SAGA v2 Formations

When I first heard about the changes in the new SAGA rules my initial thought was that the formation of models within the unit would be less important than before. This was because in the old version only models in base-to-base contact with an enemy or in base-to-base contact with a friendly in base-to-base contact with an enemy counted in the combat. Basically it was possible to arrange your models so that your opponent could not count all his/her models whilst you fought with your full force. In the new version if you have at least one model in contact then all the models in both units count in the fight. This rule along with the fact that all your models must end up within 4" of the first model that charges/moves and within 2" of another model in the unit would lead most units to end up in a blob or line (was my thinking).
As I will be playing Pagan Rus mostly in SAGA 2 until the Crusades book is released against Mick who loves a bit of shooting I also had a look at the shooting rules. These have stayed the same so attack dice are generated by counting each model in range (same as SAGA v1). This rule staying the same and the change to the melee rules got me thinking about what would be the best formation for my troops to adopt to reduce the amount of shooting that they take.
To help illustrate I lined some troops up and assumed they would be taking javelin fire but the reasoning works the same for bows.
So if I take two lines of troops and move my melee troops to within 6" of the ranged troops so I can single activate next turn to make contact they would get the entire front rank. In this instance it would six men generating 3 attack dice if the shooters are Warriors/Levy or 6 if they are Hearthguard.
If my opponent wanted to get the whole unit in then they would need to move forward first before shooting.

Standard setup

I then thought about what would be the best way to present as small a frontage as possible so as few of the enemy models would be in range but still leave me within 6" for the charge. The obvious example from various periods in history is the wedge.

10 man wedge

I put together a 10 man wedge and checked that the furthest model is within 4" of the 'leader' and obviously each model has at least a couple of friends within 2".

So this unit can now be positioned 6" away from the enemy archers and reduce the number of enemy models that can shoot depending upon the positioning of the unit.

Head On

Essentially the further towards an edge you are the less enemy models can shoot, so I would expect most people to say it is reasonable to count 3 shooting models if you are positioned near the middle but if you get a good corner angle then only 1 model would count.

Hit the Corner

In order to make the charge all you would need to do is move the 'leader' model and then move up the rest behind, the rules state that as long as the first model moved can make contact the rest need only maintain unit cohesion if they cannot reach.

Now of course none of this stops your opponent from moving so they can get more shots in but that does mean they will need to at least double activate in order to get that shot off which most likely means they will generate a fatigue.

Now I suspect that many (including myself) would feel this setup to be overly 'gamey' but if you are playing an army faster than yourselves that rely on shooting (I'm looking at you Bretons!) then making the enemy have to get closer to you to be effect may just be a sensible decision.