Our local group has always played it that vanguard does impact the +1 to go first but after playing out of town I discovered we seemed to be in the minority. The only rules to support this are by elimination and inference based on the following FAQs: Q: Must units with the Vanguard deployment special rule be moved before the roll to see who gets the first turn? (p79) A: Yes. Q: Do units that are deployed as Scouts count toward determining who finished deploying their army first? (p79) A: No. Just wondering what other people's views are before I discuss with our local group.
Units that have vanguard are deployed during normal deployment, so they do count towards the +1 for who goes first. But the act of moving the vanguarding units does not. Deployment goes like this: 1. Take turns deploying non-scout units -- first player to deploy Characters gets +1 to the "go first roll" 2. Roll off to see who gets to place scouts first -- take turns deploying scouts 3. Roll off to see who gets to vanguard first -- take turns vanguarding units 4. Roll off to see who takes first turn (the +1 was derived from step 1 above) 5. Play game!
@HDCT: Thanks, that makes it really simple to understand. Hard to believe we were doing it different looking at it laid out in that nice, orderly fashion. I feel like Homer now, Doh!!!