General de Brigade

[aph1756]

Hi "Tricorne",

Congratulations on a most inspiring set of rules! Still familiar to GdB, but with some very nice rules changes in there to make the game "feel" SYW and not just GdB with different untit titles.

I have a query for you, if I may, on the charge sequence, which I'm not clear about after multiple readings of the rules. Page 27, section 6.5, Charge Sequence, step 2 says:

"All charging units are moved halfway towards their targets. This is 3" for charging infantry, or 6" for cavalry. If this brings you into contact then stop 1" from the target until Phase 6."

However, the examples on pages 29/30 mention moving "to the halfway point", but the evading example on page 31 says:

"A unit of Prussian hussars ...charge a French 8-punder battery. ....The hussars are 8" away and move to the halfway point, 4" away from the guns."

So, is the intention of the rules that:

a) you move the charging unit half of its full charge move allowance (3"/6") towards the target, stopping at 1" if they've charged from less that distance (which is what the second two sentences of the rule itself seems to imply?)

or:

b) you move the charging unit half of the total distance between it and the target e.g. if cavalry are 8" away from their target you move 4". (which is what the first sentence of the rule seems to imply and is the way I've always interpreted the mechanism in GdB?)

Hope you can help on this.

Regards

Adrian

[angus konstam]

Adrian,

Congratulations - you're the first person to ask a difficult question!

I'm sorry if the rules were ambiguous. The trouble is, we wrote and re-wrote the charging rules so often that when the time came the "examples" didn't keep abreast of the changes! I offer my humble apologies.

However, you've already got me opening a Clarifications file, while I'll ask Dave Brown to post on this site. Actually, this is exactly what we need - wargamers with a keen eye picking out bits that don't make perfect sense. Thank you for helping us out, and please, keep looking for other problems - although we hope you don't find any!

One of the big differences between DKK and GdeB is that charges are much more controlled. This was something Brent Nosworthy convinced us about. Consequently we've limited the charge distance for 28mm cavalry to 12". As you suspected, the "half-way" bit refers to the distance between the chargers and the target, not the full charge move.

Anyway, the short answer is "Option B" - as you'd expect from GdeB.

Now I'll turn you over to Dougie Trial, the rules monkey. I'm the broad strokes, joined-up writing and bigger picture guy, while he's the rules monkey! Dougie hasn't registered for this site yet, so to speed up your reply he's asked me to post his response;


Hi Adrian,

It's option B. You move the charging unit half of the total distance between it and the target (e.g. if cavalry are 8" away from their target you move 4"). As you said, that's what the first sentence of the rule implies, and its the way you've (quite correctly) always interpreted the mechanism in GdB.

"All charging units are moved halfway towards their targets. This is 3" for charging infantry, or 6" for cavalry. If this brings you into contact then stop 1" from the target until Phase 6."

It should really have read have "All charging units are moved halfway towards their targets. This is a maximum of 3" for charging infantry, or 6" for cavalry. " and delete the sentence "If this brings you into contact then stop 1" from the target until Phase 6", which isn't supposed to be there!

We were trying a few different things when we formulating the rules it seems however that two different systems have managed to sneak in. I blame Angus, who's used to professional editors correcting his mistakes!

I hope this helps, and if you have any further questions please drop me a line.

Regards,

Dougie Trail


Adrian, once again, thanks for spotting the problem. While it would have been nice to get it right before the rules hit the presses, at least we have the option of running an on-line Corrections and Errata page, courtesy of this website. Good luck with the rules, and I hope you'll get some enjoyment out of them.

Best Wishes,

Angus Konstam

[aph1756]

Hi Angus and Dougie,