Kn(F) are very fragile under DBM 3.1

James Hamilton:

I would almost always prefer Cv(S) to Kn(F) now under 3.1. Kn(F) can make holes but are more likely a hole waiting to happen. My IWF Armenians used their Kn(F) as slightly more survivable expendables.

Greg Mann:

Kn(F) are a fine rapier. If you try to use them as a blunt instrument you will have problems as they nearly always manage to get themselves killed in large numbers. A case of less is more.

When designing an army with Kn(F) a question that always comes to mind is "How much trouble will this command be in when they are all

dead?"

John Graham-Leigh:

I've used 3 51 West Frankish or Norman, East Franks, Early Lombards, African Vandals, Early Ostrogoths and 4 7 Early Crusader(Irreg version) in competitions, with no less than my normal moderate success... the Crusaders actually won two games out of three and finished second in one competition.

Don't listen to the po-faced experts - if you fancy hurling waves of Norman knights into the enemy, go ahead and do it!

Huw P-Y:

A small (4-5) group of Reg Kn(F) can be a bonus to many situations, nippy enough to get to a good position and with enough punch to be of

use, more than that is a waste of good AP.

Irregulars are pretty similar, a small block (for example in Alan commands/armies) can add a lot to the command as long as their loss can be bourne with a degree of stoic fortitude (4 in a command breaking on 7.5 for example).

Massed Irr Kn(F) are frankly for the demented, derranged or otherwise mentally unbalanced to use, try something sensible like Kn(S) instead.

If you have to try massed Kn(F) then I would recomend either going for the lower end and the Georgians (III/70) which provide a lot of cheap LH(F) to bulk the force out with or Sciri (II/67) who provide the amusement at 400AP of 30 Kn and a 13EE Hunnic ally to cover a flank. 

Another alternative is to go for the infamous Uldinic Hun list (II/80) which provides a couple of Kn blocks (usually 4 and 5) and backs them up with more LH(S) as support

Naval are basically an over-priced novelty

Andy BascombeHaving used naval in many a DBM competition in the past the only real reason I can justify using them is the fact that I have the figures.

Jer Morgan

Generally naval elements have been a paper tiger, but there are two exceptions.

1) Against a weak opponent, they may over-react against them and give you additional chances for victory, over and above those due to

them not being very good.

2) Bts(X), since they shoot as Art(S) are hard (or unwise) to ignore though again you can't win _only_ with them, but they can make the

difference. Alex Imp is a good army to try if you want to use them.

Pike need to be used en masse

Pike are very strong frontally but penny packets of them will just get flanked or skirmished out of the game. Groups of 16+ (prefereably flanked by another such group in a different command) are more effective.

Elephants are over-rated by new players and need to be massed

Elephants are another strong troop type that really work best in larger groups. They can be especially effective intermixed with Bd(F) and you should always try to have a few Ps escorting an El to jump out to fight enemy Ps. It's really embarassing to lose a 16AP El to a 1 AP Ps(I) and it's happened to me! El are great against weaker players because they totally over-react to the theat of an El. The best thing to do is to refuse to fight them frontally and to try and kill them by recoiling one of the element's that is protecting their flank into them. Massed El, especially combined with Bd (F) are quite effective (eg 2 42 Tamil Indian and Sinhalese)

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