Facing and Frontage for Irregular Units

Irregular units are noted on the unit. In game terms Mobs are irregulars.

A unit in irregular formation is more dispersed and less well organized, which reduces its maneuverability and its combat effectiveness to some extent. (For a more detailed description of these formation types, see pages 20 and 21.)

As noted early in this chapter (in the section titled "Formation"), irregular units are not as efficient or as versatile as regular units in certain aspects of facing and frontage. The differences are these:

Irregular units pay double the regular cost for changes in facing—4" to perform a left face or right face turn, and 8" for an about face turn. Thus, a slow-moving irregular unit (MV 6", for instance) cannot perform an about face in one movement step, but must accomplish the maneuver by making one 90- degree facing change and then a second one during a later movement step.

Also, an irregular unit must maintain at least half as many ranks as it has figures in its frontage. Its facing or frontage cannot be changed in such a way that the unit would violate this restriction. If the unit violates this restriction because of the way in which casualties were removed from it, then it must be reconfigured immediately the next time the unit is able to move—whenever it begins a movement step not in contact with an enemy unit. The irregular unit must pay for the necessary change in frontage before it can undertake any other kind of movement.

If an irregular unit remains adjacent to an enemy unit (locked in melee combat) from one turn to another, then the figures that are in contact with the enemy are not allowed to move—and thus, the irregular unit can continue to violate the frontage-vs.-ranks rule. But as soon as the contact is broken (by the elimination of the enemy, or the retreat of either unit), the irregular unit must change frontage as its first act during the player's next movement step, so that the unit is no longer in violation of the rule. If conditions on the battlefield make it impossible for the unit to make the necessary change in frontage, then one or more figures must be removed from the unit (and counted as casualties) to bring the unit into compliance with the rule.

The only times that an irregular unit in violation of this rule is allowed to move across the battlefield are when it is performing a retreat after failing a morale check and when it is performing rout movement (see page 33).

This restriction on the configuration of irregular units may not seem like much of a limitation, but it can have a significant effect on how the unit performs in a scenario.