Sheep Herds

[philqw78]

To gain advantage by getting troops forward as fast as possible shepherding routers is an often seen tactic.

Basically charge the routers, then pursue them every JAP in the direction that you charged them as they must rout away. This eneables a double move towards exactly where you want to go. Since first seeing this it was pointed out to me that chargers should conform in the manouver phase. But the FAQ says nothing happens until the JAP.

So cheesy move is to charge routing enemy in the direction you want to move, they rout in that direction and you just keep following until outdistanced or you roll CMT to stop. Lots of free move in the direction you want to go.

Can something be done about this. i.e. Make the chargers conform.

[grahambriggs]

But they do have to conform. There is no exception of fighting routers when conforming. The contacted enemy bases turn, and in the movement you conform.

The only relevant parts I can see in the FAQ are:

If you charge routing skirmishers, do they evade?
No. You move your troops into contact with them, but nothing else happens until the Joint Action Phase (JAP)

GB: so only related to skirmishers and doesn't say what 'move' means. It presumably means touch them in the impact phase but not whether you confirm in movement phase or not.


TROOPS THAT MOVED IN THE IMPACT PHASE
Can troops move in the manoeuvre phase if they charged, pursued or evaded (unlikely but possible) in the
impact phase?
No
What constitutes a move for this purpose?
Any move by the battle group. This includes turning or placing/picking up portable defences, but not reforming,
conforming to enemy, or feeding more bases into an existing melee.

GB: this identifies that 'move' does not include conforming to the enemy.

The RAW are clear that you need to conform to the turned enemy. So it would seem that you can't shepherd routers where you want. Might be an idea to clear the wording up in v2, or course.[/i]

[philqw78]

Needs clearing up then as "nothing else happens until the JAP" should not be different for skirmishers, and in your view is not, but something else does happen, they conform.

[kevinj]

I think that the rules are clear that chargers must conform (subject to the constraints that are defined). What could cause a problem is somebody trying to apply a literal application of the FAQ statement:

You move your troops into contact with them, but nothing else happens until the Joint Action Phase (JAP)

This however only requires an update to the FAQ, unless there is a desire to change the rules as currently written. I hope that, on this point, there isn't.

[grahambriggs]

Yes looks like those two bits of the Faq were written at different times maybe.