Garyp made a very interesting point in another thread that I don't want to get lost.
"I am thinking about corner to corner contact - so if two friendly columns charge into an enemy line and are perfectly lined up do they also count as contacting another enemy unit lined up adjacent to the line. If corner to corner contact counts as combat contact then this will impact on the order of resolving combats depending on how many units have hit the adjacent enemy unit - can this be an advantage to the attackers who could potentially count three columns against the line (two directly in froint and another on the corner, or even 4 attackers with 2 in front and 1 on each corner) - and would this then preclude the line reacting with a change to column formation as if the corner contact counts as a legal contact then it cannot change formation and maintain contact with all three enemy chargers."
My reading of p32 is that corner to corner only contact is still contact.
A friendly unit that overlaps the enemy would therefore fight as well. This would reduce the impact of a column phalanx and make artillery much harder to roll.
So if you have lines AAAA and BBBB being charged by columns 1111 and 2222 then BBBB has been contacted by 2222. If the defender goes first they will choose to start with BBBB and 2222 will fight with 1/2 dice and probably be thrown back. If the attacker goes first, they will start with AAAA.
AAAABBBB
1122
1122
Not the way I played it myself - but is that how Sam and the playtesters were doing it, or is there a rule that prevents this?
Cam