The Commander Series Forum

1. When a unit is forced to move such as being made to fall back, the rules say the movement has to be directly away from the nearest enemy that fired.
There have been many occasions where the unit being forced to fall back would 'clip' either a friendly unit or impassable terrain. We have tended to ignore such small clips and in fact allow the unit to fall back providing there is a gap wide enough for the unit to pass through and that the unit needn't deviate more than 45 degrees from the direct direction.
Are we being too generous?

If a unit falls back into a friendly command unit, is the command unit suppressed or does the unit just pass through?

As a solo player this is never a problem. I just move the unit by the route I think they are most likely to run.

Do you never get into arguments with yourself?

I'd go the sensible way with this rule and allow the unit to move as far as it needs to so as to avoid bumping into other units.

My different opponents like to play these situations differently to each other so I go with whichever way my opponent wants to play it.
One insists direct means direct, and aims to make units fall back into others. I see this as a bit harsh but it is what the rules say.
The other two look to make the unit move it's full distance but within the 45 degrees of 'directly away' and then only bumps non-command units if it still cannot make it's full move. I prefer this but it is not as per the rules so I thought I would ask what others do.

Paul

Ref. the one that goes strictly by the rules...
Pointy stick.
Isn't this supposed to be a GAME!

Do you force him to do the same?
If you do, does he moan?

As an aside, ask him to run through a wood in a straight line, no swerving to avoid trees, etc

Paul

Happy New Year to all.

I would tend to play the rules as written, but a little flexibility is fine if it is what both players are expecting.

I would think the falling back into others causing suppression is to represent panic and confusion caused by seeing your comrades legging it! Deliberately moving to cause this is perhaps a little unsporting, but it's a flaw I'd accept in this great rules set.

I know they're Pete's rules and he's said you can avoid bumping into other units, but...
The rule says troops falling back into friendly units halt, suppressing them.

If you are going to allow units falling back to swan around sidestepping units behind them I can't see the point of this rule.

So its straight back and tough if you contact anyone for me I'm afraid.

I can't see this is pointy stick territory either - it's there in the rules, its there for a reason and the reason makes sense - to reflect the morale effect of units running back through you. If anything it seems like pointy stick time for those who want to ignore it and pretend these scared, panicking troops have enough cohesion to say to themselves - "oops!. Better not run into 2nd troop, they'll get scared, we'll just run an extra few hundred metres up the hill and go around their position without bothering them.' (All in favour of pointy stick treatment for trying to make the letter of the rules fly in the face of reality- but the boot seems to be on the other foot here-maybe
Yep its a game but its a game trying to at least pay a bit of lip service to reality, otherwise it would be chess (and that doesn't let pieces suddenly change the moves they can make either)

Afraid I agree with Gwydion. No point to the rule unless you use it!

Hi Guys

Didn't mean to say that we ignore Pete's rules,
but Paul, in his opening statement, said "...'clip'...".
I totally agree with NOT allowing a unit to swerve a large amount to miss another unit, but if it just clips that unit, I would be OK with a slight swerve.
(I suppose you need to define 'clips').

Paul

Need some NKVD Barrage Units that would solve the problem

Paul,
yeah, totally agree - I suppose I had visions of people doing 90 degree swerves - I can live with 0.5mm deviation I guess
@Cardophillipo -that's just mean!

Oh does it say that in the book Go with the book then!

Excellent! So 0.5mm deviation it is then, that should keep all 3 pleased!
Any suggestions as to if a command unit gets suppressed if a unit falls back into it?

I would say so.

0.5mm or 0.5cm??

No, command units don't get suppressed. They can be moved out of the way.

Another little mystery solved, cheers!