When aligning, the wording is sufficiently wooley to allow what seems to me like liberties.
Lets say I've gone in, and contacted two bases of the enemy. But I did it at an angle, or offset, so by aligning I can align less than one BW and make it a one base contact instead.
Is that allowed?
Personally I'd prefer the answer to be no, but I think according to the letter of the rules the answer is yes.
Aligning was one of the most tricky areas of the rules to write.
The answer is probably yes (there are reasons why you might not be able to align to reduce it to one base contact). Remember the player with the deck has the first choice to align, so that may prevent you being able to align. I wouldn't regard it as taking liberties, it is part of the game. If you line up your troops well you make it harder for your opponent to align to their advantage.
Richard
Thanks for the answer, I take your point about it being a part of the game, but it is a fiddly part and to me personally, it kind of feels like cheating - "yeah I know I've contacted two of your bases but watch this fancy cheese move I can do - dadaa! now only one base is in contact, despite you maneuvering to prevent exactly that"
and vice versa - it's likely the same opposite to enforce more contact, if you wish, and it just doesn't feel fair.
I do not believe that was the spirit of the rule - Simon makes it clear it's only to tidy up and that it shouldn't really effect combat, but then goes on to allow it to make quite a large difference.
Thankfully I've very rarely seen this done at tournament play - most people seem to align sensibly, rather than advantageously.
It is not common where you have the opportunity to align and reduce the number of bases and it is advantageous to do so (it does/can happen). I agree it would be nice if troops always moved directly into each other but wargames tables don't seem to work like that!
Wheeling a charge to maximise the bases in contact somehow seems more acceptable than aligning to minimise the number of bases in contact! Go figure...
Take as the one that has the deck chooses how best to respond to the situation . If you have lancers forced to charge long spears you may seek to conform to only one enemy base so as to lessen the impact ..
Yes it is that way indeed but usually people who are active want maximum and go there other way. It's a fiddly area and I seriously considered not having it in at all.
But it helps to tidy the table.
The one you mention to me is "get those guys to the left" on the way in. So the reality they never hit them in the first place. Certainly no real troops made contact and then slid sideways that I am aware of! So the align really happened on the way in for a charge. Melee to me is more the entire mob of a melee so fine.
Si