Art De La Guerre

[A4]

Have you come across an odd sort of conforming, when a unit in corner-to-corner contact with an enemy zips across into frontal contact with it, a bit as though it were a magnet?

Are you hazy about when this should happen? I was.

A member of the Central London club (Gavin), who has pretty-well learnt French in order to ask questions on the French language forum, reckons that about 50 percent of us have been getting it wrong.

A
X Y

A is in frontal contact with X. Y is in line with X and in corner-to-corner contact with X and with A.

In A's bound A kills X. Leaving:


A
- Y

What can A do? He might pursue 1 UD forward. Contrary to quite a lot of popular belief we think that he does NOT have the option of zipping into frontal contact with Y.

Now it is Y's bound. Y DOES have the option of making a magnetic conform into the front of A:


A
Y

In other words the "phasing player" in the second paragraph of page 55 isn't the one whose bound is winding-down as the melee is fought but the one whose bound will begin once the melee and pursuits are completed.

To be honest, this is not what I thought on first reading p 55. But it does make sense of the sentence that says that zippy magnetic conforming doesn't cost pips (CP). As the player whose bound is finishing (A in the case) doesn't have any pips to spend: while the player whose bound is beginning (Y) does.

Note, this sort of contact isn't considered a charge, so nobody gets any impact bonuses.

There are refinements to do with what happens if the units are in edge-to-edge contact and or if one of them wants to evade, which are a bit over my head.

But I want to get the basic clarification out there prior to the Central London tournament on 13th Nov. Thirty plus of us are gathering for this and if we all play it the same way this interpretation should percolate out.

Alan

[footslogger]

It's on p8 in the FAQ. You can conform after a melee IF after you rout an enemy there is another enemy still on your flank or rear.

[lionelrus]

But only if ennemy is on your flank or rear, not if contacted corner to corner.
_________________
"Quand on a pas de technique, faut y aller à la zob"
Perceval à Yvain et Gauvain.

[Ramses II]

I have suggested elsewhere that the title "Conforming" (p52) might be better expressed as "Conforming after movement".

Equally "Conforming after a melee" (p55) might be better expressed as "Conforming in the turn after a melee".

Viewed this way, the examples given and the description of the timing of conformation in the recent FAQ make much more sense.

[Janos Hunyadi]

[footslogger]