Light Infantry Skirmish Formation

[chris8109964]

First of all I apologize if this has been covered somewhere else, and if so please direct me. I have searched and not found a clear concise answer. The rules refer to 'Skirmish Formation', 'Skirmish Order' and 'Skirmishers' in different places. Skirmishers are defined in the glossary, fine. Skirmish Order is not defined anywhere and so I assume it means Skirmish Formation. Skirmish Formation, for light infantry, is what is baffling me. So each unit must be in base to base contact, etc, and skirmish formation is indicated by using 'less dense' bases. BUT how is the unit physically deployed? Is it also considered to be in extended line, if one base deep? Can you also be in march column (one base wide) when in skirmish formation? Can a unit in skirmish formation be in a T or an L arrangement of bases, for example? Is going into and out of skirmish formation a formation change (I assume yes), and if so, do the bases stay where they are, just becoming 'less/more dense'? I hope someone can shed some clarity for me. Thanks.

[BrettPT]

Hi and Welcome

Skirmish formation use the same unit footprints as normal, it is just that each base in the unit only has 3 or 4 figures, rather than the usual 6 or 8. Most people use bases with skirmishy looking figures on them.

A light infantry unit when formed up in tactical has the front rank bases as (3 or 4 figure) skirmisher bases and the back rank as regular (6 or figure bases. If the unit goes into skirmish formation, show this by simply swapping out the rear bases with some spare skirmish bases.

You can be in tactical skirmish formation (2 bases wide, 2 deep for a small unit, or 3 x 2 for a large unit), or in extended line skirmish formation (all bases side by side). I have never looked into it, but you may be able to form march column skirmish formation - however as march columns cannot shoot so you would never do this in practice.

You cannot form a skirmish square.

The term 'Skirmishers' refers to a unit in skirmish formation.

Hope that makes thing clearer

Cheers
Brett