Gents,
After examining the current rules for javelins, and the ahistorical role of skirmishers in the game, I've come up with the following Abilities. Our group has yet to playtest them, but I figured I'd throw them out here to get your opinions.
Javelin (+1 AP) (replaces current Ability)
Unit receives +1 when Charging vs units w/o Javelins or Heavy Javelins
Heavy Javelin (+1 AP for Heavy Infantry, +2 AP for Light Infantry)
Unit receives +1 when Charging vs units w/o Heavy Javelins.
Skirmish (+1 AP)
a) All Skirmish units in the army may move for 1 Move Point
b) As long as a Skirmish unit is within 3" of a non-Skirmish enemy unit, and there are no enemy Skirmishers within 3" of the Skirmish unit, the enemy unit counts as being in terrain for movement.
c) If Charged, a Skirmish unit may immediately fall back d6". It may pass completely through friendly units while doing so. If it cannot move completely through a firendly unit, it stops in front of the unit. If caught by the enemy, resolve Combat as normal.
For the above Abilities, I differentiated between skirmishers harassing a unit with intermittant javelin tossing and other disruptions, and a full volley of javelins by a large, formed unit. For formed units, since javelin fire wasn't really very long ranged, nor did it cause enough casualties to wipe out an entire unit, it seemed reasonable to me to reassign it from a weak attack to a combat enhancer.
The Skirmish Ability should reward historical usage of skirmishers as screens for the main army, always running about, causing trouble but not really a serious threat to formed units unless there are no friendly skirmishers about to drive them off.
What do you think?
Scott