Slitherine

If I decide to detach 3 shot from each of two 5+1 BG to form a 6 base all shot BG I am left with 4 Shot bases and 2 Pike bases. Normally I would expect this to be arranged as a standard 6 Pack thus:-
SPS
SPS

But on page 183 it states that "Composite battle groups cannot adopt a formation with pike deeper than they would have been in the original battle groups unless all the shot have been detached." which would suggest that the centre file of 2 deep pike was illegal.
The other configurations that I can come up with all seem to be illegal according to page 33 1st Bullet point.
Thus:-
_PP_
SSSS

and:-
S__S
SPPS

are both illegal as they are not "2 ranks deep if there is more than one pike base".

It would make sense to me that they would form up as a normal 6 pack but what would the list checkers/umpires expect?
Comments please
Stephen

I looked into this a while back because someone else wanted to do it and came to the same conclusions. I think if you want to detach shot from an all 1+5 army you'll need 8 P&S units. Then you can detach shot from 4 of them, giving you 2x6 and 1x8 shot and 1x4 pike. The pike can then form up deeper than 1 base because all their shot have been detached.

kevinj wrote:I looked into this a while back because someone else wanted to do it and came to the same conclusions. I think if you want to detach shot from an all 1+5 army you'll need 8 P&S units. Then you can detach shot from 4 of them, giving you 2x6 and 1x8 shot and 1x4 pike. The pike can then form up deeper than 1 base because all their shot have been detached.

This

This?

Why not place them thusly:

SSS
PSP

?

Because it is not a legal formation. For pike and shot.

Some WOGA armies were 1/4 pike perhaps like this
SSSS
SPPS

Is that allowed

I can't think of any lists that allow BGs of 6 shot and 2 pike bases. However, P33 is clear that the pike bases must be at least 2 ranks deep if there is more than one base, so that formation would not be legal