We talked about it once before but I cannot remember why we did not adopt it.

I agree it could work, though by lost commanders

I assume you mean lost some - not all. Group movement does not address the issue of hapless, fearless, and dead officers.

Also, I would think that they do not have to be continguous. I would think that it could just be any unit within the commander's command distance.

getting there.
I would make the <AGR> smaller, though.
And the fonts in general are less sharp than they were before.

Ah, I was reading it as System:World for some reason.

It will definitely be a purchased ability, regardless of how it ends up. So no fear there.

Nice catch, the wording would need to specify direction of the protection. Not sure it should be restricted only to the front, though. The flanks should also get a bonus.

I am not sure how to handle the movement restriction. Easy to deal with when directly trying to model the action - as with the first suggestion. Harder to deal with when more abstracted, as with the last. Will probably have to compromise on something, and movement may be it.

I had not thought of it that way.

Just thinking about it quickly here, it may be hard to indicate the status of individual elements, and unit cohesion would limit the ability of the unit to move with some elements turtled.

Needs some thought, but may be possible.

There was some feedback on this regarding testudo that I liked, and want to continue the discussion (but don't have my email right now to get this quite right...)

My work to incorporate Testudo was to avoid the howl of Roman fans who would want it. Yes, it probably fit more in a situation when the unit could not reach the enemy - another tactic was to just run behind the shields at the enemy archers as fast as possible...

Regarding the functional unit size of the unit carrying it out... probably was smaller - century size (I think). This means it would be dependant on the defined scale of the battle you were fighting. Not preferable.

You could argue that applying the ability to an FtM unit (cohort, legion, whatever the scale) represents the smaller elements of the unit carrying out the action according to their drill as a whole.

A simpler option to be considered is to just give units with the Testudo ability a bonus defense against ranged fire. The unit has the ability, as needed, to react to ranged attacks and use their shields to defend. Would that be better?

I was thinking of something like the following:

Testudo
=====
Some units have carefully drilled and practiced an ability to arrange themselves and their shields in such a way to provide extra defense against ranged attacks. Historically, the Roman Legionaries were noted for this capability.

Activating a Testudo formation for a unit with this special ability is a special reform order.
The unit is arranged in a double column formation, with the two elements side-by-side in the front, and each successive element in a rear hex-side of the element in its front hex-side. The other front hex of the unit should be facing to the side, out from the main body of the Testudo.

It takes a reform order to deactivate Testudo.

Once a unit enters Testudo, it must remain in the formation for the remainder of the Turn that it activated the formation.  Units that begin a Turn in Testudo, may deactivate the formation at any time during that Turn.

Units declare they are in Testudo formation for that turn are considered to have +2 ranged attack defense, but cannot move more than 1 hex per turn. The only valid order to a unit while active Testudo formation is to Move - they can neither declare a melee or ranged attacks, nor may they Reform - accept to deactivate the formation.
=====

Thoughts?

Work has asked me to consider an opportunity, yes.

Real preliminary... but I ranked gaming community right up there with salary, schools, churches, etc.

being the dork that I am... I mean
"that store in St. Louis I can't remember the name of but can drive to".

2.5 hours isn't that bad. We could make the occasional appearance, Jim.

(Well... when I am actually in Illiniois, that is.)

If your local store has good traffic, one way is to just set up at a visible table in the store and run some small games with you and a friend. You can snag interested people that way, and hopefully have it take off from there. I hope to be able to do something similar with a new store opening near us.

We have had good success running demo games at conventions - so if you have any local or small cons, run a game or two there to see who is hanging out.