Slitherine

could someone explain when a unit is severely disordered

What do you want explaining grandad?

From the dark shaded squares on the movement rates sheet it is when the BG goes into terrain that severely disorders it.

For example, knights trying to go up and down steep hills.

Rob

It is imPortant to note that a unit can be severely disordered whilst bases OF the BG remain steady. To use the example above, if one base of a BG of lancers is on a steep hill then the BG is counted as severely disordered for morale and manouver purposes (they take a -ve) and the base doesn't count his lance POA, but the rest of the BG count their lance POA. Additionally, whilst a BG may lose their lancer POA those losing against them STILL count as losing against lance. They are still lancers. You don't need a POA to give the opponent a -ve. Ie - elephants, spears and pikes in the open will still cop a -ve POA if they happen to lose the impact combat.

grandad wrote:could someone explain when a unit is severely disordered

Disorder is caused by terrain, and represents the normal function of the troops being badly affected by the ground they are in. And it usually (possibly always - don't have the rules with me) needs to be "difficult" terrain. That is, steep hills, marshes and so on. So, for example, heavy foot or knights are severely disordered in a marsh.

There's a table in the movement section (repeated in those handy pages in the back of the book) that shows you with shading which troops are disordered and severely disordered by the various types of going. And in the terrain appendix it'l tell you which terrain is difficult, etc.

An alternative answer is "when it's got itself somewhere daft, is therefore in real trouble, and can be beaten up by the sort of troops it would laugh at in the open, even if they are only armed with wet lettuces"