
Design Notes:

 Patay was a short, sharp and brutal battle. A lot of time was spent trying to make this as balanced a game as possible despite the historical outcome. The French are aggressive and will launch many attacks on the English Victory Objective hex, though the English Fastolf unit is a tenacious defender of that hex. The English front-line archers are given one single bow shot, representing their unusual lack of field preparation for this battle. If they hold their positions on the hedgerow for a couple of turns then fall back, they have effectively served their purpose. In fact, Talbot's troops were overrun so quickly and decisively that in the game, his entire command appropriately suffers from low morale, and Talbot himself is especially deficient in command attributes. Fastolf's men were in considerably better condition and postioning, and this is reflected in their higher morale and in Fastolf's relatively high attributes. All English units are naturally quite expensive to lose, particularly Fastolf and Talbot.  You may want to hold the defense-bonus hedgerow as long as possible, but soon fall back to the ridge to prevent being out-flanked. Of course the English must old the 5-point Victory Objective hex under Fastolf at all cost. Don't be overly concerned about abandoning the defensive hedgerow, as Fastolf's ridge-top is a good position to defend, and the battle will be decided in the immediate area of Sir Falstof's command hex. He has good troops defending him.  

The French cavalry is a fast moving hard hitting force, but tire quickly and easily. French leaders are small but powerful units, though they are costly to lose. Losing Joan will effectively lose the game for the French so use her with caution. French men-at-arms are typical infantry of the 100 Years War. They bash away, and they take and hold ground. Many will hurl themselves against Fastolf's men-at-arms in  small melees of attrition. Crossbowmen, while posing no real threat, are quite good at harassment, guarding flanks, and can cause just enough sting to be quite irritating. The somewhat fragile front-line men armed with polearms can be very dangerous if not quickly forced back by good English bowmenship... but valuable and scarce arrows spent on this "screen" will soon be sorely missed as the French cavalry flood the field and come to grips with the English advanced line.

Many trial games of Patay that I've played had a good give and take feel around the Victory Objective hex, trading hands a number of times. I assigned Joan and Fastol as  "overall commanders " of all their respective wings. This worked well as both Joan and Fastolf radiate a very positive influence within their immediate area to any unit which is in their command range and closer to them than other leaders. I found the game interesting to watch as a "chronicler" also, allowing the AI to play both sides. The game was designed for use with the default options in the game setup window. For normal play do not change any pre-game options. I haven't experimented with any of the settings, but setting them to an aggressive French AI or a defensive English AI might improve the game. Be determined in both attack and defense, and I hope you enjoy the game.

Phil Natta