Hi all,

Thought I'd give a sumary and some comments on the discussion so far.

I'll stick to veteran units for the sake of comparison.  I add the cavalry charge bonus if applicable. 

Limit of 4 units to a group, keep things the same.

Light Infantry 10 Heavy infantry 14 Light Cavalry 10 Heavy Cavalry 16

Pros: Limits the CF

Cons: you lose the large group rules for commands. Factor difference between some units is still high.  After losing 1 stand, the group is at a severe disadvantage.

Limit the group to 4 and front rank CF back rank support

Light Infantry 12 Heavy Infantry 16 Light Cavalry 12 Heavy Cavalry 18

Pros: It forces you to pick strong units for the front.  the back units can be common.  Historically accurate deployment.

Cons:  The points spread is the same.  The larger factors ensure that there is no slaughter.  Slaughters become pointless with fewer stands and will usually ensure a complete wipeout.  Loss of command rules for large groups.  After 1 stand loss, the group is at a severe disadvantage.

Take CF + support +1 per additional unit.

4 stands Light infantry 8 Heavy Infantry 10 Light Cavalry 8 Heavy Cavalry 12

6 stands Light Infantry 10 heavy Infantry 12 Light cavalry 10 Heavy Cavalry 14

This seems to work well enough with a limit of 4 or upto 6 stands per group as it scales linearly after the first supporting stand.

Pros: Minimal rules change.  Lower factors on the low to high end.  Gives light infantry a chance to win without diluting combats.

Cons: A bit more complex calculating combat factors.  Possible to use common troops as filler (not neccessarily historically inaccurate BTW). 

Chariots

i'd use the double support when charging and give the group a normal charge bonus.

Group of 3 would be C 4 S 2 so the total would be 8 + 1 for charge bonus 9. 

Pikes

I like Mike's rule a lot.  Use the phalanx as a defensive formation.  It gets a charge bonus of sorts when charged by non-pike units.  +1 for 1 rank, +2 for 2 ranks.

I haven't fully been following this discussion. At at this point I would ask, are these proposed new "official standard" rules, "official optional" rules, "advanced" rules, or just "house" rules?

Official optional or advanced rules are fine with me, but I really like the basic rules as they are. I can easily go on adding option rules and modifications to MA until it becomes hugely complex (Star Fleet Battles, anyone? The real base mechanics are quite simple, it's all the special case add-ons...), but sometimes I just want a nice light game to throw some armies at each other. DBA works (sort of) but the rules are written in style too dense for light fun.

These do seem like a good set of options for leveling the playing field between different armies. So that all Veteran Heavy Cavalry armies do not become unstoppable juggernaughts of destruction,  nor all Veteran Heavy Pike armies become impenatrable anvils of defense. ("All" here refers to army composition).

So a bit more rules than I am looking for, but certainly not unplayably complex, and would probably continue to play the game even if these became the only rules used for combat resolution.