Tactic of the Week

Todays tactic is what is called Diverting.

The purpose is to draw an enemy into a charge that will cause him to have to turn his flank to a 2nd unit.
I feel there is a good chance you will see this tactic disapearing in 7th ed. The no-redirect rule allows you to basically divert anyone with a flee and flank and is probably a better option. But here it is anyway.


As you can see in this picture, the Lizardman Cold One Saurus are sitting on the hill. A unit of giant rats are trying to get close enough to charge. But since the cold ones have a 14" charge compared to the rats 12, this is almost impossible to do barring a stupidity roll. And even if I do get the charge off, I'm looking at 3 ranks and US (so +4) compared to his banner and possibly a hill. Add on his 15+ str 4 or 5 attacks and I'm in trouble. My only solution is to flank him.

So I set up the throw away slave unit in front of the cavalry unit, angled, but blocking any charge to the giant rats.


The Lizardmen take the bait. They charge down the hill and into the slaves. If the slaves flee, they will almost certainly be run down and possibly out of range of the giant rats to charge.
By staying you are offering several possibilities, while still protecting the giant rats.


The Saurus cav easily dispatch the slaves and run them down as they lose. But even after running 11" (avg for 3d6), it is very difficult to get out of the charge arc of the giant rats. The worry is that if they can roll really, really high, they can still outrun your charge arc. A full 17 or 18" pursuit could take them out of danger an.


And in the final picture the giant rats have swarmed into the flank of the Saurus cav. Now with 3 ranks, US and flank, the Giant rats have +5 compared to only the banner and 3 attacks for the lizardmen. So it is an auto win for the giant rats.

Good luck