Army Rout Level

"When at the end of a turn an Army has reached 1/2 (50%) of losses (counting routed Commands) of its VDT, the army has lost the battle."

In reading Impetus we noticed in 8.1, under The basic system that the calculation of the Army Rout in losses seems to be based only on units lost through routed commands. That would mean that any losses in unrouted commands don't contribute to the Army Rout calculation. Am I reading this correctly?

Hi

I was hoping to see an answer to this one as well.

Also I'm assuming that when a command is routed all of the VDC value of the command (and not just those units actually routed) count towards the army rout calculation. Is that correct?

Cheers Paul

Yes, it is the whole command's VD that counts. Which is why I am a bit skeptical of using the 1/3 breakpoint for the command. It doesn't take more than a few unlucky dice rolls to get to 1/3 of a command's VD. We are experimenting as a group about this. On the other hand, if we are only using the VD of routed commands then that makes it best less severe for the army as a whole.

Where do you see the word only in 8.1?
I read it as the current total of all routed VD's in all commands.

In example 2 on page 49 doesn't it say
An army of VDT 36 (3x 11VDC's and Baggage) routs when it loses 18VDs. If you only counted routed VDC's wouldn't it need to reach 22 (2 broken commands) before the army routs?

Or am I reading this totally wrong as example 2 does say 3x11VDs + 3VDs(?) + baggage 3VD which is really 39 not 36?


cheers
Roundie

I don't see "only." If you look Impetus the conditions for army rout explicitly include individual units and commands. In Impetus 2 there is no reference to individuals units. How are we to interpret this? I don't really know. I don't think we can presume the practice of Impetus. As far as the 18VD goes that is exactly why we would organize our commands in a manner to maximize our VD level for Army Rout.

Yeah interesting, had to read 8.1 again after this.  
I would have thought when 'losses' are mentioned it's talking about any losses ? ...not just the loss of a command ?
So VDCs and VD of individual units are used to determine whether or not an army has reached break point.
It does say (counting routed commands) of it's VDT....so one can only presume.

Yes its the VDC and VDT terms that make it confusing for me.
8.1 defines VDC as the sum of all units in a command (its total VDs) & VDT as the sum of all VDCs and the baggage.

This could, I guess suggest that you don't count single unit VDs, but only baggage and completely (routed) VDCs when calculating army break points.

On the other hand
The statement in example 2 "The army is routed when loses 18VDs" (not half its VDT) a long with the examples in 8.2 which to me seem to interchange freely between VDTs, and VDs as if they were just different ways of talking about the same thing.

Could equally suggest you count every unit that has routed.

However, in the end I would agree with Gaius
Some clarification would be good.

Yes open to interpretation I would have to agree. Needs some clarification.

Personally I think once you reach 50% of VDT however it comes through broken commands, individual units, loss of baggage or a mix of all of them.

Example 2 supports this theory I think....He's not saying 2 commands need to break but 18 VDs or 50%

It's not very clear that's for sure.

it is not so different as in the fisrt edition, the only main change is that a Command routs when its losses reache MORE than 1/3 of VD. So single Units lost in Commands not yet routed counts towards the route of the army,

More than 1/3 can be seen as very severe. Of course you have to make armies considering this, so sometimes few changes can strengthen a Command.
I reccomend the basic system for competitions otherwise the alternative system is better. Simply you loose control over a Demoralized(*) Command

(*) I realize now that in the English edition the term Demoralized has gone :-(