Hmmm...this is a tricky one.
Let’s see what the rules say.
MOVING INTO CONTACT WITH (THE) ENEMY [on page 9]
“At the end of the bound’s movement phase,
the contacting element, or at least one
element
of a contacting group, must be lined-up with an enemy element, either:-
(a) in full mutual front-edge contact
(sliding so front-corners touch), or
(b) in full front-edge to rear-edge contact
(corners touching), or
(c) in front-edge to side-edge contact with front corners in contact, or
(d) with no enemy in contact to its front, but in
(an) overlap
(position).”
(not mentioned, but still allowed, is mutual side-edge to side-edge contact)Item (d) is what interests us, and the relevant bit is “with no enemy in contact to its front".
This is obviously talking about the moving element (the one doing the contacting), and NOT
the stationary element being contacted.
In short, an element can only give the corner-to-corner overlap penalty IF IT has no-one to its front.
This described in more detail on page 10.
CLOSE COMBAT [on page 10] says:-
“An element not in frontal close combat but in mutual right-to-right or left-to-left front-corner
contact with any enemy element (except Psiloi or Scythed Chariots, see figure 16c) overlaps this;
even if it is exposed by a frontal opponent having recoiled, fled or been destroyed that bound.”
This tells us WHEN you can claim the overlap penalty...there no mention here or anywhere else in the rules
that prohibits players from moving into such a front-corner to front-corner overlap position.
It seems that Tony is trying to apply the “with no enemy in contact to its front" to the STATIONARY element,
and thus interpret things so that you can only get into a corner-to-corner overlap position if the non-moving
element (the one being contacted) already has an enemy in contact with its front.
However, this is clearly contradicted by
Figure 16a, which shows that you CAN move into a corner-to-corner
overlap position...even if those being contacted do not have their front-edge in contact with an enemy.
Indeed, it would be weird if you were allowed to move into mutual side-edge to side-edge contact with an enemy,
such as advancing into a gap in the enemy battleline, but were
not allowed to move into a corner-to-corner overlap
position unless the contacted enemy was already engaged!
At least, that is how my little gang of DBA players interprets things.
