Kilgore signaled his men down the narrow defile, keeping the incline of a hill to their left and the solid rear walls of the village buildings to their right. With the tearing buzz of a German MG42 chewing up the main road just on the other side of the structures, this shadowed exterior corridor was their safest and quickest route. Shielded by the masonry and moving in a swift, low crouch, the squad hurried along the backlines, bypassing the kill zone entirely to seamlessly link up with Baker squad waiting just ahead.
Let’s revisit Infantry Bypass Movement (A4.3 / NA in SK). In this article I go over the basics of bypass, but I thought I should include a better example to help players new to ASL, and to expose the rule to Starter Kit players. Why? Because Infantry Bypass Movement should have been included in SK. It’s a low-overhead rule that utterly transforms the battlefield played on geomorphic (and historical) boards.
Let’s dig into this example.
In the figure above, we have an American 6-6-6 squad in J6 that’s in a bit of a pickle, basically surrounded and possibly subject to Encirclement if things go badly. It doesn’t want to stick around and feels compelled to reunite with another squad from its platoon up in H3. Using traditional movement (ie., non-bypass) it has three paths (marked in yellow) without risking too much or running down the roads in sheer desperation. If it Double Times (CX) it can make it to one of the three hexes marked with “6 MF”, but along the way it’s going to come under fire from German Defensive First Fire and possibly Subsequent First Fire. Furthermore, it can’t even reach the squad it’s trying to unite with until the Advance Phase … assuming it survives the MPh.
Yes, the unit has the protection of the stone buildings, but it’s going to receive fire. If it takes the J5-J4-I4 route, it’s going to take 8 FP +1 DRM, then possibly 4 FP +1 DRM from the units in L5. Not trivial. But the American unit doesn’t want to stick around and fight, it’s trying to move so it can fortify and make a stand later.
Is there a better way to squeak out of this situation? Yes, using Infantry Bypass!
We’re about to get sneaky. The blue (okay, cyan) line represents a path the 6-6-6 can take using bypass movement. It can squeeze between the hill crestline and the buildings and make it to Bravo squad in 5 MF (assuming it double times). Remember, you can only bypass woods and buildings, so the bypass here is happening in J5-J4-I4… the same buildings that needed to be entered in the traditional move, but only cost 1 MF using bypass.
Keep in mind the unit could have bypassed the buildings on the hill just as safely by spending 2 MF in I6 to get up into the hill open ground and bypass along I6-I5-H4. That route would cost the unit 6 MF because three hexsides need to be traversed in I5…but they can still make it without being attacked if they CX.
Update on bypassing along a crest: I had to dig into a Perry Sez to find a “ruling” concerning vertex location when a unit is bypassing on crest since it’s not really covered in this line of the RB: A4.34 “If a unit is using Bypass (including VBM) along a Crest Line, and the obstacle it is Bypassing is on the higher level of that Crest Line, then the unit is also at that higher level”.
So the unit is bypassing the J5/I6 hexside on the left side, on the level 1 (in I6). When tracing LOS to the I6/J5/J6 vertex, is that vertex on level 0 (as shown in the images) or magically on level 1? A4.34 says the unit is on the higher level, but the vertex is clearly on level 0 (visually). According to Perry, for units using bypass on a crest, the vertex for firing purposes is magically on level 1:
Q. When a unit bypasses on a crest line (on the higher level as per A4.34), will LOS to a vertex be drawn to that same level, or must it be drawn to the lower level?
A. The higher level.
I guess it makes sense from a rules POV (the unit is ON that level), but visually it makes no sense. A bit “handwavium”, but there’s a lot of abstracted handwavium in ASL. You have choices here; stick to the lower, safer route!
Now let’s look at the LOS that the German units have to the 6-6-6 using bypass. Not every potential LOS is shown, only a few (red dashed lines) to show the mechanics of bypass LOS. LOS must be traced to a vertex of a hexside being bypassed (or the hex center, but it must cross a hexside being bypassed; this is rarely used). In this case, none of the German units of LOS to any of the hex vertices along the path traversed by the American unit.
The figure above is just an overall combination of the movement cases covered in the first two figures.
Bypass Rule for SK Players
Finally, I’ve distilled the bypass rules into (hopefully) plain and simple English so ASL Starter Kit players can adopt it and give it a whirl.
Bypass enables unbroken Infantry to move through building or woods hex without entering the obstacle in that hex. Instead, the movement takes place along one or two connected hexsides of that hex, and the movement cost becomes that of the other terrain in the hex, usually one MF for Open Ground. Bypass is not allowed if the hex contains an enemy unit, or if any part of the obstacle depiction touches a hexside (or hexside terrain feature) being Bypassed. Bypass must be announced when entering the hex. An Infantry unit may not voluntarily end its move in a state of Bypass. A unit that voluntarily decides to occupy an obstacle it is currently Bypassing must pay the entire MF cost to enter that obstacle even though it is already in the hex. Bypass does not prevent placement of a DC.
A unit firing at a Bypassing unit does not have to trace its LOS to the target hex center, and may instead trace to either of the hex vertices along any hexside traversed by that unit. Since a Bypassing unit is considered moving, FFNAM and FFMO usually apply.
A unit that breaks/pins while using Bypass remains in the non-obstacle portion of the hex for additional First Fire attacks made against it until the end of its MPh. If broken, FFNAM and FFMO may apply for such attacks. After its MPh, the broken/pinned unit and all portaged equipment are considered in the Bypassed obstacle itself and entitled to its protective TEM for all subsequent fire.
Debriefing
I’m a huge proponent of bypass, and it still boggles my mind that such a simple rule wasn’t included in Starter Kit (obviously a simplified version as shown above). I’m such a proponent of it that I lobbied early in the Star Citizen playtest (a tactical sci-fi wargame based on the SK ruleset) and am happy to say it will be included. Infantry Bypass doesn’t always get your units out of a tight spot, but as you can see in the simple example above, it changes a rather risky tactical decision with limited choices into a “live to fight another day” moment, giving the 6-6-6 (and the player) choices during the Movement Phase.
Academy Out!
GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!! 
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