Supporting troops fighting cavalry

[Dr Grant]

Hi guys, we've had quite a few rules questions come up recently and before we head off to the UK doubles tournament in a couple of weeks I thought I'd get some feedback. I'm posting them as multiple threads as one thread with multiple questions might easily get bogged down with discussion of one topic.

If a model with a spear/pike is supporting a warrior fighting charging cavalry and the cavalry model wins, does the supporting warrior get knocked down and suffer double attacks?

On page 43 of the BRB it states "A spear-armed warrior who is supporting a friend as described is not part of the combat for all intents and purposes"

On page 50 in the cavalry rules it states "in order to claim these bonuses, mounted warriors must have charged and be in base contact exclusively with warriors on foot when the fight is resolved"

It goes on to say "If a mounted warrior with this bonus wins a fight , all his opponents are knocked to the ground"

So I guess it comes down to whether or not the spear armed warrior counts as an opponent?

We are currently playing that the spear armed warrior does not get knocked down. We also play that supporting warriors can be targeted by missile fire, we figured that this disadvantage is balanced by the advantage against cavalry. It certainly goes some way to reducing the effectiveness of cavalry, although maybe that's a reasonable representation of charging into a spear wall?

Thanks for all your help guys!

[Jobu]

No, the supporter does not get knocked down. As stated the supporter is not in the fight.

[Dr Grant]

Thanks for all your answers Jobu, I much appreciate the speedy responses.

Something else has just occurred as a result of this question: can the attacker (whether cavalry or not) kill the supporting warrior? We've always played that if you kill the first warrior and have attacks left over you can strike the spear armed supporter but I'm now wondering if their 'not in the fight' status protects them from this as well?

Thanks

[Jobu]

No, the supporter can not be killed since he was not "in the fight".

[Peregrin]

The only way I can think of is maybe a heroic fight, where the hero gets to charge and engage in a second fight if he wins the first. Otherwise, no, the supporter is not part of the fight.