Leader Loss without combat???

[Totsugeki]

I just started Blackburns Ford as Confederate Player.

Longstreet deploys his units at the Ford when he suddlenly drops dead without his Staff Unit incuring losses.

In the Turn Report at Day 1, 2:00 PM it says: 3rd Michigan Infantry: target out of effective range
-> Longstreet has been killed


Is it possible that just by being targeted/being shot at, a Leader Loss can occur without the unit suffering a loss?

Thanks for the clarification.

[Totsugeki]

Addition:

Following Turn same event and replacement of Longstreet dies too.!?

The staff wasn`t even a target, however this time an adjacent unit lost 1 man through art. fire.

[Erik Rutins]

Yes, this can happen if the leader is close to regiments under his command that do take fire and casualties. The closer the leader is to units under fire, the greater the risk.

This just seems like very bad luck at work, especially when it happened two turns in a row with such low casualties. I generally use my leaders fairly close to the lines and I do lose some but overall it is worth the risk.

Regards,

- Erik

[Totsugeki]

Thanks for the quick response Erik, much obliged.

In the first case there where no casualties - just a unit being fired at. Even though no losses occured a leader loss is possible?
In the second case 1 man got killed.

Thanks for the clarification.

[ericbabe]

Erik is right. There is a small chance each turn in which there has been fighting that a commander who is located near enough to the enemy will be killed. This event is independent of the actual combats. We added this because without this rule there were almost never any losses of upper-echelon commanders, and historically those commanders were not that safe.

[Totsugeki]

Thank you again, that certainly makes for an interesting random change of events.

Reynolds at Gettysburg certainly fits the rule!!!

[FroBodine]

Could you please define "close" in this case? Are we talking adjacent hex to combat, two hexes away, or more?

[ericbabe]

More... I think it's like 8 hexes or something. I'll have to look it up.

[Totsugeki]

It is too early to tell if the distance has to be reconsidered. I believe the idea to be that a commander would wander the battlefield near to his HQ position on the map, visiting troops, reconnoitering etc, however to be killed at very long range (exceeding enemy weapon range to his Staff Unit, was certainly a shock to me).