Slitherine

I'm only now going through the v3 rules and I noted the following with respect to shock troops charging without orders:

Page 52 - Formation Changes when Charging: "The only change in formation that is allowed....contract the battle group's frontage by one base if necessary to pass friendly troops,...", which is pretty much the same as always.

Page 57 - top of the page (Troops who may Charge without Orders): "They may also drop back a single base if they can only reach the enemy by doing so", which seems to be new for v3.

I take that to mean that involuntarily charging shock troops can still contract the battle group's frontage by one base to avoid passing through friendly troops. The sentence on page 57 means that a player cannot use the current formation, which might be slowed or blocked if the battle group didn't contract and hence not be in charge range, as an excuse to avoid testing if contracting by one base would allow it to reach enemy.

However, the sentence on page 57 might also be taken as implying that this is the only formation change allowed an involuntarily charging battle group.

Just checking that the former is the intention.

I suspect it is. I think this would only occur when charging (or trying not to) a bg that isn't directly in front.

I think it should be noted that wheeling is not a formation change.

Page 57 - top of the page (Troops who may Charge without Orders): "They may also drop back a single base if they can only reach the enemy by doing so", which seems to be new for v3.

I take that to mean that involuntarily charging shock troops can still contract the battle group's frontage by one base to avoid passing through friendly troops.

Not quite true - they can only do so IF (and only IF) they can't contact the enemy without dropping back a base. They MUST burst through friends otherwise.

terrys wrote:

Page 57 - top of the page (Troops who may Charge without Orders): "They may also drop back a single base if they can only reach the enemy by doing so", which seems to be new for v3.

I take that to mean that involuntarily charging shock troops can still contract the battle group's frontage by one base to avoid passing through friendly troops.

Not quite true - they can only do so IF (and only IF) they can't contact the enemy without dropping back a base. They MUST burst through friends otherwise.

It’s worth clarifying that in the errata. As is it’s a wee bit ambiguous.

It’s worth clarifying that in the errata. As is it’s a wee bit ambiguous.

That's one of the big problems of trying to ensure that a set of rules can be used for competitions.
A lot of additional wording has to be added to ensure that what is written cannot be read in some other wat.
When I wrote it I thought the following was perfectly clear:

"They may also drop back a single base if they can ONLY REACH the enemy by doing so"

It was added because I've seen and had players against me arguing that when a BG charges without orders it's still 'a charge' and obeys the normal rules for a charge - so that the charging BG can still drop back a base to 'avoid friends'. This was a blatant attempt to 'bend' the rules - Hence the above addition !!
I thought that adding it under the "Troops who may charge without orders" section would make it obvious.

terrys wrote:

It’s worth clarifying that in the errata. As is it’s a wee bit ambiguous.

That's one of the big problems of trying to ensure that a set of rules can be used for competitions.
A lot of additional wording has to be added to ensure that what is written cannot be read in some other wat.
When I wrote it I thought the following was perfectly clear:

"They may also drop back a single base if they can ONLY REACH the enemy by doing so"

It was added because I've seen and had players against me arguing that when a BG charges without orders it's still 'a charge' and obeys the normal rules for a charge - so that the charging BG can still drop back a base to 'avoid friends'. This was a blatant attempt to 'bend' the rules - Hence the above addition !!
I thought that adding it under the "Troops who may charge without orders" section would make it obvious.

I wrote “a wee bit ambiguous”. LoL

I think you need another ‘only’.

“They may ONLY drop back a single base if they can ONLY REACH the enemy by doing so.”

“They may drop back a single base...” does not necessarily preclude other options. Although I had thought your wording implied that since why mention it if it’s an option to drop back a base in all cases.

“They may ONLY drop back a single base if they can ONLY REACH the enemy by doing so.”

Would this apply when the chargers had to drop back a base to, for example, avoid friends who were already in combat? And if the friends weren't, would they HAVE to burst through?

When I added the entry about dropping back bases - I was trying to clarify what was already in the rules - Seems I only made it worse.

Perhaps the following will clear it up:
> There is NO change to the rules for charging without orders:
> You cannot drop back a base unless it would be impossible to contact an enemy base without doing so.
> You cannot wheel unless it would be impossible to contact an enemy base without doing so - in which case you can only wheel by the minimum necessary.

Would this apply when the chargers had to drop back a base to, for example, avoid friends who were already in combat?

Yes - only if there is no other way they can contact the target enemy

And if the friends weren't, would they HAVE to burst through?

Yes - unless the charging BG couldn't pass entirely through the friends and there is some other reasons why those friends can't drop back to make space.