In my current Atlanta campaign I prolonged an unlimbered arty one hex back from a wooded hex to a clear hex both hexes at the same elevation. I am offering this only to illustate that the prolonge to the rear to a clear hex seems to mean that only the hex MOVED to must be clear. I orginally thought that what was meant was that both the occupied hex AND the hex moved to had to be clear...i.e. clear to clear. That is not the case, at least in my experience.
In answer to why one would want to do this? I was in a situation where my unlimber arty was threatened by capture from an adjacent enemy, who happily chose NOT to melee my hex which contained both arty and infantry. Therefore I had the opportunity to skeedaddle on my movement turn. HOWEVER, we are playing the historical WITH weather rules and I was quite sure that if I tried to limber and then move back that I would have accomplished ONLY limbering and not have enough movement points remaining...IN THE RAIN at the time...to not move even one hex backwards. I was actually amazed that I could do the prolonge from the woods to the rear clear...in the rain.
For what it is worth.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by mihalik</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by shoeless
Bill is right (good work, thanks). For those, like me, who have never successfully executed a retire by prolonge yet, when the rules say "clear" as in <i>clear </i>hex, it means CLEAR hex [:)] ... i.e., not "field" hex, or any other terrain hex on the map.
Furthermore, and this should come as a shocker to at least one - me - that if we fire a gun, it is instantly disqualified from executing the retire by prolonge - this, despite the obvious benefit of a gun's recoil, which already begins the 'retire' process.
Why would ANYONE think to employ this option!? Because, THE ONLY REASON one would think to use an RBP routine is <i>if</i> one wished to fire his guns before executing a one-hex pull back. And, because, in clear terrain, a gun shall ALWAYS have sufficient MP's to limber its guns, move one hex to the rear, unlimber the guns, and then execute an about face! ...and all this WITHOUT suffering the added humiliation of "disruption!"[:(]
So, tell me, who is actually putting this rule to good effect in play? And, if anyone should come forward, in precisely what situation(s) do YOU see such a routine to work to any good effect? ==Denny</i><hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Hi, Shoeless,
The reason you would employ retire by prolongue in the game is twofold;
1) You can move AND fire, something you can't do if you limber up and move one hex to the rear and unlimber.
2) (single turn play only) It makes you less likely to lose your crew to opportunity fire.
Personally, I think the rule is more restrictive than it needs to be, but it is better than no rule at all, imho.
Historically, I can recall only one instance in the Civil War when this tactic was used, by Bigelow's 9th Mass Bty at Gettysburg. Here is how Pfanz describes it in his book "Gettysburg: The Second Day":
<i> Bigelow's Ninth Massachuseets Battery ws the last to leave its position on the Wheatfield Road line. By the time McGilvery had dismissed it with a "limber up and get out", the men of the 21st Mississippi, and perhaps some of Kershaw's men, were passing east from the Peach Orchard against the battery and the last Federal formations in the Wheatfield. Kershaw's men, probably from the 2nd South Carolina, assailed Bigelow's Battery from the front and left; Alexander's guns had opened on it from the Emmitsburg Road; and the 21st Mississippi swept toward it from the Peach Orchard. McGilvery's terse order came almost too late.
Bigelow feared that if his guns stopped firing to limber up, the Confederate infantry would be on them like a pack of wolves, shoot the drivers and capture the immobile guns. To prevent this Bigelow ordered the guns to retire by prolongue. He wrote that the guns' recoil propelled their withdrawal and that the prolongues were used to steer them in the proper direction. And yet the limbers had to be there to supply them with ammunition and to move the guns between shots. </i>
I could see a situation in a game where it could be advantageous to retire by prolongue, and in fact recently experienced a situation where I probably should have used it but just didn't think of it at the time.
I'm not sure why you can only move directly back, why only clear terrain and not fields, and why it gets disrupted, but as I stated earlier, it is better than no RBP capability at all. At least from a historical standpoint.
MG Mike Mihalik
1/III/AoMiss/CSA
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Major General
Tom Ciampa
Commanding Officer, AoC,
XIV Corps, Cumberland Sabres
Games: TS/BG: AN, BR, CH, GB, SH - HPS: AT, CTH, GB, OZK, SH, VK
ACWGC 
ACWGC Memorial
CSA HQ
VMI
Join CSA
Union HQ
Join Union 
Login
FAQ
Search
Members
