Figures Eligable to Fight
Page 48, section 11.2, in a masterpiece of clear writing, that really should be reported to the 'Clear English Soc', the rules say that all figures in a unit fight, but then seems to contradict itself by saying that they must be in base contact with the 'foremost figures'. In plain English, does this mean that the front two ranks of bases in a unit fight, but third and subsequent ranks of bases do not? So for out-numbering, they do not count. Secondly, in the Formations section, cavalry are restricted to line or column of Divisions, colums of Squadrons/troops. Are we, really saying that throughout the Seven years war, Cavalry Regts never deployed in double line, 3 or 4 Squadrons behind 3 or 4 squadrons?

All figures in the unit fights. Only thing needed is that one of your bases is touching one of your opponent base.

Chris, I love it when people fly the flag for plain English. Most of the time I'd quite agree with you, but in this case I think Rule 11.2 is fairly self-explanatory. In fact, the wording came from Dave Brown, the original author of General de Brigade: we felt it was clear enough, and didn't need to be re-written. We might have been wrong, and for that we apologise! Anyway, Meda38 is quite correct. What the paragraph says (or at least tries to say) is that the unit fights as a single entity, regardless of how many figures are in contact with the enemy. The exception is if the rear ranks of the unit aren't in base-to-base contact with the guys in the front. In other words, you can't send in one rank of cavalry, hang back with the rest, and still count them all as one unit. Believe me - someone will try it... If you re-read the paragraph in that light, it should make more sense - without you feeling the need to hurl a copy of Gower's Plain Words at me! As for your point about cavalry, if you take a look at Rule 2.3 (Formations), where it speaks about "Column of Divisions", that's exactly the formation you described, albeit we limited it to a two squadron frontage. that was largely thanks to Brent Nosworthy. However, in theory I see nothing to prevent a big unit operating on a 3 or even a 4 squadron frontage if it had to. I'm sure there's a historical precedent, and as soon as I find it or someone can convince me, I'll amend the rules accordingly. Thanks for raising such an interesting point - and you've sent me scurrying back to my sources! Best Wishes, Angus Konstam