Early arrival by brilliant stroke

[arvnranger]

p31, para2: Arrival of Delayed or Flank Marching Commands

"A command including a Brilliant general can also arrive on a score 1 less, but if he does it expends 1 of his 2 brilliant strokes".

Does this mean the brilliant stroke is expended *after* the PIP die is rolled?

Cheers,
Ivan.

[Orcoteuthis]

I read it that once you've rolled one less than required, a brilliant general has the choice to spend one of his brilliant strokes to arrive anyway.

[foxgom]

P16. "Flank attack"

The Flank Attack is a flank attack and not a flank march.

The flank attack is treated like a flank attack but needs 1 less on the die.

A brilliant commander can decide to send a command on a flank attack but then his brilliant stroke is spent at the game start.

He could instead choose a flank march, but not "have his cake and eat it" by changing from march to attack just because he rolled a 5.

neil

[arvnranger]

A CinC orders his Brilliant sub general to flank march (not employing the Flank Attack stratagem). That sub general's first PIP die (rolled independently of the others) is a 5. May the player, having seen the PIP die, elect to have that Brilliant sub general immediately expend a brilliant stroke and arrive next bound?

Cheers,
Ivan.

[william]

No Ivan I think he cannot, I think he must elect to use his Brilliant storke at deployment time. I think it basically increases your chance of arriving, again having your cake and eating it :0)

If you play it slightly your way, maybe he should have to use his brilliant stoke before each die roll (a bit like bringing back an unreliable ally), would use up your stokes quickly.

Might be handy with El Cid in a Andalusian army.

William

[arvnranger]

Interesting. This situation came up in a game a couple of years ago and, at the time, I opined that my opponent must spend the brilliant stroke *before* rolling the PIP dice. Revising the rules recently I read through this section again and wondered whether I hadn't been unduly restrictive - IMO the language is not sufficiently specific regarding the timing and precedence of the PIP roll and decision to expend the brilliant stroke. I'll post this to the DBMM list and see if Phil answers. Thanks for your thoughts, lads.

Cheers,
Ivan.

[foxgom]

P22 Last line

the Flank Attack is described as a variant of a Flank March.

Flank marches are fixed at deployment, so flank attacks should also be decided after deployment.

neil

[arvnranger]

the Flank Attack is described as a variant of a Flank March.

The Flank Attack stratagem does not form any part of the query. We're discussing a flank march, a deployment order.

Cheers,
Ivan.

[Tim Child]

Hi guys,

My reading of this is that it applies when a brilliant general (sub or ally) is flank-marching.  If he rolls 1 less than he needs, he can use one of his brilliant strokes to come on.  He doesn't have to do so before he rolls the dice - the moment of brilliance is to get his troops to the field just at the moment that a lesser general would struggle.

Flank attack is a specific stratagem bought by a brilliant CinC and uses one of the CinC's brilliant strokes when it is originally ordered as part of the deployment process.

Tim Child

[LawrenceG1]

THe wording is

"A command including a brilliant general can also arrive on a score 1 less, but if he does it expends 1 of his 2 brilliant strokes."

Clearly, if he does not [arrive on a score 1 less], then it does not expend a brilliant stroke. THat would include arriving on a score that is not 1 less or not arriving at all.