I too have came up with a couple of extra rules for movement for warmaster that I was suprised to see weren't in the rulebook.
March Moving :
Any unit that marches in a colum formation gets to add an extra +5cm to their move. However they must march for all of their turn and cannot change out of colum formation nor can they move to within 30cm of the enemy. Infantry in colum is one stand wide facing forward 'wide side', cavalry can be up to two stands wide facing forward 'narrow side' (these are both the same width so will both fit on roads that people build one base 'long side' wide).
A final note to this rule is when marching down a road that leads through rough terrain. The unit would not suffer the movement penalty for going through the terrain since they are on the road, the would also benifit from the road movement below, but they would NOT benefit from the march move bonus. This represents the unit or brigade moving slightly slower as they nervously move through an area where they could be ambushed
Road Movement :
Any unit that starts and finishes an entire turn of movement on a road can ignore the first -1 command penalty for a subsequent movement phase. This represents the fact that it is obvious what the commander wants them to do. ie: leg it down the road !! This can and should be used with the Marching in colum rule, of course that would stop you charging an enemy that is further up the road. In which case you would just use the road movement rule on its own.
I think these would add more tactics to the game as roads could get you to a flank quicker as long as the enemy isn't too close to the road.
Also note that any cavalry unit reduced to two stands and any infantry unit reduced to one stand would both count as always being in colum (if the want to, of course, they might not for charge purposes or when getting near the enemy).
I think that this is a good thing since it shows how it would be easier to control a smaller unit and also shows its greater manouverability. But once a unit gets close to the enemy they are as slow as other units due to the greater care that is needed.
Both these rules can be used for brigades as well but might be unwieldy, as it should be. However I still think it would still be faster and more realistically to send a brigade up a road in single file rather than as one big wide blob up the side of a battle field with maybe one unit actually on the road.
Again please try these rules out for me and see what you think.
Cheers Ken.
P.S. J ust though of another rule that I think would also be very useful.
Snaking Cavalry:
Any cavalry unit that marches in single file, one base wide facing forward 'narrow side', in the open can claim the benefits of marching. Or they can claim the benefits below :
The cavalry can move through woods and other difficult terrain at -5cm movement speed, in addition they cannot come within 10cm of the enemy (this is different than for marching in colum, I made it smaller since it would be safer to come closer to the enemy when in the safety of a forest or other terrain where they could hide) nor can they charge the enemy.
In addition the two rules can be used together, allowing you to move fast, then snake through some difficult terrain an then move off again at a gallop. Note however when using these formations that you cannot change formation at all in the turn.
(Note I would also use the following rule that the unit is going to suffer the minus movement until the entire unit has left the terrain so if you get most of your unit through in one turn it will still take you two turns of penalties to get out).
Therefore you cannot use two wide colum marching, then slim down to one base wide to sneak through some rocks and then form back up to two bases wide again before moving off again.
This is a powerful rule allowing cavalry to move through areas where they could not before (which I have trouble imagining, ok it may be dense forest but you can still do it), but is very dangerous. A unit of cavalry charged when only one base wide at the front could be in real trouble from infantry, or worse if charged in the side by cavalry near the rear where you might get hit by three or more stands yet only get one or two stands to fight back with.
If this rule is too powerful you might limit it to either only scouting cavalry: reavers, wolf riders, pistoliers etc (ie the cavalry with the worse saves is it 6+).
Though I think it should still be for both types with maybe -5cm for scout cavalry and -10cm for the heavy cavalry. They can do it just not as fast as the scouting cavalry.
Please remember that all these rules are in conjunction with all the normal rules ie -1 command penalty in difficult terrain etc..
Below are some drawn examples for you to enjoy. or if you didn't get what I was saying.
IIIIII IIIIII IIIIII
Infantry in line
IIIIII IIIIII IIIIII
CC CC CC
Cavalry in line
CC CC CC
IIIIII
IIIIII
IIIIII
Infantry in colum
IIIIII
IIIIII
IIIIII
CC CC
CC CC
Cavalry in colum
CC
CC
CC
CC
CC
Cavalry in colum or
CC
Cavalry in Snaking
CC
CC
Turn 2 of a game, a cavalry unit in snaking formation is behind a forest (position 1) a good bit way from an enemy infantry unit in colum formation (position 5).
Note how the cvalry is now in danger of being charged by an infantry unit in whatever formation the enemy chooses in the following turn.
EEEEEE 5)
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EEEEEE ----------------30cm