Moving Mounted Infantry

[andrew]

You don't think, for example, that mounted Ax can remain mounted when making a tactical move through difficult going, thus giving the horses a mystical ability to double their speed?

  Nope on a number of levels starting with page 29!   

[vexillia]

The trick to understanding mounted infantry is to realise that they are NOT dismounted cavalry - they can be depicted similarly, but behave differently.  the rules are under the same heading, but they are different for each!

Good god!  I agree totally. 

I would add that bundling them with dismounted cavalry has created this issue.  To me it reads like the section on mounted infantry was dropped into the section on dismounting; possibly at a late stage.

[vexillia]

By the way, has anyone figured out the significance of the wording "they deploy as mounted" on page 10?

I think it may be a fossil left over from a previous draft of the rules in which mounted troops had a different deployment zone from foot.

This struck me as strange too.

Alternatively, is it intended that mounted light foot can only be deployed in the heavy troops zone (where Cv(I) or Cm can be deployed)? That seems to be the implication of the rule as written, although it probably makes mounted Ax and Ps less useful than their pedestrian counterparts.

I think you've answered your own question.

[foxgom]

By the way, has anyone figured out the significance of the wording "they deploy as mounted" on page 10?

It will make a difference if you decide to deploy in difficult going further than one (mounted) move from the edge.

neil

[LawrenceG]

By the way, has anyone figured out the significance of the wording "they deploy as mounted" on page 10?

It will make a difference if you decide to deploy in difficult going further than one (mounted) move from the edge.

neil

Makes no difference to deployment in this case. It will result in immediate loss of mounts for being in difficult going.

It would prevent mounted Ax, Bw and Ps from deploying on a craggy hill.

[foxgom]

[/quote]

Makes no difference to deployment in this case. It will result in immediate loss of mounts for being in difficult going.

It would prevent mounted Ax, Bw and Ps from deploying on a craggy hill.
[/quote]


Where does it say that mounted infantry lose their mounts if in difficult?
It states on P10, last para that dismounters lose their mounts under such circumstances, but the mounted infantry have not yet dismounted.

I could imagine using mounted infantry as an ambush and marching out of a wood still mounted.


neil

[LawrenceG]

Makes no difference to deployment in this case. It will result in immediate loss of mounts for being in difficult going.

It would prevent mounted Ax, Bw and Ps from deploying on a craggy hill.

Where does it say that mounted infantry lose their mounts if in difficult?
It states on P10, last para that dismounters lose their mounts under such circumstances, but the mounted infantry have not yet dismounted.

I could imagine using mounted infantry as an ambush and marching out of a wood still mounted.


neil

Yes, but we've already established that mounted infantry are included in "dismounters" for the purposes of that paragraph (otherwise the exception for mounted infantry marching would not be needed).

[MikeCampbell]

I think the deployment thing for mounted infatry is almost certainly a leftover from when some Cv were allowed to deploy in the flank areas, rather than a restiction on the deployment of mounted light infantry.

I'll add it to the DBMM issues wiki that rob Brennan has at http://dbmmnotes.pbworks.com/current+DBMM+rules+issues

[mekkis]

Yes, it makes sense to me now. Just two points I'm not getting.

The list of actions in the penultimate paragraph of page 10 is presumably the actions available to mounted infantry which do not cause them to lose their mounts - "march, interpenetrate, flee, rout".

Is there any conflict here with the last bullet. Does it mean they can interpenetrate as mounted but lose their mounts immediately after unless "they pass through...any but psiloi"?

Similarly, is there a conflict in the fourth bullet - an "outcome move on foot" will lose them their mounts, but fleeing is an outcome move. Do they lose their mounts immediately after the first flee move?

Dave.

[mekkis]

On further refelection I must withdraw that second question as the only occasion on which the infantry will both have their mounts and be fleeing is in Feigned Flight, I believe.

Dave.
 

[LawrenceG]

Yes, it makes sense to me now. Just two points I'm not getting.

The list of actions in the penultimate paragraph of page 10 is presumably the actions available to mounted infantry which do not cause them to lose their mounts - "march, interpenetrate, flee, rout".

Is there any conflict here with the last bullet. Does it mean they can interpenetrate as mounted but lose their mounts immediately after unless "they pass through...any but psiloi"?

Similarly, is there a conflict in the fourth bullet - an "outcome move on foot" will lose them their mounts, but fleeing is an outcome move. Do they lose their mounts immediately after the first flee move?

Dave.

If mounted infantry flee as their mouted type, then flee is clearly not an "outcome move on foot". I think the only relevant flee outcome move is psiloi doubled by train or naval. There are other reasons for a flee move such as arrival by an enemy flank march.


THe question of mounted infantry interpenetrating troops other than psiloi looks to me like a gap in the rule that was not noticed in play testing. As the rules are worded, your interpretation seems valid, but nonsensical. IMO they should interpenetrate as mounted and not lose their mounts, or interpenetrate as foot.