Battlelines in combat

[njb2729]

Hi,

I was happy with my understanding of battlelines but a friend at the club has read the rules and has a different inturpretation to me. Can you please confirm which view is correct.

My understanding is that Battlelines are essentially a manouvre thing and quality rerolls can be utilised for CMT etc based on lowest quality unit. The rules for Battlelines do not figure in combat at all. Both impact and melee (combat, cohesion tests etc) are resolved by individual battle groups and so each BG uses its own quality reroll accordingly.

My friend has suggested that the rules for Battlelines are also used in combat and so an impact or melee with mulitiple battle groups on one (or both) side(s) in a line means that the lowest quality reroll will be adopted for all BG's involved in the combat for that side.

We have both found bits in the rules which support our own view.

Bit of a basic question, but clarification would be gratefully received!

Thanks

Nick

[rbodleyscott]

You are right. Your friend is wrong.

[hammy]

If you mention the bits of the rules you think indicate this it should be possible to explain why you are right and your friend is wrong.

[njb2729]

Richard/Hammy,

Thanks very much for the clarification.

The bits I was quoting are:-

The battle line is principally a manoeuvre formation ( see "Tip" in the blue box P.30 and the final paragraph on that page).
In Impact Phase top P.52 it states that "All activity in the impact phase is resolved by Battle Groups. Battle lines are not used in the impact phase at all".
Melee section P86 the goes on to state that "Battle groups which survived combat in the impact phase....will fight for a second time in the turn". All further references in the section are to battle groups with no mention of battle lines.

I cannot recall all the sections my friend quoted but the principal one is the last bullet point on the Quality Re-roll section on page 24. Also whilst (as I quoted) the impact phase explicitly states Battlelines are not used there is no similar statement in the melee section and this may have confused him.

Cheers

Nick

[Montagu]

2 questions:

Can battle lines shift a base width?

Can bgs/battlelines shift during the second move?

[MarkSieber]

I don't see any restrictions on battle lines and shifts on p. 30, nor any mention of limiting shifts to BG's on p. 45, so I would conclude that shifting battle lines is allowed (unless I've missed something...)

Page 45 says "Shifts are not permitted when charging, nor in second moves, nor with double wheels, expansions, contractions or turns."