Post by stevie on Apr 23, 2017 11:23:53 GMT
While playing DBA recently the following unusual situation occurred.
My defending opponent wished to place a road in order to restrict the choice of the invader’s deployment areas.
But he also wanted the road to be unusable...so he placed it directly in touch and parallel with a table side edge.
(A similar situation would occur if the road were placed touching and following the curves of a river or waterway)
After a brief discussion we came to the following conclusions:-
a) Would the road be unusable because elements would not be able sit astride it properly without having half
the troops hanging off the table edge or half of them in a river or waterway?
We quickly dismissed this as it would clearly be rewarding what was after all a cheesy trick.
b) If the road is to be usable, then could elements move along it while hanging half off the table or in the water?
Again we rejected this because of the conforming rules (moving elements should conform to a road column, so
they would also end up half off the table or in the water...anyway it looked ridiculous).
c) We finally concluded that the road should be usable, even though the elements using it were not strictly astride it.
(In other words, we ‘pretended’ that the road was ½ a base width from the table edge, river or waterway)
But then we realized something...
...if we are going to pretend the road was ½ a base width from the table edge, river or waterway, then why not have a rule that says a road must be placed in such a position. This would solve all the above potential problems.
Therefore:-
“Roads must be placed ½ BW or more from linear terrain and table edges, except for those it crosses.”
Hopefully one day this will be included in the FAQ. But even if it isn’t, or if you disagree with our findings, then you should still be aware of this possible situation so that you can have your own counterarguments ready in case someone tries to pull this sneaky trick on you. 
Some potentially useful player aids can be found here, including the latest FAQ and the Quick Reference Sheets from the Society of Ancients:-
fanaticus-dba.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Reference_sheets_and_epitomes
