Impact: Number of Stands?

[NealSmith]

Hi,

I haven't finished reading the rules yet...

I did a search for this and didn't see anything about this...

I haven't been able to find the FAQ yet...

P. 91, right column, last paragraph says that if there are an unequal number of bases eligible to fight then both sides fight with the lower number of bases.

Questions:
1. Why? Not sure I fully understand this.

2. How often does this seem to happen? Not much since first two ranks fight and rest affect POA? Does it happen more in flank charges?


Thanks,
Neal

[babyshark]

P. 91, right column, last paragraph says that if there are an unequal number of bases eligible to fight then both sides fight with the lower number of bases.

Questions:
1. Why? Not sure I fully understand this.

2. How often does this seem to happen? Not much since first two ranks fight and rest affect POA? Does it happen more in flank charges?

As to question one, I leave the answer to the authors, although I suspect that it has a lot to do with keeping it simple.

As to question two, it happens more often than you might think. Imagine a BG three bases wide charging a BG two bases wide. If they are slightly offset to the left or right then all three bases of the charging BG will contact the two bases of the receiving BG. Some mechanism is needed to resolve this, and the authers picked one. It works reasonably well in practice, too.

Marc

[rogerg]

It happens quite a lot. If the charge strikes at an angle and bases step forward to give corner contacts it is not unusual. E.g. if a two base front BG strikes the front corner of an enemy BG with the centre of its base, the adjacent base stepping forward will strike the same enemy base.

Without this rule there would be some really ugly play to try and gain advantages.

[shall]

Avoiding a mess is one reason

But the other is that we split IMPACT and MELEE in order to model real troops much more effectively and create a definite difference and interest between the two inside one round.

IMPACT represents the first few seconds of the clash where an edge may be gained or not. Overlaps are not much use at this stage. Hence we want equality of bases - its mano a mano.

This rule creates then a much richer contrast with the quality of numbers that can ooccur given time in a melee.

So its a fundamental part of giving high impact troops like knight lancers or Impact Foot a decent chance to show their quality. And giving the masses that can grit it out potential if they can survive the initial onslaught.

Si

[NealSmith]

Thanks for the information.

Stepping forward, while realistic, seems to present some interesting situations!