Changes from 6.0 - old thread

[rbodleyscott]

Here is a list of significant changes after 6.00.

Now sorted into page order. Page numbers are only approximate as they are based on the current draft.

P.1

“In fact it goes back further still with Kriegsspiel in the early 19th century, and the ancient pharaohs were rumoured to have used model figures to plan their military campaigns.”

P.1. Redundant sentence deleted:

“Similarly, the rules required to resolve combat are contained in the main rules, but for added clarity we have added detailed examples in the appendix.”

P.8 BATTLE GROUP FORMATIONS

“There are four exceptions to this general case:
1. Columns - a battle group that is one base wide is a column of march and must be "kinked" at points where it has turned (e.g. to follow a road), until the whole column has passed that point.”

P.14 Sample Carthaginian army

Edited to conform to army list in “Rise of Rome”

Balearic slingers changed to Undrilled.
Gallic foot increased to 8 bases.
Roman Velites change to Protected on P.13 to partially compensate for extra Carthaginian points. (Points now 624 to Romans, 634 to Carthaginians)

P.18 SIMPLE AND COMPLEX MOVES

• “ Light artillery and battle wagons (or a battle line including either of these) must pass a CMT to carry out any move, whether simple or complex.”


P. 18 Expansions
• Expand frontage by 1 or 2 bases while stationary
• Expand frontage by 1 or 2 bases followed by a SIMPLE advance

Also in ref sheet.

P.19 Simple and Complex move chart (also ref sheet)

"Turn 180 deg, move <=3 MUs in a SIMPLE advance and turn back again"

P.20 Points to note on the CMT.

“To be able to influence a CMT a commander must be with the testers from the start of the phase.”


P.22 Contractions

“Contraction by a battle group that is not in close combat is carried out as follows: Remove one or two bases from the same or opposite ends of the front rank and place them in any other rank. Move bases not in the front rank to make the formation legal. To qualify as having advanced at least 3 MUs when contracting, both front corners of the final formation must have moved at least 3 MUs.”

P. 23 Interpenetrations

“o In all other cases, bases of the moving battle group that reach the battle group being interpenetrated are moved all the way through and are placed on the far side. Those that did not reach are placed with the front base in contact with the near side. If any do not pass through, the battle group making the interpenetration is DISORDERED until the interpenetration is completed in a subsequent turn. Other battle groups blocking placement of the moving battle group’s bases are shifted as far as necessary in the direction of interpenetration to make room. If this is not possible (due to enemy troops, impassable terrain or the table edge) the move is not allowed. When a partial interpenetration has occurred, no wheel or turn by either battle group is permitted (except a 180 degree turn by skirmishers) until either battle group moves clear of the other using a permitted interpenetration.”


P.25 Troops leaving the table.

Added:
• “ A charging or pursuing battle group whose move would take any part of it off the table edge instead halts its move at the table edge. ”

Note: The intention is that other bases cannot step forward from that position. (To keep things simple).

Also

“In situations where battle groups are shifted to make room for others, they cannot be shifted if this would take any part of any base off the table.”

Also altered wording re commanders leaving the table:

• “If a commander is routing or evading with a battle group that leaves the table, he is removed from play for the remainder of the game. It is not necessary to take a cohesion test for battle groups seeing this.”

P.26 DECLARATION OF CHARGES

“Any enemy battle group in the path of a charge counts as being charged if it can be ‘legally’ contacted, even if it was not one of the originally declared targets of the charge. This applies even if it can only be contacted by bases stepping forward (see below). It does not apply if, due to intervening friends, it could not be contacted even by stepping forward bases – unless the situation changes, as follows: If a battle group is revealed and can now be contacted due to friends evading or breaking and routing, it becomes a target of the charge and will therefore take any required tests once the evade or rout move has occurred.

If a CMT is required to make a charge against certain troops, it must be taken if required for any of the battle groups that can be ‘legally’ contacted in the chosen direction of charge, including by stepping forward bases. It need not and cannot be taken for those that can only be contacted if another battle group evades or routs.”


P.29 TROOPS WHO CANNOT CHARGE

“Battle wagons and artillery cannot move in the impact phase. They cannot charge and cannot intercept.”

“and must remain stationary to receive any charges made on them” removed as redundant. (They clearly cannot evade. No troops can intercept charges made on themselves).

P29 (Exceptions to shock troops testing not to charge)

“However, shock troops will not charge without orders (and are therefore not required to take a CMT to prevent charging) in the following circumstances:
• If their move* could end even partly in terrain that would disorder or severely disorder them.
• If they are medium foot starting wholly in uneven, rough or difficult terrain and the move* could end even partly in open terrain.
• If they are foot defending fortifications or a riverbank.
• If they are foot whose move* could contact or be intercepted by mounted.
• If their move* could end in contact with a fortification, elephants or a riverbank.
• If they are fragmented (they cannot charge).”

P.30 Skirmishers charging.

“ If any of their charge targets evade, skirmishers must halt their charge 1 MU away from enemy to their front whom they would not normally be allowed to charge without a CMT (unless they passed a CMT to charge them prior to charging).”

Note that, unlike the 6.0 version, this allows them to go into side to side contact with enemy - We avoided this before, but we don’t think this now creates any problems because the side to side rules allow them to evade if the enemy subsequently turn to face them.

P.33 Evading

• “It can shift sideways up to one base width to get past friendly troops it cannot interpenetrate, enemy troops, a camp or terrain, or to avoid leaving the table. All bases must end in edge to edge and corner to corner contact with another base of the battle group. The battle group cannot split.”


P.34 Charging (after Evaders)

• The chargers now move their charge move, adjusting the move distance by a VMD roll if all their charge targets evaded. If all target battle groups evade out of the original path of the charge, the chargers can wheel in an attempt to catch them. A charging battle group whose move would take any part of it off the table edge instead halts its move at the table edge.

Note: We were not entirely clear where to put this. As it is really only a reminder (the catch-all rule is in the “Troops Leaving the Table” section – see above), we put it here because this is the usual situation where this could occur. There are occasions when it could happen when charging enemy who have not evaded, but these are covered by the catch-all and can usually be avoided by wheeling one way or the other.

P. 36 REFORMING

“REFORMING
If, as a consequence of previous events, (other than forming orb or depicting adverse cohesion states), a battle group is no longer in normal formation, it can reform in either side’s manoeuvre phase.
• It reforms into normal formation facing the direction previously faced by any of its bases (player's choice) and level with the furthest forward base in that direction. The final position and formation of the reformed battle group must be as close as possible to its position and formation prior to reforming. Bases in contact with the front edge of enemy bases must remain in contact with the same enemy bases.
• A battle group must reform if it is to make any voluntary move. (Other than to feed more bases into an existing melee).”


p.36 Conforming

Delete the following bullet: “• If a battle group is in contact with more than one enemy battle group then it must line up with the one which it currently contacts with the highest number of its own bases. If equal, then the active player decides which.”

Replace

“• All of the bases in a battle group must end the conform move facing in the same direction and in at least partial base edge or corner contact with another of its bases.”

With

“• The battle group must end its conform move in a normal formation (see The Basics section), except that each file steps forward to line up with the nearest file already in contact with enemy. This may result in additional enemy bases being contacted.”

P.37 Conforming

“Friendly battle groups not in contact with enemy must be shifted sideways sufficiently to make room for the above, provided that this is not blocked by enemy or impassable terrain and no bases would cross the table edge.”


“• Battle wagons, artillery, troops in Orb formation and troops defending field fortifications or a riverbank, or in a river, do not conform to enemy.”


P.37 Feeding more bases into combat

“Only bases that fulfil the following criteria can be moved:
• They must not be in a position to contribute to combat prior to being moved (with dice or by creating a Point of Advantage (POA)).
• They must not have any enemy bases in front edge contact with them, nor able to fight them as an overlap.
• Moving them must not result in contraction by more than one file on any side of the battle group.”

P. 38 RESTRICTED AREA

“RESTRICTED AREA

For normal movement only, a battle group within 2 MU directly in front of an enemy battle group is considered to be pinned. It can only perform a limited number of actions:
.
.
.
.
• Battle wagons, artillery and troops in Orb formation exert no restricted area.
• The restricted area only applies in the manoeuvre phase. It does not affect moves (such as charges) that take place in other phases.”

P.38 SECOND MOVES

• “ Light artillery and battle wagons (or a battle line including either of these) must pass a second CMT to make a second move. They can only do so after first passing a CMT for, and making, a first move.”

• “If during a second move a battle group comes within visibility range of an enemy ambush marker, the ambush is immediately revealed. Unless it was a dummy marker, the move ends at that point if already within 6 MUs of the ambushers.”


P.42 Line of Sight

“Line of sight is always drawn from the front rank of the shooting battle group, even if the front rank is not shooting. A file can shoot at a target base if it is possible to draw straight lines from both front corners of its front rank base to a single point on the target base without passing through:
• Terrain that would block line of sight.
• Friendly troops, except as specified in the overhead shooting section below.”

P.44. Overlaps

“Restrictions:
• A battle group can only be overlapped by one file at each end of any of its four edges, even if it is stepped forward. ”

P.44 Melees than cannot line up

“MELEES THAT CANNOT LINE UP
If it is not possible for battle groups in contact to line up, they continue to fight in an offset position with the same number of bases counting as ‘in front edge contact’ or 'overlapping' as if they had conformed. If two bases would conform to the same enemy base then the one which has the shortest distance to conform fights against it. If the distance is equal their player chooses which fights.

Only the ends of a line of bases counting as 'in front edge contact' can be overlapped, even if it is stepped forward. One enemy file can fight as an overlap at each end.”

P.46 Shooting Dice.

“Light foot, Light horse or any troops with Javelins, Sling, Firearm or Bow* 1 dice per 2 bases in effective range
1 dice per 3 bases outside effective range”

Ref Sheets altered accordingly.

Note: This does not mean that Cavalry, chariots, MF or HF with light spear can shoot – only troops with a shooting capability listed in the Shooting column of the army lists can shoot. The wording change is simply to allow scope for categorizing Aztec and/or Inca foot, although we have not yet decided exactly how these will be classified.

P.49 Shooting

“If shooting at a battle group that has mixed armour classes, the shooters’ POAs are determined by the front rank armour class of the target, unless the shooting base is entirely behind a straight line extending the target battle group’s rear edge. In this case use the rear rank’s armour class to determine POAs”

P.52 Support shooting.

“The supporters must be medium or light foot armed with bow, longbow, crossbow or firearm (but not bow*).”

P. 54 Routers

“If a battle group breaks in other circumstances, it routs towards its side's rear table edge, making wheels and/or turns as appropriate to end its move as close to the rear table edge as possible.”

P.56 Initial Routs

Change wording to be identical to that on P.61 and alter start of paragraph to indicate that shifting is only allowed if the current rout move is obstructed (not if a future one is):

“ If any obstructions would prevent completion of a routing battle group’s move, adjust as per evade moves (see the Impact Phase section) to get past these, but not to avoid leaving the table. It must go round a fortified or enemy camp, but can pass through its own unfortified camp. If its path is obstructed by unbroken enemy that cannot be bypassed, the battle group is destroyed at the end of the phase.”


P.56 Initial Pursuits

“ An unbroken battle group, all of whose close combat opponents (except those only fighting it as an overlap) have broken and routed this phase, always pursues unless:
--o It is foot who have broken mounted opponents, in which case:
----• Non-shock foot can choose to pursue mounted by passing a CMT.
----• Shock foot must pass a CMT not to pursue mounted.
--o It was fighting enemy in two directions.
--o It is battle wagons or artillery.”

P.59 Routers

“Broken troops not in contact with enemy make a normal distance move towards their side’s rear table edge, making wheels and/or turns as appropriate to end their move as close to the rear table edge as possible.”

P.61 Routers and Pursuers

Clarification to indicate that shifting is only allowed if the current rout move is obstructed (not if a future one is):

“ If any obstructions would prevent completion of a routing battle group’s move, adjust as per evade moves (see the Impact Phase section) to get past these, but not to avoid leaving the table. It must go round a fortified or enemy camp, but can pass through its own unfortified camp. If its path is obstructed by unbroken enemy that cannot be bypassed, the battle group is destroyed at the end of the phase.”

Wording altered for consistency with chargers:

• “A pursuing battle group whose move would take any part of it off the table edge instead halts its move at the table edge.”

P.65 Testing multiple battle groups

• “If several battle groups have to test at the same time for seeing friends break or commanders lost, their side’s player decides which order to test them in. If further battle groups break as a consequence, those that have already tested do not have to test again. If pursuits result in the loss of a commander, battle groups that have already tested at the end of this phase for breaks/lost commanders do not have to test again.”

P.68 Base Removal

“If both players must remove bases, the active player does so second.”


P.71 ELEPHANTS AND CAMELS

“Horses generally don’t like camels or elephants.
• Knights, cataphracts, cavalry, light horse and chariots are DISORDERED if they are less than 1 base width from elephants or camelry.
• Camelry are only so affected by elephants.
• Camelry treat soft sand as rough going, not difficult.
• Heavily armoured camelry otherwise move as undrilled cataphracts.
• Other camelry otherwise move as undrilled cavalry.
• Elephants cause a -1 modifier on the cohesion test when enemy lose a close combat against them.
• None of the the above applies to commanders depicted as camelry or on elephants.”


P.71 Field fortifications

• “Troops count as defending a FF if they are in contact with its rear edge.”


P.72 ORB FORMATION

• ORB formation is a special all round defensive formation permitted only to battle groups entirely of pikemen or spearmen.
• It is depicted by contracting the battle group to 2 files wide, and turning at least half the battle group’s ranks to face the rear. The normal rules for a stationary contraction are used, except that it can be performed by undrilled troops, and the battle group must be shifted so that the centre of its front rank is in the same position as before. A battle group can only form ORB if it starts no more than 4 files wide.
• A complex move test (CMT) must be passed to form or leave ORB formation.
• A battle group cannot form ORB formation unless there are unbroken enemy (excluding camp or commanders) within 6 MUs.
• A battle group cannot form or leave ORB formation while in close combat.
• A battle group leaving ORB formation can face any of its four edges as if making a 90 or 180 degree turn.
• A battle group in ORB formation:
• - Cannot charge or intercept.
• - Can move 1 MU directly to front or rear in its side’s manoeuvre phase.
• - Exerts no restricted area.
• - Never counts as charged in flank or rear and never turns to face enemy contacting its flank or rear. It never conforms to enemy in close combat.
• - Fights in any direction with one quarter of its bases, rounded up. Half of these, rounded up, count as front rank bases.
• - Cannot be overlapped.
• - Suffers no POA penalty for fighting in more than one direction.
• - Cannot fight as an overlap for another friendly battle group.
• - Cannot count any pikemen or spearmen POAs, but, if steady, counts as steady pikemen or spearmen for the purpose of determining enemy POAs.


P.82 Terrain Chart

“A single base wide road or track that must pass through or touch a village if there is one, and must connect 2 different table edges, no more than one of them a short edge. The maximum length of the road is 60 MUs.”

“River (Rv) Up to 4 MUs wide, entirely within 6 MUs of the side edge. The placing side dices for its difficulty when putting it down. 1 = uneven, 2,3 = rough, 4,5 =difficult, 6 =impassable. Troops can only move within 45 degrees of straight across. The river cannot have more than 2 bends.”

P.85 Glossary

“HP2B (Hits per 2 bases)
&
HP3B (Hits per 3 bases)

1 HPxB = 1 hit per x bases in the battle group, except that:
 Elephants and artillery count front rank bases only, but each counts as 2 bases.
 Battle wagons count the bases from one rank or file, whichever is the greater number. Each base counts as 2 bases.
 Other troops count all bases in the front 3 ranks only.
 Commanders’ bases do not count.”

P. 89 Flank marches.

“Battle wagons, artillery and scythed chariots cannot be sent on outflanking marches.”

Outflanking March Arrival Test
Roll two dice for each outflanking march. (No re-rolls).
Modifier
+1 If the flank march is led by a field commander
-1 If the outflanking march includes medium or heavy foot
Score Result
9 or less Roll again next turn.
10 or more Success – see below


Straggling Test
On the turn when the outflanking march should arrive, roll two dice for each battle group to see if it is straggling. Straggling battle groups will not arrive in time for the battle.
Modifier
+1 Drilled troops or skirmishers
-1 Medium or heavy foot
A battle group is straggling (and will not arrive) if it scores less than 5.
Quality re-rolls apply.

Note: The 'encountered difficulties' concept has been removed. All flank marches must rest each BG for straggling when the flank march arrives.


P.91 Terrain placement

• “A road can be placed closer than 4 MUs to any piece and can pass through a village, but (for aesthetic reasons) not through other terrain pieces.”


P.92 Ambushes

“Ambushes are made by placing ‘ambush markers’ as follows:
• Each side can place up to 3 ambush markers on the table. An ambush marker is a 40mm square in 15mm scale, 60mm in 25/28 mm scale. The player must clearly identify (by noting on the bottom of the marker) the single battle group from his order of march that this represents, and any commander who is to accompany it. Alternatively the marker can be left blank as a ‘dummy marker’ to confuse the enemy.
• If any enemy come within visibility range of the marker, the ambush ( or its non-existence) is immediately revealed.
• When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base. It can face any of the edges of the ambush marker, and can be in any legal formation. A commander who was ambushing with it must be placed in legal contact with it. No base can be placed closer than the first base to any enemy battle group to which it would be visible. A base that cannot be properly placed for any reason is lost. The enemy can then complete their move, unless it was a second move and they are within 6 MUs of the ambushers.”
• Either player can reveal an ambush at any time in his own turn. He need not move the battle group to do so, but must place it on table in the correct position.”

NOTE: Ambush markers can no longer move.

DELETED: “All ambush bases, real or dummy, can be moved in any direction at 2 MUs per move in the manoeuvre phase, as long as they stay outside visibility range. No CMT is required.”

P. 94. Clarification of evades from flank marches

“Battle groups within 6 MUs of the point of arrival of enemy flank marchers obey the following rules:
o Unless already in close combat, artillery and battle wagons are destroyed and removed from the table, their crews having fled and dispersed. (This does not cause friends to take a cohesion test).
o Supply camps are assumed to have been sacked, even if fortified.
o Unless already in close combat, other types make an evade move perpendicularly away from the side table edge, even if of a type not normally able to evade. They do so as if evading in the direction of a charge from that direction (see the Impact Phase section).”


P. 96 Deploying commanders

“Commanders, except those in ambush or on an outflanking march, are positioned after both armies have deployed all visible on table battle groups.”

[lawrenceg]

Straggling Test
On the turn when the outflanking march should arrive, roll one dice for each battle group to see if it is straggling. Straggling battle groups will not arrive in time for the battle.
Modifier
+1 Drilled troops or skirmishers
-1 Medium or heavy foot
A battle group is straggling (and will not arrive) if it scores less than 5.
Quality re-rolls apply.

That seems a bit harsh:

One dice, needing 5 or more to arrive

Drilled mounted/skirmishers, you lose half your flank marching BG
Undrilled HF/MF, you lose 5 out of 6 of your BG

[rbodleyscott]

Straggling Test
On the turn when the outflanking march should arrive, roll one dice for each battle group to see if it is straggling. Straggling battle groups will not arrive in time for the battle.
Modifier
+1 Drilled troops or skirmishers
-1 Medium or heavy foot
A battle group is straggling (and will not arrive) if it scores less than 5.
Quality re-rolls apply.

That seems a bit harsh:

One dice, needing 5 or more to arrive

Drilled mounted/skirmishers, you lose half your flank marching BG
Undrilled HF/MF, you lose 5 out of 6 of your BG

Well spotted, it is meant to be 2 dice.

On arrival chances of each BG straggling (excluding re-rolls):

Skirmishers and drilled mounted troops: 8%.
Undrilled mounted and drilled MF/HF: 17%
Undrilled MF/HF: 28%

[rbodleyscott]

A couple more items added.

[rbodleyscott]

Main Rules and Ref Sheet update 7/6/07

The following tweaks have been incorporated:

1) P.46 Shooting Dice.

“Light foot, Light horse or any troops with Javelins, Sling, Firearm or Bow* 1 dice per 2 bases in effective range
1 dice per 3 bases outside effective range”

Ref Sheets altered accordingly.

Note: This does not mean that Cavalry, MF or HF with light spear can shoot – only troops with a shooting capability listed in the Shooting column of the army lists can shoot. The wording change is simply to allow scope for categorizing Aztec and/or Inca foot, although we have not yet decided exactly how these will be classified.

2) P.29

“TROOPS WHO CANNOT CHARGE
Battle wagons and artillery cannot move in the impact phase. They cannot charge and cannot intercept.”

“and must remain stationary to receive any charges made on them” removed as redundant. (They clearly cannot evade. No troops can intercept charges made on themselves).

3) P.38 RESTRICTED AREA

“Battle wagons, artillery and troops in Orb formation exert no restricted area.”

4) ORB FORMATION

• ORB formation is a special all round defensive formation permitted only to battle groups entirely of pikemen or spearmen.
• It is depicted by contracting the battle group to 2 files wide, and turning at least half the battle group’s ranks to face the rear. The normal rules for a stationary contraction are used, except that it can be performed by undrilled troops, and the battle group must be shifted so that the centre of its front rank is in the same position as before. A battle group can only form ORB if it starts no more than 4 files wide.
• A complex move test (CMT) must be passed to form or leave ORB formation.
• A battle group cannot form ORB formation unless there are unbroken enemy (excluding camp or commanders) within 8 MUs.
• A battle group cannot form or leave ORB formation while in close combat.
• A battle group leaving ORB formation can face any of its four edges as if making a 90 or 180 degree turn.
• A battle group in ORB formation:
• - Cannot charge or intercept.
• - Can move 1 MU directly to front or rear in its side’s manoeuvre phase.
• - Exerts no restricted area.
• - Never counts as charged in flank or rear and never turns to face enemy contacting its flank or rear. It never conforms to enemy in close combat.
• - Fights in any direction with one quarter of its bases, rounded up. Half of these, rounded up, count as front rank bases.
• - Cannot be overlapped.
• - Suffers no POA penalty for fighting in more than one direction.
• - Cannot fight as an overlap for another friendly battle group.
• - Cannot count any pikemen or spearmen POAs, but, if steady, counts as steady pikemen or spearmen for the purpose of determining enemy POAs.


5) Commanders in Ambush

P.92

“Ambushes are made by placing ‘ambush markers’ as follows:
• Each side can place up to 3 ambush markers on the table. An ambush marker is a 40mm square. The player must clearly identify (by noting on the bottom of the marker) the single battle group from his order of march that this represents, and any commander who is to accompany it. Alternatively the marker can be left blank as a ‘dummy marker’ to confuse the enemy.
• If any enemy come within visibility range of the marker, the ambush is immediately revealed.
• When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base. It can face any of the edges of the ambush marker, and can be in any legal formation. A commander who was ambushing with it must be placed in legal contact with it. No base can go nearer to any enemy battle group than the visibility distance in the terrain in question.
• All ambush bases, real or dummy, can be moved in any direction at 2 MUs per move in the manoeuvre phase, as long as they stay outside visibility range. No CMT is required.
• Either player can reveal an ambush at any time in his own turn. He need not move the battle group to do so, but must place it on table in the correct position.”

P.96 “Deploying commanders
Commanders, except those in ambush or on an outlanking march, are positioned after both armies have deployed all visible on table battle groups.”

[lawrenceg]

Main Rules and Ref Sheet update 7/6/07

“TROOPS WHO CANNOT CHARGE
Battle wagons and artillery cannot move in the impact phase. They cannot charge and cannot intercept.”

“and must remain stationary to receive any charges made on them” removed as redundant. (They clearly cannot evade. No troops can intercept charges made on themselves).

The same information could be conveyed more consisely by

"Battle wagons and artillery can neither charge nor intercept."

It's clear they can't evade. The only other movement in the impact phase is routs. Can they rout or do they just get destroyed?

An ambush marker is a 40mm square.

When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base.

In 25 mm, a base won't fit entirely on top of the ambush marker. Hasn't anyone noticed this before?

[neilhammond]

Richard,

Will Britcon be using 6.0 as originally issued, or will it be 6.0 plus these changes?
Or has that not been decided?

Neil

[rbodleyscott]

Main Rules and Ref Sheet update 7/6/07

“TROOPS WHO CANNOT CHARGE
Battle wagons and artillery cannot move in the impact phase. They cannot charge and cannot intercept.”

“and must remain stationary to receive any charges made on them” removed as redundant. (They clearly cannot evade. No troops can intercept charges made on themselves).

It's clear they can't evade. The only other movement in the impact phase is routs. Can they rout or do they just get destroyed?

They just get destroyed.

An ambush marker is a 40mm square.

When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base.

In 25 mm, a base won't fit entirely on top of the ambush marker. Hasn't anyone noticed this before?

Apparently not.

[rbodleyscott]

Richard,

Will Britcon be using 6.0 as originally issued, or will it be 6.0 plus these changes?
Or has that not been decided?

Neil

Not decided yet. I would prefer to use the changes (there aren't too many of them) but I guess JD has the final decision. I don't think any of them would affect anyone's army list decisions. (Except possibly the change to flank marches).

[rbodleyscott]

Main Rules Update 14/6/07

1) p.72 ORB

• “A battle group cannot form ORB formation unless there are unbroken enemy (excluding camp or commanders) within 6 MUs.”

2) P.92 Ambushes

“An ambush marker is a 40mm square in 15mm scale, 60mm in 25/28 mm scale.”

3) P.42 Line of Sight

“Line of sight is always drawn from the front rank of the shooting battle group, even if the front rank is not shooting. A file can shoot at a target base if it is possible to draw straight lines from both front corners of its front rank base to a single point on the target base without passing through:
• Terrain that would block line of sight.
• Friendly troops, except as specified in the overhead shooting section below.”

4) P.37 Conforming“

Friendly battle groups not in contact with enemy must be shifted sideways sufficiently to make room for the above, provided that this is not blocked by enemy or impassable terrain and no bases would cross the table edge.”

5) P.44. Overlaps

“Restrictions:
• A battle group can only be overlapped by one file at each end of any of its four edges, even if it is stepped forward. ”

6) P.44 Melees than cannot line up

“MELEES THAT CANNOT LINE UP
If it is not possible for battle groups in contact to line up, they continue to fight in an offset position with the same number of bases counting as ‘in front edge contact’ or 'overlapping' as if they had conformed. If two bases would conform to the same enemy base then the one which has the shortest distance to conform fights against it. If the distance is equal their player chooses which fights.

Only the ends of a line of bases counting as 'in front edge contact' can be overlapped, even if it is stepped forward. One enemy file can fight as an overlap at each end.”

[rbodleyscott]

Main Rules Update 21/6/07

A couple of important tweaks and a few minor corrections.

1) P.25 Troops leaving the table

Added:
• “ A charging or pursuing battle group whose move would take any part of it off the table edge instead halts its move at the table edge. ”

Note: The intention is that other bases cannot step forward from that position. (To keep things simple).

Also altered wording re commanders leaving the table:

• “If a commander is routing or evading with a battle group that leaves the table, he is removed from play for the remainder of the game. It is not necessary to take a cohesion test for battle groups seeing this.”


2) P.34 Charging (after Evaders)

• The chargers now move their charge move, adjusting the move distance by a VMD roll if all their charge targets evaded. If all target battle groups evade out of the original path of the charge, the chargers can wheel in an attempt to catch them. A charging battle group whose move would take any part of it off the table edge instead halts its move at the table edge.

Note: I was not entirely clear where to put this. As it is really only a reminder (the catch-all rule is in the “Troops Leaving the Table” section – see above), I put it here because this is the usual situation where this could occur. There are occasions when it could happen when charging enemy who have not evaded, but these are covered by the catch-all and can usually be avoided by wheeling one way or the other.

3) P.61 Routers and Pursuers

Wording altered for consistency with the above:

• “A pursuing battle group whose move would take any part of it off the table edge instead halts its move at the table edge.”

4) P.22 Contractions

This following somehow got left out of the rules during one of our rewording sessions:
“CONTRACTIONS
Contraction by a battle group that is not in close combat is carried out as follows: Remove one or two bases from the same or opposite ends of the front rank and place them in the rear rank. Move bases not in the front rank to make the formation legal. To qualify as having advanced at least 3 MUs when contracting, both front corners of the final formation must have moved at least 3 MUs.”

5) P.33 Evading

• “It can shift sideways up to one base width to get past friendly troops it cannot interpenetrate, enemy troops, a camp or terrain, or to avoid leaving the table. All bases must end in edge to edge and corner to corner contact with another base of the battle group. The battle group cannot split.”

6) p.71 Field fortifications

• “Troops count as defending a FF if they are in contact with its rear edge.”

7) P.92 Ambushes

Ambush markers can no longer move.

DELETED: “All ambush bases, real or dummy, can be moved in any direction at 2 MUs per move in the manoeuvre phase, as long as they stay outside visibility range. No CMT is required.”


8 ) P.30 Skirmishers charging.

“ If any of their charge targets evade, skirmishers must halt their charge 1 MU away from enemy to their front whom they would not normally be allowed to charge without a CMT (unless they passed a CMT to charge them prior to charging).”

Note that, unlike the 6.0 version, this allows them to go into side to side contact with enemy - We avoided this before, but we don’t thing this now creates any problems because the side to side rules allow them to evade if the enemy subsequently turn to face them.

9) P.14 Sample Carthaginian army.

Edited to conform to army list in “Rise of Rome”

Balearic slingers changed to Undrilled.
Gallic foot increased to 8 bases.
Roman Velites change to Protected on P.13 to partially compensate for extra Carthaginian points. (Points now 624 to Romans, 634 to Carthaginians)

10) P.82 Terrain Chart

“A single base wide road or track that must pass through or touch a village if there is one, and must connect 2 different table edges, no more than one of them a short edge. The maximum length of the road is 60 MUs.”

11) P.91 Terrain placement

• “A road can be placed closer than 4 MUs to any piece and can pass through a village, but (for aesthetic reasons) not through other terrain pieces.”

[rbodleyscott]

Main Rules Update 28/6/07

1) P.1.

“In fact it goes back further still with Kriegsspiel in the early 19th century, and the ancient pharaohs were rumoured to have used model figures to plan their military campaigns.”

2) P.9 BATTLE GROUP QUALITY – QUALITY RE-ROLLS
Formatting change only – battle line italicised as not yet defined.

• “If a battle line of mixed quality troops re-rolls, it re-rolls as the worst quality battle group in the line.”

3) P.18 SIMPLE AND COMPLEX MOVES
• “ Light artillery and battle wagons (or a battle line including either of these) must pass a CMT to carry out any move, whether simple or complex.”


4) P.20 Points to note on the CMT.

“To be able to influence a CMT a commander must be with the testers from the start of the phase.”
5) P.22 CONTRACTIONS
“Contraction by a battle group that is not in close combat is carried out as follows: Remove one or two bases from the same or opposite ends of the front rank and place them in any other rank.”

6) P.26 DECLARATION OF CHARGES

“Any enemy battle group in the path of a charge counts as being charged if it can be ‘legally’ contacted, even if it was not one of the originally declared targets of the charge. This applies even if it can only be contacted by bases stepping forward (see below). It does not apply if, due to intervening friends, it could not be contacted even by stepping forward bases – unless the situation changes, as follows: If a battle group is revealed and can now be contacted due to friends evading or breaking and routing, it becomes a target of the charge and will therefore take any required tests once the evade or rout move has occurred.

If a CMT is required to make a charge against certain troops, it must be taken if required for any of the battle groups that can be ‘legally’ contacted in the chosen direction of charge, including by stepping forward bases. It need not and cannot be taken for those that can only be contacted if another battle group evades or routs.”

7) P.38 SECOND MOVES

• “  Light artillery and battle wagons (or a battle line including either of these) must pass a second CMT to make a second move. They can only do so after first passing a CMT for, and making, a first move.”
• “If during a second move a battle group comes within visibility range of an enemy ambush marker, the ambush is immediately revealed. Unless it was a dummy marker, the move ends at that point if already within 6 MUs of the ambushers.”


8 ) P.65 Testing multiple battle groups

• “If several battle groups have to test at the same time for seeing friends break or commanders lost, their side’s player decides which order to test them in. If further battle groups break as a consequence, those that have already tested do not have to test again. If pursuits result in the loss of a commander, battle groups that have already tested at the end of this phase for breaks/lost commanders do not have to test again.”

9) P.92 AMBUSHING

• “If any enemy come within visibility range of the marker, the ambush ( or its non-existence) is immediately revealed.
• When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base. It can face any of the edges of the ambush marker, and can be in any legal formation. A commander who was ambushing with it must be placed in legal contact with it. No base can go nearer to any enemy battle group than the visibility distance in the terrain in question. The enemy can then complete their move, unless it was a second move and they are within 6 MUs of the ambushers. ”

[lawrenceg]

8 ) P.38 SECOND MOVES

• “ Light artillery and battle wagons must pass a second CMT to make a second move. They can only do so after first passing a CMT for, and making, a first move.”
•

I think you could get away with "...only after making a first move." as they can only make a first move if they passed a CMT for it.

The current wording looks as though it is designed to prevent you from passing the first CMT, not moving, then passing another one to do a second move. Admittedly, it would make no sense to do this, but the fact that somethiing nonsensical is prohibited makes me worry that I'm missing something.

• When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base. It can face any of the edges of the ambush marker, and can be in any legal formation. A commander who was ambushing with it must be placed in legal contact with it. No base can go nearer to any enemy battle group than the visibility distance in the terrain in question. The enemy can then complete their move, unless it was a second move and they are within 6 MUs of the ambushers. ”

If the ambush was in open terrain behind a hill, and the enemy moved around the hill to spot it, the visibility distance is infinite, so the ambushers cannot be placed.

In general I'm a bit curious about what happens if it is not possible to deploy the whole BG >= visibility distance from the enemy. Apart from the open ground case above, this could happen if several enemy BG move up near the ambush before one actually goes close enough to see it.

[rbodleyscott]

• When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base. It can face any of the edges of the ambush marker, and can be in any legal formation. A commander who was ambushing with it must be placed in legal contact with it. No base can go nearer to any enemy battle group than the visibility distance in the terrain in question. The enemy can then complete their move, unless it was a second move and they are within 6 MUs of the ambushers. ”

If the ambush was in open terrain behind a hill, and the enemy moved around the hill to spot it, the visibility distance is infinite, so the ambushers cannot be placed.

In general I'm a bit curious about what happens if it is not possible to deploy the whole BG >= visibility distance from the enemy. Apart from the open ground case above, this could happen if several enemy BG move up near the ambush before one actually goes close enough to see it.

Yes, these are interesting issues!

Can you suggest cures?

[rbodleyscott]

8 ) P.38 SECOND MOVES

• “ Light artillery and battle wagons must pass a second CMT to make a second move. They can only do so after first passing a CMT for, and making, a first move.”
•

I think you could get away with "...only after making a first move." as they can only make a first move if they passed a CMT for it.

The current wording looks as though it is designed to prevent you from passing the first CMT, not moving, then passing another one to do a second move. Admittedly, it would make no sense to do this, but the fact that somethiing nonsensical is prohibited makes me worry that I'm missing something.

One of the purposes of the sentence is to clarify that you cannot take both CMTs before deciding whether to move at all. Your wording does also do this however. Not sure it matters which we adopt.

[petedalby]

If the ambush was in open terrain behind a hill, and the enemy moved around the hill to spot it, the visibility distance is infinite, so the ambushers cannot be placed.

I struggle to understand this as an issue?

The ambush is revealed when the enemy BG can see around the hill. The first element is placed anywhere on the ambush marker and the additional elements are placed beyond it and the 'spotting' BG.

I agree there could be a very unusual situation where that might not be possible but please don't try and write a rule to cover eventuality. Let's leave some crumbs for the umpires.

Pete

[rbodleyscott]

• When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base. It can face any of the edges of the ambush marker, and can be in any legal formation. A commander who was ambushing with it must be placed in legal contact with it. No base can go nearer to any enemy battle group than the visibility distance in the terrain in question. The enemy can then complete their move, unless it was a second move and they are within 6 MUs of the ambushers. ”

If the ambush was in open terrain behind a hill, and the enemy moved around the hill to spot it, the visibility distance is infinite, so the ambushers cannot be placed.

How about:

 When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base. It can face any of the edges of the ambush marker, and can be in any legal formation. A commander who was ambushing with it must be placed in legal contact with it. No base can go nearer to any enemy battle group than the visibility distance in the terrain in question (or, if visibility is unrestricted, nearer to the enemy discovering the ambush). The enemy can then complete their move, unless it was a second move and they are within 6 MUs of the ambushers.

[lawrenceg]

If the ambush was in open terrain behind a hill, and the enemy moved around the hill to spot it, the visibility distance is infinite, so the ambushers cannot be placed.

I struggle to understand this as an issue?

The ambush is revealed when the enemy BG can see around the hill. The first element is placed anywhere on the ambush marker and the additional elements are placed beyond it and the 'spotting' BG.

Pete

That's true, if moving around a hill there would still be some dead ground when the ambush marker first came into view.

If moving over the top of the hill, however, there would be no dead ground.

Changing the rule to something along the lines of:

"If possible, other bases must be placed where they cannot be seen by any enemy. If visible to the enemy, they cannot be placed closer to the spotting BG than the ambush marker was"

would probably give acceptable results for minimum complexity of rule.

[rbodleyscott]

Main Rules update 3/7/07.


Kinky columns

P.8 BATTLE GROUP FORMATIONS

“There are four exceptions to this general case:
1. Columns - a battle group that is one base wide is a column of march and must be "kinked" at points where it has turned (e.g. to follow a road), until the whole column has passed that point.”

Partial Interpenetrations

P. 23 Interpenetrations

“o In all other cases, bases of the moving battle group that reach the battle group being interpenetrated are moved all the way through and are placed on the far side. Those that did not reach are placed with the front base in contact with the near side. If any do not pass through, the battle group making the interpenetration is DISORDERED until the interpenetration is completed in a subsequent turn. Other battle groups blocking placement of the moving battle group’s bases are shifted as far as necessary in the direction of interpenetration to make room. If this is not possible (due to enemy troops, impassable terrain or the table edge) the move is not allowed. When a partial interpenetration has occurred, no wheel or turn by either battle group is permitted (except a 180 degree turn by skirmishers) until either battle group moves clear of the other using a permitted interpenetration.”

Pursuing after fighting in 2 directions (or not)

P.56 Initial Pursuits

“ An unbroken battle group, all of whose close combat opponents (except those only fighting it as an overlap) have broken and routed this phase, always pursues unless:
--o It is foot who have broken mounted opponents, in which case:
----• Non-shock foot can choose to pursue mounted by passing a CMT.
----• Shock foot must pass a CMT not to pursue mounted.
--o It was fighting enemy in two directions.
--o It is battle wagons or artillery.”

Order of removing bases

P.68 Base Removal

“If both players must remove bases, the active player does so second.”


Ambushes

“• When an ambush is revealed, place a base entirely on top of the ambush marker and then deploy the battle group around this base. It can face any of the edges of the ambush marker, and can be in any legal formation. A commander who was ambushing with it must be placed in legal contact with it. No base can be placed closer than the first base to any enemy battle group to which it would be visible. A base that cannot be properly placed for any reason is lost. The enemy can then complete their move, unless it was a second move and they are within 6 MUs of the ambushers.”

[rogerg]

To save some space, and to ease learning, I suggest that under the definition of active player there should be a general statement about the active player being the first to act where necessary. Order of combats, removing casualties, movement in the JAP all will then be covered. This will catch anything else that arises as well. It is much easier to remember the general "active player first" than to have to remember specific instances.