hord unit with spears

[darkken20]

so i was wondering if a hord unit of 40 spearmen can all attack cus u get 1 extra rank with spear and 2 ranks for support attacks. also im being charged

[LizardTau]

well if they are ten accross they all get to attack with the hord rule anyway right, even without spears, now if they arent in horde formation(10 across) i think the second and third rows get to do supporting attack unless they are high elves they get one extra row,


as far as i understand the rules if im wroung im sure someone will put up the right rules lol

[redshirt2375]

no spear + no horde = 2 ranks
no spear + horde = 3 ranks
spear + no horde = 3 ranks
spear + horde = 4 ranks

if High Elves you add one to each of those numbers

and again this is assuming you've been charged

[stonecutter]

The only difference in the ranks that get to attack is for spear units since they grant +1 rank during any turn in which they didn't charge. Note that these can only be added if the unit is fighting to the front so if a unit (spear or otherwise) gets charged in the flank, only those models in contact actually get to fight.

Of note, if you have low initiative troops or your troops are likely to die easily, giving spears to a 40 model horde unit generally doesn't work too well. Models 31-40 tend to die before they get to strike anyhow and, IMHO, the 6+ ward save will do you more favours than a few extra S3 attacks. The spears do work well though if you are using a 30-40 model unit in non-horde formation to maintain steadfast and still get a bunch of attacks in. It allows you to tailor the size of your unit to your opponent (go 7 wide vs a 5 wide enemy to get 21 attacks vs their 10) and still get full static combat resolution for at least a couple rounds of combat.

[thesanityassassin]

Yeah, my High Elf spear horde generally stays in Horde formation only at full strength, or against an enemy with very little shooting. Once I'm down from 50 to 40 I can shift over to 7 wide and 5 and a bit deep to still get a huge number of attacks while having a healthy rank bonus. If I don't see an enemy unit of at least 7 wide on the table I likely won't start my horde in such a formation anyway....no point losing attacks AND rank bonus if you can't get models into contact.