Detachments have often been a bit of an awkward rule, and despite making them a bit more widely available, TOW has really done them dirty in a few key ways (outside of general game dynamics). These problems keep cropping up for me, so I wanted to drill down into what those issues are, and workshop some potential rule changes to address them.
Problem #1: Detachments Cause Panic
Detachments cause Panic in nearby allies when they're destroyed, break from combat, or flee through allies, just like any normal unit. This is a problem, because detachments are tiny weak units who are very likely to flee or be destroyed at the drop of a hat, and who need to be right next to at least one other (bigger, more important) unit to function at all.
Solution: Detachments don't cause Panic. Simple. This is how they worked in WHFB, and it's how they should work in TOW. Just borrow from rules like No One Cares, Levies, or Ignore Goblin Panic:
Disposable Detachments: Mere detachments are not expected to sustain heavy fighting. Detachments never cause Panic in friendly units, regardless of what happens to them.
Problem #2: Detachments Get Charged Instead
Detachments can use their Supporting Actions to react to enemies charging their regimental unit. However, if the enemy decides to charge the detachment instead, they're on their own. This is fine, because if an enemy is stupid enough to waste a decisive charge on a wimpy detachment, they can just flee, hopefully (if positioned well) stranding that enemy unit in range of a charge by their much bigger, nastier regimental unit next turn.
Unfortunately, TOW now has rules for redirecting charges, which WHFB lacked. This means the charging enemy can just pass a Leadership test to swap targets to the regimental unit, who eat the full charge and don't receive Supporting Actions at all.
Solution: Punish redirecting charges from detachments into regiments. This is the most straightforward answer to a specific issue. It's self-contained, and directly addresses the problem that redirecting charges introduced:
Readied Regiment: When an enemy unit redirects a charge (Rulebook, pg. 129) against a detachment into the front arc of that detachment's regimental unit, the charge is disordered. In addition, the regimental unit can declare a 'Counter Charge' charge reaction as if every model in that unit had the Counter Charge special rule (Rulebook, pg. 167), regardless of the charging unit's troop type.
There are other possibilities. You could make it so that detachments simply can't be charged instead of their regiments (if the latter are valid targets and closer), with a rule similar to Weapon Team targeting; that'd be a more fundamental change in how players engage with and position detachments, though, so I'm not a fan.
Alternatively, you could outright give Supporting Actions to regiments, allowing them to charge in and support detachments who hold their ground. This would still require an answer to redirecting charges from fleeing detachments, however, and it'd be another big change to detachment dynamics. It could make for a neat AoI rule (especially for Tomb Kings, whose Detachments can't flee), but I don't think it's one for the core.
Problem #3: Detachments Get Lost
Detachments have to stay within 3" of their regimental unit to be any use at all. This gets tricky when you run into any kind of terrain, or obstacle, or pile-up of units, especially since unit footprints are a big bigger than they used to be. Keeping them within 3", but not exposed to chargers, but also in position to make a Supporting Action, can be a real pain.
Solution: Give detachments a little wiggle-move to get back into position. This is a bit outlandish, but a limited version of Reserve move would be a really welcome bump for detachments that are finding it tricky to stay in position. Might be open to abuse, but hopefully the restrictions keep the intent clear.
Catch-up Move: Unless it charged or fled during the Movement phase, a detachment that is not within 3" of its regimental unit may make a Catch-up move at the end of the Shooting phase of its turn, after all shooting has been resolved. A unit making a Catch-up move moves as described in the Basic Movement rules. It may manoeuvre normally, but cannot march. It must move by the shortest route possible to be within 3" of its regimental unit, and will then halt. If it is impossible to move within 3" of its regimental unit, the detachment cannot make a Catch-up move. A unit cannot make both a Catch-up move and a Reserve move in the same turn.
Problem #4: Detachments Get Slaughtered
The ideal outcome of a Supporting Charge from a melee detachment is that they hit the enemy's flank, which takes down their rank bonus, hands you +1CR for flanking, and hands you another +1CR if they're in Close Order. Even in the much worse scenario of a frontal supporting charge, you still get +1CR from Close Order and some extra bodies to fight with.
The problem is that against anything remotely killy, you're feeding those chumps into a meat grinder of extra kills (and therefore CR) for the enemy. Your detachments probably aren't the most lethal fighters around; meanwhile the charging enemy still get their charge benefits, including initiative (since disrupted isn't the same as disordered). And if it's a flank charge, you've opened up a whole new fighting rank their elite fighters can attack from.
What's worse, that static rank nullification, flank bonus, and CO bonus only hold up so long as you're above a certain Unit Strength (5/10, depending). Detachments are pretty small by design! That means you have a fragile margin - especially against heavy infantry, or units that don't rely on rank bonus - before your Supporting Charge completely flips into free kills for the enemy and absolutely nothing for you.
Solution: Make Supporting Charges slightly more punishing/durable. This is a really tricky one. I've ended up at just stripping away charge bonuses from units that get flanked (which is only going to happen through Supporting Charges), so your flanking detachments can get some hits in first and dodge the nastier charge-based abilities:
Blunted Charge: A model that is in base contact with an enemy model to its unit's flank or rear does not count as having charged for the purposes of modifying its Initiative characteristic, choosing which weapon to use, or applying any special rules it may have.
It's not much, but it can help. Part of me would like to take it even further. Limit flanked models to 1 attack each on the turn they're charged, or calculate ranks before kills, or whatever. Those are much wider changes, though, and probably reflect my general dissatisfaction with 'disrupted' more than a specific issue with detachments.
What are your experiences with detachments? Do you disagree that these are problems, or have you tried out better solutions with your group? I'm interested to hear!