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Hello

We played a large HYW game last night and, although we are now becoming proficient in the rules, a few issues still arose on which we would appreciate your guidance.

Stakes
Do the rules relating to stakes apply if the unit is attacked in flank or rear i.e. do the stakes offer all round protection?

Shooting
Can shooting units shoot at enemy units who have made contact in the impact phase with a friendly unit i.e. supporting fire? The shooters are not in hex contact with either friend or enemy.

Broken ground
A Side A mounted unit is pursuing and enters the ZoC of an enemy foot unit defending broken ground where it must stop. In Side B’s turn a hand to hand combat is obligatory because of the ZoC rule. The defending foot is now the attacker. Do the mounted troops lose their impact and fight as if disrupted? They are being attacked but are they inside the broken ground?

Multiple Attacks.
If a unit charges into contact with the middle unit of three enemy units who are side by side does the multiple attack rule apply to the defenders? The multiple attack rules refer to the ‘attacker’ and not the defender although the ZoC rule states that he is in hand to hand combat with them automatically. Can the attacker just choose to attack just one of the three enemy units or must he fight all three? We realise that the multiple attack rule would apply in the subsequent defender's turn.

I look forward to your response.

Robert McLean

Hi Robert
Stakes only work to the front they are facing not all round
yes shooting units can
broken ground not sure
multi attack the defender can use all 3 units but if they lose the result applies to all 3 units
Dane

Hi Robert,
Stakes, once planted only apply to two hex sides, usually the front two. The other 4 hex sides remain open. When a line of point facing units have a line of stakes in front of them they are still open to attack from the side or rear.

Shooting
Shooters can shoot as a priority target any enemy unit making contact with themselves and can change facing before shooting as long as they are not currently disrupted.
They can shoot at any enemy unit within range (usually 2 hexes), provided that they have a clear line of hexes to the target hex including enemy units making contact with other friendly units. Applying the 'half hex' rule is the best way of identifying legitimate targets - shooters must be able to see more than half the target hex from the hex from which they are shooting.

Broken ground
Any unit engaged in hand-to-hand combat either already occupying or fighting into broken ground has no impact bonus. Cavalry that occupy a broken ground hex fight as if disrupted.

Multiple attacks
The 'attacker' must fight every unit to which he has made hex-to-hex contact. When a single unit is attacking a line of units this means moving into contact with two enemy units.

I hope the above responses helps to clarify a few areas. happy HHM gaming!

Hi Paul

Thank you for your comprehensive answers which I have read carefully. My thanks to Dane as well who responded with his helpful views.

The shooting position is very clear and from your answer I assume archers can fire into enemy units who are in the contact phase but cannot fire at enemy units who are in their melee phase.

Broken ground - does that mean that the cavalry are not disrupted and have only lost their impetus? They have not actually entered the broken ground so this makes sense.

Multiple attacks - I assume from your answer that the defenders apply the multiple attack rule as they are three units to the attacker's one unit. There is no other mechanism open to them.

We have played a number of games so far and are becoming proficient in the rules. We are working on a campaign game and looking forward to the re-release of the missing Kallistra fortifications and above all version 2 of the rules.

Regards

Robert

Hi Robert,
Broken ground
Yes, the cavalry unit will only loose its inpact bonus when fighting a unit occupying a broken ground hex. Once the cavalry have entered the broken ground they fight 'as if disrupted' i.e. they cannot count their number of stands in hand-to-hand combat. They might later become actually disrupted as a result of combat as they will be dissadvantaged by trying to fight in such terrain.

Mutiple attacks
In HHM it is the ability to outnumber oponents at particular locations on the field thatis a key element of the rules. Fom a tactical perspective its better to charge into contact or recieve a charge in a line of units than as a single unit - its difficult to achieve a two to one unit advantage against a well organised attacking or defencive line.

Hi
Read the response for cavalry and broken ground with interest. We've always played it that cavalry really do need to operate in open ground to be effective. The rules seem to reinforce this, with cavalry being counted as disrupted when fighting in difficult terrain (woods, broken ground, etc) or against units occupying this terrain. There is an exception if involved in a fight against multiple opponents, then the cavalry can use it's full strength if any of the enemy units are in the open. The earlier response states that cavalry only become disrupted when IN the broken terrain, and not disrupted when fighting units in the broken ground when they themselves are not. If so, does this also apply to other terrain which have the same wording in the rules- woodland, villages/towns, etc. If confirmed, this would have a significant impact on how we have interpreted the rules and play the game,
Many thanks

Hi
When cavalry/mounted units occupying an open ground hex but are engaged in hex-to-hex contact with a unit occupying a river,wood, broken ground, or built up area hex they fight as normal but lose any impact bonus.
A good example would be a unit of 4 heavy cavalry stands,with a combat factor of 5 and a +4 impact bonus, would fight with a value of 9 and not 13 as the impact bonus cannot be used.
Once the same heavy cavalry unit follows up or moves into a wood, river, broken ground hex etc. it would fight 'as if disrupted' in that it cannot count its impact or number of stands, only its combat factor of 5.
When occupying one of these aforementioned terrain hexes, the heavy cavalry can become disrupted in the normal way as a result of shooting or hand-to-hand combat and receive a red counter. This disruption can only be removed when the unit is no longer in hex-to-hex contact with an enemy unit at the end of its sides movement phase.
If the cavalry unit leaves the terrain hex and enters an open ground hex, either through normal movement or following-up after combat, then the unit will fight as normal; counting stands and any applicable impact bonus.

Many thanks for the clarification.
Is this new way of treating cavalry in difficult terrain part of the updated rules we are eagerly awaiting the release of?