Art De La Guerre

[A4]

I think I and many people at my club have not been using enough command pips to rally troops in melee.

I would like to check that I now have it right. The rules are on p 45 of the English version.

In each case the general is independent (not included in a unit) and the unit he is attempting to rally is in hand-to-hand combat.


A. The general is within 4 UD of the unit he is attempting to rally. He is not in contact with that unit, nor is he fighting hand-to-hand elsewhere. All agree that this rally attempt succeeds on a roll of 5 or 6 and costs 2 pips (CP).

B. The general is within 4 UD of the unit he is attempting to rally. He is not in contact with that unit. This time is he fighting hand-to-hand elsewhere (ie adding 1 to the melee strength of a different unit). The rally succeeds on a roll of 5 or 6. I believe it would cost 3 pips (CP): two of them because the unit is in melee (p 45 left hand side) and an additional one because "a commander engaged in melee must spend one additional CP to attempt to rally a unit other than the one it is attached to or included in" (p 45 right hand side). In other words, he has to use one extra pip because the unit is in melee and a second extra pip because he himself is in melee - just as he would if he was ordering a unit to do anything else (p 23).

C. The general is in contact with the unit he is attempting to rally and is fighting in the melee (ie adding 1 to its melee strength). The rally works on score of 4, 5 or 6. It costs 2 pips (one of which can be the general's own). Ie it costs a basic two pips because the unit is in melee. It would normally cost a third pip because the general is in melee, however a rule on the right hand side of p 45 says that this only applies to a unit "other than the one it [the general] is attached to or included in."

D. The general is in contact with the unit he is attempting to rally but is not fighting in the melee (he does not add 1 to its melee strength). The rally works on score of 4, 5 or 6. It costs 2 pips (one of which can be the general's own). Ie it costs a basic two pips because the unit is in melee. Though the general is with the unit the clause on the right hand side of 45 does not give him a discount because he is not "engaged in melee."


Ie, having the general with the unit in melee he is attempting to rally inceases the chance of success (from 5 plus to 4 plus) but does not in itself reduce the number of pips (CP) required. The only advantage in regard to pips is that one of them can be the general's own. If the general is attached to the unit AND fighting hand-to-hand, it does reduce the number of pips required, but from three to two. So, wherever the general is, it always takes at least two pips to attempt to rally a unit in melee.

Hope I have now got this right?

Alan

[lionelrus]

Alan is right!
_________________
"Quand on a pas de technique, faut y aller à la zob"
Perceval à Yvain et Gauvain.

[A4]