A question for the old guard of the Battlefront engine

[k3mu]

... very minor and also rather out of the loop - but still, this thing makes my head spin, here goes: 

... transmission incoming from out-of-time ...

the first battlefront engine game 'BG Ardennes' had in it's CD-ROM manual this line for hot keys:

The following hot keys affect only the visual alignment of the unit icon(s) in the Hot
Spot hex while in Zoom-In (Battleview™) mode. Their use is for aesthetic purposes only,
and has no effect on play.
Ctrl-b or End: Move Selected unit (s) backward in hex
Ctrl-f or Home: Move Selected unit (s) forward in hex
Ctrl-l or Delete: Rotate Selected unit(s) left (counter-clockwise) in hex
Ctrl-r or Page Down: Rotate Selected unit(s) right (clockwise) in hex

in the next installment 'BG 2 Gettysburg' and all following releases for the BG engine facing of the units became important and the hot key listing looked like this:

The following hot keys can be used to move units within their hex:
Keypad 0: Change Formation of Selected unit(s)
Ctrl-B or End: Move Selected unit(s) backward in hex
Ctrl-F or Home: Move Selected unit(s) forward in hex
Ctrl-L or Delete: Change Facing of Selected unit(s) one hexside counter-clockwise in hex
Ctrl-R or Page Down: Change Facing of Selected unit(s) one hexside clockwise in hex

my question: Move Selected unit (s) forward/backward in hex was/is still only for aesthetic purposes only, and has no effect on play - or does the position MATTER in any explainable way?

... end of transmission ...

thank you very much for your attention.