Art De La Guerre

[Ramses II]

A couple of small points came up in a game this week

1. When interpenetrating a friendly unit, can a formation stop on top of it (to displace it) where it has sufficient movement to pass through it?
   
   
2. Where unit "A" is already in contact with an enemy, can unit "B" interpenetrate and displace unit "A" to move into contact with the enemy?

[Nostrebor]

I don't think question 1 is clearly addressed, but in most cases it seems tacky .

Question 2 is no. Page 43 Special Cases, bullet 1. To paraphrase you cannot interpenetrate a friendly unit in melee or supporting melee.

On page 43 it also states that artillery cannot be interpenetrated if the moving unit does not have enough movement to clear the artillery. I wonder if this applies if the moving unit does have enough movement, but is charging enemy and there is not enough room for the chargers base between the target and the artillery. Seems like this should be legal.

[Ramses II]

Thanks for pointing out the special cases.


As to the "tacky" reduced manoeuver, RAW the key sentence in English is "if the unit being passed through cannot be fully crossed" implying that the full move must be used before resorting to adjusting positions.

I wanted to check whether this was the accepted view, or indeed whether the French had a different understanding altogether.

[JohnTheBoring]

pg43 adjusting positions seems quite clear. To interpenetrate the unit has to get at least partly to the other side, otherwise it does not interpenetrate. If not all the way through lights carry on, and for others the unit being crossed moves (not war wagons and artillery).

How is this not clear?

[Ramses II]

The question is not whether interpenetration is allowed, but rather whether a unit can intentionally move less than its full movement in order to deliberately force the adjusting of positions process.

For example, consider a group of Impetuous swordsmen behind some Light Infantry that are opposed by Impact swordsmen. The Impetuous group pays 3CP to deliberately avoid charging the enemy at a disadvantage, but there is less than 1U space between the LI and the enemy. So, can the Impetuous Swordsmen move forward on top of the LI without moving into contact with the enemy?

[JohnTheBoring]

OK that is a clearer question.

In the specific example I think the impetuous swordsmen can move up to the enemy line, staying just out of contact, and the light infantry are adjusted back.

Thinking about it you are talking about close order moving through lights. So it seems sensible that they may want to move short and have the lights adjust back. For example to avoid getting into shooting/charge range. The rules just say they make a normal move.

Comment from the rules writers?

[plefebvre]