I have had a few situations in games over the last few months where I have not been able to pin down an answer from the rules.
Consider
(https://www.battlefieldhobbies.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Side-contact.png)
The Akkadian spears have charged up the screen, the Libyans are facing down and right. The charge started from a position where it was not a flank charge (it was actually a pursuit).
In the charge phase the fight is frontal, no problem there.
What about the melee phase.
There is no way for the Akkadians to conform (it was even harder because another file of the spear TuG was in melee too).
Does this become a fight vs the flank of the Libyans?
If it is a frontal fight do the Libyans get an overlap because they have an extra base to the left of their front base?
A charge phase fight that counts as a frontal combat can never be a flank combat in the combat phase. (Gets asked so often its on my FAQ suggestion list for Si when he is well again). So in the combat phase you continue fighting as if you had hit the base frontally.
In this case I believe the Libyans would then be able to claim a supporting file in the combat phase as you would determine this as if the contacted base had been able to align and then the other file would qualify.
Excellent so the way we played it was correct.
To further complicate the situation I had troops shooting at the front of the Libyans, I assumed that one file was in combat and the other was supporting.
I think that is correct.
And if instead of Libyans, they had been a file of 4 pikes, would they have counted all four ranks for charge combat despite getting hit in the 3rd rank given that this is considered a frontal fight?
No it would not - you fight the contacted base frontally and not the file frontally.
I believe there is a picture with a phalanx being saturated with Gauls in the book to illustrate this specific case
There is - page 142 no that I've been bothered to look ;D
Quote from: nikgaukroger on March 03, 2021, 07:31:45 AM
No it would not - you fight the contacted base frontally and not the file frontally.
So, on that basis you are fighting the third base in the file frontally which means that the front rank base is not in combat and not supporting so can be shot at to full effect ?
Quote from: Hammy on March 03, 2021, 10:56:12 AM
Quote from: nikgaukroger on March 03, 2021, 07:31:45 AM
No it would not - you fight the contacted base frontally and not the file frontally.
So, on that basis you are fighting the third base in the file frontally which means that the front rank base is not in combat and not supporting so can be shot at to full effect ?
I believe that would follow ...
So in this case you're only fighting frontally the 3rd/4th ranks - make sense. And the adjacent file gets to fight as a supporting file. The question is - does that supporting file get to fight with all 4 ranks, or only the 3rd and 4th as well?
I'm thinking that the answer is that it gets to fight with all 4 ranks since the file's front is within 1 BW of the adjacent 3rd rank (p 146 "3.3 If beyond the fight, have its front within 1 BW of the line of fighting.").
But - it would also mean that if the spears had contacted the 4th rank of the Libyans, the Libyans would not get a supporting file, as the the front rank of the adjacent file is more than 1 BW ahead of the line of fighting. Is that correct?