Moving Units in Column

Marching in column was historically the fastest formation for manoeuvring troops. It requires less cohesion and afforded greater flexibility in deployment. A "column" in DBM terms is a one element wide group and has significant advantages in movement over other standard formations such as ‘line abreast’.

Columns manoeuvre by having the whole group follow the lead element, literally. Movement is measured by lead element only and if there is a change in direction, a bend will occur. To change direction in column, the lead element simply wheels at a particular point and continues on its way. The remaining elements in the column follow up wheeling at the same point in succession.

Changing direction with columns is defined in DBM (page 17) as; "Each element in a one element wide column wheels in succession on arrival at the place where the first wheeled. Until all have done so, the column will have a bend at this point. Only the front element's move is measured, the other elements being treated as if moving the same distance."

The definition of a group in DBM (page 17) requires elements to be in corner to corner, edge to edge contact (quote) "except as made necessary by wheeling a column" (end quote). Hence the normal conditions required for groups do not apply for bends in columns. As long as the elements within a column remain in contact at any bend, they are considered to be a "group".

The following examples are recommendations on how to conduct movement by columns as outlined by rules. You will no doubt encounter players with differing interpretations.

Example 1: Column changing direction by 45 degrees to the left.

Diagrams drawn to 15mm scale, all dimensions in "mm" unless otherwise specified.
	Step A - We start out with a basic column. Elements used are Auxlia (Ax) on 40x20mm bases with 3" (75mm) movement.
	Step B - A change in direction is initiated by wheeling the lead element through 45 degrees.
	Step C - The lead element moves up by its base depth with its rear corner now at the pivot point.
	Step D - The remaining elements in the column move up to the pivot point to maintain contact with the lead element.
	Step E - As the lead element moves off to use up the rest of its movement, the elements to its rear follow up in succession, wheeling at exactly the same point (repeating Step B to D). This completes a single move by the group. If doing March moves, it could continue through until all elements are clear of the bend. Columns can have any number of bends during a bound.

While this might all appear overly complex, column movement is only simply measured from the lead element so the rest of the group effectively gets shove up behind the lead element and any bends in the column are maintained by elements following up.

 

Example 2: Column changing direction by 90 degrees to the left.

	Step A- Start out with your basic column, same as above.
	Step B - Change in direction is initiated by wheeling the lead element through 90 degrees.
	Step C - At this stage, the rest of the column can move up to the pivot point and contact the lead element to form a group. Its not possible for elements moving through a bend in column to remain in "corner to corner" contact. The lead element wheels 90 degrees on its front corner then the following elements in the column move up in succession. There is no requirement for the lead element to move a base depth forward to get back into corner to corner contact. This formation has been used in the Mounted Flank Attack example prior to executing a KMDT.
	Step D - The lead element completes its full move straight ahead. The formation shown still constitutes a "group" and can finish the bound as such. The rules back this up on page 17, requiring elements to be in corner to corner, edge to edge contact (quote) "except as made necessary by wheeling a column" (end quote). The final bend in the column has the elements in ‘side’ to ‘front’ contact only, but still connects the column as a group even though the elements are at 90 degrees to one another.
	Fig. E - The lead element moves a second time the the whole column passing through the bend. The other elements in column wheel in succession at the pivot point and followup in the same manner as illustrated in Step B-D.