Slitherine

Couple of questions/clarification please...

1. Can a BG form square and still count as 'rear support' for artillery?
Note: In the case of a 6-man P/S unit there would be only 1 base facing in the direction of the artillery. On larger units you could get 2 units facing in that direction so enough to cover the 'rear' of 2 artillery bases.

2. A BG in square and therefore with the potential to shoot in 4 directions - if also equipped with Regimental Guns does the owner just add one dice to one of these shots of his choice...?

MTIA

Page 159 last bullet says normal rules for protection are suspended. then goes on to say that pike and shot in a square including pike are always protected. It would seem that this suspension is regarding shot having to be adjacent to a pike stand for protection purposes....

Support says you have to have a unit of foot in front base contact with the rear of the artillery base, so sounds like it could work.

However keep in mind that if you have any artillery bases of the same battery that are not in contact with a friend and the enemy contacts that one base that does not have rear support, the battery still counts as lost but I believe it is uncontrolled till one side has sole possession of it. See picture on page 127 regarding that.

As for the battalion gun, the rules specify it fights with 1/4 of its bases rounded up. Battalion guns are not a base so does not look like it will count in square, probably they have been pulled into the middle out of the way.

Deadtorius - Thanks for your reply.

1. I tend to agree with your reasoning here. It would appear that according to the diagrams on P.159 a unit in square will only ever be able to support 1 base of a 2 base artillery battery - potentially losing the battery if the non-supported base is touched by an enemy BG.

2. I am not so sure about your answer for this one...? You are right RG do not count as bases (is says so on P.35). However, it also says that when 'shooting, or fighting in the impact phase, it receives one extra combat dice'. I would have assumed from this that you would add this one extra dice to the frontage you shoot or fight from (reasonable). However, if in a subsequent round you shoot or fight from another side of the square could you add the dice again? I suppose the rational being the RG is moved in the same way the Pike bases are moved to the perceived threat or front rank (maybe not as reasonable but arguable)?? To be not able to fire them whatsoever does seem a bit harsh? Any other views on this or has it come up before?

Bump...

Any other views on Question 2 of this post please?

Pikes in a square stay put where they are, I think your thinking about Kiels where you move pikes around to face off against a flank attack.

Still not sure about the regimental guns in this one, its an odd situation where it says you only get 1/4 of your bases, perhaps you could add it in to that calculation, although I still don't think they would count in this situation.

On 2:

My view is that you get the RG firing in one of the four directions and you get to choose which and can move it to another in a subsequent bound/phase. My reasoning being: a) it isn't a base so doesn't get included in the 1/4 rounded up rule; b) nothing in the square rule says it can't do what it's supposed to, which is to add a die in shooting/impact.

As for a rationale - it's light and manoeuvrable so can be wheeled/carried to anywhere it's needed in the square, and it's small enough not to need to be in front of other troops to fire...

keep in mind there was more than just a single gun in the BG, and I would imagine that they were out front every other turn that they fired out of square. In impact I always assumed they were out front let loose with the musket volley then the troops run through them into the waiting arms of the enemy, at which point they likely just wheel up to the rear of the unit.

Freely moving them about the square reminds me of another post way back regarding regimental guns where someone used the gun at one end of his BG to shoot, then went into melee and ended up with his shot at the opposite end not in melee or an overlap and wanting to shift those guns to the non fighting shot base so he could get an extra die at 0 POA during the next shooting phase. I believe the final decision was that a pike and shot unit measures from the center pike base for determining range and arc of the regimental guns. Somewhat of a similar thing here as you want to bungee them about the square shooting out whichever side you feel like.

I still think they would be safely tucked into the middle with the officers, being forced into square means you go yourself in a bad situation you are not likely to survive, or at least that has been my experience when I have been forced into square.

I agree about the use of RGs in normal circumstances, and about square being a desperate formation (at least the way Madaxeman does it).

But I envisage a square as being the kind of hollow formation that would permit such light guns to be dragged quickly from one side to another. Or maybe they'd be stationed at the corners and able to fire effectively from either edge.

Since I never use them I'd like to see them ineffective in sq, but maybe that's wishful thinking.

Dave