Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a great holiday season and got to spend time with friends and family. I know I did. During the break, I spectated a game of ASL that had an interesting rout question. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.
The Situation
There were far more units on the map in actual play than I have left here on the map. I removed those which were not essential. Only the remaining units are pertinent to the discussion. Also note, the CX units in K10 are British. It is the rout phase. What happens to the broken Germans in W9?
We can rule out routing to X8 since that Location remains Adjacent to the AFV in W8. Hexes X9 and W10 cannot be ignored since the British units in Y9 and K10 are not Known Enemy Units (KEU) to the routing units in W9. The routing units can rout or Low crawl to Either X9 or W10.
Routing
If it routs to X9, the units in Y9 and K10 become Known to the German units. Since it is Adjacent to the Brits in Y9, it must continue to rout. From its new Location in X9, it cannot choose X10, W10, W9, or X8. Even if it COULD choose I10, it cannot reach I10 without routing through a Location Adjacent to a KEU. A unit can only rout from an Adjacent KEU to a second Location Adjacent to a KEU when leaving KEU’s Location. Even then, it can only move Adjacent to the unit in its Location and not some other unit on the board. Since it is Adjacent and cannot rout, the unit Surrenders to the British unit in Y9 or gets eliminated for Failure to rout if No Quarter is in effect.
If the unit routs to W10, it again sees the Adjacent unit in K10. This time, it does not see the unit in Y9. It cannot stay in W10 so now what? X10, V10, or W9 are invalid destinations since it would route Adjacent to KEU (remember, the AFV in W8 begins as a KEU). It could choose to ignore X9 since it is no further from the AFV in W8. If it ignores the X9, there is nowhere to go and it would surrender to the British units in K10. If it opts to rout to X9, it is in the same situation we previously discussed and surrenders to the units in Y9.
Conclusion
In the end, it turns out the broken unit chooses where it wishes to surrender. If it Low Crawls to W10, it surrenders to K10. Any other rout will see it end up in X9 where it will Surrender to Y9. I could be one of these routs is more useful to the routing player so take some care when routing. After all, even broken units can serve a purpose if you’re looking. I hope you find this as interesting as I did. Until next time.
Colophon
This article is the 100th article appearing on my blog. Put another way, I have posted over 3 posts per month covering ASL in the last 27 months. I have had two different guest authors accounting for 4 posts while I have authored the other 96 articles.
I have created short pieces and long in-depth studies of various topics covering everything from game play to planning. My longest piece is a combination of articles appearing on my blog and in LFT’s From the Cellar #12. This page links to a 75 page PDF containing my thoughts on planning, attacking, defending, and how to use Fortification in ASL. Some of my best work covers AFV combat. MMP published another article in Journal 13.
I am very proud of the work I have done so far and I hope you still find my work interesting and worth reading. I know I still enjoy writing it.
Thanks Jim – a fun little puzzle, which I managed to solve correctly. Even more interesting is that if the W10/X10 hexside is woods, you get one of those cases where at first you don’t think a rout is possible, but it is. In that case the brokie can target X9, get there and find the 457, recalculate and rout to X10, find the CX stack and end up in I10! I’ve learned to never give up quickly on rout paths 🙂
I believe you have a typo.
“If it routs to X9, the units in Y9 and K10 become Known to the German units. Since it is Adjacent to the Brits in K10, it must continue to rout.”
Should it read?
“If it routs to X9, the units in Y9 and K10 become Known to the German units. Since it is Adjacent to the Brits in Y9, it must continue to rout.”
Apologies if I misunderstood. Keep up the great posting!
You’re correct. I fixed the article. Thanks for catching that. — jim
“Hexes X9 and W10 cannot be ignored since the British units in Y9 and K10 are not Known Enemy Units (KEU) to the routing units in W9.”
Technically hex W10 can be ignored because it is 8 hexes from the (in LOS) British unit in O10, and the broken unit also starts 8 hexes from O10.
The end result, won’t change though.
Thanks Jim for your effort. I always enjoy reading your pieces.
Thanks for your work.
Just one doubt. If the british 247 was not there. Could the german chose V10 or U10 ignoring its own Wood or first has to go to W10 and after meeting the CX units there change to U10?
If the German 2-4-7 were not there, the broken unit could not ignore W10. A lot of people confuse the rule allowing a unit to ignore its own building with woods. There is no such rule for woods. Have a closer read of A10.51, particularly the EXC.
One it gets to W10, it would Surrender to the unit in K10.
Sorry it took me so long to answer. I have been away playing ASL.