Slitherine

A mississipi friend at the club said he could find the fighting in two directions rule clearly.
AA are KNights facing up. 1,2,3 are enemy units (i think he said LH but that is irrelevant)

A is fighting its front and then apparently 2 made it turn to face right. So fighting in two directions clearly.

1 then routs. It is now A manuver phase and time to reform. It is fighting in two directions so it can't.

Apparently there was lack of clarity about when A feeds bases into fight is it no longer fighting in two directions. My instinct is the authors meant so. But another minor niche.

So if A feeds base into combat as overlap against 2. Both its bases face to the right as so... IS there a rule that clearly indicates A is fighting in two directions? It appears as if not 3 gets dice but A dice fight 2 and there is no POA - for it.

So says Mississippi.

IIRC (its early) A does not turn to face anyway when contacted in flank as it is already fighting to front. So no loss of POA, but dice are added from the flank. When 1 routs A cannot pursue and must turn if not already turned to face 2. It can then expand. It would probably be better off, if 3 is also LH expanding onto 3 (if 3 is a side edge contact). Fight with more dice at plus possibly ++. If 3 is also in front edge contact A turns to face both and is fighting in 2 directions. Unfortunately I aint got my rules, so have left myself open for embarassment.

Edits in red

IMO the general principle is you are fighting in two directions if and only if you are being fought from two directions. you also have to have bases facing in two directions

i.e. if enemy is in frontal combat with any two of your front, flanks or rear.

If you are flank charged but can't turn to face for some reason, you are still fighting in two directions. This can't happen, there are no circumstances in which you do not turn to face a flank charge

Enemy can fight your flank only by a flank charge, or by the special non-impact move into flank contact, or by a frontal charge into a base that is already facing towards the flank.

IRRC if you are facing in two directions (e.g. you fought off a previous flank attack) , but only attacked from one of them, then you are not fighting in two directions.

In your example it is not clear if 3 is in frontal combat with A's rear. If so, then A is still fighting in two directions. If 3 is only an overlap then A is fighting in one direction, against 2 (1 having routed so no longer fighting).

I'm sure all this is in the rules somewhere, but I suspect it is spread out in various places.

You only lose a POA for fighting in 2 directions if you are facing in 2 directions

OK, page 56, if charged in flank or rear you MUST turn to face with at least one base. (so I remembered that one wrongly above).

Pages 76-78 you have the option to turn to face if the enemy turns into your flank in the manoeuvre phase.

Page 134 glossary definition of fighting in two directions. You do have to be facing in two directions, and in melee with different enemy BGs in two of the facings.

According to what I read in previous threads, if the BG is a single line one and the base contacted, in the flank or rear, is already engaged in melee, the "-' for fighting in two direction don't apply.

frederic wrote:According to what I read in previous threads, if the BG is a single line one and the base contacted, in the flank or rear, is already engaged in melee, the "-' for fighting in two direction don't apply.

Not quite.

If a base in a single rank is fighting to its front and is charged in flank or rear in the impact phase, it MUST turn to face and IS fighting in two directions.

If a base in a single rank is fighting to its front and is engaged in melee on its flank in the manoeuvre phase according to the section BATTLEGROUPS ALREADY IN CONTACT BUT NOT COMMITTED TO CLOSE COMBAT, subsection SIDE EDGE TO SIDE EDGE ONLY on pages 76-78 it can choose to turn bases to face or not. If it chooses to turn to face then it is fighting in two directions. If it chooses not to turn to face, then it is not fighting in 2 directions.