A few questions on large units, pilums and multiple melees

Hello,

having played a few games of Impetus V2 with friends, several questions arose about rule interpretations :

1°) About large units (in our case, Gallic Warriors), how should we calculate their number of dice in melee ? Does only the front rank bring its Impetus bonus, or also the rear rank ?
E.g. : the Gauls are fresh (both front and rear rank), but disordered. Do they throw : 4 front rank VBU dice + 4 front rank Impetus dice + 2 rear rank impetus dice + 1 depth bonus dice - 1 disorganised dice = 10 dice ?

2°) Pilums :
a) How many times can the unit throw its pilums ? 6.6 states "after the first contact with the ennemy", is it pnly the first contact of the game ? (If yes, what if this first contact was a charge on flank or rear ? Are the pilums kept for the next front contact or lost forever?)
E.g. : The legionaries are charged on the front, it's their first contact with the ennemy. Do they throw 4 pilum dice, and then during the melee 6 VBU dice + 1 pilum dice (and eventually other bonuses like discipline dices...) ? And for other contacts in the game only 6VBU dice + 1 pilum dice and other bonuses, without throwing the pilums prior to melee ?

b) Can the legionaries throw their pilums and react for the same charge (e.g. counter-charge and throw 2D6 pilums, or close ranks and throw 4D6 pilums etc.)

3°) Multiple melees : When should we separate a multiple melee in two seperate melees (as evoked in diagramm p. 46 for example) ? When 2 units of a same army have an equal part of their front engaged ? Or more generally whenever both sides have at least 2 units engaged each (regardless of the length of their front), in order to make as many simple 1vs1 melees as possible ?

Thanks !

1. No the calculation should be based solely on the status of the front unit.
4 for VBU
4 for Impetus
1 for back rank
-1 for disorganized.

2a. Good question. The rules aren't totally clear on this. We play it that the first pilum throw is with 2/4 dice and the ensuing melee does not include the +1 dice in melee for pilum. Every round of melee after that until the unit is exhausted there is a +1 die bonus.

2b. Reaction comes first so the answer is yes.

3. Separate melees are determined based on the number of main units. Main units are determined by the amount of frontage occupied by the various units in melee. Sometimes with 2 units per side there are 2 melees and sometimes only 1 with the other units providing support. It is very unlikely that two friendly units will occupy the exact same frontage against an opponent but if it does happen we usually throw a die to determine which one is the main unit.

+1 in melee applies from the first melee

Thank you both for these answers.

To be sure I understood well : the 2/4 dice pilum throw should be done only once per game ? (And not as long as the unit is fresh like in Impetus 1)

And there is something I still don't understand about multiple melees : If there are two or more units per side, when should we decide that there are 2 different melees, or only one melee with supporting units ?

Pilum throw is once per game.

As far as multiple melees have you looked at the diagram on p.47 concerning multiple melees? There is a mistake in the caption. In diagram 2 the unit marked S is a support unit in both melees (M1 and M2 and not only M1). But the layout is correct. If you are still having difficulty I could make up a few pictures for you.

I think I finally got it.
Thanks !