Yet Another Comment On v4.06 And Some Questions

[bddbrown]

Initial Impressions
The new 4.06 of the rules looks really good. The layout is a lot clearer and the glossary is taking shape. I think the forthcoming diagrams the rules will be just about there. All in all getting more excited and cannot wait to see the next update.


Questions Not Covered In The New Rules
I??™ve kept a list of questions answered by the team over the course of the rules so far, and here are the ones that are still missing answers in the new version of the rules. Apologies if I have missed where these have been answered ??“ just let me know.
??? Is the terrain adjustment dice rolled before or after the placement of terrain?
After.
??? Can you slide terrain off the table?
No.
??? Does an terrain adjustment score of 0 mean you cannot do anything to the piece and does an adjustment score of 7 mean you can remove the piece?
Yes.
??? Can you choose where in an expansion you expand, beginning or end?
The precedent in my games has been that you can expand before or after movement.
??? When you turn 90 degrees and advance can you do the turn at the end, i.e. advance and then turn 90 degress?
It can be either. This will be clarified in the next update.
??? If a BG evades and the bases end up with gaps (due to the BG being angled and fleeing away along the line of the charging unit) - how do you close the gap? Do bases at the back shuffle forward or do the bases at the front shuffle back?
Up near the top of our dicsussion list at present. Bascially they reform as they move the next time.


New Questions
??? Do general bases count towards ???Pre-Battle Initiative Modifiers???? (I??™d prefer not as this would mean there is still an incentive to take cavalry generals over other generals for no points).
??? A single BG with a general seems to be able to perform any move for a 1st move (whereas a multi-BG BL is limited to Advances) and then make a 2nd move. Is this right - it seems to make a single BG with a general quite manoeuvrable?
??? Allocation of Combat Dice involving multiple BGs caused us a few headaches the other night. Firstly we presume that the number of combat dice are determined at the start for each BG and then allocated to each partial fight (otherwise if you did numbers individually for each partial fight supporting archers for example could get more dice due to the rounding up of halves)? Secondly, allocation of combat dice between partial fights is not well described - see diagram for an explanation of the situation. How combat dice are allocated in this case is not covered ??“ there is no mention of preference where bases overlap each other.
It is clear from the ???Troops Eligible To Fight In The Impact Phase??? that Pink2, Blue1, Blue2 and Green1 are eligible. OrangeA,B,C and D are also all eligible. Orange I,J,K and L are all able to provide supporting fire at impact.
Orange has a total of 8 spearmen dice and 2 supporting fire dice. Pink has 2 cataphract dice, Blue 4 and Green 2.
How are the dice allocated?

[rbodleyscott]

Questions Not Covered In The New Rules
I??™ve kept a list of questions answered by the team over the course of the rules so far, and here are the ones that are still missing answers in the new version of the rules. Apologies if I have missed where these have been answered ??“ just let me know.
??? Is the terrain adjustment dice rolled before or after the placement of terrain?
After.
??? Can you slide terrain off the table?
No.
??? Does an terrain adjustment score of 0 mean you cannot do anything to the piece and does an adjustment score of 7 mean you can remove the piece?
Yes.
??? Can you choose where in an expansion you expand, beginning or end?
The precedent in my games has been that you can expand before or after movement.
??? When you turn 90 degrees and advance can you do the turn at the end, i.e. advance and then turn 90 degress?
It can be either. This will be clarified in the next update.
??? If a BG evades and the bases end up with gaps (due to the BG being angled and fleeing away along the line of the charging unit) - how do you close the gap? Do bases at the back shuffle forward or do the bases at the front shuffle back?
Up near the top of our dicsussion list at present. Bascially they reform as they move the next time.

These added to To Do list.

New Questions
??? Do general bases count towards ???Pre-Battle Initiative Modifiers???? (I??™d prefer not as this would mean there is still an incentive to take cavalry generals over other generals for no points).

No. (Went missing in the re-organisition)

??? A single BG with a general seems to be able to perform any move for a 1st move (whereas a multi-BG BL is limited to Advances) and then make a 2nd move. Is this right - it seems to make a single BG with a general quite manoeuvrable?

Yes

??? Allocation of Combat Dice involving multiple BGs caused us a few headaches the other night. Firstly we presume that the number of combat dice are determined at the start for each BG and then allocated to each partial fight (otherwise if you did numbers individually for each partial fight supporting archers for example could get more dice due to the rounding up of halves)?

In close combat yes. In shooting, number of dice is per target rather than per shooting BG, so you could indeed end up rounding down twice. Needs clarification.

Secondly, allocation of combat dice between partial fights is not well described - see diagram for an explanation of the situation. How combat dice are allocated in this case is not covered ??“ there is no mention of preference where bases overlap each other.

I agree that further clarification is required.

It is clear from the ???Troops Eligible To Fight In The Impact Phase??? that Pink2, Blue1, Blue2 and Green1 are eligible. OrangeA,B,C and D are also all eligible. Orange I,J,K and L are all able to provide supporting fire at impact.
Orange has a total of 8 spearmen dice and 2 supporting fire dice. Pink has 2 cataphract dice, Blue 4 and Green 2.
How are the dice allocated?

I agree that the rules don't clearly state the answer to this. The obvious answer is A vs pink, B,C vs blue, and D vs green. Then blue has 1 supporting dice against it, and the player being charged can choose whether to allocate the other supporting dice vs pink or green - but that is only a pragmatic answer. We will have to give it further thought. We are aware that the rules are not yet tight enough on this. Suggestions for tighter wording would be gratefully received.

[bddbrown]

It is clear from the ???Troops Eligible To Fight In The Impact Phase??? that Pink2, Blue1, Blue2 and Green1 are eligible. OrangeA,B,C and D are also all eligible. Orange I,J,K and L are all able to provide supporting fire at impact.
Orange has a total of 8 spearmen dice and 2 supporting fire dice. Pink has 2 cataphract dice, Blue 4 and Green 2.
How are the dice allocated?

I agree that the rules don't clearly state the answer to this. The obvious answer is A vs pink, B,C vs blue, and D vs green. Then blue has 1 supporting dice against it, and the player being charged can choose whether to allocate the other supporting dice vs pink or green - but that is only a pragmatic answer. We will have to give it further thought. We are aware that the rules are not yet tight enough on this. Suggestions for tighter wording would be gratefully received.

This is the option that we ended up with, but the main argued alternative was for A,B and C to fight blue - mainly because A is most in contact with blue. This would lead to an odd scenario however where Pink will not take a CT, Blue is more likely to lose the combat. Personally I prefer the more balanced approach as it reduces the potential for cheese and micro-measurement to gain temporary advantages.

Tighter wording to follow...

[rbodleyscott]

Secondly, allocation of combat dice between partial fights is not well described - see diagram for an explanation of the situation. How combat dice are allocated in this case is not covered ??“ there is no mention of preference where bases overlap each other.

I agree that further clarification is required.

It is clear from the ???Troops Eligible To Fight In The Impact Phase??? that Pink2, Blue1, Blue2 and Green1 are eligible. OrangeA,B,C and D are also all eligible. Orange I,J,K and L are all able to provide supporting fire at impact.
Orange has a total of 8 spearmen dice and 2 supporting fire dice. Pink has 2 cataphract dice, Blue 4 and Green 2.
How are the dice allocated?

I agree that the rules don't clearly state the answer to this. The obvious answer is A vs pink, B,C vs blue, and D vs green. Then blue has 1 supporting dice against it, and the player being charged can choose whether to allocate the other supporting dice vs pink or green - but that is only a pragmatic answer. We will have to give it further thought. We are aware that the rules are not yet tight enough on this. Suggestions for tighter wording would be gratefully received.

This is what we have come up with:

First turn any bases required to turn to face a flank or rear charge, then proceed as follows: All charging bases in front edge contact with enemy, or in front corner contact with an enemy edge, are eligible to fight. All the enemy bases in contact with them are also eligible to fight. This includes bases contacted to their flank or rear which were unable to turn because already engaged to their front.

Both sides fight with the same number of bases determined as follows:
• If both sides have an equal number of bases eligible to fight, all of them fight. These are paired off to fight, so that each base fights one enemy base.
• If the number of eligible bases is unequal, both sides fight with the lower number of bases. The side with the higher number of bases chooses which of his bases to drop from the fight. His choice must leave every eligible enemy base paired off against one of his bases.

Note that if multiple battle groups are involved in an impact combat, the above rules apply to the whole combat.

Does it do the job?

[rogerg]

Do you need to add somewhere that, when conforming, bases conform to the base fought in the impact phase where possible? In the diagram, pink 2 would conform to A, blue shifting right to conform against B and C.

We had something similar to the left side of the diagram in a game yesterday. In our game, Pink 2 did not fight in the impact and became an overlap in the melee, blue conformed against A and B.

I haven't got my rules with me, so this may already be covered. However, there does look like a potentially dodgy opportunity here to fight the impact against one base and conform to another.

[rbodleyscott]

Do you need to add somewhere that, when conforming, bases conform to the base fought in the impact phase where possible?

This would be contrary to the general policy of not having to remember things from one phase to another.

At the start of the manoeuvre phase, the active player’s battle groups already in close combat with enemy must (if this is physically possible) pivot and/or slide bases by the minimum necessary to conform to the enemy bases in contact:

However, there does look like a potentially dodgy opportunity here to fight the impact against one base and conform to another.

Possibly, but perhaps it is a lesser evil than having to remember which base fought which in the previous phase.

I have a feeling that planning one's tactics around cheesy little ploys like the above is not going to make a major contribution to winning battles in FoG. (Certainly not to the same extent as element shuffling in DBM).

In any case, there aren't too many troops that are good in the impact phase but bad in the melee phase. (Unprotected cavalry lancers spring to mind, but I don't think we will see too many of those).