Can anyone help?

We played our first game on Sunday using a couple of Successor armies and thoroughly enjoyed the rules. We came across a couple of points that we were uncertain about.

1. Can you charge into contact while disordered?
2. Do pikes only get their depth bonus if contacted to the front?

Thanks for encouraging me to dig out some armies that haven't seen the tabletop in years.

hello Richard, welcome on board.

Yes troops can charge if disordered. The main disvantage to charge disordered is that even if you pass a cohesion test (your opponent need to roll at least one 6 or double 5 to force you to make the test) you get a loss.
So always consider disordered troops more fragile, but from a defensive point of view. By the way in many cases you will have to choose if reform at best your troops (re order) and loose the momentum (you cannot move to re-order) or charge disordered.

Pikes get the depth bonus even if charged on flank or on rear, though in the latter case if they loose the melee you will lost all the "Pike block".
The main advantages of Pike blocks is that they absorb losses with the rear rank (the rear Unit), this helps the Pike block to keep the Fresh status longer.

Also warbands, in the forthcoming updated version of Basic Impetus, will get the possibility to form such blocks.

Chaps,

Thanks for the quick reply. It all makes sense now. For those interested this is a link to a report on our game:

http://www.empiregamestore.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=525

Thanks again


Richard

thank you Richard for the report

just a few notes

1) disordered troop get their Impetus bonus if they charge when Fresh (that is they have not losses yet)

2) troops attacked on flank or on rear:
a) are immediatly disordered (if already disordered nothing change)
b) if you loose a melee (that is if you get more losses than your opponent, excluding the loss deriving from the so called "cumulative" disorder) you are destroyed.
So in case of Pike Block, the whole "square" will be lost.

Thanks again.

I've updated the club forum with the right info. Amazingly we actually got the bit about flank charge disorder and rout right first time.