Drilled, Marching Columns and Optimal Unit Size

[Ielthan]

I've been putting some thought into what are the optimal unit sizes for the Old World, particularly to make best use of the drilled rule; the ability to deploy in march column, rapidly move into position and then the next turn redress in to a wide line and charge. It has the potential to be extremely powerful. I've made this post to note down my working and share my thoughts. Any feedback is very welcome.

I know there's a lot of debate around this rule, but a friend pointed out to me that the rule comes from Warhammer Ancient Battles, I went back and checked and he's right. There's a lot of things from WAB that have made it into the old world, in fact I would argue it's perhaps the biggest single influence on TOW in terms of editions, even more so than 6th. There are also key diagrams that have been copied exactly from that book (manoeuvreing while charging, redress the ranks etc.) as well as mechanics such as marching column (called fast march in WAB).

The "Drilled" rule in Warhammer Ancient Battles:

drilled.jpg (161.62 KiB) Viewed 1451 times

As you can see the concept is far more clearly explained in the WAB book and is actually significantly more powerful in WAB than TOW with the ability to turn and not just redress ranks.

Going by this interpretation of being able to redress the ranks before charging, I was thinking about what are the optimal units sizes and formations for our Drilled units in TOW? Combined with the mechanic of your whole front rank being able to attack, it makes things a little interesting.

Marching Column's rules state:

A unit that is deeper than it is wide (i.e., that has more models per file than per rank, as shown in Fig 101.2) is said to be in Marching Column. A Marching Column cannot claim a Rank Bonus and cannot make a charge move, but may triple its Movement characteristic when Marching.

It's a little unclear however does the rear rank have to be complete (i.e. 4 or 5 models) or as long as there is 1 model in the rear rank making the formation deeper than it is wide is that sufficient?

Sample unit sizes for units trying to make use of the marching column ---> redress into close order ---> charge mechanic:

A)

sample 1.jpg (42.27 KiB) Viewed 1451 times

Unit of 7 deploys 2 wide, can redress in to a single line of 7. Perfect for Dragon Princes, maybe Swordmaster darts.


B)

sample 2.jpg (33.89 KiB) Viewed 1451 times

Unit of 13 deploys 3 wide, can redress into a line of 8 with 5 in the second rank for +1 rank bonus. Seems ideal for Swordmasters.


C)

sample 3.jpg (29.6 KiB) Viewed 1451 times

Unit of 17 deploys 4 wide, can redress into a line of 9 wide with + 1 rank bonus, maybe better for Phoenix Guard.
Please note: this sample is only valid if marching columns can have an incomplete rank


D)

sample 4.jpg (36.54 KiB) Viewed 1451 times

Unit of 22 deploys 4 wide, can redress into a line of 9 with +2 rank bonus (heavy infantry), ideal for Phoenix guard.
Please note: increase to 23 to gain +2 rank bonus with regular infantry


I flicked through the other lists, and the only cavalry units in the game that have or have access to Drilled are:

Dragon Princes
Empire Knights
Empire Inner Circle Knights
Blood Knights
Cold One Riders (Lizardmen)
Chosen Chaos Knights

Dragon Princes are the only of these units to have M8, giving them a 24" move in marching column vs 21" for the rest. This may well be a key difference in how they can be used, however it's worth bearing this in mind when you come across the aforementioned units on the tabletop; ensure they cannot march onto your flank and out of charge arc.

People may argue that drilled can also be used in conjunction with countercharge to avoid being caught in marching column, but as this in the enemy turn and not your move phase, I expect that this will not be allowed.

I hope this is useful to others and encourages some tactical discussion. One thing worth considering with these optimisations however is how many casualties can you sustain before you are "knocked" out of marching column, it depends a little on the interpretation how many models need to be in the rear rank. In WAB the rule is a bit more simple, the unit simply has to be a maximum of 3 models wide, which perhaps would have been better.

[Rogmund]

To a infantry, getting the extra 4 or 5 movement for a round or two is a differecemaker.

[Ielthan]

To a infantry, getting the extra 4 or 5 movement for a round or two is a differecemaker.

Yes I imagine marching column is going to become an incredibly important part of competitive play.

[Prince of Spires]

Marching column doesn't mention complete ranks, but specifically states more models per file than per rank. The example given with the rule is inconclusive, since it has a complete rank. So it's hard to be certain. I am on the side that incomplete ranks count. For a unit with 4 ranks, of which the last contains only 2 models, you would still say that that unit is 4 ranks deep. So it has a maximum of 4 models per file.

Though having only 1 model in the last rank is just 1 wound away from dropping out of marching order and messing up your plan.

In general I think marching order is more a gimmick than viable, with 2 exceptions.
One is for drilled units. Being able to redress out of marching order and charging in the same turn means you don't lose much being in marching order (unless you're charged of course), and you gain extra movement. If you're not drilled, then you gain very little and lose a lot in flexibility. Say you want to charge T3. You start in marching order, you march for 3M. Turn 2, you redress out of marching column so you can charge next and move another 1M (assuming the redress moved your models for a maximum of their own M). You've now moved a total of 4M in two turns, the same as when you'd simply marched regularly for those 2 turns.
This also gives the other exception. If you know you will be moving in marching order for more than 2 turns and you don't want to charge anything, then it could be viable. The only scenarios I can come up with here is in mountain pass against a gun-line where you need to cover a lot of ground before you can do anything, or with reserves coming onto the battlefield far away from the action.

[Pash]

The more I read how the Drilled rule is worded and how charge moves work, the more I am convinced that the intention is that you can redress the ranks and then charge. The part that has me convinced is in BBB pg. 126, Manoeuvring During a Charge "Unless stated otherwise, a charging unit cannot perform a turn, move backwards, move sideways, redress the ranks or reform manoeuvre during its charge move". The mere fact that this is mentioned in the Charge section suggests that there are meant to be exceptions and Drilled looks like the most likely candidate. Now, I appreciate it could be clearer and hopefully this will be cleared up in a future FAQ but I suspect this is what the intention from the designers was.

[Pash]

So looks like Drilled has been resolved in today's FAQ update to what most sensible folk have interpreted it as. Being able to Reform Ranks while Giving Ground is interesting though, that's quite a bonus.

[Morgen]

Yeah, it probably should have come up. It makes sense giving ground is just a move so drilled should have been usable. Still in the mindset that any kind of reverse movement is fleeing from WHFB I guess. XD