Slitherine

i have a gbg of landsknect pikemen and they have 4 bases attached of heavy weopons how do i tactuallyuse them??

Keep them away from the front 2 ranks and ensure that you have at least 4+ pike in the columns and then pop them out into an overlap position during melee to get ++ POA dice. The HW guys can count towards the 4 deep pike but if they are contributing to a melee POA then they can't pop out!

Don

have 4 bases attached of heavy weopons

I thought I knew most of the early armies but I cannot recall one that has 4 bases of integral HW, mine are limited to 2. Am I missing something?

The heavy weapon overlap can tip the balence in a melee but you need a deep Keil to ensure any shooting casualties do not result in you having to use the heavy weapon bases to keep the 4 deep POA.

I thought I knew most of the early armies but I cannot recall one that has 4 bases of integral HW, mine are limited to 2. Am I missing something?

I think you're right. The only one that I can see that's different is Trastamara Spanish who can have 1/4 Swordsmen, but they can only have 12 base BGs. All of the Pike Keil/HW types are 0-2 HW.

can they be ordered to split from the main bg or do they have to stay with them?

No, you can only detach shooters from mixed BGs.

grandad wrote:can they be ordered to split from the main bg or do they have to stay with them?

Only shot can ever be detached. This is covered by the section in the rules on page 28 in the introduction to "Battle Groups", with the exception being covered by the section on page 182, "Detached Shot"