Art De La Guerre

[AlanCutner]

Query from todays game. A group of impetuous medium swordsmen advance toward/into a dune (difficult going). The group stops after moving 2UD. But the left most file won't have entered the dune so haven't moved their maximum distance. Is this a 1CP or 2CP move?

[SteveR]

2 CP

[Ramses II]

Agreed. 
Moving into difficult terrain reduces the MA to 2UD, which exceeds the distance moved at that point - so the group may move up to the edge of the terrain (possibly more than 2UD), and then stops 

[Zoltan]

[Ramses II]

Sorry, you are correct Zoltan. 


Memo to self - Must engage brain 

[ALEXANDER]

As long as there is no enemy within 3 UD of the left unit...

..you could wheel 1.1 UD to to right, 1.1 UD to the left and finally move forward 0.8 UD. You end up exactly at the edge of the dune and have moved 3 UD.

In case there is an enemy within 3 UD of the left unit,
things get more difficult
Moving shorter would then even cost 3 CP.

You would just move with the 3 units on the right wing
and the 2 left unit would probably slide to the left
and do an uncontrolled charge.

Or you charge with the group and the units on the right wing would stop their charge when reaching the edge of the dune

Perhaps the charge range is increased by 1 UD
or reduced to 2 UD, if some enemy units evade

I am not sure about how this situation is played

[Hippocleides]

[SteveR]

Good question Hippocleides

Look at page 31, specifically the 4th bullet.

That bullet exists to allow Impetuous troops to wheel for only 1 CP.

[Ramses II]

Agreed Steve, and welcome to the forum.

A group has to stay together throughout each move that it makes (with some exceptions) - see P10

Here, if the group moves straight ahead, the left-hand unit will not hit the terrain, so it's movement allowance is 3UD, while the other units are restricted to 2UD by the terrain. In order to stay together as a group, this end unit is therefore moving less than it's full allowance. Impetuous units are 'Unmanoeuverable' (P34) and if they move less than their allowance it costs 2CP.

When a group wheels, it is deemed to have moved the distance of the outer unit (P31, 4th BP). So, the group could wheel left by advancing the right-hand unit 2UD, leaving this end unit effectively stationary, and have the entire group only move 2UD. However, this means that the end unit is deemed to have moved 2UD while it's MA is 3UD - so this still costs 2CP for moving less than it's allowance.
It may be possible for the group to wheel right with the end unit advancing 3UD while the other units end up outside the terrain (costing 1CP) - but that would be an in-game judgement.


Others have suggested using a double wheel, which is intended to use up the movement allowance on both ends of the line reducing the distance the group actually moves forwards - here, if each end wheels 1.5UD (for a total of 3UD) while staying outside the terrain, it would cost 1CP which I think might have worked in this case. However, this double-wheel cannot be used if one end had it's MA restricted by terrain since this must inevitably result in one end being deemed to have moved less than it's MA, so it must cost 2 CP.

[Hippocleides]

Thanks. It is all clear now.
_________________
It's all one to me.

[Ramses II]

And to answer Alexander’s supplementary question, if there is some enemy unit just less than 3UD in front of the left end unit, then the group of units that charges must also comply with the restrictions associated with charging. This effectively means they must avoid the terrain whilst making contact.