There have been a few posts recently asking me to 'officiophy' (that's a new word I've just invented!) some aspect or another of the rules, for example letting Barbarians in skirmish formation ignore the Warband leadership rules, or allowing characters to dismount. Before this gets out of hand I'd like to make a plea for players to decide if they want to use house rules like this *themselves*, rather than carrying on the 'games designer as law-maker' syndrome that has been such a bane for historical and fantasy wargaming in the past. Basically, if you're playing against a regular opponent you should use any house rules and changes you see fit, while if you're playing in a club or tournament, well the standard rules will work just fine without such ammendments for those games, though you might not find them as much fun.
Jervis Johnson
PS. As an aside, the reason I decide to make all Barbarians, including skirmishers, subject to the Warband Leadership rules was that there are quite a few examples of lightly armed barbarians getting foolishly carried away nd leaving cover to attack formed enemy troops. Alexander The Great's defeat of the Tribellian (sp?) tribe just before he headed off to Persia is a classic example of this kind of thing, with the Trebellians - made up on the whole of what would be 'Mountain Tribesmen'and/or 'Skirmishers' under the WAB rules - foolishly getting drawn from a nice defensive position to be slaughtered by Alexander's army. That, however, is simply the reason that I decided to change the rule, and I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons to take a different point of view - so, if you prefer the older version, or a new one of your own devising, please use it. I won't mind!