Art De La Guerre

[Andy Fyfe]

Hi Guys,

Consider the following:



Unit B destroyed its opponent in melee in red's turn.

Units A and B did not pursue.

It is now blue's turn.

How does unit 1 conform (does it have to)?

I had previously thought that it had to conform to unit A and end up with unit B on its flank dropping it to zero combat factor.

However, the errata has the following entry which I think means that unit 1 does not conform and can stay where it is:

Conformation of units already in contact (page 51)
When a unit must conform to enemy A but is also in the ZOC of another enemy B, it must respect the ZOC of B as a priority and is therefore no longer required to conform to A or make a move to break contact with A. It may remain in contact with enemy A without moving.

Thoughts?

[Neep]

It is not in B's ZoC.

[Three]

In the diagram 1 isn't in B's ZoC.

However, 1 must conform to the front of A, but as soon as it does, it then enters B's ZoC.
Unless 1 can slide to it's right and conform against the flank of A, which I don't think it can, it's only option is to remain in place.

[Neep]

While I think it's a mistake to chart out conformation as a move - if it fits it conforms - if you want to do it that way then the instance it swings towards A, it is in the ZoC's of both A and B, both are directly in front, and A is closer, so A is the MTE and we ignore B's ZoC.

[Three]

Yet in the amendment quoted above, it is the ZoC of B that takes priority.

[Neep]

Because A is the MTE, B's ZoC is ignored. The amendment addresses the case where 1 is not in A's ZoC but is in B's.

[Mark G Fry]

It appears to me that neither of units A or B have unit 1 in their ZoCs, as P35 states it must be 'directly in front of an enemy and less than one UD from the enemy front edge'. And unit 1 is neither of these. Therefore - A is not the MTE and B's ZoC exerts no influence over unit 1.

However, unit 1 cannot conform to the flank of unit A, as it does not start behind unit A's flank, and unit 1 does not have to enter a position where it is immediately flanked by unit B (or A) if it conforms into the front of unit A (or charges B). As there is a special exemption in this circumstance - not that I can find the page reference at present.

So, I think the situation remains static, until either A voluntarily attacks (or conforms itself) frontally with a wheel to unit 1s front edge, or B moves/charges forward hitting unit 1 frontally.

Just my thoughts
Cheers
Mark
_________________
'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.' Xenophon, The Anabasis

[Zoltan]

The p.51 rules for conforming units already in contact have the qualifier, "...if at all possible...". This indicates that in some cases it won't be possible to "resolve all such situations". This is reinforced by the errata which gives an explicit example of an "unresolved conformation". I think the OP is another example of an unresolved conformation - nothing happens.

[Andy Fyfe]

[Hazelbark]

[KevinD]

It seems to me the answer depends on how you move into the conforming step. If you advance 40mm and then pivot right it is not allowed as B becomes the MTE and you can’t ignore his ZOC to conform to A. If however you turn 90 degrees to the right first and then slide you can do it as A is the MTE after you turn and start sliding.

The rules are silent on how you actually carry out this type of conform - they lay out the proceed on confirm after a charge ( p. 50, “ first sliding and then by pivoting”) but not for “Conforming units already in contact” (p 51).

[Mark G Fry]

[SteveR]

Hi Mark,

Your first point is that the unit in melee may not be wheeled through, but this is not correct. It may not be interpenetrated but that is not what is happening here. Look at page 31 last bullet under wheeling. It is being temporarily overlapped.

I think that Unit 1 must conform. It wheels to do so, as it is already in corner to corner contact. When it does it enters the ZOC of both B and A at the same time. At that point it checks to see which enemy is the MTE. As A is the closest straight ahead it is A. So it then ignores the ZOC of B and completes the conformation with A.

This is a question that came up recently on facebook and I answered it incorrectly at first, later coming to the understanding above. But I may be wrong again of course

[Neep]

Keep in mind you could always pay to move away, or even charge B if that was preferable.

[Mark G Fry]