Colonial Campaigns Club (CCC)

None. Next topic. No lengthy historical substance needed.
Doesnt have to be documented and scribed in triplicate.
They dont work. Try Lines!

Actually Bill, I'd have to disagree with you. There are at least two advantages to doing it, which is why it is a legit discussion

1). Mobility. There are times that by using roads you can make an attack you could not otherwise. Also, if you are trying to approach to melee, you get 2 more hexes of movement than you would if you advanced and then changed into line before making the final advance.

2). No risk of Disruption. If you are using LMD ( a must to my mind), advancing to melee is always a bit iffy. Going in in column renders that a non issue.


Please, do not take this to mean I advocate column melees. I avoid it except for the solitary case of attacking across bridges-fords. Just making the point of where it can be useful if you choose to do it.

They don't ever disrupt due to movement.

Changes facing almost every time a unit changes direction without extra movement costs.

Gains +10% bonus in melee for not firing prior to melee since unit can't fire.

Lower movement costs for most terrain types than lines.

Ok girls lets read the title of the topic:
The Benefits of ATTACKING (as in meleeing) in the EAW series.

Al got it partly right - columns do get a 10 percent bonus for meleeing for not firing prior to melee BUT SO DO LINES AL! BOUNCE that argument outta here. When a LINE doesnt attack it also gets a 10 percent bonus. Sheesh you dont even know your own game system. For your information straight from the manual (1776.hlp):

"If no attacking units have fired in the Turn or preceding Offensive Fire Phase, then 10% is added to the attacking strength."

All the rest only deal with mobility and are you trying to say that because columns can move six hexes in a turn and lines only four that this is a huge bonus?

First, in my games I always kept my flanks protected thus the idea of some galoot running in around my lines is out right away. Anyone that leaves their flank open AND a road near it deserves to be carved up.

Oh, and Al, why not reduce the benefit of being in column on roads so that they are more historically portrayed as in Dierk's nice lengthy doctoral disertation?

Second, in the one phase system you can shoot the column full of holes in most cases and it would actually have a better chance of disrupting than a line! A Line will take 1-2 losses in most cases while a column takes 3-5. And in your own fire phases it something like Lines:4-5 vs. Columns:6-12. Since the morale test will fail more often due to more losses then it is easy to point this out.

Thirdly, if John didnt want columns to have such influence and not be able to melee then why werent they coded that way? Oddly enough I think he left it in so that infantry could attack across bridges which is the only time I will ever melee in Column. Otherwise why should folks have to take such a simple game system and choke it up with House Rules at all?

Thus I hear what you are saying but it doesnt answer my many victories over column players. History talks loudly but victories shout to the world.

Repeat after me...

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