We have just played a Viking v Anglo-Saxon battle and a question came up as to when the Shieldwall characteristic is lost.
A Viking unit with Shove was fighting an Anglo-Saxon unit deployed two-deep which had the Shieldwall characteristic. A file of the Viking unit rolled a skull, destroying one of the bases of its opponent, leaving only one base left in the opposing file of the the originally two-deep Anglo-Saxon unit. So did the Anglo-Saxon unit still benefit from the Shieldwall characteristic as it was only one deep after the die rolls?
To us it seemed that the Shove shouldn't be cancelled as the Skull die-roll represented the Vikings breaking through the line and causing mayhem, but is that the intention of the rules?
interesting question, the way the Shove and Shatter wording is written 'Shove occurs on Skull, S results on the fighting dice, except when fighting a) vs. 2+deep shieldwall in good going except if you are elephants, b) vs. elephants, c) vs. obstacles or
barricades (including battlewagons & fortified camps) except if you are elephants.'
suggests that when the skull was thrown the AS file was two deep so the shove/shatter aspect has no effect as you were fighting against two deep shieldwall.
I have no idea if that is the actual intent.
The casualty is irrelevant. If at the the time the dice is rolled you are two deep you cancel the Shove or Shatter.
Richard