Unwilling charge direction

Pikeaddict · Post by **Pikeaddict** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:18 am

This W-E at the PARIS tournament, we had a problem nobody could clearly solved :

A BG of Knights behind skirmishers and in front of two ennemy infantry BG decided to disobey their general and charge home.

The question of the knights owner was : even if I didn't want to charge, can I wheel to have 3 Elements on one HF BG and 1 on the other one or do I have to bo straight ahead and have 2 elements on each BG ?

The referre decided that the Kn had to go staight ahead, bursting through the skirmishers...

If somebody could be of any help...

Jerome

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:26 am

IMO a forced charge will be as directly forwards as possible but still to contact the enemy.

I am not sure where it says this in the rules but that is the way I play it.

If a charge straight ahead will contact enemy then straight ahead it is. If a wheel is required to make contact then the BG makes the minimum wheel required to contact enemy.

I will now have a check in the book and see what I can find.

sagji · Post by **sagji** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:34 am

The key points in order of priority are

1 - the knights can't burst through friends if they can contact any enemy without doing so.

2 - if the knights can contact all targets they must do so.

3 - if wheeling would result in contacting less bases then they can't wheel.

4 - if they can't contact all targets they will contact those closest to straight ahead (check exact wording)

I suspect 4 prevents the knights doing what you want, but it probably does not prevent you wheeling so that you line up after impact with the bases you want.

Pikeaddict · Post by **Pikeaddict** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:08 pm

sagji wrote:The key points in order of priority are

1 - the knights can't burst through friends if they can contact any enemy without doing so.

2 - if the knights can contact all targets they must do so.

3 - if wheeling would result in contacting less bases then they can't wheel.

4 - if they can't contact all targets they will contact those closest to straight ahead (check exact wording)

I suspect 4 prevents the knights doing what you want, but it probably does not prevent you wheeling so that you line up after impact with the bases you want.

For the 1st point, the knights had to go through the skirmishers who were exactly in front of them.

The 2nd point looked evident to us, but we could not find it in the book

The 3rd point was clearly in mind but the charger argued there was as many bases contacted by wheeling than by going straight ahead.

The 4th point was the key one for the charger but the referee used the same explanation than Hammy's : "we always played it that way..."

Maybe some rewordind or clarification is needed there

madcam2us · Post by **madcam2us** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:16 pm

IMO, this area needs a bit of tightening up.

The only area in the rules that addresses this is the part about making contact with at least the same number of elements...

But does this include the step forward? The rules are vague on this front. Nor does it address more than one enemy BG.

Madcam

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 3:55 pm

madcam2us wrote:
The only area in the rules that addresses this is the part about making contact with at least the same number of elements...

But does this include the step forward? The rules are vague on this front. Nor does it address more than one enemy BG.

Madcam

It must include the step forward as this is compulsory.

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:13 pm

hammy wrote:
IMO a forced charge will be as directly forwards as possible but still to contact the enemy.

I am not sure where it says this in the rules but that is the way I play it.

I don't think it is in the rules at all.

I wonder if people are trying to over-think this issue as well. A charge without orders is pretty much just a normal charge with, IIRC, the one additional rule about what happens if they cannot contact all potential BGs within charge range.

So I suspect that a wheel can be made to get the match up you want as long as you follow the rule about the number of bases fighting at impact that applies to wheeling in a charge amd the one about contacting eligible targets.

terrys · Post by **terrys** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:01 am

The rule you need to take most notice of is:

Shock troops charging without orders who cannot contact all potential target battle groups within charge range, charge the one(s) nearest to straight ahead.

Which means that you may wheel to hit ALL potential targets. (Stepping forwards is included in the charge distance.)
If you can't hit ALL potential targets, then you must charge all that are straight ahead, or the one(s) that require the smallest wheel.

You must still follow the normal rules for charging: i.e.
1) You can't contact with less bases than you would if you charged straight ahead.
2) You can't declare a wheel further than would normally be allowed before any evades or other compulsary movements are made.