Contracting Whilst in Combat

[philqw78]

Can a BG contract whilst in combat? If a BG charges and has bases out of the combat for the melee phase could it contract them if this would add to its combat dice? e.g. A 4 wide single line of Cav contacts 2 LF bases at one end of its line. Could it contract a base or even 2 during the movement phase to add to its combat dice?

Like:

LF
Cv

To:
LF
Cv
Cv

TIA

phil

[philqw78]

or would it be:



____

or no contraction at all

[shall]

The second is ok - 1 file contracts and puts the bases where they can help soemwhere

Si

[hammy]

Yes you can contract when in combat but only if the contracting base(s) end up contributing to the combat.

p73 last bullet on the left hand side.

[j2klbs]

A variation on this question. Suppose I have a 4x2 formation of spearmen. Normally, when casualties occur, I must move bases in the second rank to fill open spaces in the front rank, and thereby lose the spear POA.

If after suffering some casualties I have 4 bases in the front rank but only 2 in the second rank, can I then on my turn contract to have a 3x2 formation and thus reacquire my spear POA for all files?

Thanks!
~Jason

[babyshark]

A variation on this question. Suppose I have a 4x2 formation of spearmen. Normally, when casualties occur, I must move bases in the second rank to fill open spaces in the front rank, and thereby lose the spear POA.

If after suffering some casualties I have 4 bases in the front rank but only 2 in the second rank, can I then on my turn contract to have a 3x2 formation and thus reacquire my spear POA for all files?

Thanks!
~Jason

The short answer is that it depends, but probably.

The rules section you are looking for is entitled "Feeding Bases Into Melees" (or something very close to that) in the Maneuver Phase section of the rules.

Marc

[j2klbs]

Thanks Marc! I don't have my rules handy, but IIRC, in the Feeding More Bases into Combat section of the rules, you can generally only move troops that are not in combat into combat. In my question, I want to move troops already in combat into a more advantageous spot within the melee. But I will check those referenced rules when I get home to see if I can do this.

[nikgaukroger]

Basically I think the answer is no

[hazelbark]

A variation on this question. Suppose I have a 4x2 formation of spearmen. Normally, when casualties occur, I must move bases in the second rank to fill open spaces in the front rank, and thereby lose the spear POA.

If after suffering some casualties I have 4 bases in the front rank but only 2 in the second rank, can I then on my turn contract to have a 3x2 formation and thus reacquire my spear POA for all files?

could shift to:






But this




cannot shift at all.

[philqw78]

If it had a 2 deep overlap at each side but was left only one deep in the centre it would wish to move as its centre has lost POA, the overlaps are still adding combat dice, but less effectively.

So can

__

_________

Do this to get POA back





or even

__

__ ____

To get some POA back. It has not lost any dice but has gained POA

[WhiteKnight]

Neither of these are allowed as explained on p73; the bases that you wish to move are contributing to the melee and only those not able to do so are allowed to change position.

Martin

[philqw78]

OK