Commiting the Gaurd- Question

[heckler_rider]

Is having the leader with the ability to commit the gaurd involved in the battle enough, or does the guard have to be within his chain of command (i.e he has to be a corps leader and the guard is in a division within his corps)??????

[PhilThib]

He has to be in charge OR be the overall force commander (e.g. Napoleon)

[Dog_date]

How does this function "Commit the guard" (CMG) work in practice??

If you have a division that has say 12 regular elements in it and 1 guard element, will the guard element not fight if the Div Commander does not have the CMG ability?? Would a Corp commander with a CMG overide a Div commander who doesn't have the CMG ability?

It is a little confusing

[Pocus]

Guard elements don't engage themselves, if there is enough troops to cover all the frontage of the battle... unless they are commited, in which case they are engaged first.

To trigger the Commit the Guard , you must have at least 4 guards elements, have a leader with the Commit the Guard as the CiC (highest ranked in the region, engaged or not) or in command of the force, and have some combat conditions present.

[heckler_rider]

thanks, thats what I would have thought as it makes the most sense from a real/historical perspective....

Ill have to put Constantine in charge of some real forces in the 1813 scenario!!

(have to weigh the possibility of Guard commitment against his poor command capabilities)

[Sol Invictus]

Yeah, commiting the Guard is a double edged sword.

[Adlertag]

Guard elements don't engage themselves, if there is enough troops to cover all the frontage of the battle... unless they are commited, in which case they are engaged first.

I think of another question :
Does "engaged first" mean "engaged at the beginning of the battle" ( if conditions are met of course) ?. In this case, if true, I'm a bit confused.
Because we have never seen a situation where battle begins by Guard commitment (except maybe in some short engagement in 1814 where Imperial Guard was nearly the sole combat-capable unit).

[Pocus]

No engaged first means, 'picked for the current round'. And only if the conditions are met, otherwise the Guard stay in the rear, uncommitted.

[Adlertag]

No engaged first means, 'picked for the current round'. And only if the conditions are met, otherwise the Guard stay in the rear, uncommitted.

Ok, this point is cleared.
But I suppose "picked for the current round" is forbidden for the first round of combat to reflect historical involvment ?

[Pocus]

Yes, because the battle must have reached some conditions which are by essence not met in the first round.