Slitherine

Hi All,

I'm sure this has been discussed in detail, but I couldn't find anything to answer my question 'exactly'.

I generally run each of my Huscarls BG's as:

6 x Heavy Foot/Armoured/Undrilled/Superior/-/Heavy Weapon =
3 x Light Foot/Unprotected/Undrilled/Superior/Bow/- =

and of course the standard formation is:

===FEBA===





BUT sometimes I'll be in another formation - maybe:




or







So, my question is, is this a legal formation change (assuming I've complied with all movement restrictions + passed a CMT)



changes to




accepting that this would take two moves with a:





in between.


AND






changes to




Additionally, is THIS legal:





Passes a CMT and moves to this:




And then moves forward 3" and changes to this (passing a CMT)





Ian

All seem correct. Except that last one remember you can't slide bases around in the 2nd rank. So the front ranks that drop back have to be the ones without the supporting LF I believe.

Preparing to get charged inthe bum?

hazelbark wrote:All seem correct. Except that last one remember you can't slide bases around in the 2nd rank. So the front ranks that drop back have to be the ones without the supporting LF I believe.

Hmm. I can see what you're saying, but I'm not sure where you get that from?

hazelbark wrote:Preparing to get charged inthe bum?

No, preparing to shoot back at things (second rank shooters). Just trying to work out my options for various opponents.

But given that in this formation:





against frontal opponents you get 5 dice instead of 6 dice, if you're not expecting much in the way of real hand-to-hand (up against mounted for example) it's probably a worthwhile formation to go in).

Ian

I don't see anything wrong with any of the moves, assuming appropriate CMT's were made and all moves were in conformity with the requirements of "undrilled other".
Whenever you expand you can take any non-front rank base and move it to the front rank. Then reorganize the non-front rank bases to make the formation legal. When contracting you remove 1 or 2 front rank bases and move them to any non-front rank position, rearranging the other non-front rank bases to make the formation legal. There is no requirement that the contracted bases move to the rear of the formation, nor is there any restriction on where other non-front rank bases must end up. As long as the formation has equal numbers of bases in each rank other than the last rank, which may have fewer bases than the others.

gozerius wrote:When contracting you remove 1 or 2 front rank bases and move them to any non-front rank position, rearranging the other non-front rank bases to make the formation legal. There is no requirement that the contracted bases move to the rear of the formation, nor is there any restriction on where other non-front rank bases must end up. As long as the formation has equal numbers of bases in each rank other than the last rank, which may have fewer bases than the others.

then it sounds like Hazelbark is right:




to





isn't legal, because I'm taking a REAR rank base and putting it FURTHER in the back. Or am I re-arranging it?

Hmm, not sure now!

Ian

I think that most of these look good. I would need to check the last one with the book.

The real question is why are you even contemplating having the LF in the second rank bearing in mind how little shooting they will provide? In my experience any shooting with less than 1 dice per base of frontage generally does nothing even if you roll well.

hammy wrote:I think that most of these look good. I would need to check the last one with the book.

The real question is why are you even contemplating having the LF in the second rank bearing in mind how little shooting they will provide? In my experience any shooting with less than 1 dice per base of frontage generally does nothing even if you roll well.

Well, there has been a few instances where I wish I could shoot back.

Additionally, in one game where we incorrectly allowed my huscarls third rank to shoot it ended up with the Ottoman Serb allies going disrupted. That was with 2 BG's of Huscarls shooting (3 dice all up), but it can work and if you're doing nothing else with the troops...

Usually I'm using the LF to increase the size of the BG. That's their sole purpose, but there have been occasions where I thought 'shooting back here would be good'.

Ian

DaiSho wrote:


to





isn't legal, because I'm taking a REAR rank base and putting it FURTHER in the back. Or am I re-arranging it?

Ian

It is legal since you move the 2 front rank bases to another rank, leaving the formation illegal with 4 bases in rank 2. You then move the other HF back to the third rank and it is a legal formation. It would be interesting to figure out exactly what can't be done in the rear ranks.

MikeK wrote:
It is legal since you move the 2 front rank bases to another rank, leaving the formation illegal with 4 bases in rank 2. You then move the other HF back to the third rank and it is a legal formation. It would be interesting to figure out exactly what can't be done in the rear ranks.

Ahh, gotcha.

RIGHT. So it will work.

Now you're all going to DIE!!!!

Ok, I'm getting a little excited here!

Ian

Viking Sandwich Formation it is!

MikeK wrote:Viking Sandwich Formation it is!

It's the Orb you're having when you're not having an Orb.

I call it 'the Sub' 6" or 12" - depending on how many elements

DaiSho wrote:

MikeK wrote:Viking Sandwich Formation it is!

It's the Orb you're having when you're not having an Orb.

I call it 'the Sub' 6" or 12" - depending on how many elements

I suppose even if you don't use it in the field you'll talk about it around the fire in the great hall, because it is unusual the rumour will spread, some monks will write it into their histories, and then wargamers a thousand years later will use the well documented formation on the table.

MikeK wrote:

DaiSho wrote:

MikeK wrote:Viking Sandwich Formation it is!

It's the Orb you're having when you're not having an Orb.

I call it 'the Sub' 6" or 12" - depending on how many elements

I suppose even if you don't use it in the field you'll talk about it around the fire in the great hall, because it is unusual the rumour will spread, some monks will write it into their histories, and then wargamers a thousand years later will use the well documented formation on the table.

that reminds me of a story from when I was playing "World in Flames". I was the USA/China and had Stillwell in China. Every time I used him it was a success. Each time he tried to do something - he succeeded. Every time I used MacArthur he'd screw up. Ike - the Pits.

So we realised, that in an alternate history in a wargame written 50 years in the future, Stillwell would be an excellent general and Ike and Macca would be pathetic

Ian