manoevring during a charge
Hi All just played a splendid game against KlingonDeadEye but a point came up that had us scrabbling for the rules. I had a unit of cavalry that had become unformed due to melee and whose Pursuit test result was 'Horses Blown' and so were to retire to own lines. However before they could do this they were charged by a unit of cavalry coming in from the flank. This unit was positioned such that only the rear rank of the target was within charge arc. No problem there, they can still order the charge. 1st Question: Now my unit could not declare a counter-charge as they were unformed but are they allowed to perform a manoevre in response to the charge? We played it that they could and the unit attempted to wheel to face the oncoming cavalry. However by doing this the unit was now no longer within the charge arc of the chargers. 2nd question: What happens when a unit can no longer be contacted by the chargers? The rules give options if the target retreats, routs or evades but not if they have just moved. We eventually compromised allowing the chargers extra move to contact and fought the melee but was this right? Your thoughts would be most appreciated. Cheers RT

I asked a similar question a few months ago. The unformed unit cannot respond to the charge - neither counter charge nor change facing/formation. Bad luck for the blown cavalry and shows the need to have a unit in support (think here of the Union and Household cavalry at Waterloo). Unsure about your second question. Compulsary moves occur before charges, so if the target unit moved then and is out of range, it has successfully escaped. Other movement occurs after charges unless it is an evade/counter charge. Hope this helps. Ants

Hi RT Important to remember that the 'Retire to own Lines' is a compulsory move that is called in the Persuit phase of the previous turn BUT only occurs in the Movement Phase of the next turn AFTER all charges: so your blown Horse are very susceptible to charges that are suitable prepared and ready!!! So they cannot face, neither can they evade and must take the hit. ('cept I would be sure to throw a D1 and falter on the way in..... :roll: ) Maturin

You must be using VBs dice :lol:

All, Faltering units can not manouvre but unformed units may. See Chapter 12 - Unformed. Wheeling to face a charge should not result in a unit suddenly becoming out of charge reach - as this is a technical evade move! I'm also not too suure how this could happen.... :? :shock: :wink: DB

When wheeling becomes an evade...
if the cavalry were just unformed then an about face would have been my main thought of response as wheeling is based on front rank and can therefore become an evade in a case like this. But as the horses were blown i wonder whether that should have an overriding (excuse pun) effect and prevent change of formation by wheel or about face??

However before they could do this they were charged by a unit of cavalry coming in from the flank. This unit was positioned such that only the rear rank of the target was within charge arc. No problem there, they can still order the charge. If as RT implies, his unit would only be hit on a rear rank from the flank, then if he wheeled toward the charging unit it might be possible that the rear rank would have wheeled out of possible contact from the charging unit. Is this permissable? He's not trying to evade, just face the enemy. Also doesn't the charger get to adjust his charge at the halfway point thereby negating the targets wheel?

turn sequence??
I must admit that I am still trying to get my head around the turn sequence of this situation... and the times when compulsory and mandatory get confused.... rT has a unit of cavalry... They enter melee (phase 7 of game turn), become unformed and take a pursuit test (phase 8 of game turn) with result 'Horses Blown'. However the mandatory movement for Horses Blown is to take place within the next movement phase (phase 5 of next turn) as a retire to own lines move. KDE is therefore able to declare the charge against the rear flank of the blown unit in phase 4 of the next move.. I presume that leaving the mandatory movement until phase 5 rather than it being a compulsory move in phase 3 was designed to allow the equivalent of a 'sitting duck' target?? rT's cavalry cannot declare an evade - however they can manoeuvre up to the equivalent of the chargers remaining move to contact. If as in this case that is enough to allow a wheel out of charge arc then whilst rT's cavalry have not strictly retreated / routed or evaded the provisions of the paragraph 6 pg 23 for charging units to halt in the position the enemy moved from would be an interesting one to have followed... Whilst the retire is a mandatory rather than compulsory move some umpires might wish then to consider the relevance of the rule regarding surrendering on p45 ... "Any unit subject to a compulsory move that is surrounded or the first half of the initial retreat move takes them into contact with enemy units will surrender and is removed form play."

Hi all Thanks for your input. from what I've read I think the situation is as Maturin says that because my horses were blown the unit was unable to manoeuvre in response to the charge and did present a sitting duck. However this brings me on to another question: If due to the 22 degree charge arc restriction the only part of a unit that can be contacted is a flank does it count as a flank charge even if the charging unit did not start behind the flank nor was it behind flank at the halfway point? cheers RT

RT. If due to the 22 degree charge arc restriction the only part of a unit that can be contacted is a flank does it count as a flank charge even if the charging unit did not start behind the flank nor was it behind flank at the halfway point? Yes, even though the morale test may not have acounted for a flank charge (because it wasn't at the half-way point) the melee will be considered a flank attack. DB