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Charging in column and then expanding ?
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:35 pm
by Keith
Just wondering if I have this correct.
Lets I have 2 elephants and they charge up the page into my warband
WWWW
E
E
Once the elphants hit and impact has been resolved.
WWWW
E
E
they can expand to bring more bases into combat.
WWWW
EE
Therefore you could deploy on a narrower frontage to fit through gaps etc and then expand in the movement phase as a"bring miore bases into combat"
This might be a valid tactic for units that are not so good in the impact phase so they reduce the chances of more dice and losing big in the impact phase ? Then clean up in the melee phase ?
What do you think ??
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:34 am
by Blathergut
The columns are nice for movement (esp. drilled BGs) and, as you say, for combat in certain circumstances. In the recent game with all the drilled Spanish MF 4paks, they ran about in columns until combat. Wheeling and turning was a breeze. However, counting only the first 3 ranks for shooting meant that they tested everytime a BG took a hit
Your elephants wouldn't be affected though!
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:17 am
by babyshark
Blathergut wrote:The columns are nice for movement (esp. drilled BGs) and, as you say, for combat in certain circumstances. In the recent game with all the drilled Spanish MF 4paks, they ran about in columns until combat. Wheeling and turning was a breeze. However, counting only the first 3 ranks for shooting meant that they tested everytime a BG took a hit
Your elephants wouldn't be affected though!
Sure they would. El in line need to receive two shooting hits to force a CT. In column they would need take only one to force a CT. The El still get the additional +1 to the death throw for being El, though.
Marc
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:49 am
by Blathergut
ahhh...missed that they only count 1st rank

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:24 am
by Keith
But the free exapansion in the movement phase after impact can be exploited by troops who are poor at impact and good in melee ?
I know shooting could be a problem , but where the enemy is light on shooting there would not be a problem .
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:05 am
by fredrik
Keith wrote:But the free exapansion in the movement phase after impact can be exploited by troops who are poor at impact and good in melee ?
Yes, I would say in general it is a good idea if you are weak in impact. Also, if you do lose you are likely to avoid the negative CT modifiers for HPB and "losing with more than two points".
An alternative to attacking in column is of course, if space allows, to "clip" the flank element of an enemy battlegroup with the flank element of your BG.
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:27 am
by philqw78
avoid the negative CT modifiers for HPB
If in column and losing you will always get the negative CT modifier for 1HP3B, as you only count as 3B.
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:49 am
by nikgaukroger
To avoid a complete rerun ther was a recent topic on charging in column and then expanding -
viewtopic.php?t=9323
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:18 pm
by stefoid
nikgaukroger wrote:To avoid a complete rerun ther was a recent topic on charging in column and then expanding -
viewtopic.php?t=9323
too much math!
Im sure you could code the relevent rules for that example in about 1/2 an hour, and then just run the simulation 10000 times.
Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:34 am
by shall
Im sure you could code the relevent rules for that example in about 1/2 an hour, and then just run the simulation 10000 times.
Rest assured we did - many times. Sleep well at night in the knowledge we have it covered.
Si
Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:46 am
by Keith
Ok thanks for the link , it was just theory I had

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:59 am
by hammy
Keith wrote:Ok thanks for the link , it was just theory I had

If you can arrange to charge the end of an enemy line then it isn't that bad a plan. If on the other hand you are charging into the middle of a line and would be overlapped on either side it really doesn't work that well at all.