Pulse of Battle Q&A from the Piquet Yahoogroup 2014

Q: Light Cavalry when in deep formation can shoot all around. It

therefore seems odd that unless I throw even I can not move in
any direction. I ended up side stepping the max movement to the
side which just looked wrong. Am I doing something wrong?
A": They are still a unit, and cannot simply "transport" to a
completely different space - they have the advantage of Skirmish
movement, as well as being able to sidestep twice as much as
other units, so they are still very flexible. Give them too much
maneuvering advantage and then they get used as super "attack
the flank" units which is just wrong. Unless that's what you want
- they are your rules now!
Q: If I am light cavalry facing cavalry which is 6" away and the
cavalry have thrown up 4 on an even throw they can charge to
contact. The Light cavalry can evade. Can it evade each segment
or just once during the whole enemy movement phase? If it can
only evade once it is automatically caught so why evade and run
the risk of being disordered?
A: In this instance, you're probably not in the best situation to
evade! Evasion needs to be considered prior to the "get out of jail
free" type move. The enemy is close in your example - probably
too close for safety. Evade when they're farther out. See the
evasion rules.
Q: Just for absolute clarity that means that to use my Light
Cavalry bow and still have a chance of evading other cavalry I
need to operate between 10" and 8" away from the cavalry. Any
further away and I can not fire. Any closer and a Triple Move
means the cavalry can catch the Light cavalry even if they evade.

This is the case even for Cataphracts.

A: The choice is all yours on how you control your cavalry. Do
you want to risk being charged? Play it aggressively and move
up/fire/fall back and still end up close? Or are you more cautious
and wait for double or triple moves to give you more cushion.
Remember - the enemy also rolls for movement as well. Just
because you are 1 move away doesn't mean that he'll get there.
He could roll a 1! Or, the tactical situation might make it a bad
choice for him to advance, or?????
Q: What happens if evading away from a unit would take the
evader off the table edge? Can they come back? Are they lost and
if so how does that affect the UI and Morale points situation?
At: Since they are evading, and not routing, I'd give them the
benefit of the doubt and move along the baseline. I wouldn't
remove them from the table.
Q: In the melee resolution are there just three classes light,
medium and heavy? I had elephants vs heavy cavalry and did not
know if Elephants should count as heavier than the heavy cavalry.
A: Yes, 3 classes. See page 10. Elephants are defined as Heavy.
Q: In 4.5 Interpenetration do I take it that the bullet points only
apply to Medium and Heavy units? As such there is no penalty to
either unit if Lights are interpenetrating mediums or heavies or
visa versa?
A: First line of 4.5 - "Interpenetration is allowed by and through
all Light Infantry and Light Cavalry". The tighter restrictions
(bullet points) apply to Medium and Heavy units.
Q: If an elephant is behind but touching a unit of Mediums and the

elephants roll even and plus 4 on a move card can they move
through to the other side of the medium unit and then use a full
move segment to charge an enemy unit?
A: First line above the bullet points - "To interpenetrate a friendly
unit, movement in a segment stops at contact with the friendly
unit". So, if you start the move already in contact, then yes, you'd
move to the other side on a move segment. If you weren't in
contact, 1 segment to touch the friendly unit, 1 segment to move
to the other side of the friendly unit (still in contact). If you were
lucky enough to roll a triple move, then you could use that 3rd
segment to move into contact with the enemy.
Q: I noticed in the Melee card definition there is a reference to an
UP 1 for the initiator of the Melee. There does not seem to be any
other reference to this in the rules or the play sheet. Is it just
something that had slipped through from FoB2?
A: Aargh. Yes - its still there in effect - the shock modifier. But
it's not the same as the blanket initiating melee modifier from
FoB2.
Q: Destruction and Pursuit; if an enemy unit is beaten in combat
by Cavalry or Warband, and that beaten units losing roll was odd,
then Cavalry or Warband have to pursue. But if you destroy an
enemy unit who lost on an odd roll, do you still pursue (with the
loss of a UI)? As we read the rules, we thought not as the initial
rule on pursuing on page 56 says you only do it if they fall back.
However, the logic of the UI loss is that the unit has lost
casualties/moral/motivation, etc, and technically speaking is still
there when it reaches 0 UI. So assuming that destroyed enemy is
still there and routing away from you, should it be pursued?
A: My intent would be for the condition to cause the pursuit, even
if the UI loss destroys the enemy. If they don't roll odd and lose
all UI, you wouldn't pursue.

Q: We were not clear as to how the moves available to Light

Bow Infantry differed to those that can use Skirmish Movement.
On page 29 the rules say that light units can always continue to
move after shooting, up to the full amount they are allowed.
Later, on page 30, in describing Skirmish Movement, the rules say
that skirmishing light units (so not including Light Bow Infantry)
can move forward, shoot, and retire at full speed, ending up
facing the enemy. It states that this move is not available to Light
Bow Infantry.
The question we have is that taking the rules for movement on
page 29, this seems to mean that a unit of Light Bow Infantry
could (if it had 2 or three move segments available to it) move
forward, shoot and then move backwards at full speed (which it is
allowed to under the rules on movement to the rear on page 29)
and end up facing the enemy. How does this then differ from
Skirmish Movement, which is specifically not available to this
troop type?
A: The difference is that Skirmish movement allows full
movement to the rear as well. Light Bow Infantry isn't "skirmish"
like Psiloi and Peltast (unless that is how you want to classify
them for your game), so they can fire and move, but only forward,
or rearward with the 1/2 speed penalty.
Q. What is Skirmish Movement? From what I can see it's the
ability to move up, fire, and move to the rear without penalty
facing the enemy. Isn't that the same capabilities given to ALL
light units?
Page 29 - Light units (Light Bow Infantry, ...) can always can
always continue to move after shooting; up to the full amount
they are allowed.
Page 29 - Light units (Light Bow Infantry,...) may move to the rear
without penalty, up to the total maximum movement allowed.
A: The difference is that Light Bow infantry cannot use Skirmish
Move and thus cannot do all three - move forwards, shoot, and
then move backwards, or, for that matter, move forwards and

backwards on the same MOVE card (of course, not much reason
to do so, unless they were going to shoot). That is what
differentiates Skirmish Movement form regular movement. In
addition, Light Bow Infantry when moving to the rear move at 1/2
speed like all formed troops.
Additional Clarification re: Light bow infantry:
Skirmish troops can move forward, shoot and move back in 1
segment (thats Skirmish Movement).
Lbi can move forward and shoot at any time in that move and
continue moving forward (1 segment).
Medium and Heavy troops can move forward and shoot or
shoot and move forward (1 segment).
Q: Indirect shooting; just how many layers of missile troops can
one have behind a front unit? The rules simply state that they
have to be deployed behind, and touching the unit in front to be
able to do this. So you could have several units of medium
infantry archers behind spearmen, or indeed a number of units of
horse archers behind each other, or next to each other if in deep
formation and shooting sideways. Was there intended to be a limit
on how many ranks could do this?
A: It is a single unit. On page 41 - Indirect Missile Combat: A unit
that is deployed behind and touching a friendly unit to its front....
Q: Leaving the table: if your fall back move would take you off
the table, do you in fact leave the table, or do you slide along an
edge or stop? And if you do leave the table, should you lose any
remaining UIs?
A: I allow them to stay on the table.
Q:

Bow armed cavalry; the rules specifically mention light

cavalry, light chariots and horse archers as having bows; they

also mention that medium cavalry might have them. This may
seem a naive question, but can heavy cavalry or cataphracts
have them as well? I am not asking about a particular period in
history, but more in principle; ie was it intended that these troop
types be allowed missile weapons, or are they to be regarded as
purely melee troops?
A: If you have them, the rules will work with them. You can rate
as you wish - its a huge time period, and I'm certain that they
existed somewhere, sometime.
Q: Warbands: in our game with the Republican Romans versus
the Celts, the Celtic warbands got thrashed by the Roman
infantry, and we couldnt see how warbands could in fact stand up
to the Romans. In all our melees, they started at best equal to
the Romans, and often went one or more die-class down in
subsequent turns, even though the Romans had lost their HTW.
One obvious advantage was to have the warbands in deep
formation, and have two hit the Roman linear formation one after
the other. We also thought about playing around with proportions
of heavy and medium foot in each army (eg making more Romans
medium okay in an early Republican army, but not in a later
Republican or Imperial one, and/or making more warbands
heavy). However, none of these seemed to be an answer to their
relative weakness in this scenario. So we wondered if you had
any suggestions as to tactics to make them more effective?
A1: Warband Charging is near the top of the Shock listing, so
they will get that benefit in the first melee round. They won't
have the greatest staying power, since they are typically Medium
infantry, vs. Heavy infantry. Warband could double up on a linear
opponent if they go into the deep formation. They also treat
terrain as 1 class lower for movement. They are a volatile lot, as
they will also tend to pursue. They're a challenge, but that's the
fun!
A2: For an all "Barb" army like the Celts or Gauls, I'd add one, or

maybe even 2 Warbands Charge Cards to the Barbarian Deck.

These cost no impetus to turn, and allow additional movement
and melees where the WB will get the UP 1 for Shock in the
opening round in most cases.
I'd also definitely add the "Hairy
Barbarians" card to the "CiviIlized" Sequence deck as well - that
makes up to THREE extra chances for Barb movement and
charges. Of course the Barbarian Leaders and Sequence deck will
likely be inferior, but still, that's a heck of a lot of mobility and
charge opportunities. Finally, the Barbarians should probably
outnumber their civilized opponents by ? 25-50% or so - more
flank threats, more Morale Points to burn.
The Roman (etc) player should know his troops and leaders are
better man for man, but the crush of seemingly endless Barbs
charging them again and again should make the battle feel like a
struggle to keep their heads above the tide of hairy unwashed
Barbs. Some might liken this to waiting at the entrance to the Flea
Market at Historicon when they open the gates. :-)
Q: At page 68 under Warband Charge card's definition it says
that: units moving on a Warband Charge card will modify their
Quality Die Up 3... What's a quality die? And where may I find the
QD for units?
A: Quality Die is the same as the Defense Die.
Q: On page 39 under Rampaging Elephant , after the die for
sliding where may I find the rampaging back distance?
A: The Rampage distance is just the same as the Fall Back
distance for normal combat - "rampage" is just a term used to
capture the random nature of the unit's movement when it "routs"
- goes to 0 UI.
Q: On page 58 under multiple melees it reads: Hits do not carry
over from previous melees to multiple melees. What this exactly
means? I can not accumulate hits from my multiple units

meleeing a single enemy unit? If so, where is the advantage of

attacking with more than one unit, with narrower frontage, such
as Deep or in a Phalanx?
A: The advantage is that UI losses and/or Disorder suffered from
melee with the first unit will apply to the outnumbered unit in its
combat with the second unit.
Q: What is the point of Horse Archers? As far as I can tell, they
work the same as bow armed light cavalry except that they have
a 360 degree arc of fire when in deep formation. This would let
them maneuvre interestingly while shooting. Is that the intention?
A: Yes. The 360 arc combined with the very flexible movement
makes them quite the handful to deal with.
Q: I note that bows have the same range for infantry and cavalry.
I assume that this is because these rules pre-date longbows but I
am slightly surprised.
A: Our group discussed differentiating foot vs. horse bow ranges.
However, it would only be a couple of inches, and given the way
skirmishing units have movment flexibility, as well as the way the
opportunity shooting works, that difference is never seen on the
table.
Q: I was expecting some advantage for lance armed cavalry such
as cataphracts. Instead, they work just the same as heavy cavalry
armed with swords. Or do cataphracts count as heavier in melee
than heavy cavalry or heavy infantry? I assume that the answer is
to give such troops a higher quality and so a higher DD.
A: I didn't want to go down the path of identify weapons that a
unit was armed with in order to give them an advantage. You can
account for it in the ratings as you suggest.

Q: I don't see any advantage to being in deep formation in

melee. Is it just that this will allow two units in deep to attack one
unit in linear formation? But the linear unit has just as good a
chance of beating off both the deep units. In FoB there was some
advantage to depth for melee.
A: Similar to the answer above, I didn't see evidence to suggest
that whether a unit was in 6 or 8 ranks made much difference.
Spear and pike armed units have the Deep option as well as the
much deeper Phalanx deployment options available to them.
Otherwise, it just didn't seem significant to worry about my
Romans being in 6 ranks vs. 8 or 10 "ranks" of smelly German
barbarians. And yes - PoB "is" different than FoB. It went
through quite an evolution to get where it is, but it models what I
wanted - troop type, troop capability, the fog of war, and most
importantly, the friction on the battlefield.
Q: What happens when a unit gets a second disorder? I think it
loses an integrity but I couldn't find it in the heat of battle.
A: Nothing. A 2nd disorder doesn't further hurt the unit.
Disorder is defined on page 70 in the glossary. It works the same
as "Out of Command" in FoB, but "Out of Command" doesn't have
the right descriptive sound for the ancient era....
Q: What happens on a lull card when the other player seizes the
initiative but has no cards left to play? Does he shuffle his deck
and turn a card?
A: Nothing. The turn is probably very nearly over if this has
happened.

Q: Under 4.5 Interpenetration it says that Romans can

interpenetrate freely without movement penalties, but they still

have to roll win even on the move card to do it, right?
A: Romans amaze and befuddle their enemies! See page 37 while other medium and heavy infantry require a won even
movement roll, and then have penalties (stop on contact, then
move to other side), Roman medium and heavy units can always
interpenetrate, without movement penalties.
Q: Can you shoot when evading? We had LBi were in front of MI
bow, and wanted to evade the former from my charging HISp. As
light troops the rules say they can shoot and carry on moving. In
fact light troops can shoot at any point in their move and then
move to their full extent, whilst MI/HI can shoot and move, or
move and shoot. So we accepted that he could shoot, and then
evade. Is this correct?
A: It would really be non-initiative fire ("Opportunity Fire"), so yes,
if you aren't marked as having already shot, they can shoot.
Q: The rules talk about making a full move when evading. Do
they mean the absolute maximum distance a unit can move, or
the maximum distance a unit can move backwards? The latter is
relevant to LBi and then MI & HI (and other troop types?) as they
can only move half a move backwards (so is that half move their
full move?).
A: Yes, it is a full move segment - no rearward move penalty.
They're evading - skedaddling, running.....
Q: Rampaging elephants move the required distance, but that
term is not defined. Is it in line with their normal movement, eg
so much forwards, so many base widths sideways, so much to the
rear, etc. Or is there a separate distance we should be using?
A: The required distance for rampaging elephants is whatever the

number of hits were to cause them to drop to 0 UI - the same as

fall back distances.
Q: When units fall back from melee through other friendly units
should it cause disorder to the units passed through and the unit
falling back?
A: Disorder is not caused by falling back through a unit. You can
add this as a house rule if you wish, its just not in the rules as
published (nor was it intended to be).
Q: The Roman CinC died in battle. We didn`t get to revealing a
new Leader card. We understand that at that point a new CinC
would be selected from the sub commanders. Our query is what
happened before then? Unable to find it in the rules when we
rolled for Initiative we just rolled a d6 for the Romans. What
should we have done?
A: Check page 61 - Effects of Losing the Army Commander. Things
are grim if the big guy takes a dirt nap!
Q: A unit advances on a light unit and it evades; then the evader
is charged by another unit, can it attempt to evade again or can it
only have one evade attempt per segment?
A: It can evade again.