I get a little confused while changing into Road Column, marching and back out again. Can you explain exactly how this works?
Sure! Great question. The process is simple, it can be a little tricky to keep it straight in your mind while doing it. This is how I do it:
It takes 1/3 move to change formation. While in Road Column, you move double. So I think of it this way: you have 6 little, 1 third segments that you can use during your turn; at Road Column speed, right?
So let’s say I’m sitting on a road but I’m in line. I have a total of 6 segments to use right? It takes 2 of those moves to change into Road Column. That means I have 4 moves left to march along the road.
How far can I go if I want to change back into Line? Well, just remember it is going to take 2 of those little moves to change back right? So if I’m already in column, on the road, I can move 4 moves along the road and then spend my last 2 to change back into line.
So how far can you move if you start on a road, change into column and then back out into line again at the end of my move? Simple. It takes 2 moves to get into column right? It will take 2 more to get back into line at the end of your move. So that means you can use 2 moves to march along the road.
That’s fine but that works out to be 2 thirds of a regular move right? If you are going to do that, you might as well just stay in line and march there. It works out the same if you are going through bad terrain.
This is a good base line to keep in mind. In order to make it worthwhile, you need to be moving further than 2 thirds of a regular move; assuming you are getting in and out of road column all in the same turn.
Do you plan your moves differently? That’s ok. If you already have a way that makes sense to you fine. Keep doing it that way, as long as it works. There are different ways to think about it.