Close combat drive back - how would you have solved that ?

[Claus]

We had recently following nice situation where I actually could not apply any rule found in the rulebook.

Red = Kroxigor
Blue = Temple Guard
Green = Saurus Warrior
Yellow = Cold one Rider
Pink = Pistolieres
Turquoise = Imperial Knights

Following close combat situation.



After close combat result and removing the casualities we had following situation. Close combat got won by Lizzardmen.



In which direction should the imperial Knights do their Drive Back keeping in mind that Kroxigore got killed completely (so no more front contact with enemy) and Cold one Riders are only in contact on edge (according to rule book this does not count for determing the direction ) ??

[spiritusXmachina]

They'd need to move away from the red Kroxigors.
The rules say that a unit has to move away from the enemy that it had most edge contact with (in short). As this is a multiple combat it does not matter that the Kroxigors have been killed. They would move besides the yellow Cold One Riders which could continue their fight. All other units would have to "invest" their Advance Move to fight them.

[Getlord]

I would disagree:

The direction of the retreat may be less clear if the
unit is fighting enemy from several directions at the
same time. In this case, the unit retreats from the
greatest number of touching enemy stands (front,
side or rear – corners are ignored). If this is equal, the
retreating player can nominate which of the possible
directions it will retreat. See Diagram 44.4.
In a few cases, a unit’s formation may be arranged so
that the direction of the retreat is in doubt. In this
case, identify the retreating stand touching the most
enemy and work out the unit’s retreat relative to that,
as shown in Diagram 45.1. If all stands face the same
number of enemy, the player can decide which to use.

You have to retreat form the enemy which has the most actually touching stands, so it means after removing casualities.

[Claus]

Yep when reading rule book ..Getlord is right....after removing casualities you have to retreat from enemy with mos contact and "corners are ignored" ....that´s the nice situation.

You will not retreat from a unit that got killed

In our case we decided to retreat from the Cold one cavalry as it was the only contact still existing ....but you her we have already my next question:

What direction would Imperial Knights have to go if the Kroxigor and the 1 stand of Cold one Knights touching them got killed (removed as casuality) and Lizzardmen still winning the close combat ? --> No more enemy contact. Close combat lost. --> Which direction to retreat ?

If I consider this 2nd scenario it would make sense to retreat from the enemy having had most contact with at the start of the close combat even it got killed completely.

Have fun in finding solution for this riddle

Cheers
Claus

[spiritusXmachina]

Mmmh, interesting.
In that case the Imperial Knights would have been able to choose where they wanted to retreat as enemy touching corner to corner don't count.
The same would be the case if all touching enemy stands would have been destroyed.

Greetings,
Gerald

[Ulric Tom]

as Gerald says, you've have no units in contact (corners don't count) so you would be able to choose which direction to flee away from the enemy (rulebook as presented by getlord), hence, you won't flee toward the combat, that's the only limitant