Art De La Guerre

[Andy Fyfe]

Hi Guys,

When charging the procedure on p43 states:

The player indicates the initial target and checks that it is within charge range

Is the 'target' a single unit or single group or can it be several dispirit units and groups?

For example, say I have a unit of four cavalry in a line facing two groups of light horse each made up of two units. The LH units are separated by 1 UD and one is closer to my cavalry than the other.

For the charge do I:

1. Indicate one unit of the LH as the target?
2. Indicate both units of LH as the target?

This matters due to the adjusted charge distance which only kicks in if 'all initial targets evade'.

Andy

[Neep]

It is all the targets which will be contacted first. If the line makes simultaneous contact, then there are multiple initial targets.

[Ramses II]

Agreed. 

. . . . BB
AA


. XXXX

Using the example presented by Andy, XXXX are 4x cavalry facing up the page, AA and BB are two pairs of LC facing down. All the formations are parallel. 

XXXX declares AA as the initial target, because this group will be contacted first. This group reacts (and evades), so the chargers dice to adjust their charge movement. In doing so, check whether the chargers may encounter BB, in which case it may evade in turn. 

If the groups are at an angle, the first unit to be contacted is the initial target, though other units may be grouped together and may evade accordingly. 

[Zoltan]

In Ramses example all the XXXXs are charging as one group.

A permutation would be if two XXs each charge AA and BB. This would be two charges, two groups, two initial targets.

Back to Ramses' single XXXX group charge (per his pic). Let's say the XXXXs are impetuous cavalry and that AA choses NOT to evade. For completeness, just checking regarding p.43 Continuing a charge:
- while AA may be the initial target of group XXXX's charge, it looks like two of the XXs will NOT contact an A,
- so two of the (impetuous) XXs will be obliged to continue their charge towards BB,
- in a sense BB is their initial target, but the text appears to indicate "continuing a charge declared by the group against initial target A",
- BB is a secondary target per p.44,
- if BB chooses to evade, the two XX units (continuing their group's charge on AA) will NOT VMD, despite the p.44 text wording "...maximum adjusted movement allowance.".

[KevinD]

Two of XXXX will stop to melee AA and another X will stop to provide simple support. The fourth X may/will continue on to contact BB.

VMD is only used if ALL initial targets (both of AA in this case) evade.

[Zoltan]

[Andy Fyfe]

[Ramses II]

Andy; 
Yes, declaring a charge is against a single unit / group. The charge process then handles the situation as events unfold. 

Zoltan, Kevin;
If AA stand against the charge of impetuous XXXX, then one (or two) units not in support must continue moving, but only if they will contact another enemy (BB here).  
Ideally this will be determined before XXXX start moving to ensure all the units move the correct  distances.

As Zoltan says

[Neep]

I think Andy is concerned about something like this:

[Andy Fyfe]

[Neep]

[Zoltan]

For pedants (ce moi), the Charge rules (pp.43 etc) are a tad inconsistent in that the text in different paragraphs swings between single unit and group charges, and single / multiple initial targets.

It's simply the nature of the beast for an editing and production process in multiple languages.

Fundamentally, a charge is about a single charging unit and a single initial target; supporting chargers, group charges, single and multiple targets are permutations / variations.

Scenario 1:
Multiple targets that are "on the same line", within normal charge range, and would be contacted simultaneously by units of the charging group.

Scenario 2:
Multiple targets that are not "on the same line" but are within the normal charge range of one or more units of the charging group.

In my view, in both scenarios, each and every enemy is an initial target for its respective charger (which could be a single charger or charging group including prospective supporters).

Different charge responses (stand / evade) by different initial targets may lead to different outcomes for units in the charging group (e.g. halt the entire group on line of first contact, charging group breaks up etc.). This may be influenced by charging units being impetuous, minimum charge move distance, applying the continuing a charge rules etc.

In turn, this will influence whether or not a VDM is required covering some / all units of the charging group(s); i.e. whether or not "their" initial target evades.

In Scenario 1 (above), the charging group can't claim only one of the targets (on the same line) as the group's initial target.

In Scenario 2 (above), the charging group could claim only the nearest target as the group's initial target, but only if the outcomes for all members of the charging group would comply with other relevant rules e.g. impetuous units, minimum charge distance, continuing a charge etc.