Forming Units

Models are organised into units -- usually several banded together, though a single powerful model (a character, a chariot, a Dragon, or a war machine and its crew) also counts as its own unit.

A unit is arranged in base contact, in horizontal ranks and vertical files, with every model facing the same direction. A unit can't have more ranks than files, except temporarily to squeeze through a gap too narrow to pass otherwise -- it must return to a legal formation again as soon as possible afterward. Models are spread as evenly as possible across ranks, with any shortfall left in the rearmost rank, kept centred.

A model is never considered to be in base contact with itself, only with other models.

Diagram showing examples of correct and incorrect unit formations.
Here you can see examples of correct and incorrect formations.
Removing Casualties

Casualties are removed from the back rank first. If the unit is down to a single rank, remove models evenly from each end instead.

If a model that needs to stay in a fighting rank (a champion or another character, for example) would otherwise leave a gap, the nearest other model immediately steps in to fill it.

Unit Facing

Every model has a forward, flank, and rear arc based on the direction it's facing -- used to work out what it can attack, and which side an enemy can charge it from. The arcs are formed by 45-degree lines from each corner of the base, splitting it into four 90-degree quadrants. A unit's own facing simply follows its models' facing.

Diagram showing a model's forward, flank, and rear arcs formed by 45-degree lines from its base corners.
Diagram illustrating unit facing based on the facing of its constituent models.
Unit Strength

Unit Strength measures a model's relative size and power, for things like rank bonus and flanking. For most models, it's simply the model count. Unusually large creatures (Trolls, chariots, and so on) count for more -- multiply the number of models by that model's own Unit Strength value (see the Troop Types chapter). A unit mixing models with different Unit Strengths just adds them all together.

Line of Sight

Line of sight is whether a model can actually see its target -- needed for any attack, whether melee, shooting, or magic. There must be a clear, unblocked line from the model's own forward arc to the target's base. A model with a higher Line of Sight value can see past (and be seen past) models or terrain that only has a lower one.

Sequencing

When two or more rules would trigger at exactly the same moment, resolve them together if that's possible. If it isn't, whichever player's turn it is chooses the order they're resolved in.

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