Running the gauntlet

JimmyThePict · Post by **JimmyThePict** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:22 pm

Couldn't find anything in the rules that stopped me doing the following in a game at the weekend :

My battle group was fighting to the front and the rear (not a good moment in the battle) and I need to get my Inspired commander over to another part of the battlefield quickly. The quickest route was straight through the group being butchered and out the other side, bit like running the gauntlet. He had the movement and nothing in the rules says that a commander can't move through unit in combat. Anyone spotted something that stops this?

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 6:06 am

As far as I know this is perfectly OK.

Also as we have examples of generals moving around very close to combat (in FoG terms within BGs in melee) I don't have a problem with this. If you want to find some look amongst the Rman battles of the Punic wars through the civil wars at the end of the republic for reasonably accessable ones.

gozerius · Post by **gozerius** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 12:38 am

As long as he ends up not alone within enemy charge or shooting range...

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 6:08 am

He'll still be OK as long as he has an unbroken BG within his move distance

MarkSieber · Post by **MarkSieber** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 1:32 pm

If the moving commander is based 40mm x 40mm, as recommended, would the 'avenue' of friendly bases he traverses need to be 40mm wide--if bounded by enemy bases?

dave_r · Post by **dave_r** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 1:46 pm

This is mentioned in the rules somewhere (don't exactly know where cos I haven't read them

). You can freely move through friendly battlegroups - so therefore if there was a gap big enough to fit his base through then yes - he can "run the gauntlet!"

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 1:48 pm

The generals base is also only a marker. He doesn't take up that much space.

lawrenceg · Post by **lawrenceg** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:42 pm

Would the commander be constrained by the restricted area of the enemy involved in this melee (during the manoeuvre phase)?

terrys · Post by **terrys** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:22 am

Would the commander be constrained by the restricted area of the enemy involved in this melee (during the manoeuvre phase)?

Restricted areas only apply to battlegroups.

shall · Post by **shall** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:12 pm

The general moves to the BG in question. It can interpenetrate straight through. It has no distance issues as it isn't a battlegroup and the section of that is for battlegroups - which as Terry says solves any issues with restraticed areas as well.

So if it can enter a friendly BG it can always exit it just on the other side. But it would still be with it at the end being in edge contact. So I guess has some risk he may rout with the ones in trouble and this is the price of going through a BG in trouble.

Nick gives a good posting above about how real generals did indeed buzz about a lot when need be - and this is what we have tried to reflect. Of course they can still only be in 1 place at a time - and therein lies the challenge!!

Si

lawrenceg · Post by **lawrenceg** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:57 pm

shall wrote:The general moves to the BG in question. It can interpenetrate straight through. It has no distance issues as it isn't a battlegroup and the section of that is for battlegroups - which as Terry says solves any issues with restraticed areas as well.

So if it can enter a friendly BG it can always exit it just on the other side. But it would still be with it at the end being in edge contact. So I guess has some risk he may rout with the ones in trouble and this is the price of going through a BG in trouble.

Nick gives a good posting above about how real generals did indeed buzz about a lot when need be - and this is what we have tried to reflect. Of course they can still only be in 1 place at a time - and therein lies the challenge!!

Si

As Si says, the section for exceeding your move when interpenetrating is for battlegroups, so commanders can't exceed their move when interpenetrating.

If they join a BG, they can at any time be moved the minimum necessary to avoid obstructions. This may force them to bounce out of the side they entered, rather than carry on out of the opposite side. This displacement is not counted against the normal move distance.

andy63 · Post by **andy63** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:30 pm

lawrenceg wrote:
shall wrote:The general moves to the BG in question. It can interpenetrate straight through. It has no distance issues as it isn't a battlegroup and the section of that is for battlegroups - which as Terry says solves any issues with restraticed areas as well.

So if it can enter a friendly BG it can always exit it just on the other side. But it would still be with it at the end being in edge contact. So I guess has some risk he may rout with the ones in trouble and this is the price of going through a BG in trouble.

Nick gives a good posting above about how real generals did indeed buzz about a lot when need be - and this is what we have tried to reflect. Of course they can still only be in 1 place at a time - and therein lies the challenge!!

Si
As Si says, the section for exceeding your move when interpenetrating is for battlegroups, so commanders can't exceed their move when interpenetrating.

If they join a BG, they can at any time be moved the minimum necessary to avoid obstructions. This may force them to bounce out of the side they entered, rather than carry on out of the opposite side. This displacement is not counted against the normal move distance.

Surely if the General is going through from one side to the other (and presuming hes on a 40mm by 40mm base the friendly BG what is fighting the enemy back to back must be wider than 40mm e.g. so a mounted friendly BG or Chariot's BG would be OK because that would be 60mm or 80mm but you could not do it with friendly foot in two ranks because the width would be at the best 40mm and that would mean the general going down the front edge of the enemy!

Or I'm i talking Bo***cks as usual.

Andy.

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:36 am

The commanders base is just a marker, if it is in the way it is moved, the same as when he is placed in the front rank the BG does not actually get deeper and he is not counted for BG size (dimensions). The size of his base only matters for command radius, not getting through gaps, providing there is a gap.

andy63 · Post by **andy63** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:37 pm

philqw78 wrote:The commanders base is just a marker, if it is in the way it is moved, the same as when he is placed in the front rank the BG does not actually get deeper and he is not counted for BG size (dimensions). The size of his base only matters for command radius, not getting through gaps, providing there is a gap.

Yes that's fair enough but to count a General with a BG hes got to be lined up with a base from that BG corner to corner. All i am saying is that the rules are saying you got to be lined up with a BG (Which i totally agree with) to count as being with but on the other hand you can do a stupid move

Through a friendly BG down one side edge to the other whats being attacked from front and rear. Surly if hes just a marker touching any part of the BG should then be OK to count as being with the BG!
Andy.

WhiteKnight · Post by **WhiteKnight** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:16 pm

Havent there been lots of posts saying (and confirming) generals can be on any reasonable size base and one of any shape, even round, so in that case he can never be lined up edge to edge, corner to corner! So it must be true that to count as with a BG he only has to be touching it?

Martin

WhiteKnight · Post by **WhiteKnight** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:17 pm

Havent there been lots of posts saying (and confirming) generals can be on any reasonable size base and one of any shape, even round, so in that case he can never be lined up edge to edge, corner to corner! So it must be true that to count as with a BG he only has to be touching it?

Martin

andy63 · Post by **andy63** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:45 pm

WhiteKnight wrote:Havent there been lots of posts saying (and confirming) generals can be on any reasonable size base and one of any shape, even round, so in that case he can never be lined up edge to edge, corner to corner! So it must be true that to count as with a BG he only has to be touching it?

Martin

Well i am not sure about that but in Competition games i am pretty sure you have to be lined up with the BG to count ( which i believe is a good thing).

Andy.

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:32 pm

You do have to be lined up as Andy says.

However, it is quite possible to make this clear even with round bases - Ian Speed used some round based commanders earlier this year and I can say I had no problems with seeing where his commanders were, partly as he always told me so we were both aware