Brothers At Arms FAQ

The penalty for Hill Steep says "each contour rise" so does that mean the penalty is associated with crossing the border between hexes rather than anything depicted in the actual hexes?

When a counter moves between different levels then a movement penalty of -1 hex is incurred, this relates to the counter slowing its movement rate for going up the hill, not when coming down the hill.

This modifier seems to represent crossing the river, but is it correctly read that in practice it is applied to all travel through river/stream tiles? There's an exception in the rules regarding moving along a river on a road, but could you not similarly be moving along a river without a road present?

Each hex will incur the -1 movement penalty, the terrain along the river/stream normally is broken ground and so will slow and hinder any movement along it.

On the Hoke's Run map there are two hexes just below "Sulpher Springs" where two rivers end. Is it correctly understood that rules wise this gap between the rivers' ends might as well not be there and there is no way to send troops through that gap without paying the penalty for river crossings?

The whole hex must be treated as difficult terrain if a river/stream ends within the hex. When two of these hex's are next to each other treat both hex's as difficult terrain and apply the -1 movement penalty.

Is it correct that a unit is unformed if it ends it's movement in difficult terrain (woods, houses, river, etc) but not in any other hex? How does this work with treating transitions between hexes as difficult terrain (elevation increases). If a unit uses it's last two points of movement to go up a hill is it then unformed? If it has enough movement to go up a hill and then move one hex further is it then not unformed?

A counter that ends its move in a difficult terrain hex will be unformed. Although a steep hill is classed as a difficult terrain hex for the -1 movement penalty its the transition between the hex's and not the hex itself that causes the penalty. A unit of men going through a wood would brake up and become unformed, but walking up a hill will only slow the unit down. They will still retain their present formation and so are not unformed for going up the hill.

Is it correct that the unformed penalty ONLY applies to situations where that unit attacks and not when it is being attacked?

A unit of men firing in a formed line is more effective than a line that fires unformed, hence the -1 penalty to the strength factor for firing. In this instance the strength factor relates to the number of attack dice the counter rolls, when its unformed its effectiveness is less. Its unit strength is the same (i.e. they are still 600 men in the unit, but only 500 might be able to fire effectively), but when attacked they are attacking the full strength of the unit.

If a model with stats 2-6-2 is "Not In Command" but still gets to attack (melee) the NIC penalty would increase the stats to 2-7-2. Does this mean there is no chance of success or is a "6" always a success?

Consider that a 6 is always a hit when rolling your attack dice.

As we read the rules a unit that "flinches" cannot move into a hex that is in an enemy unit's zone of control. If there is no hex to retreat to the unit surrenders. Then the rules state that it takes at least 3 enemy units to box in a unit like this. But as far as I can tell it's possible to do with just two units if they are located directly opposite each other from the flinching unit. Is this an error or are we missing something?

Once a gain you are correct, if you can get TWO units directly opposite then you are Surrounded and will Surrender, although this should be hard to do, hopefully.

Just to be completely sure we understand this correctly. Melee works exactly like ranged attacks, so the target still gets the benefit of cover and the attacker still gets the penalty for being unformed. Is this correct? If so it's nearly impossible to dislodge units that are in cover. At least in the Hoke's Run scenario you need to focus ALL of your units' fire to have a reasonable chance of dispersing or even flinching a strength 3 unit in a town.

The American Civil War period didn't see to many direct close combat (bayonet charges) with men fighting hand to hand, a lot of the time they stopped tens of yards a way and poured round after round of fire into each other.

The road graphic stops whenever the road passes through a town. We've been playing it like the road is still actually there. So you can still move along a road through a town and get the turnpike/local road bonus, but pay the -1 penalty for going through difficult terrain. Is this correct or would you not get the road bonus because the road graphic terminates at the town edge?

If you start on the road and move only on the road to get the movement bonus for roads, you are not penalised for moving through a town, since once again like the streams/rivers you move in a column of march to increase you movement and never come off the road. If you stop or end your movement in the town then you will be Unformed for firing from the town. The road is considered to run right through the town.

The above answer contradicts the rule of page 8 about receiving a -1 movement penalty for moving through difficult terrain when traveling along a road.

When moving along a road to gain the movement bonus of +1 for local roads or +2 for turnpike roads, you will incur a -1 movement penalty for traversing up each steep hill hex side and moving through a wood hex. The later penalty is applied only once, even if two or more wood hexes are traversed in a single movement round. Towns, bridges and fords don't incur a movement penalty for moving through or over them, but you will be unformed if you stop on them.