Day of Battle III - Corrections, Clarifications and FAQs
As of: August 3, 2006

By Eric Lyons - editor at large
This page contains all official rules changes (Section I) and errata (Section II) for Day of Battle III. Clarifications and FAQs are contained in Sections III through VIII. Optional rules that may be used with agreement of both players are in Section IX.

I. Official Changes to 3rd Edition as Published
The following rules have been changed from their "as published" state. These changes should be considered official (and mandatory) and should be used in games provided that all players have been made aware of these changes ahead of time.
[There are no official changes to 3rd Edition at this time]

II. Errors and Corrections
1. The melee example at the bottom of page 34 is wrong in two ways:
— a. Weapon of Choice. The close order heavy Infantry unit would be Weapon of Choice over the skirmisher unit, so its To Hit number should be 14 and not 7. For both of its dice to miss, the example should have rolls of 15 and 18, not 12 and 18, as a 12 would be a hit. Regarding Weapon of Choice in this case, a disorder prevents a unit in block or shield wall from claiming WOC priority #1 on the list. However, WOC priority #6 on the list, "Close order" versus skirmisher (lesser order) can still be claimed, since no WOC priority other than #1 requires the unit to be in good order.

— b. Morale markers. The skirmish unit should receive a total of 5 morale markers as a result of this combat (1 for the Retire move, 2 for losing a melee, and 2 for contacting a formed unit). Also, given the relative position of the two units, the heavy infantry should incur 1 morale marker for being threatened.

III. Command - Clarifications and FAQs
Q: It seems possible to roll your initiative die roll so badly that you draw no command cards in a turn. Is this correct?
* Yes, it is possible to draw no command cards. However, remember the free command that each Warlord can give to one attached unit each turn [see page 19]. So as long as your Warlord remains on the field, he will always be able to give at least one command each turn (and it can be a battle line command).

IV. Movement - Clarifications and FAQs
Q: Must a unit maintain the 3" sphere of influence at all times during movement?
* Yes. The only allowable exceptions to this would be closing on a unit with the intent of meleeing it that turn, and minor infringements on neighboring units that might be caused by such moves to contact. Violating neighbors' SOI is not allowable in order for an attacking unit to squeeze through a gap to get at an enemy unit that is essentially not in the "front line".

Q: Does sphere of influence apply to friendly units as well?
* No, but it is strongly advised that players mandate a 1" separation between friendly units. This aids tremendously in keeping units visually distinct and provides a little "elbow room" for units to maneuver properly.

V. Shooting - Clarifications and FAQs
Q: How large a gap is required for a unit to shoot through?
* A straight line drawn from the center of a shooting stand to any part of a target stand must pass through a gap that is at least one stand wide. That gap should be perpendicular to the line of fire, and not angled to it. Note that each stand must have this gap individually, and some stands may be able to shoot while others in the same unit cannot. In the example below, the left stand has a valid gap to shoot through, while the center and right stands do not.

Measuring Missile Range
Q: How do you measure range to (or from) a unit in a block terrain feature?
* When shooting at a block terrain feature, measure from the center of the firing stand to the nearest point of the terrain feature. When shooting out of a block terrain feature, measure from the edge of the terrain feature to the nearest point on the target unit.

Q: How do you measure range to (or from) a unit behind a linear terrain feature?
* Units behind linear terrain features would measure from firing stand to target stand as usual (and not to the front of the linear terrain feature).

Skirmishers and Skirmish Weapons - clarification.

Skirmish order (aka skirmisher) is a troop order (as compared to Close or Loose) and skirmish weapons are a missile weapon type - they are different things. Skirmishers are a dispersed group of troops operating in a very loose formation whose goal is to harass the enemy and screen friendly troops.

Skirmish weapons are a class of missile weapon with a very short range. It could include a mix of javelins, slings, thrown axes/daggers/knives, and perhaps some bows or crossbows (but not enough to be considered either fully bow or crossbow armed).

Troop order and weapon type can exist in any combination as allowed by the Domains. Skirmish troops could have crossbows, bows or skirmish weapons (but all would be considered skirmishers), while close or loose order troops could have skirmish weapons. For example, Early Anglo-Saxon huscarls have skirmish weapons, giving them a short-range missile capability.

VI. Melee - Clarifications and FAQs
Q: Can a unit involved in one melee serve as a sub unit for another?
* No. A unit involved in a melee is fully committed to its own combat and may not support another as a sub unit.

Q: Can one unit serve as a sub unit for two different melees?
* Yes. Provided that the sub unit is within 1" of each friendly meleeing unit, the same unit may count as a sub in multiple melees. In the example below, the sub unit may be counted for both melee A and melee B since it is within 1" of the rear of each.

Q: Can a unit in block or shield wall formation charge an enemy unit?
* This is actually impossible per the rules. A unit must maintain a 3" sphere of influence distance from a unit it is not charging. A unit in shield wall or block will halve its usual 5" (close order) movement, resulting in movement allowance of 2.5". Therefore, a unit in block or shield wall can never reach an enemy unit since it will always start further away than it can move. This is an intentional design consideration in that blocks and shield walls in this period would not charge. These are not Renaissance pike blocks.

Q: What happens when a unit suffers 5 or more strikes?
* The unit Breaks and is placed on the table edge. No more than two strikes can be taken as Retires, and the remaining three disorders will disorder all stands, Breaking the unit. A good order large unit (4 stands) would take 6 strikes to Break (2 retires plus 4 disorders).

VII. Combat/Morale Results - Clarifications and FAQs
Q: What are the requirements, restrictions and limitations of Retire movement? The following apply to Retire movement:
* After Retiring, a unit must have reestablished the proper 3" sphere of influence from all enemy units.
* If at all possible (and reasonable), Retire movement must be conducted within the 45-degree rear arc of the unit, with straight backwards being preferred. [Note that some odd situations may lead to a sideways Retire being more reasonable. This is acceptable if the situation truly warrants it.]
* Retire Movement is intended to be "locally to the rear", to be loosely defined as "away from the mass of the enemy".
* A unit may not Retire less than its required move distance, but may move farther if necessary to meet other requirements.
* See the next paragraph for Retiring through friends.
* If no valid Retire path exists and the unit cannot reasonably conduct a Retire move, the unit will Break instead.

Q: What happens when a unit's Retire path takes it through another friendly unit?
* A retiring unit seeking to avoid interpenetrating another friendly unit requires a gap of at least one stand in width within a 45-degree arc of its direction of movement. If this gap is wide enough for the unit to pass through in its current formation, it will do so. If the unit will not fit through the gap in its current formation, it will collapse into a column formation (the narrowest option available). If no gap of at least one stand width exists, the unit will retire via the most logical and least disruptive path inside this 45-degree arc, causing one disorder to be placed on any friendly unit that it moves through. It will maintain its current formation in this case. Retiring units may not end interspersed with other units, and will keep moving to the rear until they find themselves in the clear.

In the example below, Unit A does not have a one stand wide gap to avoid all friendly units, so it will choose the most reasonable path, which is to angle to the left and avoid Unit B, interpenetrating only Unit C. If it went straight back or angled to the right, it would go through both units, which it would seek to avoid doing. If the gap between B and C were one stand wide, the unit would collapse into column, go through that gap, and cause no disorders.

Q: What happens when a close order foot unit is supposed to Retire a half move out of a melee (its half move is 2.5" and the sphere of influence is 3")?
* A close order foot unit making only 1 Retire move must retire 3" in order to reestablish the proper 3" sphere of influence [see Requirements, Restrictions and Limitations of Retire movement above].

Q: What are the requirements, restrictions and limitations of Break movement?
* Break movement is subject to the same general intent as Retire movement (see above), as well as following the same procedure for moving through friends. A Broken unit that moves through a friend will cause 1 disorder in the process, as well as placing the appropriate morale markers on friendly units.