Mesokolossus vs Archaic Mesokolossus
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:22 pm
In my Last game I ran 2 units of Mesokolossus, and as I'd gone to the effort of giving one unit swords in their hands rather than spears I ran them as Archaic mesokolossus for a change. Without beating about the bush- they were a bit rubbish? The two units both started in the centre vs Byzantii legionarius (both led by a Demioption), and I was lucky enough that with forces, spells etc both units got the charge on their opposing number.
The Mesokolossus smashed 4 of their opponents down, they didn't hit very well but the hits going through at M+W 60 vs 40 meant they punched a big dent in the Byzantii, and when the Legionarius return attack they barely scratched the Kollosi (I think they actually took more damage from the forcing than the enemy that turn, though the Demioption did finish one off with its axe, I wish my Kolossi heroes could carry big weapons!)
The Archaic went in to their opponents, and hit slightly more, but their attacks just bounced off the shielded Byzantii troops, the lower M+W just crippled them, and they only killed 1 Legionarius. In return their lower C meant the Legionarius got more hits in and did more damage- The Demioption in particular did 35-40 damage on his own with a couple of fated dice.
this continued over the next few battle hours (my plan was to block the centre with Bronze then bring my hounds in from the flanks to mop up) with the Kolossi taking very little damage (especially when I managed to beat the Demioption down with a Kynigos I had nearby) but the archaic getting very quickly whittled down and eventually wiped out by infantry- My opponent joked that at least the old ones were cheaper and was stunned when he found out they are actually 12 points more (I'd also bought the Archaic a Desokolossus which didn't help much).
so my long winded question is- why take Archaic Mesokolossus at all? Standard Kolossus are cheaper, hit harder, are harder to hurt AND have more damage points due to their higher Constitution, and the only downsides are slightly lower skill (usually only one pip difference on the dice) and take less damage from forcing (which is negated by the lower wounds- in a 5 man unit you'd have to cause 15 wounds with the second dice by forcing before the rule makes any difference at all)
Am I missing something about the elderly chaps? Do they have something I didn't spot that would have borne out my extra expense?
The Mesokolossus smashed 4 of their opponents down, they didn't hit very well but the hits going through at M+W 60 vs 40 meant they punched a big dent in the Byzantii, and when the Legionarius return attack they barely scratched the Kollosi (I think they actually took more damage from the forcing than the enemy that turn, though the Demioption did finish one off with its axe, I wish my Kolossi heroes could carry big weapons!)
The Archaic went in to their opponents, and hit slightly more, but their attacks just bounced off the shielded Byzantii troops, the lower M+W just crippled them, and they only killed 1 Legionarius. In return their lower C meant the Legionarius got more hits in and did more damage- The Demioption in particular did 35-40 damage on his own with a couple of fated dice.
this continued over the next few battle hours (my plan was to block the centre with Bronze then bring my hounds in from the flanks to mop up) with the Kolossi taking very little damage (especially when I managed to beat the Demioption down with a Kynigos I had nearby) but the archaic getting very quickly whittled down and eventually wiped out by infantry- My opponent joked that at least the old ones were cheaper and was stunned when he found out they are actually 12 points more (I'd also bought the Archaic a Desokolossus which didn't help much).
so my long winded question is- why take Archaic Mesokolossus at all? Standard Kolossus are cheaper, hit harder, are harder to hurt AND have more damage points due to their higher Constitution, and the only downsides are slightly lower skill (usually only one pip difference on the dice) and take less damage from forcing (which is negated by the lower wounds- in a 5 man unit you'd have to cause 15 wounds with the second dice by forcing before the rule makes any difference at all)
Am I missing something about the elderly chaps? Do they have something I didn't spot that would have borne out my extra expense?