Art De La Guerre

[ecnomus]

Hi people. I have a question you to clarify.

Suppose ambush marker#1 is placed exactly on the edge of a village. In that ambush we have a hidden MI X unit. Outside the town and exactly 1 UD away, there is an enemy MI A unit.

It is the turn of the player who discovers the ambush and proceeds as follows:
He reveals his ambushed MI X and advance exactly 1 UD.

The rulebook states that ambushes must be completely inside the terrain that blocks visibility (page 70). It also states that a unit positioned right on the edge is considered to be in the terrain and benefits from cover. From this, we understand that it is possible to place an ambush marker right on the edge of a terrain.

The question is: since it is indicated that the ambush marker must be completely inside the terrain (even if it is on the exact edge), when revealing the ambush, and if the MI X unit moves exactly 1 UD.
Can that unit completely leave the terrain and not receive any penalty for doing so while fighting the enemey MI (I refer to fighting in difficult terrain)?
The enemy MI A is exactly 1 UD away from the terrain, therefore MI X cannot advance more than 1 UD.

Is that enough to leave the terrain completely? Does it fight without the difficult terrain penalty?

Thanks in advance.
_________________
Ecnomus

[Andy Fyfe]

[Neep]

A unit is "in" the terrain if any part (i.e. area) of the base is enclosed by the terrain.
A unit is penalized if it is "in" the terrain, or if it "attacks" across the edge of a more penalizing terrain.
It is undefined whether the edge must cover the full width of the defender or only partially.
"Attack" is undefined. Obviously if you charge an enemy you are the attacker. But in the unlikely event that you win a combat and then turn to face a melee support who is situated just at the edge of terrain, it's not obvious.

But if your back edge just on the edge of penalizing terrain, you are not penalized. Unless you are a WWg...

[Ramses II]

No Andy, there is not enough space for a 1UD base to fit in the gap which is less than 1UD, the distance at which the ambush is revealed.

Consequently as Neep says, if the ambushing unit advances into contact, some part of the ambushing MI must remain on the village and consequently will be fighting in difficult terrain. 
However if it stays put, and the enemy MI advances into contact, then they would both be fighting in difficult terrain. 
(See revealing an ambush)

[ecnomus]

[Andy Fyfe]

[Ramses II]

Hmm. I am only too human and have a fallible memory.

If this is indeed official, then there ought to be an errata as it clearly contradicts the rules as written. 

There are two situations here;

• Voluntarily revealing the ambush at some point during the opponent’s movement phase, when the moving unit(s) may continue moving, but not into contact with the ambushing unit 
  
• Forcing the opponent to reveal the ambush by moving unit(s) into proximity with the ambush. Here the moving unit(s) must stop if the ambush is real.

I will check with Dan and El Kreator what is intended, though stopping ’at’ 1UD seems to be contrary to other sections of the rules, as it would prevent some shooting, spontaneous charges etc, 

[Neep]

If I understand Ecnomus correctly, they are asking a very simple question that has nothing to do with ambushes, per se.
If MI, having a depth of 1UD, at the very edge of a terrain feature advances 1UD forward, is it out of the terrain?
The answer of course is yes it is out of the terrain.