Massed units

Several things about massed units are unclear to me in the army lists. I am trying not to assume that these are identical to Impetus large units.

Do massed units pay for more bases or is their size already included in the purchase cost & VBU of 7 or 8?. Are early tercios 3 units deep, or just one unit 180mm deep? Likewise Late Tercios - are these 2 units or just a deep 120mm base?

How do optionally massed units like reiters or spahis work? Do you purchases multiple units or is massing "free" and the cost is the slow move penalty.

I found no rules about how massed units work for losses. If massed units are multiple units do casualties remove the rear bases like Impetus? If the rear bases are removed are they still massed?

As far as I can see it's just a term that indicates the unit is large and dense with a tendency to being slow.

It is a unit which has the "Massed" effect applied to it - some units such as tercios are always massed, some like reiters have it as an option.

As an example when buying massed reiters - you buy a unit of reiters, then for 0 points convert it into massed reiters. As a consequence it moves slow, has a deeper base and some other abilities that non-massed units don't. So if you can have 4 units of reiters, you can have up to 4 units of massed reiters, you don't combine 2 unmassed ones.

I don't believe they are multiple units - they are a unit that is massed.

Note for instance that WB don't increase in depth - no "second base" they just become Massed. The only units that need to increase their depth are mounted.

PS why are there no elephants in the rules - they were being used in the relevant parts of the world.

Thanks. Kinda what I thought since there were no rules for removal of rear bases.

Makes those massed units not so scary since they don't have a combined VBU of 12-15 like Impetus

No problem - bear in mind my opinion is worth what you paid for it.

The more we play the more the absence of groups changes stuff - for instance yesterday's game pitted two 1000 point ECW armies with poor command - that's a general's influence reduced to 2BU, that really hurts because there are no groups to transmit the control.

So one long line is bad, multiple lines good. The standard wargamer tactic discouraged historical depth encouraged. Added to the new VDT system and the need to withdraw units and replace them with fresh, we're seeing much more realistic deployments.

All good stuff.

I think he got rid of groups because each unit can be a regt or brigade, which is about the largest maneuver unit until the Napoleonic period introduced divisions & corps.

I do like the reduced command range. We thought impetus was too generous & were thinking of adding command pips or something to limit it.

I suspect its deeper than that - it would be fairly straightforward to claim a line of battalia to be every bit as much of a manoeuvre element as a line of syntagma or cohorts.

I think groups were a mechanic to enforce solid battlelines and discourage firework displays. I think the changed VDT system and command radii generate a similar effect through player-command choice rather than rule imposition.

Similarly with Reaction v opportunity/ZOC - command decision v geometry.

Trust me 2BU sucks big time the absolute most you can handle is 6 units in two waves and as soon as anything changes something is out of command. Deciding when and where to move your general is now a serious consideration.

ok, I see everything has been cleared.

Yes, for Baroque we didn't see the reason to keep Groups (something that in Impetus is more important and probably not enough valorized untill the introduction of the flank bonus).