectual intent of his article.

Having finances stretched is the usual state of being for a country and a key element to ponder in the game when raising armies. In that context it becomes clear that economics (gold) is the primary and compelling reason to consider light troops. Consider a navy: To sail a navy you need at least 100 troops, maybe 200 (if you want to make some allowance for losing some transports to one thing or another.) You can have 200 HI floating around the water costing 800 gold per turn or 200 men-at-arms (MA) costing 200 gold per turn, a 600 gold per turn savings. Say the navy lasts 15 turns -that is 9000 gold for no real loss in combat ability.

So gold is the chief reason to consider light troops. Let's look at six situations and exactly how light troops may be advantageous.

1. Threaten Population Center: Now to carry the above example a bit further, carefully read order 498 (Threaten Population Center) Navies do not need to anchor to threaten a population center! This is a huge advantage. To attack you anchor, to threaten you don't! MA threaten just as well as HI. Maybe you decide to have your navy carry 2500 troops to threaten pop centers on the coast, and MA work just as well as HI for this purpose. So you now have a choice of paying 10,000 gold per turn for 2500 HI or 2500 gold per turn for MA. If this navy happens to last 15 turns that is 112,500 gold in saved maintenance costs!

Let's look at threats in the context of land warfare. Here, assume you have an army in a relatively remote part of the map, your finances are stretched to the limit, and there is a nice population center nearby. The goal being to show up unexpectedly and threaten it away. Maybe you can't afford 2000 HI - do you forgo the opportunity? Or maybe once you take the population center you will disband the whole army anyway, so why pay for the maintenance cost of HI? Well, light troops could be the ticket in either of these situations! (Furthermore keep in mind the spell "Conjure Hoards." You can conjure MA as well as recruit in this out of the way spot for a quick buildup to threaten with.)

2. Overruns: The current theory (that I believe) is that overruns are based mainly on troop numbers, and little, if anything, on troop type. If you choose to accept this theory, and find you are financially stretched, again - consider light troops. Your heavy infantry army may survive an overrun because of the 400 MA it could afford vs the 400 HI it could not afford. So the choice here is, do you want a dead army, or do you lower your standards and hire light troops? Sure, it is hard to predict being overrun, but the point here is that light troops can be cheap insurance.

3. Commodities usage: So you scrimp and save your steel. You have 1200 HC armored in PURE STEEL. But wait! This turn there is no steel in the population center, you mis-wrote your transport order last turn! Darn!

So now you can hire 400 more HC in no armor. The way the computer program works, this will be adjudicated as your army having 800 HC in bronze?! 400 steel armor suits actually disappear! Frustration! But instead, you can hire 400 LC in no armor and keep 400 HC from being downgraded to bronze armor. Now in terms of military strength, you are actually better off hiring the 400 HC without armor, but for various reasons maybe you would prefer to keep the 1200 HC in pure steel (making the enemy think you are rich, troop type cost, avoiding personal frustration over a missed order...) There can be a valid reason for choosing the Light Cavalry.

4. You're gonna die anyway: Let's say you see an overwhelming military force bearing down on your Fortified Major Town. It will arrive turn after next, and you can hire 800 infantry by the time it arrives. And assume you do want at least a token 800 man army there so you can challenge the commander; and so that the enemy cannot, with total impunity, issue a threat order.

Archers (AR) do roughly the same amount of damage in one round as do HI. Remember we are assuming an overwhelming force - so combat will last one round. I'd say 800 AR would kill maybe 300 unarmored enemy HI whereas 800 HI would kill maybe 400 unarmored enemy HI. The AR (vs HI) would save you 2400 gold in maintenance during the two turns this battle takes to culminate. So, you get 75% of the military punch and save what might be a critical 2400 gold.

5. Posting camps: So you have a commander moving an army around in the rear areas to post camps. It makes a lot more sense to be using 100 light troops to post camps rather than 100 more expensive troops. Optimally you will have planned for this and set aside 100 lights out of your starting forces.

6. Bluff: You move an army into the enemy field of vision and then disband it. They go crazy for many turns thereafter, hunting for a non-existent army. Again, would you rather pay maintenance on heavy troops or light troops up until the time you disband this army?

So there are uses for lights after all. Lets look at light troops:

Men-at-arms are great for running navies and as the troops you leave behind to recruit more troops as an army leaves. They are what are chosen (or conjured) when low costs and bodies are important. Our examples above cite population center threats and overruns as possible uses for the MA troop type.

Archers are what are chosen when you want (almost) the punch of heavy infantry but don't care about staying power. Another example that comes to mind is: extra troops for assaulting a population center that does not have a defending enemy army.

Light infantry: Odds are that if you can afford the 2 gold maintenance, you would choose LI to add to existing armies over AR. The staying power of LI makes LI superior to AR for combats which last more than one round. But, if a one round punch is needed, then archers have the advantage.

Light Cavalry: Generally there are so many orders involved in getting ready to produce cavalry it is very hard to justify over producing LC. But I did give a "Commodities Usage" example previously. Another exception concerns the Bluff example: Try to move a LC bluff army of 100 troops into the enemy field of vision such that he knows, by counting the terrain, that it is cavalry army. This drives your enemy even more crazy when the icon disappears. (Never say "Never!" in terms of producing light troops.)

Summary: Still 95+% of your new recruitments should be heavy troops, and this must remain the major point in any discussion on light troops.

But the strategy behind handling your country's money is a key part of the game. For cost reasons then, light troops can occasionally be the troop of choice. (Even if you do not hire any during the game, it is likely you start with some. Are you handling them properly?)

"So if light troop uses are relatively rare why talk about them?" Answer: In an even contest between two players, it is the mastery of the subtleties which determines a victor. If you are sitting down to read strategy articles in Whispers, this article is your cup of tea.