Skirmishers charged in the open by Cav

[BrettPT]

Do infantry skirmishers in the open have to take a CT when charged by cavalry, before the infantry evade?

I have always assumed not, an evade is a "default action not requiring a Cohesion Test". However we have had some disagreement on this, as the last bullet point, left hand side of page 30, says "Infantry in the open who are neither in square nor behind an obstacle must take a Cohesion Test if being assulated by cavalry".

Cheers
Brett

[richafricanus]

I've been playing it that they do have to test.

[deadtorius]

Would seem as written they have to take the test, and bugger off regardless of passing or failing the test, kind of similar to how infantry in tactical take the test and pass or fail can go into square. Better keep the skirmishers in the woods where they can bugger off test free.

[BrettPT]

Would seem as written they have to take the test, and bugger off regardless of passing or failing the test, kind of similar to how infantry in tactical take the test and pass or fail can go into square. Better keep the skirmishers in the woods where they can bugger off test free.

The rules on this are very confusing, even contradictory.

Reasons:

1. Under Default Actions not requiring a Cohesion Test, "Evade of infantry skirmishers" (1st bullet point, page 30).

2. Under Actions requiring a compulsory Cohesion Test we find "Infantry in the open who are neither in square nor behind an obstacle must take a Cohesion Test if being assulated by cavalry. The owning player must choose whether or not to form Square and the Infantry always end up in the formation chosen ... Light infantry in skirmish formation must evade, they cannot attempt to form square".

So on the face of it, (1), is very clear. Skirmishers evade, no CT required.
The question is whether (2) applies as an exception to (1). In particular, is the reference to Light Infantry in (2) intended to mean that, depsite (1), a CT is in fact required for evaders, or is the reference to skirmishers in (2) simply a reminder that they cannot form square?

This one is too hard for me,
Terry - do skirmishers charged by cavalry in the open need to take a CT?
Cheers
Brett

[terrys]

Skirmishers make an evade move and are not required to take a test if charged by cavalry.

However, I'm considering whether or not ALL units that make an evade move should take a test at the END of it. (On the grounds that there is a good chance that they'll lose some of their cohesion and have to regroup)

[BrettPT]

Thanks for the clarification Terry.
It would not seem unreasonable to require all skirmishers to test at the end of an evade. It would lead to less skirmishing on table - which would be a good thing in my view.