Rules Questions

By Snak, in Battlelore

Hi!

I'm a new player and I have some questions I would like to see answered.

1- Imagine a unit that's forced to retreat and it retreats to a supported position. It is then pursuit and suffers a bonus melee attack (same battle). I know it CANNOT battle back, since it moved from its original hex. But does it stay Bold for that battle? I can't really find an answer. Only thing it says in the rule book is this:

"This morale boost (I assume Bold) , and its benefits (I assume BattleBack) , remains as long as the unit holds ground and continues to receive support."

So, does that defending unit stay Bold for that Bonus Melee Attack?

2- In page 21 of the manual, it says:

"When the imaginary line runs along the edge of one or several hexes wich contain obstructions, the line of sight is not blocked, unless the obstructions stand somewhere along both sides of the line segment ."

So, when does LoS get blocked? I know it gets blocked when 2 side by side hexes are obstructed and the line crosses them in the middle. But is LoS blocked when there's an obstructed hex on the left, and then on the front another obstructed hex on the right (see diagram)?

ARCHER

FREE OBSTRUCTED

FREE

OBSTRUCTED FREE

TARGET

3- 1- If I have a unit of Archers on a Hill. And they want to attack another unit (any) which is in another hill , some hexes away. There are empty hills between both mine and the enemy units . Do those hills block LoS?

4- If I have a unit of Archers on a Hill. And they want to attack another unit (any) which is in a countryside , some hexes away. There are empty hills between both mine and the enemy units . Do those hills block LoS?

5- On Foot Onslaught card. It says the units have to be all adjacent to be able to move. Can i order only 1 unit alone if I want? Or does the card work only on a maximum of 2? And when moving them, do I have to move them together, or 2 hexes in any direction for each unit? I think it's the second, because in the card it says nothing about having to move them together, only that they have to be together to be able to move those 2 hexes.

That's all for now. Hope you can help me with these. Much appreciated!

Re-read the battle back section (page 30). If you retreat to a supported position, it is a new melee and the unit is in a new hex. You cannot battle back if you vacated that new hex, but if you stood your ground and are supported (or Battle Savvy), you can. Also, you determine morale when forced to retreat, but morale does not change as you are retreating (page 25-26).

Put another way, treat each battle round in isolation.

Dale

Elevation questions, page 63: The key word is adjacent . A hill blocks LOS. If you are on a hill, and the hill that your LOS passes through is in an adjacent hex, it does not block LOS, otherwise it does. The exact wording is: "An Elevated Terrain hex blocks line of sight, except from adjacent Elevated terrain of the same height."

Note that if you play Memoir 44, the wording is very different (and is one of the things I trip up on). In Memoir it is: "A Hill blocks line of sight for units trying to look over the Hill. Line of Sight is not blocked when units are at the same height and on the same Hill (plateau effect)."

Dale

That didn't quite answer my question #1, which was:

Does a unit that was forced to retreat and got into a support position (got surrounded by other 2 friendly units) get Bold for the Follow-on Bonus Melee Attack that it will suffer? Meaning: can it ignore a black flag (if rolled in that battle)? Or does it stay Normal, like it was in the original hex?

So, if I'm on a hill, and there's only 1 empty hill between me and my target, i can hit them, either they are on a hill, or on ground?

But if there are like 2 hills between me and my target, i don't get LoS, even if the target is on hill too?

from page 31, paragraph under the top left pic:

"If the defending unit is forced off its hex, _for any reason_, during the initial Melee attaack, its opportunity to battle back during the battle is lost, even if the unit falls back into another supported position once its retreat is completed."

SO.... the unit gets the benefit from being Bold, but cannot battle back.

JP

Ok, thanks for answering question #1

I did answer your question #1, but I will be more explicit.

Page 30: " A unit's initial Melee battle, pursuit action and Bonus Melee attack must all be completed before the next unit may battle. " This does not imply that the actions of the first Melee and the subsequent one are all one action, only that you must complete it prior to moving on to the next unit. Remember that the bonus can be executed any adjacent target, not necessarily the one defeated (who may be destroyed, if you were lucky). So each melee is handled in isolation - effects from one melee does not carry over to the other.

Page 25: " After all hits have been resolved and casualties removed, Retreats are resolved ." The first step in resolving retreats is seeing how many can be ignored.

Page 30-31: " The most common way for a unit to gain the power to ignore a flag and temporarily boost its morale ..." T he significant part is next. "If the defending unit is forced off its hex, for any reason, during the Initial Melee attack , its opportunity to battle back during this battle is lost... " Two significant parts are underlined. As the Bonus Melee Attack is a new battle, the effect of not battling back in the previous battle is irrelevant.

If you retreat to a supported position, you are Bold. If you don't retreat from the Bonus Melee attack, you get to battle back. I would like to hear from others if they have a differing opinion. Maybe toddrew will come along, or someone else who answers a lot of questions.

Dale

JJP said:

from page 31, paragraph under the top left pic:

"If the defending unit is forced off its hex, _for any reason_, during the initial Melee attaack, its opportunity to battle back during the battle is lost, even if the unit falls back into another supported position once its retreat is completed."

SO.... the unit gets the benefit from being Bold, but cannot battle back.

JP

Glad to hear another voice - especially so early in the morning - but the rule quoted say "this battle". Do you see the initial attack and the subsequent ones as one or two battles? (It has to be the latter in the case where the initial target and the subsequent one are two different targets."

Dale

So, a unit that retreats cannot battle for the initial attack.

But can it battle back for the bonus melee attack (if it's now bold and doesn't retreat)?

Talking to toddrew now online. It sounds like he agrees with JJP. He considers the Bonus Melee Attack a part of the same battle. I stand corrected.

Dale

so they can't battle back from the inicial attack nor the bonus melee attack, even thought they don't get retreated in the second one.

Tthat's it?

check out the definition of "battle" in the appendix.

That should put this one to bed.

JP

Snak said:

so they can't battle back from the inicial attack nor the bonus melee attack, even thought they don't get retreated in the second one.

Tthat's it?

That's it :)

Ok, now I would appreciate an answer for question #2.

Thanks for all your help.

In your example #2, the LOS is blocked.

JP

You sure? Isn't it only when the obstructions are on 2 side-by-side hexes?

positive. Page 21, first column, paragraph under the first picture.

When the imaginary line runs along the edge of one or _several_ hexes which contain obstructions, the LOS is not blocked, unless the obstructions stand _somewhere _along both sides of the line segment.

Emphasis mine. The "somewhere" does not mean that they _must_ be adjacent.

JP

Ok thanks for the help!

Still not sure about answer for questions #3 and #4.

Can someone put it simple?

EDIT: Question #5 added