Are infantry in skirmish formation Skirmishers?

[Alan Charlesworth]

All foot units can adopt skirmish/open order to move through terrain as required. The question is, do units that adopt skirmish formation always fire as skirmishers. I think not.

[Big Al]

I agree with Alan here. A unit in skirmish or open order will benefit from the +1 save and will also suffer only being able to fire a single shot, but I don't see why they should suddenly improve their shooting skills just because they've got a bit more room than they usually have.

[Alan Charlesworth]

Actually I am not sure that I read old_serge's post correctly the first time

With respect to Mixed Formation the flank companies doing the skirmishing, are the elite companies, that are likely to shoot better than the centre companies. So I would give them the +1 on their single Die.

So in summary:

Line unit when in open order - no bonus
Line unit in Mixed - +1 bonus
Unit with Skirmish ability - +1 bonus

Hope I made sense this time!

[old_serge]

So in summary:

Line unit when in open order - no bonus
Line unit in Mixed - +1 bonus
Unit with Skirmish ability - +1 bonus

Yes, well put sir.

A line unit that adopts a loose order for having entered woods should not be rewarded.