Flank marches and army size

[madaxeman]

This came up at the weekend in Oxford;

If you have some units on a flank march, do they count towards the army break point before they arrive on table, or only once they arrive ?

There semed to be some folk-memory of a ruling on this from a while ago that implied that they weren't counted, but we weren't able to unearth anything definitive in the rules other than something saying that the break point is based on the number of units at the start of the game....

[quackstheking]

There are 3 possible scenarios so it would be good to have a definitive ruling/guidance, as the book is very unclear.

To use a specific example based on yesterdays game , let's assume a 12 BG army with 3 BG's off table on a (futile!) flank march and 9 on table.

1. During the game, the army loses 9pts (4BG's broken and 1 Fragg'd) - Does this trigger Army Rout as although it has hit the "on-table" Army break point, there is still a valid flank march in existence and as the game hasn't ended, the flank march cannot be considered lost and therefore the army is still 12 BG's.

2. At the end of the game, the flank march hasn't turned up and the Army has lost 8pts (4 BG's routed). Do you count the losses as 8 of 9 (i.e. the on table BG count) or 8 of 12 (the pre battle army BG count) for Victory point purposes. The BG's not turned up are not straggling, and therefore don't contribute 1 Army break point per BG off table, but equally they are not lost! (at Godendag last year it was played this way, that at the end of the game, you only counted the on table BG's in calculating the army size for Break Point purposes, but there is nothing in writing to say this is right!)

3. If the decision is at the of the game only the "on table" BG's count and the army has lost 9 break points, is the army at that point considered broken?!

A rare occurrence (i.e. only happens when playing the Madaxeman!), but one in which guidance would be appreciated!

Don

[rbodleyscott]

Nothing EVER alters the original size of the army - which is the reason why you have to keep the same total number of BGs when you detach shot.

The flank march is part of the original army whether or not it is on the table.

The original size of the army is the original size of the army (including flank marchers whether on or off table).

Flank marching BGs only count as lost if the flank march has arrived AND they fail their straggle test. This does not apply to a flank march that has not arrived at the end of the game.