Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tynskel
You may think this is overly complex, but it is consistent as opposed to 'place on the board' because combat squads would work the instant you pop out of a vehicle.
Of which, by all means, that is how you should be playing. However, I don't think that is how anyone uses combat squads, so inherently this means they are using some variation of my use.
Not sure how far you extend "some variation." Here's my full analysis of the Combat Squads rule. Is this a variation of your use?
"The decision to split into combat squads ... must be made when the unit is deployed," says the codex.
"Okay," I say. "When is a unit deployed? Let's see when the rulebook uses 'deploy.' Hmmm ... okay ... so I must make the decision to split into combat squads every time I place a unit on the table during deployment, when I disembark a vehicle, and when I enter play from reserve."
"Of course," Tynskel puts in, "you wouldn't make that decision when an embarked unit arrives from reserve in its transport, right?"
"Well, I'm not so sure," I say. "Certainly 'arriving' from reserve is not necessarily 'deploying.' But as page 94 points out, the player 'picks any one of the units arriving and deploys it ... until all arriving units are on the table.' Surely the embarked unit is arriving from reserve. So it certainly seems that, notwithstanding the odd one-way tabletop presence of embarked units, for reserve purposes, it has been 'deployed.'"
"Hmmm," says the codex. "I'm not sure I buy that."
"Nor I," Tynskel adds.
"Well, let's leave that aside for the moment," I say. "At any rate, every time I deploy - whether that includes embarked units arriving or not - I must make the decision, assuming I have ten men in the squad at that point, right?"
"Wait, wait!" splutters the codex. "You can only make the decision once!"
"Well, no," I say. "According to you, 'If you decide to split into combat squads, then each combat squad is treated as a separate unit for all game purposes from that point.' What's to stop me from deciding not to split when I deploy during deployment, and not to split the first time I disembark a transport, only deciding to split the third time I disembark a transport - assuming I still have 10 men in the squad, of course."
"Ah, my too-clever Nabterayl," says the codex. "Do you not see that I also say, 'The one exception is a unit that arrives by Drop Pod. The player can choose to split such a unit into combat squads when it disembarks from the Drop Pod.'"
"Why, so you do, dear codex," I say.
"And can you see that if I meant every time a unit is deployed, this exception would be unnecessary? For it would be obvious that the squad could split upon disembarking, for we all agree that is a species of deployment."
"Why, dear codex," I exclaim, "you are quite correct! You should have said from the first, 'The decision to split into combat squads ... must be made when the unit is first deployed!'"
"Well," says the codex, "that's what I meant. Anyway, the drop pod exception makes it quite clear."
"Why, and do you not see, codex," I say, "this also makes it quite clear that an embarked unit whose transport is deployed is also deployed, at least in your view?"
"I'm not sure that I do," says the codex. "How do you mean?"
"Consider," I say, "if the embarked unit was not deployed the instant its transport arrived, disembarking would be the first time it deployed, and thus the exception would be unnecessary!"
"Well, maybe," says the codex. "Unless the unit had been deployed the instant it was placed in reserve."
"That is the other possibility," I admit. "But the rulebook at least uses the word 'deploy' with reference to an embarked unit arriving from reserve. It only says that placing that unit in reserve in the first place happens 'during deployment,' and the fact that one thing happens while another is going on hardly means that the first is the same as the second."
"Others might disagree with you," the codex says.
"To be sure," I say. "But that debate is being had elsewhere."