I also would like further clarification on this as the sentence "Engaged combatants remain as such until all opposition is defeated, or until they leave combat" has big implications on the mechanics of combat and if meant rigidly, suggests that various other paragraphs of the combat section would need reworded. For example, the Close Quarters round sequence (pg95) states that EACH round follows the sequence including Step 2: "All combatants in Close Combat are paired with one or more opponents." The further description of how this works (pg96), for example when there are more players than enemies, says that engagement is 'chosen by the players'. It describes that those in Close Combat choose an 'unengaged' adversary to face. At no point in this section does it state that players who were engaged with an opponent in the previous round who is still alive MUST continue to engage this same opponent. If this is meant to be the case, this entire paragraph could be removed or rewritten (and not suggested as the process undertaken each round) as the process for selecting a new opponent when your previous engaged opponent has been slain/escaped is already covered in the 'Unengaged Heroes' section at the bottom of the page.Rules clarification question(s) regarding how Rearward Stance and Engagement intermingle:
Rearward stance lists two requirements: 1) the total number of enemies can't be more than twice the number of adventurers in the Company and 2) for each Player-hero in Rearward there must be two other adventurers fighting in Close Combat stances.
So far so good.
In the Engagement section, however, it is noted that Player-heroes in Rearward stance cannot be engaged. Further, the rules block states "Engaged combatants remain as such until all opposition is defeated, or until they leave combat".
Do these two statements taken in tandem mean that, if a Player-hero is currently engaged they cannot select Rearward stance? If so this seems to be a 3rd "derived" requirement placed on Rearward stance.
The question ultimately, I think, is: can a PC that is "Engaged", due to being in a close combat stance in a previous round, select Rearward stance in a following round if they are still "Engaged" with an enemy? Or is it the case that there is a 3rd implicit requirement to select Rearward stance, being that the Player-hero must be in an Unengaged state?