Group movement in older games

[fungospacepants]

Hope it's OK to ask questions about older rulesets, but I don't quite understand forming and splitting groups in regards to movement in the older books like Star Army 2nd tour, 5150 New Beginnings, Chain Reaction 2015, etc...

Basically, I have three questions:

1: Let’s say I have two groups. A is rep 5 and B is rep 4. A is 5” away from B, and both have a movement score of 8” and have clear LOS. My activation die comes up 5, so I activate A and move it 1” towards B and elect to join the two groups. I can now move both groups together this turn another 7” (but I could not move B it’s full 8”). Is this correct?

2: Assuming #1 above is correct, instead of moving A and B together after they became one group as above, I could immediately split up A and B again (A goes left and B goes right) and each would have a maximum of 7” of movement, correct?

3: Assuming #1 and #2 are correct how would you handle it if A had fast moved to join B? 

Sorry if I’m bugging you with old questions!

[atomicfloozy]

It sounds like something I would call "shenanigans" on. The real question isn't about movement, but can an active group activate an inactive group by forming a larger group. In this case, group A is active and B is inactive since the activation roll was a 5.

My understanding of the rules is that groups can only be formed and split by active groups or figures. Urban Renewal is quite explicit on this, the other rules have the "when active" phrase,

[Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy]

Jun 29, 2019 7:42:49 GMT fungospacepants said:

Hope it's OK to ask questions about older rulesets, but I don't quite understand forming and splitting groups in regards to movement in the older books like Star Army 2nd tour, 5150 New Beginnings, Chain Reaction 2015, etc...

No worries, ask away.

Basically, I have three questions:

1: Let’s say I have two groups. A is rep 5 and B is rep 4. A is 5” away from B, and both have a movement score of 8” and have clear LOS. My activation die comes up 5, so I activate A and move it 1” towards B and elect to join the two groups. I can now move both groups together this turn another 7” (but I could not move B it’s full 8”). Is this correct? Correct. The joining group is limited by the movement of the active group.

2: Assuming #1 above is correct, instead of moving A and B together after they became one group as above, I could immediately split up A and B again (A goes left and B goes right) and each would have a maximum of 7” of movement, correct? No. B was not active so it can only move with A or stay where it's at.

3: Assuming #1 and #2 are correct how would you handle it if A had fast moved to join B?  #1 is correct, #2 is not. B could move as far as A can move. So here's an example.
Group A Rep 5 activates and has a 16" Fast Move. It moves 6" to join B. He takes B with him and moves 6" more, leaving A with 4" left to move. He leaves half of B here, and takes the other half 4" with him. Once A is no longer leading the group, the inactive guys can't move on their own. Hope this helps.

Sorry if I’m bugging you with old questions!

[stryderg]

I usually try to figure out how it would work in real life. You've got 2 groups, A is active (rep5) and B is not active (rep4). That means the better leader is being decisive, giving orders and getting his people moving. The B group is not active because the leader is trying to figure out the situation or is being unclear with his orders. Suddenly, group A shows up and their leader screams, "You lot, group B, follow me!" Now, with a clear directive, group B follows along. They won't split off on their own because the leader of group B is just glad that someone else has taken charge.