Battle lines and movement

[Switzer]

Hi

Need a clarification.
On page 41 of the rule book it says - battlelines are limited to the advances section
of the table.
Does that mean that units in a battleline cannot charge in to the enemy or if theydo
they are no longer in the battleline but in only their own battlegroup ?
I was playing my opponent and he thought it might be that you could only advance
to contact in a battleline but looking at the rules it looks like you can only enter a
melee in the manoevre phase by joining an existing one
Is this correct ?

[Brainsnaffler]

I'm no FOG expert but I think the rule means IF you advance, then you can only use advance, but the battle groups in battle line would still need to test to charge and I would say they can still opt to charge in the impact phase if they wish. Just because there in a line together doesn't alter the fact that they want to fight IMO.

However, if a test to charge is made and a group charges out of the line, the battleline is broken.

I don't have my rulebook on me, but I think that's how it works.

[Brainsnaffler]

Doh, forgot to add, that you are correct - you cannot move to contact unless joining as an overlap (or side base touches side base of the enemy). To combat, you must shoot or charge.

There's another query that may come up in that because all units are moved individually, is it possible for a battle line to charge as a whole? My guess is no. You would declare all charges in the battle line, but the first unit you choose would charge in and resolve their combat, then the next and the next etc. They would be able to combat, but would do so individually with this affecting the POA's.

Am I right guys?

[hammy]

You are correct,

Battle lines cannot charge as a whole, individual BGs must charge independently. There is nothing stopping all the BGs in a BL charging together though.

[sagji]

Doh, forgot to add, that you are correct - you cannot move to contact unless joining as an overlap (or side base touches side base of the enemy). To combat, you must shoot or charge.

There's another query that may come up in that because all units are moved individually, is it possible for a battle line to charge as a whole? My guess is no. You would declare all charges in the battle line, but the first unit you choose would charge in and resolve their combat, then the next and the next etc. They would be able to combat, but would do so individually with this affecting the POA's.

Am I right guys?

Not quite - they charge in one at a time but you don't resolve any combats untill all of the charges have moved.

To clarify things a bit - a battle line only exists AS you move it, and it contains only the BGs you want to move.