Close Combat Basics

The player whose turn it is nominates one close combat involving one or more of their units and fights a full round of close combat. Then they nominate the next combat, and so on until every eligible unit has fought. Each combat is resolved completely -- including any flee and pursue moves -- before moving on to the next one.

A close combat attack is any attack made against a unit in base contact during the Close Combat phase -- this includes Stomps and Impact Hits (see the Special Rules chapter), and any other attack that normally hits automatically in combat.

Every model in base contact with an enemy must fight -- models can't elect to hold back, and normally nothing can prevent them from striking. Occasionally a spell or special rule stops a model from fighting outright, but far more often it just reduces its chance of landing a blow instead.

Several rules key off a unit's "first round of close combat" -- this means the first round a unit fights without having disengaged since (through fleeing, pursuing, or any other effect). If a unit already in combat is then charged by a second enemy, that's still the newly-arrived unit's own first round of close combat, even though it isn't the first round of the combat overall for the units already fighting.