Slitherine

Does a commander of any rank need to CMT to cross a chest-deep river on his own? We assumed so in today's game.

Only units need to test to cross and Commanders aren't units. I'd say they can cross at will.

The rules for waist-high and shoulder-high rivers say you must pass a CMT to cross.
The CMT table on page 45 states that crossing an obstacle is a simple move for skirmishers.
Page 42 (last bullet point) says "He [the commander] moves the same distance and with the same restriction as Irregular light Cavalry". As Irreg LC are skirmishers, does this mean that commanders cross rivers as a simple move?

Page 42 (last bullet point) says "He [the commander] moves the same distance and with the same restriction as Irregular light Cavalry". As Irreg LC are skirmishers, does this mean that commanders cross rivers as a simple move?

A Commander can cross a river without a CMT unless it is a surging torrent.
He still takes a full move to cross unless it is ankle deep.

So we ended up erring twice:

1...commander tested to cross over to unit "trapped" on other side of shoulder-deep river...shouldn't have tested to get over

2...the unit "trapped" on the other side was light infantry in skirmish formation...they should have treated it as a simple move

Surely the fact that you need a training value to know how many dice to use for the test should have given the game away.

To us rare ungeniuses, that point never was noted!

Alas I was at fault, I thought he moved the same as light cavalry, which is still slowed by terrain. Thus the cmt thing.
Point to note, only infantry can skirmish, light cavalry can be in a loose formation but never get skirmishing POA.