Post by Michael Demko on Nov 1, 2017 1:34:15 GMT
I was playing a solo game last night (with cardboard pieces, because I haven't got my army painted yet), and I encountered an uncomfortable situation with a column (of 2 elements). In the 3rd paragraph of Tactical Moves, we are told
And then at the end of Tactical Moves
Wheeling is described only in the paragraph describing group moves in block formation
In my case, I moved the column forward close to its movement allowance, and began wheeling the front element about its front corner. Without laterally adjusting the column behind, I was no longer able to keep the first element in corner-to-corner contact with the element behind. I could have restored the corner-to-corner contact by advancing the front element by exactly the distance required to place its rear corner in line with the side edge of the elements behind, but I lacked the movement allowance to advance far enough.
This struck me as rather odd. In the instance, I decided to wheel the front element about its back corner. I later decided that this outcome was equivalent to having wheeled about the front corner, but a little further back, giving me enough movement allowance to advance and align the corners.
The more I thought about this, the less satisfied I became. If the column is longer than 2 elements (which is rare in DBA, because such a column is a death trap), once the front element has wheeled, the column can only advance in fixed increments of distance until all elements have wheeled, or it loses the corner-to-corner contact that defines it as a column.
In practice I would expect that this situation arises rarely and that players with an intuitive sense of how columns work are able to make in-person accommodations for their opponents.
But as a matter of pedantic rule-lawyering, it seems to me that the requirement that elements in a wheeling column should maintain corner-to-corner contact ought to be relaxed, perhaps to "...or at least with a rear corner of a wheeled element in contact with the front edge of the element behind in the case of a wheeling column." - or something to that effect.
A group is a contiguous set of elements all facing the same direction with each in both edge to edge and corner-to-corner contact with another; or in at least corner-to-corner contact if part of a wheeling column.
Once in the column, each element follows the leading element and wheels at the same places through the same angles.
...wheel forward through the same angles with the group's entire front edge pivoting forward around a front corner.
In my case, I moved the column forward close to its movement allowance, and began wheeling the front element about its front corner. Without laterally adjusting the column behind, I was no longer able to keep the first element in corner-to-corner contact with the element behind. I could have restored the corner-to-corner contact by advancing the front element by exactly the distance required to place its rear corner in line with the side edge of the elements behind, but I lacked the movement allowance to advance far enough.
This struck me as rather odd. In the instance, I decided to wheel the front element about its back corner. I later decided that this outcome was equivalent to having wheeled about the front corner, but a little further back, giving me enough movement allowance to advance and align the corners.
The more I thought about this, the less satisfied I became. If the column is longer than 2 elements (which is rare in DBA, because such a column is a death trap), once the front element has wheeled, the column can only advance in fixed increments of distance until all elements have wheeled, or it loses the corner-to-corner contact that defines it as a column.
In practice I would expect that this situation arises rarely and that players with an intuitive sense of how columns work are able to make in-person accommodations for their opponents.
But as a matter of pedantic rule-lawyering, it seems to me that the requirement that elements in a wheeling column should maintain corner-to-corner contact ought to be relaxed, perhaps to "...or at least with a rear corner of a wheeled element in contact with the front edge of the element behind in the case of a wheeling column." - or something to that effect.
