Slitherine

Our group had its 5th game using these rules last night. Its taking time but we are slowly getting into the groove. Our game was a Cartho vs Roman and fun was had by all. It was just using starter armies and played at a casual pace. The game went for about 4.5hrs with the Romans taking victory but we know there's plenty of room to tighten up the timing. Anyway there was a few unique situations that arose and we couldn't find a definitive answer in the rules that covered these. We put a logical interpretation on some of these but wanted to get advise from those more experienced with the rules.

1. BGs in column: p41 of the rules states that a BG in column gets a +1MU bonus on roads or on terrain where the move distance would be less than a normal open terrain move. Does the +1MU across terrain apply for a Battleline if all the BGs are in Column? (ie the BGs are beside each other but in columns, and not meaning one giant column)

2. Pursuing in the JA Phase: 5th point p108 states "Pursuers who have lost contact with routers halt and can move normally in their next turn. They can choose to renew the pursuit by charging the routers again in their next impact phase" This all seems straight forward and we have assumed this means that if after the initial route and pursuit, if the pursuer is no longer in contact with the router once the JA Phase starts they don't actually pursue in this phase even though the routing unit will move, but its the next line that is confusing which states "The routers are not allowed an extra move to escape". This is all fine if the next turn is the pursuers as they can do a charge in the Impact Phase if still in range or could do a movement in the Manoeuvre Phase if not close enough to charge to keep pursuing but if its the routers turn then they will get another JA Phase move in before the pursuer will. This is confusing as they will get an extra move in this case, so have we interpreted the rules incorrectly. Are the pursuers that are no longer in contact after the initial route supposes to still pursue again in the JA Phase as well and that this point is stating that AFTER the JA Phase move if they are still out of contact they Halt and resume normal movement rules?

3. Routing through skirmishers: What I read in relation to skirmishers is that they can pass through any troops in any direction but you can't pass non skirmish troops through skirmishers. Includes charges, evades or routes, unless it is forced upon you because of a charge without orders or if evade or route because there is no other option and in that case the unit would pass through as a "break through" and the skirmishers would immediately drop a cohesion level. Is this correct? (ie skirmishers can interpenetrate others but this doesn't mean others can interpenetrate skirmishers)

4. Overlaps: Can you move skirmishers into overlap of an existing melee involving non-skirmishers. I know skirmishers can't charge non-skirmishers but I can't find anything in the rules that states they can't be moved into overlap with non-skirmishers. I know that its not necessarily something that you'd probably want to do just wanting confirmation it can be done?

5. Charging into the rear. If you charge into the rear of a BG and that BG is contacted into bases in the first rank that are already in combat with a BG to its front, does the contacted BG get any dice in the impact combat for the bases contacted but already in melee combat to its front. I would have thought no but just want confirmation.

Thanks
Daniel

First of all, sounds like you've done a pretty good job of reading the rules. I had a lot more questions when I started out.

1. Does the +1MU across terrain apply for a Battleline if all the BGs are in Column? (ie the BGs are beside each other but in columns, and not meaning one giant column)

No, see definition of 'column' on page 134. Also see
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=9435
The authors stated that a long single column of BGs should get the +1 on roads or terrain but not a battle line of columns.

2. Pursuing in the JA Phase: 5th point p108 states "Pursuers who have lost contact with routers halt and can move normally in their next turn. They can choose to renew the pursuit by charging the routers again in their next impact phase"

You read it right. If you are in contact with routers in the JA, you pursue when they rout. If not in contact, they rout and you do not pursue. If you move next, you can charge them in the impact phase (they do not evade) and no impact or melee is fought. If you stay in contact after the JA rout/pursuit phase, then they lose a stand. But if their side moves next, then they do indeed get a 2nd rout move before your BG gets a chance to move.

3. Routing through skirmishers: What I read in relation to skirmishers is that they can pass through any troops in any direction but you can't pass non skirmish troops through skirmishers.

Right again. I assume you read page 48 3rd bullet that says Cav, LH, LCh, and elephants can pass through LF in any direction. Those are the only troops that can normally interpenetrate LF. All others would burst through.

4. Overlaps: Can you move skirmishers into overlap of an existing melee involving non-skirmishers.

Yes, this is allowed. However, this is one of the situations where the enemy could expand to contact the skirmishers during the "Feeding More Bases Into An Existing Melee" phase and the skirmishers do not get an evade move. They are now stuck in melee to the bitter end.

5. Charging into the rear. If you charge into the rear of a BG and that BG is contacted into bases in the first rank that are already in combat with a BG to its front, does the contacted BG get any dice in the impact combat for the bases contacted but already in melee combat to its front. I would have thought no but just want confirmation.

All impact phase combat is fought with equal dice on both sides. It doesn't matter that the base is already in contact to its front, it still gets 2 dice. But it is contacted in the rear so it drops 1 level of cohesion unless contacted by skirmishers and it fights the impact at '--' vs '++'. Then the BG must turn 1 base if all contacted bases are already in contact to the front (Page 56 last bullet) and now it fights with another '-' in melee for fighting in 2 directions. That is enough of a problem for them. They still get the 2 dice per base which allows for the very rare occasion of a victory against all odds.

doliphant wrote:1. BGs in column: p41 of the rules states that a BG in column gets a +1MU bonus on roads or on terrain where the move distance would be less than a normal open terrain move. Does the +1MU across terrain apply for a Battleline if all the BGs are in Column? (ie the BGs are beside each other but in columns, and not meaning one giant column).

If you are in a battleline of columns only one BG would be on the road (based on the requirement that a road is only one base wide, page 131) and entitled to the +1 MU.

Thanks, that all makes sense. We've read the rules a couple of times, and without any of us having played the rules before its been a bit of a necessity. I'm sure we'll have further situations that arise but I think we are in a good place with them. Thanks again for the thorough responses.

doliphant wrote:Thanks, that all makes sense. We've read the rules a couple of times, and without any of us having played the rules before its been a bit of a necessity. I'm sure we'll have further situations that arise but I think we are in a good place with them. Thanks again for the thorough responses.

Where are you? You may be near an existing gaming group.

bbotus wrote:

5. Charging into the rear. If you charge into the rear of a BG and that BG is contacted into bases in the first rank that are already in combat with a BG to its front, does the contacted BG get any dice in the impact combat for the bases contacted but already in melee combat to its front. I would have thought no but just want confirmation.

All impact phase combat is fought with equal dice on both sides. It doesn't matter that the base is already in contact to its front, it still gets 2 dice. But it is contacted in the rear so it drops 1 level of cohesion unless contacted by skirmishers and it fights the impact at '--' vs '++'. Then the BG must turn 1 base if all contacted bases are already in contact to the front (Page 56 last bullet) and now it fights with another '-' in melee for fighting in 2 directions. That is enough of a problem for them. They still get the 2 dice per base which allows for the very rare occasion of a victory against all odds.

Actually, equal number of bases, not dice. So disrupted or fragmented bases may lose dice, light troops may lose dice, as usual.

Actually, equal number of bases, not dice. So disrupted or fragmented bases may lose dice, light troops may lose dice, as usual.

Good correction, bad choice of words on my part.

hazelbark wrote:Where are you? You may be near an existing gaming group.

Sorry, I meant to get back to you. We're a bunch of 4 friends in Brisbane Australia and we're gaming with 20mm-1/72 so gaming groups are few and far between. We know they exist with 28mm but are happy with our more casual approach to things. We've had 5 games together now although not as many or as often as we'd like but I think we are happy we have a good handle on the rules now. Thanks for the consideration.

doliphant wrote:

hazelbark wrote:Where are you? You may be near an existing gaming group.

Sorry, I meant to get back to you. We're a bunch of 4 friends in Brisbane Australia and we're gaming with 20mm-1/72 so gaming groups are few and far between. We know they exist with 28mm but are happy with our more casual approach to things. We've had 5 games together now although not as many or as often as we'd like but I think we are happy we have a good handle on the rules now. Thanks for the consideration.

The current FoG world champion, Shaun Drummond, lives in Townsville, near you guys.
I'm sure he'd be happy to provide you with some tips and tricks.

I wouldn't say Townsville is near. Same state but further away than Sydney.