Deployment 101: The Refused Flank

Today I want to examine a deployment tactic referred to as the Refused Flank or Oblique Order.  In part one, we’ll examine criteria for proper implementation and execution of this particular strategy and highlight a general wargamers list of pros and cons for the method.  In part two, the plan is to open discussion over possible ways to recover if your flank has been blunted by your opponent (sans crying, throwing dice, and flipping tables).

Let it be known that I’ve had both great luck and great heartburn with this tactic.  When performed properly a player can create for himself an unstoppable brick of hate that is capable of cutting entire swathes out of an opposing army very quickly.  On the other side of this coin lies the potential for ultrafail where a perfect storm of shit can force someone putting this strategy into practice to actually play into his opponent’s hands and put up little fight while watching his force get dissected piece by piece.  

If you’re familiar with miniature wargames, you’ve probably seen cases in which one player will deploy incorrectly or non-optimally and face an uphill battle if not outright loss before the game even begins.  While deploying in a manner such to give your opponent an advantage might not be a mistake that will cost you a game in a friendly environment, doing so during a competitive event or against a WAAC player it’ll most certainly give your opponent the opening he might be looking for.

Before going into the nuts and bolts of an effective Refused Flank, lets weigh in on some of the pros and cons of this deployment strategy.

Pros: 

- You’ll almost assuredly be locally dominant.

- An effective refused flank can effectively split the oppositions force, allowing you to fight on your terms

- Most successful flanking maneuvers will cripple your opponent and create even more openings for your own force to take advantage of.

Cons:

- A blunted flank can result in a near insta-loss

- Arguably a con, the most effective flanking maneuvers require an understanding of your strengths and your opponents weaknesses.

- In an objective based game, you sacrifice a lot of board control during the early turns.

Let’s say you (in whatever game system your flavor might be) are going second.  Your opponent deploys his forces fairly evenly across the length of his side of the board.  I see a lot of players deploy their forces in much the same way, sadly a lot of times without putting much thought into positioning or having a true plan going into the first turns of the game.  For a moment, lets take a step back and examine your opponents deployment, as there are some factors that can lead you to the implementation of an effective Refused Flank formation..

            - Speed.

            - The spread of his forces across the table.

- The intent of his army.  Is it an assault-oriented force?  A shooting heavy one?

- The intent of your army.

1) Speed:  Speed is arguably the most important aspect in pulling off a successful Refused Flanking move.  If you deploy a disproportionate amount of your force to become obscenely effective on a small part of the battlefield, often times this can snowball for your opponent, who in theory should have only a small portion of his army able to engage the majority of yours.  On the other side of the argument, if you simply don’t have the army-wide speed to effectively employ this tactic and attempt to force the matter, your flank could easily become blunted and then you’re screwed.

2) His deployment spread and composition:  For the sake of argument, let’s say your opponent has taken the above method for his deployment.  Through an even distribution of forces along the length of his deployment area, he’s got a slower, assault-oriented unit on his left flank and in the center.  Shooting in the center and right side.  Which side you attempt to flank will come back to list building and what counters you have for what he’s brought to the table.  Left or right, it’ll depend on army composition more than anything at that point.  Your main objective should always be to exploit his weaknesses while utilizing your own strengths.  I understand it sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed how many times I’ve seen players send troops that have absolutely no business in any sort of hand-to-hand engagement be the first ones sent in simply because they are the closest to the enemy.

3/4) Back to composition and list building, as touched on above you’ll always want to be playing to your armies strengths.  If you suck at all things assault, stay out of it.  If you suck at shooting, close the distance as quickly as possible while subjecting your force to the least amount of punishment while it gets to its destination.

 Option 1: The 2/3 + 1/3 = Success

I’ve seen a couple different schools of thought to dedication to the refused flank.  The first being to split your forces into two chunks, one being roughly 2/3 of your force and the other 1/3 being an auxiliary to seal off your own flank to your opponent (As displayed above).  The other method (See below for sweet training aid) I’ve seen is to commit the entirety of your army into a megablob of death that’ll hit a small portion of your opponents force as one, bringing local domination while a significant chunk of his forces aren’t in range to do anything but watch their buddies get cut down before you.  Personally I try to gauge my strengths against the force across the table.  If I think I can perform the maneuver with only 2/3 of my force, I’ll give it a shot.  More often than not if I’m going to attempt a bold move such as the refused flank my entire force is dedicated to breaking that line and working my way down it.

Option 2: The MegaBlob

In honesty, deployment becomes a beast you can tame and even bend to your advantage the more you game.  It isn’t rocket science; most of the time things are as simple as understanding the force across from the table and bending your own to exploit it.  In Part II of this series I’ll be looking at a few options on how to react if for whatever reason your flank has been blunted.

Personally I swear and sob and scream, but we’ll take a look at some actual tactical options.