Slitherine

Hi, I initially posted in an old thread on squares but have since gone through all aspects of squares with below notes - can we get comment on some of the ambiguities?

What faces does a square have?
• viewtopic.php?f=188&t=35442&p=333737&hi ... ar#p333278 Terry "We will be adding this to the clarifications ...> A square has no rear, and has 4 front edges." (Daryl: Note cannot find this as having actually been added to clarifications??).
• P108 "A square has no flank"

Can a square receive rear support?
• P57 "..the supporting unit must be capable of reaching the rear of the supported unit in one single move……..".
• viewtopic.php?f=188&t=35442&p=333737&hi ... ar#p333278 Terry "We will be adding this to the clarifications ...> A square has no rear, and has 4 front edges." (Daryl: Note cannot find this as having actually been added to clarifications??).
• So a square has no rear for a rear supporting unit to be able to reach in one move, therefore a square cannot receive rear support.

Can a square receive flank support?
• Pro (can receive flank support):
○ P56 "The supporting unit is within a base width of the supporting unit". No mention of flank.
• Con (cannot receive flank support):
○ P56 "A unit can only gain support dice once on each flank".
○ P108 "A square has no flank"
○ So a square has no flank to receive flank support on.

Can a square give rear support?
• P57 "..the supporting unit must be capable of reaching the rear of the supported unit in one single move in the terrain crossed and also be within 6MU".
• QRC Square Normal Move 1MU in open/rough.
• So a square can give rear support from no further than supported units rear of 1MU in open/rough.

Can a square give flank support?
• P56 "The supporting unit is within a base width of the supporting unit". No mention of flank.
• P56 "The enemy is within the Support Area of the supporting unit".
• P51 "forward of its front line and within one base width of its side edge…" No mention of flank.
• viewtopic.php?f=188&t=35442&p=333737&hi ... ar#p333278 Terry "..A square can both give and receive flank supporting fire".
• So a square can give flank support.

Firing
viewtopic.php?f=188&t=35442&p=333737&hi ... ar#p333278
• QRT: A square only fires at close range, firing with a maximum of 3 (small) or 4 (large) dice (+1 if it has an artillery attachment).
• A square can choose which edge or edges it fires from - It shares its dice against all possible targets using the normal rules for allocating dice.
Notes: In theory it should only be firing with 1 or 2 dice per face, but this doesn't give the result we want (we want to stop players riding cavalry past squares without risk, we therefore need squares to be able to fire with at least 3 dice but firing with 3 dice from more than 1 face would make squares far too effective, therefore this is a compromise).
• A square can both give and receive flank supporting fire - It can only do so if there is no other target within 2 MU of any of its faces.

Here is what we are playing in an up-coming FOG N Competition i beleive it is correct.

1. For Shooting:
(a) Squares cannot give support in shooting
(b) Squares can receive flank support in shooting
C. Flank and Rear Support for Squares

2. In combat:
(a) Squares can give rear support to other units if they are within 1MU behind them
(b) Squares can never receive rear support themselves
(c) Squares cannot give flank support to other units
(d) Squares can receive flank support from other units

C. Flank and Rear Support for Square

Keep in mind there is no rear support for shooting, just for melee.

nhaycock wrote:Here is what we are playing in an up-coming FOG N Competition i beleive it is correct.

Hmmm...realy need clrification on below.

1. For Shooting:
(a) Squares cannot give support in shooting Hmmm...Terry stated "A square can both give and receive flank supporting fire"
(b) Squares can receive flank support in shooting

2. In combat:
(c) Squares cannot give flank support to other units. Hmm....not sure how I see this, reading rules I get opposite (?)
(d) Squares can receive flank support from other units Hmm....I read as opposite "P56 "A unit can only gain support dice once on each flank". P108 "A square has no flank" So no receiving flank support (!?)

(b) Squares can receive flank support in shooting

As long as the enemy is in the support area of an adjacent friend the square can gain flank support from shooting.

(c) Squares cannot give flank support to other units. Hmm....not sure how I see this, reading rules I get opposite (?)

Technically it does not say a square can not give flank support to a non cavalry unit. However in the shooting section where it first mentions support area, it states that the support area is from the side of the unit. So perhaps no flank support since squares have no sides... A separate rule section giving a detailed ruling on support area needs to be added I think.

(d) Squares can receive flank support from other units Hmm....I read as opposite "P56 "A unit can only gain support dice once on each flank". P108 "A square has no flank" So no receiving flank support (!?)

Once again if there are enemy units in the support area of an adjacent friendly unit that is not cavalry and not in melee then the square can receive flank support dice. The reference to only getting support once from a single flank means regardless of how many friendly units can put that single enemy into their support area, you can only claim support once for that side. Same applies to the other side of the square.

When considering square for receiving support, you should assume that they are facing the enemy attacker - even if that means they are facing 2 directions. No matter how many enemy are attacking them, they will only ever have 2 sides from which to receive support. (unless attacked on 3 sides - in which case they only have 1)

When considering whether or not squares can give support, the supporting square should be considered to be facing one direction only - therefore its 2 support areas can only be forwards of that direction. I will add this as an update next time I publish the rules errata.
* Question - should we allow squares to rotate on the spot before firing to overcome the problem of enemy approaching from the corner (given that it represents more than 1 battalion in square) ?

> Squares should be considered to have 4 faces - but only one of them can be used for firing and/or support purposes in any one phase - unless being assaulted from more than one direction.

> It is correct that squares can give rear support to a unit not in square if it is within 1MU. I don't remember ever seeing this happen, but no reason why it couldn't