Battle wagons

[mrbootsthecat]

Somebody at the club decided to use a Polish/Lithuanian army, and included battle wagons. This caused some concern as it was the first time we had seen them fielded. As they slowly plodded around the table, they naturally took some fire, and then came the problem...
In the glossary, it says
" battle wagons count the bases from one rank or file, whichever is the greater number.
Each base counts as two bases."

The problem then became one of English grammar, and subordinate clauses
The two wagons were in a column, one file wide and two ranks deep.
Now, does the "greater number "refer to the number of ranks or files, in this case, the number of ranks is greater so you count the number of wagons in one of these, ie one which counts as two bases
Or, does the greater number refer to the battle wagons, in this case one file had two wagons, so this counts and then they each count as two for a total of four.
I think the latter reading is correct, but the brains trust at the club were uncertain.
Can somebody clarify with some certainty please?

[kevinj]

OK, I'll try.

To understand how this works you need to consider Elephants and Artillery. These also count as 2 bases for Hits per Base purposes, but only count those in the first rank. So 2 Elephants side by side count as 4 bases, 2 in column count as 2.

War wagons count Ranks or Files, wichever is greater, so if you're 1 wide and 2 deep you count ranks, if you're 2 wide and 1 deep you count files. A 2 base BG will therefore always count always count as 2x2 = 4 bases. The difference would occur with 4 base BGs of Wagons. If these are 1 deep or 1 wide they count as 4x2 = 8 bases (note they don't just count the first 3 ranks like other troops). However if they are 2 wide and 2 deep they only count as 2x2 = 4 (ranks and files being the same), or if they have a front rank of 3 and a second of 1, they count files, so 3x2 = 6

[quackstheking]

Now I know why I don't use Battle Wagons!! (and I always thought it was because they were rubbish!!! )

Don

[mrbootsthecat]

Kevin,
Thanks for the reply. I understand it now.
And I don't think I'll be using them either!