Art De La Guerre

[babyshark]

Here is something that arose in a recent game. All units under discussion are CV that can evade. Suppose I have a unit fighting in melee to its front; the enemy unit has an overlap in its favor. My unit is good at fighting and routs the enemy unit in my opponent's turn, leaving my unit in corner to corner contact with the overlapping enemy. In the meantime, my opponent has set up a potential flank attack on my unit by positioning a new unit corner to corner with the overlapping unit, such that if my unit conforms to the overlapping unit mine will be fighting in two directions.

In my turn I decide to make the conform, and slide my unit into frontal contact with the (previously) overlapping enemy and into side contact with the front edge of the flanking enemy. My opponent decides to have his overlapping unit evade. Question #1: does my unit now conform to the front of the flanking enemy? Or does my unit fight this round of melee as though contacted in the flank? Question #2: if my unit does not conform, can I move other units to be supports?

Here is the starting position, with the units facing up and down the page, respectively. (E = enemy unit, O = overlapping unit, F = flanking unit, M = my unit.)
EOF
M

I rout the enemy, leaving this situation. F is now facing to the left.
_O_
M_F

Then I conform. What happens next?

Marc

[daveallen]

#1 No & yes.

See p54 Conforming after a flank attack only occurs after melee, ie not during movement.

M fights to its flank, although it does not receive the disorder for being contacted on the flank whilst in combat because a) it wasn't in combat with the evading unit and b) M did the contacting.

#2 Yes, of course you can move units to support M. If a non-light unit was in a position to flank or rear charge F then F would be on -1 and M on +1.
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Putting the ink into incompetence

[Hazelbark]

I think Dave is correct. (with some rough patches of course)

His position is further supported by the FAQ on timing of conform. Particularly I don't think the enemy evade until you have completed the conform, which is slightly different than how a charge executes.

Also the you don't take a cohesion even if your opponent didn't evade is on p59 explicitly 2nd bullet from bottom

[babyshark]

The follow up question is whether I can move units into overlaps now that O has evaded from my conform move and my unit will be fighting F with its side edge rather than front. Or can my supporting units only help out if they can hit F in the flank or rear?

Also, now that I think about it, can F choose to evade?

Marc

[Hazelbark]