Quote Originally Posted by Sir Beane View Post
It's annoying but it isn't unrealistic. Friendly fire incidents happen frequently in combat, even in modern warfare. Poorly trained or nervous soldiers might easily make mistakes such as firing too close to a friendly unit. If you wish to avoid it then it's a matter of organising your army properly. I would rather have friendly fire than have units refuse to fire near a friendly/ have their bullets just pass straight through.

If you don't want your men shot in the back then don't stand them in front of guns, its as simple as that.
Friendly fire incidents do happen. I know, I was fired upon by fellow members of my own platoon so I think I have a better viewpoint on the subject than most others here. Most incidents of "friendly fire" are due to artillery or aircraft ground attack but despite your strawman, thats not what we are discussing. Incidents of short range "friendly fire" occur because of confusion. Its easy to mistake who's who in the dark or in heavy cover and sometimes the rapidity of movement on the modern battlefield cause errors. OTOH, its totally unrealistic to have a unit armed with a musket or bow, standing in an open field, fire point blank into the back of the unit in front of it.