Piquet/Band Of Brothers 2nd Ed. Questions

Three of us met last weekend and played a couple of games using BoB2. We found that our knowledge of the rules had grown rusty and had to refer to the rule book several times during the course of the game. The following questions remained unanswered nevertheless. So we consulted Peter "Gonsalvo" Anderson, who was in charge of developing the rules, Piquet/Band Of Brothers 2nd Edition. Our questions and his answers follow.

1. A missile armed unit is charged by a non-missile armed unit(the attacker). The former manages to (opportunity) fire at the attackerand causes 1 stand loss. The attacker moves into contact, the playerimmediately turns a melee resolution card and initiates melee. Doesthe "-1 stand" melee resolution modifier apply for the attacker? Ordoes it only apply for subsequent rounds of melee?
   
   Absolutely the "one stand difference" would apply if the other unit was at full strength. Why wouldn't it? The losses to fire happened first before the melee resolution process started.
   
   
2. IIRC, according to PK master rules a unit contacted in theflank/rear becomes disordered and may be meleed immediately without anMR card. It seems that the attacker in this case would be eligible forthe UP2 modifier for contacting the target in the flank. However, doesthe target suffer the DN2 penalty for "disordered"? The cumulativedifference of 4 seems a bit excessive.
   
   Yes, all of the above Bad Things apply. Being hit in flank in Piquet will usually result in routing your opponent unless he is *very* lucky. Of course, even a "win" just allows you to turn to face the attack, disordered (PB is an exception, of course).
   
   
3. A non-missile armed attacker moves into contact with a missilearmed defender during the attacking player's turn. The defender doesnot opportunity fire. The attacking player's phase ends but he winsthe impetus for the next phase. No MR card has yet been turned and thedefending player now decides to opportunity fire. Will the defender beconsidered to be firing at Point Blank range?
   
   There are several subtle points here. As it is the *opposing* player's phase, the defending unit can only issue *opportunity* fire. Opp fire can only be issued in response to an enemy action - Move, change in formation/facing, or fire. It can't be issued otherwise, *especially* NOT in response to a Melee Resolution card. So, that presents the player with an interesting choice, especially if the defending unit is Militia and the enemy will run out of impetus. Take the Opp fire now, probably at Long or Medium Range, OR hope you win the impetus and can fire at PB *before* the enemy turns a Melee Resolution Card. This is not made clear in the Master rules, but I think you'll see that it makes sense and solves the problem you identify above - plus in typical Piquet fashion it involves making a tough choice. It's inferred a bit but still not clearly in BoB2 page 19.
   
   
4. The problem here is thatif this were so, no missile armed unit can be engaged in melee withoutreceiving point blank fire.
   
   Agreed; See the above.
   
   
5. A missile armed unit fires at and eliminates all stands of an enemyunit. Is the enemy unit removed from table or is it considered to berouting? In the latter case, is a token figure or stand placed on thetable and moved away appropriately?
   
   The unit is dispersed and removed from the table. It hasn't routed (no morale loss), just ceased tom exist as an effective fighting force. Having said that, some Piquet players play it as you describe. I don't.