I get the feeling this is a beating the dead horse question. Please do not throw any books or lettuce at me. I looked through all 23 Rules Questions pages and could not find anything on this.
On page 36 Pikes get a +1 for each 2nd and 3rd rank of pikes. The next bit says Pikes with a 4th rank get a +2 versus foot (except psiloi) and train.
Does this mean that a Pike block with 4 stands fighting a foot unit gets the base +3, +2 for the 2nd and 3rd rank and a +2 for the fourth rank? That would give Pikes a +7 in close combat. That seems WAY to high.
As Duncan says, the 4th rank +2 is only available in the Pike player's bound. In the other player's bound the 4th rank bonus isn't available. Plus, Warband and Blade get Quick Kills in their bound against the Pike.
Also worth considering is that the Pk must pursue if victorious, which can quickly lead to columns being double-overlapped.
Finally, the Pk are fairly unmaneuverable. If you'll be facing open competition I expect most opponents will try to get skirmishers or Cv in the way of the Pk and win the battle elsewhere.
Having said that, an Early Sumerian army did very well at Cancon in 2013 in an open competition. So good luck with the army - it's one I've often considered building.
I have DbMM 2.0 ruleset. Was the rule about the 4th rank of pikes giving a -1 to the opponent changed?
Yes. I don't know for sure, but I understand the idea was to simplify the combat system by having all rear support combat modifiers as pluses.
