Restricted Zone Puzzle

[spikemesq]

In yesterday's game we ended up with troops in the following position. I'll describe it first in case the diagram doesn't work.

Friendly unit is an 8-pack of Tang MF in a 3/3/2 block facing up.

Enemy unit is a 4-pack of Roman MF in a column facing left into the crook of the Tang "L." Thus, it pins the rear line of the Tang BG and is behind the right-most column of that BG.

Here is a diagram





Basically, the Romans killed their frontal opponents and the Tang killed theirs as well. Then the Romans did a 90 and crawled into the back of the Tang.

Question. What the hell can the Tang do?

They cannot turn right to face because they cannot align on the right-hand file. The Romans are in the way, and the move would end with no unit in front of the Romans if they shift up to end like so:






(:idea: = space holder)

They cannot turn 180 because the Romans are in the way and prevent a legal formation unless the Tang shift left to end like so:





No wheel puts them closer to alignment with the pinning Romans.

They could turn 90 left, but that would be retarded. Trading a threatened flank for a threatened rear.

We determined they were locked down. The game ended from results on other parts of the board before it could be more of an issue, but the position left both of us pretty stymied.

[hammy]

Hmm, now that is a good one.

Off the top of my head the only sensible move that I think the Tang MF could make would be to turn 90 and move away from the Romans.

They could wheel slightly towards the Romans (wheel as far as possible towards parallel) but because they have to remain at least partly infront of the Romans they would not be able to wheel much an would still be in poo.

[kevinj]

Yes, if they turn 90 degrees left and move away, the Romans won't be able to catch them. They would then have the option of a 180 degree turn to face the Romans in a subsequent bound.

[spikemesq]

Yeah, I thought about the 90 move away, but the tail of the L still leaves them in charge range of the Romans, and there was nothing else nearby to interfere with that charge (it was a bloodbath for both sides in that area).

Seems pretty dumb that the unit would be so paralyzed by this pin. Very DBM like, in a ruleset that purged most of the gimmicky geometry, gamey ZoC bullshit, etc. OTOH, each of the restrictions that screw up the Tang in this situation make perfect sense. Moreover, the situation is sufficiently unusual that it probably does not merit any tinkering with those otherwise sensible limits.

[hammy]

Yeah, I thought about the 90 move away, but the tail of the L still leaves them in charge range of the Romans, and there was nothing else nearby to interfere with that charge (it was a bloodbath for both sides in that area).

Really? From your diagram there would have been room as when the BG turned 90 it would have been 2 wide and 4 deep so unless the Romans had contacted the flank already there must have been room.

Seems pretty dumb that the unit would be so paralyzed by this pin. Very DBM like, in a ruleset that purged most of the gimmicky geometry, gamey ZoC bullshit, etc. OTOH, each of the restrictions that screw up the Tang in this situation make perfect sense. Moreover, the situation is sufficiently unusual that it probably does not merit any tinkering with those otherwise sensible limits.

I think this does indeed fall into the very unusual situations category.

[kevinj]

Here's a picture. You turn 90 and become 2 wide, 4 deep, with a tiny gap from your rear to the front of the Romans. You can then move away and, unless they have a faster move (i.e. not in this case), cannot be caught.

[spikemesq]

Nice diagram. Thanks.

What program do you use to generate that image?

[kevinj]

It's Powerpoint. I just create a Base and use Copy/Paste to create more.