Indirect Movement

[blackpaladin]

I'd like to be a bit more clear on the Indirect Path movement rule. The graphic in the 2.2 rules seems to indicate that if a unit with a close order is within final rush distance of the closest enemy, when measured across an intervening allied unit, that it could then take an indirect path around that intervening allied unit to reach the flank of that closest enemy, is this correct? (The graphic that I'm referring to is on pg. 9 of the 2.2 rules.) Or, does the unit need to cover that distance in the normal manner moving around the back end of the allied units?

[Chad_YMG]

The unit in the pg.9 diagram isn't final rushing.  The diagram is indicating that you have two choices of what to do with him from the starting position.  You may either have him move towards the nearest enemy even though there is an obstacle preventing him from getting there (in this case your other units) or you may have him move around the obstacle, in which case his nearest enemy becomes the enemy unit at the end of the line.

It doesn't matter that he's in final rush range -- the point of the rule is that sometimes you can't get to your target via a direct path, so we give you the option of deciding whether the unit should go around or not.

Best,
Chad

[andrewgr]

Note that this choice is very useful for keeping faster moving units from outpacing your general advance.

So, a commong tactic would be to deploy your cavalry behind your infantry, near the end of your line.  For the first few turns, you advance your infantry, and say "my cavalry is using the indirect movement rule and deciding to stay behind the infantry this turn, rather than going around them".  Then, when you judge you are close enough to the enemy line, on that turn you say "my cavalry is using the indirect movement rule and deciding to go around my infantry this turn", and they start angling around-- hopefully arriving the same turn as the infantry, but from a flanking position.

[Chad_YMG]

The need for the Indirect Path rule can be explained in three words: old video games.  (Heck, for all I know it could be true for modern video games as well.)

We've all played or at least seen a video game in which some person or creature wants to get to point A, located on the other side of a wall, and thus walks into the wall and keeps on walking.  If Battleground didn't allow a unit to take a physically-longer but practically-shorter route to its objective, you'd have to use Direct Control (or mid-point objectives) to avoid having your units behave in silly ways.

The first thought was to define the path to the nearest enemy in terms of time, but this created an inverse problem where ranged units could be forced to walk around their lines if the troops in front were on hold.

[Hannibal]

A questions about something that came up in a recent game:  when are you allowed to call a move "Indirect"?

For example, the Undead player had Rat Swarm behind a unit of Zombies I think.  There was a blocking unit to the left of the Rat swarm but nothing on the Rat Swarm's right.  So the unit could have taken the Move Sideways manuever to shift right and get around the zombies.  Does the player have to shift right or can the player say "my front is block so moving sideways is Indirect?"

Basically can you say that having to shift right around 1 unti in front of you is considered Indirect?

[Chad_YMG]

You have a lot of choice regarding Indirect movement.  In the example you cite, you can have the rats keep trying to take a direct path or you can choose to have them move around.  The one thing you can't do is choose an indirect path that is longer than another available indirect path ("longer" being measured in turns it would take you to engage, not necessarily inches).

So let's say you have a line of guys and behind the guy on your right flank is a unit of cavalry on Close.  The cavalry can either stay behind the unit in front of them (i.e. having their movement cut short) or they can move around to the right side...but you'd have to spend a Command Action to have them start moving around to the left.

[blackpaladin]

Thank you for the replies!