Charging in column and then expanding ?

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:35 pm

Just wondering if I have this correct.

Lets I have 2 elephants and they charge up the page into my warband

WWWW

E
E

Once the elphants hit and impact has been resolved.

WWWW
E
E

they can expand to bring more bases into combat.

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EE

Therefore you could deploy on a narrower frontage to fit through gaps etc and then expand in the movement phase as a"bring miore bases into combat"

This might be a valid tactic for units that are not so good in the impact phase so they reduce the chances of more dice and losing big in the impact phase ? Then clean up in the melee phase ?

What do you think ??

Blathergut · Post by **Blathergut** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:34 am

The columns are nice for movement (esp. drilled BGs) and, as you say, for combat in certain circumstances. In the recent game with all the drilled Spanish MF 4paks, they ran about in columns until combat. Wheeling and turning was a breeze. However, counting only the first 3 ranks for shooting meant that they tested everytime a BG took a hit

Your elephants wouldn't be affected though!

babyshark · Post by **babyshark** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:17 am

Blathergut wrote:The columns are nice for movement (esp. drilled BGs) and, as you say, for combat in certain circumstances. In the recent game with all the drilled Spanish MF 4paks, they ran about in columns until combat. Wheeling and turning was a breeze. However, counting only the first 3 ranks for shooting meant that they tested everytime a BG took a hit

Your elephants wouldn't be affected though!

Sure they would. El in line need to receive two shooting hits to force a CT. In column they would need take only one to force a CT. The El still get the additional +1 to the death throw for being El, though.

Marc

Blathergut · Post by **Blathergut** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:49 am

ahhh...missed that they only count 1st rank

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:24 am

But the free exapansion in the movement phase after impact can be exploited by troops who are poor at impact and good in melee ?

I know shooting could be a problem , but where the enemy is light on shooting there would not be a problem .

fredrik · Post by **fredrik** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:05 am

Keith wrote:But the free exapansion in the movement phase after impact can be exploited by troops who are poor at impact and good in melee ?

Yes, I would say in general it is a good idea if you are weak in impact. Also, if you do lose you are likely to avoid the negative CT modifiers for HPB and "losing with more than two points".

An alternative to attacking in column is of course, if space allows, to "clip" the flank element of an enemy battlegroup with the flank element of your BG.

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:27 am

avoid the negative CT modifiers for HPB

If in column and losing you will always get the negative CT modifier for 1HP3B, as you only count as 3B.

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:49 am

To avoid a complete rerun ther was a recent topic on charging in column and then expanding - viewtopic.php?t=9323

stefoid · Post by **stefoid** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:18 pm

nikgaukroger wrote:To avoid a complete rerun ther was a recent topic on charging in column and then expanding - viewtopic.php?t=9323

too much math!

Im sure you could code the relevent rules for that example in about 1/2 an hour, and then just run the simulation 10000 times.

shall · Post by **shall** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:34 am

Im sure you could code the relevent rules for that example in about 1/2 an hour, and then just run the simulation 10000 times.

Rest assured we did - many times. Sleep well at night in the knowledge we have it covered.

Si

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:46 am

Ok thanks for the link , it was just theory I had

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:59 am

Keith wrote:Ok thanks for the link , it was just theory I had

If you can arrange to charge the end of an enemy line then it isn't that bad a plan. If on the other hand you are charging into the middle of a line and would be overlapped on either side it really doesn't work that well at all.