Had an interesting situation come up in a game last night. I had a block of calvary just barely out of LOS from my opponents block (and about 4" away) but he could see my salamander standing further back (~12-14" away). Now, if he was to wheel and charge straight toward the sallamander he would hit my Calvary block on the way and he was wondering if that would result in a legal charge on the calvary the way an overrun might. We looked it up and the only info we could find in the big red book was in a paragraph that started with "If the charged unit flees..." and then went on to say that if the charger came into contact with another block durring his failed charge it would count as an entirely new legal charge. In the end he decided not to charge since we both could tell he was out of charge range on the sallies. Any of you guys run into circumstances like this? How did you handle it? It would seem like a cheesy way to get a charge on something out of LOS if it were to work.
You played it right, you can only charge what you see. You also can't declare a charge that you think will fail. Also, I'm not sure I understand the setup, but the path of a failed charge is exactly the same as the path of a successful charge. The only way the path changes is if the charged unit flees.
I think what he means if I'm reading the situation right is that if the sally was in range - would the charge only fail and stop 1" away [or more depending on the failed charge movement distance] from the cavalry [as they ended up blocking the charge due to the charging units width] or would the resulting move end up being a charge against the cavalry? I've no idea of the answer though I'd tend towards it being a failed charge and the attacking unit is moved appropriately.
The cav definitely would not be charged, instead the charging unit would have to use its one wheeling manuever to try to reach the intended target. So there would be no chance of accidentally stumbling into an unseen unit, as the player knows before declaring that there is or is not a clear path to the target. You can usually tell how many times you will have to wheel before declaring a charge, and if you know that you can't reach the VISIBLE target without wheeling more than once, the charge is illegal to declare. If the target of the charge FLEES, then this can change the path of the chargers as they account for the new position of the target. Then, and only then, can a different unit be incidentally charged. BUT, the target of the charge wouldn't be able to flee in this case, because the charge can't legally be declared! This was apparently a big enough question for GW to reference HG Wells, hehe. From Warhammer 7th edition FAQ from 2008 "Q. Can a unit declare a charge against an enemy that is obviously out of range (for example if it was deployed 24" away and has not moved)? This could be useful to get the unit out of the way of another friendly charging unit… A. The rules for charging on page 18 state: ‘When you declare a charge you must do so without measuring the distance to the target, you must rely on your estimate of the distance to ensure that your troops can reach their target’. Emphasis on the ‘ensure’. Therefore, declaring a charge that you know cannot be completed (like charging a unit 24" away) is cheating. In cases where it's not obvious how far away a target unit is, the decision to charge or not is left to the conscience of the charging player (see also the ‘Awkward charges’ appendix). Our players, which are of course all sportsmen, will never declare a charge if they think their unit cannot complete the charge in order to gain an unfair advantage! This is a game like real war, played against time, and played under circumstances of considerable excitement, and it is remarkable how elastic the measurements of quite honest and honourable men can become. H.G. Wells (Little Wars, 1913)"