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What exactly is a 'bus'?

It sounds self explanatory until the word is used in different contexts with list and tactics designs.

Any other new buzzwords rearing their ugly heads?

Bus has been around since the dawn of 8th and means something that is long and packed with stuff (knight bus, minobus, slave bus ect)

There was discussion of this on the Black Sun podcast.

I take it that a bus is like a bunker/deathstar but using cavalry.

Bus formation?

Basically a really long unit to take advantage of steadfast. For example if you had x50 skaven slaves then you would deploy them 5x10. Most buses are usually cheap infantry

"Bus" generally speaking is when a unit runs with the minumum width (usually 5) to gain ranks and then runs as far deep as possible.

For example, 40 Empire swordsmen in 8 ranks of 5 is a bus formation, as they're as deep as possible while being only minimally wide.

Bus can also refer to deathstar units. The only one I'm familiar with is Minobus, though Knightbus does exist.

So its an 'attack column'.

I hate internet definitions they are often so lame.

'Kiting', getting a monster to chase you like a kiddie trailing a kite on a string. Real hunters have called that a bait lure in whatever language since men threw rocks.

Have to tell Napoleon that his soldiers didn't form attack columns, they were taking buses.

So whats a march column now, a conga line?

I always thought a bus a unit that is used to carry a juiced up character or characters into battle, the unit is used to protect said character until close combat, its been used since the dawn of warhammer

His Imortal Shadow wrote:I always thought a bus a unit that is used to carry a juiced up character or characters into battle, the unit is used to protect said character until close combat, its been used since the dawn of warhammer

It appears that some list descriptions meant something like rthat. Some units described as 'buses' in lists were quite small, though usually fast, and appears to be just packaging for someone nasty. Others were large and character free.

Orlanth wrote:So its an 'attack column'.

I hate internet definitions they are often so lame.

'Kiting', getting a monster to chase you like a kiddie trailing a kite on a string. Real hunters have called that a bait lure in whatever language since men threw rocks.

Have to tell Napoleon that his soldiers didn't form attack columns, they were taking buses.

So whats a march column now, a conga line?

Funny enough, a conga line was a zombie summoning tactic in 6th edition where you would summon zombie units in ranks of 1 just to exist within 1" of the enemy and charge just to hold out as long as possible while maintaining a minimum frontage so that only 3 models could attack said conga line.

As for kiting, I think it's mostly from people who play MMO's as it's a common tactic used when avoiding a monster that could easily kill you if it caught up with you, while slowly whittling it down as you run.
In the early days of World of Warcraft, some hunters would kite world bosses into capital cities much to the shagrin(sp?) of those in the auction house.
As seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl0VWJdE01M

Conga line i heard in 40K because units could be spaced however, within 1". So you could make these really wacky formations that were indeed conga lines stretching across the map.

Aerethan wrote:

As for kiting, I think it's mostly from people who play MMO's as it's a common tactic used when avoiding a monster that could easily kill you if it caught up with you, while slowly whittling it down as you run.
In the early days of World of Warcraft, some hunters would kite world bosses into capital cities much to the shagrin(sp?) of those in the auction house.
As seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl0VWJdE01M

Running away to draw out prey/predators is logical and could be coded into games. The word kiting comes because the word lure probably was unknown to the kiddies that coined the term.

Running away with the purpose of drawing out enemies is not kiting. That's luring.

Kiting is where you run away to minimise auto-attack damage from melee characters (since, if you're running away, their character stops for a second to attack you, then needs to catch up to hit again, thus lowering the amount of hits you take) or moving to avoid incoming missile fire.

Kiting is actually something that is hard to do well, since you need to do it while avoiding other enemies that can hit you. It's mostly used in PvP.

Dont kite things when you are a dwarf. That is really really bad because you usually get caught because of their short legs.

Bus as far as i know is a unit that is 5 wide (so it gets the rank bonus) and as deep as possible. Cheap troops that just hold up important units.

Example, "Look at that bus of 80 skaven slaves they look so nice being 5 wide and 16 deep".

Orlanth wrote:So its an 'attack column'.

I hate internet definitions they are often so lame.

'Kiting', getting a monster to chase you like a kiddie trailing a kite on a string. Real hunters have called that a bait lure in whatever language since men threw rocks.

Have to tell Napoleon that his soldiers didn't form attack columns, they were taking buses.

So whats a march column now, a conga line?

That's the joy of language. Its changes and develops over time. Plus saying that they called them these things since pre history is bit long fetched. As English as we know it isn't even 1000 years old.

Also the Conga line is running unbreakable units 1 wide to make it the worls most annoying speed bump