We, as a family, bought into MESBG many years ago but never really started playing the game. But it's now time to resurrect this hobby. Hello to everyone here.
I have basic questions about the move phase;

If your piece has a move range of 6" and it wants to charge (line of sight?) an enemy, does the 6" range have to reach the enemy's base or just be enough to get into its control zone? So effectively the move range is 7".

Is charging the only method to engage an enemy hand-to-hand? That is, if a piece is moved in an arc (avoiding an obstacle) to reach an enemy (I assume this is not a charge as it's not in a straight line), can it move into the enemy control zone and take part in the fight phase?

Any clarification would be great, thanks. Or a pointer to the rule in the book; I have 3rd edition printed rules and a 2018 PDF.

Welcome aboard. I'll take a stab at answering your questions.

The move of the model does have to reach the base of the enemy model to charge. If the charging model does not have enough movement to reach the target's base, then it cannot enter the target's control zone.

Charging is the only way to enter combat for models (excepting chariots/mumakil, who have a different move action that is explained in their rules). Models with spears or other supporting rules can "support" a friendly model and participate in the combat without being engaged in the strict sense. More to your question, a charge is not a straight line move into base contact with an enemy. A charge is a movement of any sort that brings the model's into base contact with at least one enemy model. Whether this is around or over obstacles or just straight on makes no matter.

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