Andy Lewis - 04:55am Nov 15, 1998 PST (#19 of 19) Developer of Saratoga and follow-up Brandywine Creek For those that don't have it is the offical Q & A Clarifications that arose from Avaloncon '93 (Answered by Kevin Boylan - A5A Developer) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: In Bull Run the Army of the Potomac (Red Rebels) begins the game with units on the board; however, their activation chit indicates that it not used until turn 2. Which rule takes precedence? Can they move on turn 1 or turn 2? A: The CSA Army of the Potomac is not supposed to move on turn 1 (though this was mistakenly left out of the Exclusive Rules). Q: Retreat Priorities: What is the intent of this rule? Do you try and fulfill as many of the priorities as possible which normally means you have no choice in where a unit retreats? Do you stop after you fulfill one of the priorities or if you fill priority #2? If the case is that you need to fulfill priority #4 (which is further away from the greatest number of enemy units), how do you do it? Do you look at only enemy units in the local area or enemy units anywhere on the board? How does this all work with the example in the sample game on page 14 (Game turn 4 - Rebel Combat) where you state specifically that the retreat violates priority #4? A: The intent of the Retreat Priorities is that you fulfill as many of them as possible in the order that they are listed (meaning that you ignore #4 if it would cause you to voilate #1-3, or ignore #3 if it would make you violate #1-2, etc.) You never ignore a priority unless applying a higher priority makes it impossible to apply the lower one. When applying priority #4 determine the greatest number of enemy units according to those that are within a normal 4 hex Line of Sight (see 7.1) of the retreating unit. Q: The only other area of question was the automatic retreat rule and how to interpret it. I am enclosing some specific examples for you to comment on. In addition, I would like to verify with you that the easier way I explain the rule is correct. I state that if you automatically retreat from an attack, all other friendly units in the attacked ENEMY unit's ZOC must auto retreat as well. Is this an accurate way of looking at it? A: The reason why the Auto Retreat rule says that all units in the ZOC of a given enemy unit must retreat is that otherwise a player could Auto Retreat those of his units that were adjacent only to strong enemy stacks, while using unit that were adjacent to both a strong and a weak enemy stack to attack the latter. Example 1: The Union unit U1 has a zero AF and Union unit U2 does not exist. What happens? If there are no Union units adjacent to U1, then it automatically dies. But if U2 were located as shown, U1 could auto retreat thru U2 (rolling morale to see if it lost a step, of course). Note: you can auto retreat units sequentially. Thus if U1 and U2 both auto retreat, U1 could retreat thru U2 as described above, then (after U1 finished retreating), U2 would retreat itself. * * ** ** ** (** denotes an empty hex) ** ** ** * * ** C1 ** ** ** ** * * ** U1 ** ** U2 ** * * ** C2 ** ** ** ** * * ** ** ** Example 2: U3 does not exist. U2 wants to or has to auto retreat. What happens to U1? Must U2 stay and attack? ** ** ** (** denotes an empty hex) ** ** ** ** * * C1 U1 C2 ** ** U3 U2 ** * * ** ** ** ** ** ** The situation that you describe is unusual, insofar as all units cannot auto retreat (assuming no other Union units were in the area - if U3 was present as shown, U1 could retreat). In a situation such as above (U3 is NOT present) if U2 auto retreated, then U1 would surrender (eliminated) automatically, and this would count as engaging both of the CSA units in combat. Obviously, if any chance of a better results exists, attack instead of auto retreating. Example 3: Is this a correct example of breaking the auto retreat requirement down a line? ** ** ** ** ** (** denotes an empty hex) ** ** ** ** ** ** C1 C2 C3 C4 ** * * U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** U1 attacks C1 and auto retreats. U2 & U3 attack C2 and auto retreat. U4 attacks C3. U5 attacks C4. A: Yes, this is all legit. ===================================================================== Pea Ridge map clarifications --------------------------------- * * Hexes 3813 and 3703 are considered clear. * * Leetown, although it lookes like a town and has "town" in the name, is NOT considered a town hex. It is clear. ===================================================================== Bentonville Map Clarification * * The tree line which cuts across the 0909/0910 hexside does not block LOS. Blocking terrain is only complete hex terrain, and hex 0909 is clear while 0910 is swamp. ===================================================================== Question Box from Issue 30-5 of the General The answers which are given in the General are wrong. The questions and the correct answers are given below. 6.2 Can a unit adjacent to four enemy units in two enemy hexes attack all but one of the units, then automatically retreat before combat, allowing the last unit to be attacked overwhelmingly by other friendly units? A. 4.2 Is the following move legal: A confederate infantry starts in 3419 and moves to 3519 (1 MP), then to 3618 (1 MP), then to 3718 (2 MPs)? A. Yes. (The General answer is incorrect because A5A does not consider that movement costs have to be the same no matter which direction you cross between hexes.) ===================================================================== September ,1996 Addition Q: In 6.3.4, can the attacker advance after voluntarily retreat? A: Yes, as long as the defenders hex is vacant. Q: If 2 units which are stacked together attack into separate hexes and one auto-retreats, does the other one have to retreat too? What if they are in separate hexes, but in the same ZOC of that enemy unit which was auto-retreated against? A: Yes to both. If one unit auto-retreats from an enemy unit all other friendly units in the ZOC of that enemy unit must auto-retreat unless a Bombardment attack (at 1:4 or greater odds) is made against that enemy unit. ===================================================================== September ,1997 Addition Q: Is it possible for several units placed in more than one hex to attack two or more enemy units placed in different hexes in single attack? A: Yes, but only in a combined attack where one attacking hex is in the enemy ZOC and the other attacking units are bombarding artillery units. Otherwise, each battle must involve either one defending hex OR one attacking hex. Q: If yes, does EVERY attacker's unit must be adjacent to ALL defending units? A: No, the bombarding artillery units do not have to be adjacent. Q: An attack involves one attacking hex and two adjacent defending hexes. The attacker is separated from one of the defending hexes by stream/creek hexside. Does the column shift for hexside terrain apply? A: Yes because the attacker must across the stream to attack one of the defending unit hexes.