Skirmishers

[Tom Bridges]

I am new to the HPS Civil War games and just got Gettysburg. I'm trying to figure out the advantages of deploying skirmishers. The users manual just lists the penalties, ie - reduced movement, reduced firepower, slower construction of breastworks, loss of movement points to deploy/recall, etc.

I can't find anything that discusses the advantages, although the manual does state: "This line of Skirmishers will provide it with additional information and protection during battle, although it will slow the unit down in maneuvers."

Does anyone know the specifics of these advantages? Exactly what kind of "protection" do they provide? Is it worth the penalties to deploy skirmishers regularly? Under what circumstances are they best used? :hmmm:

Thanks for your help.

Tom

[CyberRanger]

The advantage of skirmishers is that you get to detect hidden enemy units one hex before the parent unit runs into the enemy. The skirmishers operate sort of like scouts. In the pic below, the Union unit gets advance notice of the hidden Reb.
http://brentandmary.net/images/misc/skirm.bmp

[Tom Bridges]

Thanks, Brent.

But is that their only advantage? No additional offensive/defensive benefits in fire/melee?

[CyberRanger]

Enemy units may also incur an additional movement cost when moving into the ZOC of a unit with deployed skirmishers. In general, I only deploy them if I'm moving through a wooded area and really don't want to get engaged with the enemy until I'm ready, ie I want to avoid accidentally getting into the enemy's ZOC.

[Tom Bridges]

Doesn't sound like its really worth it to deploy them much. Too bad you can't detach them separatly like in the HPS Nap games.

Thanks again.