Our editors have been going over AW recently and have advised me of a few items that require clarification or outright changes. These will hold true for MW as well.

The first involves Fragmented units and missile fire. Before, they were treated as disordered, getting to fire only 1/2 of their stands. Bruce and I have decided to count them the same as Fragmented units in a close combat, they only get to fire with 1/2 of their front rank.

For tournament victory conditions, we have changed the one point for enemy not on your side of the table to count one point for any non-skirmisher unit you have on the enemy side of the table at game's end.

We will also be including examples of wedges fighting.

The latest SAGA had one piece that was inaccurate. On page 23-24, under “Medieval Warfare Revisited”, it states that "Foot will definitely not be allowed to expand out while pushing back an enemy."

The over-riding mechanism of rules play is not so much rigidity of formations as it is for allowing the 'winning side' to exploit his advantage. Jeff has pointed out to me that time and again, you get no advantage when pushing back an enemy without being able to bring more pressure to bear in the way of more troop strength, i.e. allowing the unit to expand out after it pushes back an enemy. Without expansion, you only receive the +1 factor for Deeper Formation, vrs. the very real advantage of having an extra stand or two in combat if allowed to expand out.

I've also been researching an article for Military Heritage (on Bannockburn that will be in the June issue...the next one) and a chapter for the follow-up book to Neglected Heroes. Some recent research by David Nicolle and Michael Prestwich have led me to revise my thoughts on expansion. So.... what does this mean? Well, it means that you revise the rules as follows:

Under the After a Close Combat section of both AW and MW, add the following: “Expanding Out After a Push Back Troops were capable of 'swarming' around the flanks of their enemy or penetrating them to such an extent that they are able to bring more troops to bear on their beleaguered opponents. To simulate this, we allow any units to expand as they push back their opponent. This is done as follows:

After the enemy unit has been pushed back, the winning, following up unit may swing stands from the rear ranks up in line with his front rank, expanding the frontage of the unit by up to one stand per flank.

This may not result in contact with any other units, either friendly or enemy. If other units are in the way, the expansion cannot be done.

That's that. This is an 'official' rule, not an option, so expect to see it used from this point forward. Again, it's more of a mechanism to reward success than anything else. Obviously, you are better off with some troops, such as pike- or long spear-armed staying in their deeper formations and receiving benefits of all their stands fighting in a narrow frontage. Other troops, with axes, javelins or various would more likely take advantage of the chance to 'swarm' out and around a beleaguered enemy, bringing as many weapons to bear as possible. Mounted, of course, only fight with one rank anyway, so also would swarm around the flanks when given a chance.

Again, it allows you, the commander, another option.

Other than typos, poorly worded text and placement of portions of the rules, expanded examples will be included to update the AW rules set. There are several semantic changes that should alleviate previous confusion as well.

We will have a couple dozen copies printed up for anyone interested for $25.00 postage paid.