Slitherine

I'm at work and don't have the rules with me and I'm wondering about how we played part of a Principate Roman civil war game last night.

Two BGs of legionaries in close combat against each other and one of them had a third rank of LF archers (integral to the BG).

Can the LF be used to match up against any enemy overlaps? (We played yes as they were not contributing to the melee after the impact phase - but I think this works against the player with the LF as they are more likely to be killed by the heavies that initially overlapped their BG. So I suppose the question becomes 'if the supporting LF are allowed to match up against overlaps do they have to do so?')

If the BG with the LF become fragmented and it has LF fighting enemy overlaps as described above how many dice do the LF loose?

Sorry if all the answers are in the book but I can't wait until I get home tonight!

(This is the first time we've used mixed BGs and any other comments would be welcome)

Cheers
Mike

You don't have to expand to match up. In this case it would be foolish. The LF if fragged would loose one dice per 2 and then loose one dice per 2 again. If a single file of LF they would still get 1 dice, provided the rest of the BG provided a dice. IIRC

Remember that LF expanding to face an overlap will likely be fighting at -- or more importantly they will allow the erstwhile overlap to fight at ++ so you gain 2 dice (reduced to 1 because you are LF fighting non LF) hitting on a 5 and your opponent will get the two overlap dice hitting on 3 rather than 4 or 5. Overall you gain nothing by expanding.

Remember that LF in the second rank fight with the same POA as the front so perhaps you could deploy

HFHFHF
HFLFLF

If you feel you will be overlapped. This is a better formation although it still only gets one dice for the LF.

If you have 2 bases of fragmented LF fighting non LF they still get 1 dice, you start with 2, lose 2 per 2 so drop to 1 and then lose 1 per 2 again but as you don;t have 2 you don't lose anything.

And if you do have LF at the back you definitely don't want to be charged by LH in the rear.

Doh !!

Now there's something I never even thought of with my Late Romans.

I had wondered if you could deploy wit hthe LF to the front to get some Shooting phase shooting and then bustle them through to the back - As I understand it you can't

But using the LF to creat an overlap if the enemy cannot match it is quite a nice idea.

Steve P