Charging in front / rear

[dave_r]

Had an incident last night...

I had a battle group of spearmen who got contacted in the rear in the Joint Action Phase. There was only a single base that was contacted so it turned to face. It was my turn next and I won the impact phase 2-1 and the medium foot disrupted and lost a man. The Medium Foot conformed to me at the start of the movement phase and I chose NOT to reform (i.e. pg 68 - turning the entire battle group to face the chargers is not compulsory). This mean I could not confirm as the battle group is unable to pivot or slide to match the BG to my rear.

The melee phase was drawn and I bolstered to steady in the JAP (having gone disrupted in the previous JAP phase).

In my opponents turn he charged with a battle group to the front, which then looked like this:



This did not count as a flank or rear charge (Pg 54 "If the enemy battle gropu is facing in more than one direction, it has more than one front edge for this purpose - the above requirement must be satisfied for all of them"), so counted as a frontal contact, in which case it was 12 dice each. Even though a single base was contacted on the rear, this counted as hitting the front of that column, so it was an even combat (my opponent was heavy weapon and I was defensive spear).

Needless to say my opponent wasn't particulary happy with this and seemed to think this wasn't correct. It didn't help that I won the impact 11-7 and he lost two bases and disrupted. Breaking in the following melee phase, which fragmented the unit behind.

Thoughts?

[grahambriggs]

The file with the base fighting to the rear when charged in the front. P92 POAs 6th bullet. "Close Combat POAs that require a minimum number of ranks only apply if ALL those ranks have the required capability and are facing in the same direction." The base facing to the rear isn't facing in the same direction, so this file should have been a POA down.

[dave_r]

The file with the base fighting to the rear when charged in the front. P92 POAs 6th bullet. "Close Combat POAs that require a minimum number of ranks only apply if ALL those ranks have the required capability and are facing in the same direction." The base facing to the rear isn't facing in the same direction, so this file should have been a POA down.

Both of those bases were facing in the same direction - albeit in the same direction as the charger. I turned both ranks when charged, this may have been incorrect and should only have turned the single base. This wouldn't have affected impact, but the melee would have been 2dice against 1 at minus rather than two dice each at evens.

[dave_r]

I suppose I could have turned the other base around in the melee phase as part of the "feeding more bases into an existing melee" process

[grahambriggs]

Yes just the base contacted should have turned when hit by the rear charge. the "Feeding more bases in" rule only allows you to expand to create an new file, or to contract to improve the POA of a file. Neither would apply here as turning a base is neither expansion nor contraction. The only way for him to have turned would be to reform the whole BG.

[grahambriggs]

Also not sure why you say the melee was 2 dice for your opponent. I count 5 bases in that BG and they are all eligible to fight. Because you haven't reformed you only get 1 dice back.

[dave_r]

Also not sure why you say the melee was 2 dice for your opponent. I count 5 bases in that BG and they are all eligible to fight. Because you haven't reformed you only get 1 dice back.

That picture was after they had conformed in my opponents turn - in my turn they were at an angle, so three bases were eligible to fight, they were disrupted, so down to two.

In the picture you can see, four dice were thrown - five, reduced to four because they were disrupted.

[philqw78]

I was robbed, but was smashing him up everywhere else so didn't care too much. These were just obfuscating tactics to stop me breaking his army
He didn't confirm in his turn, when the rear impact was fought. Saying shift and slide was conforming but he would have to turn, which isn't allowed
Should have been 4 dice v 2 in the first melee, his turn but he only allowed me 3.
Then when contacted in the front a single base should have turned, he kept them both facing in the opposite direction and said since it wasn't a rear charge it counts as frontal so he gets the poa for 2 ranks

He is supposed to be an umpire as well

[dave_r]

I was robbed, but was smashing him up everywhere else so didn't care too much. These were just obfuscating tactics to stop me breaking his army
He didn't confirm in his turn, when the rear impact was fought. Saying shift and slide was conforming but he would have to turn, which isn't allowed
Should have been 4 dice v 2 in the first melee, his turn but he only allowed me 3.
Then when contacted in the front a single base should have turned, he kept them both facing in the opposite direction and said since it wasn't a rear charge it counts as frontal so he gets the poa for 2 ranks

He is supposed to be an umpire as well

Whoa. I moved a base over for you, but _YOU_ specifically told me not to as you wanted both of your bases fighting against my spearmen in only one rank.

And it wasn't a rear charge.

[philqw78]

Irrelevant where you moved a base. We should have fought as if conformed (even though you refused), which meant my disrupted 5 against your 2 that were facing my direction

It was a rear charge which is why you disrupted. Try looking at your own photo again

[dave_r]

Irrelevant where you moved a base. We should have fought as if conformed (even though you refused), which meant my disrupted 5 against your 2 that were facing my direction

It was a rear charge which is why you disrupted. Try looking at your own photo again

That's what we did! your four dice on 4's against my two dice, also on 4's. I should have only had 1 dice though.

[philqw78]

Not in the first melee

[grahambriggs]

Sounds like two fools blundering around in ignorance to me

[philqw78]

We'll see next weekend Mr soft and squidgy army