Remaining Moves

A unit can move backwards as well as forwards -- carefully, though: warriors shuffle rather than stride when retreating this way. Moving backwards counts double, so it costs twice the distance actually covered.

Moving a formation sideways while keeping it intact is no small feat, so it also counts double -- the distance covered is treated as twice the actual distance moved. A unit can't mix forward, backward, and sideways movement within the same move, and can only wheel while moving forward.

Troops can move at double speed by marching -- useful for getting reserves to a critical part of the field quickly, or keeping units from being stranded away from the fighting. Marching troops move at twice their normal Movement rate, weapons sheathed or shouldered. A marching unit can't reform, move backwards, or move sideways -- it would disrupt the march -- though it can still wheel, the way a column following a road would.

A unit that marches in the Movement phase can't shoot missile weapons in the Shooting phase, so think carefully before marching your missile troops.

A marching unit isn't ready for combat, so troops are reluctant to march with a threatening enemy nearby. If a non-fleeing enemy unit is within 8" when a unit wants to march, it must first pass a Leadership test. Passing means it marches as ordered, ignoring the nearby foe; failing means it can only move normally instead. Note that a failed test still counts as having marched, even if the controlling player then chooses not to move the unit at all.

Units of a single model -- monsters, lone characters, or the last survivor of a wiped-out unit -- move, wheel, and march largely like any other unit. The one difference: a single model (other than Chariots) can pivot on the spot as many times as it likes during its move, without penalty, and without it preventing marching or shooting later in the turn. This reflects the greater freedom a lone creature has compared to a disciplined ranked-up unit -- though pivoting still counts as having moved for shooting purposes.

When charging, a lone model still follows the normal charge rules -- no pivots, just the one wheel while moving and a second to close the door -- wheeling from a front corner exactly like any other unit would.

Other than fleeing troops and pursuing troops (see the Close Combat phase), units may not move off the battlefield. A unit next to the board edge can still pivot or wheel even if that temporarily takes part of it over the edge, as long as it doesn't end its move there.

Sometimes a rule brings a unit onto the battlefield mid-game -- these are reinforcements. A reinforcing unit is placed in base contact with whichever board edge the triggering rule specifies, facing directly into the battlefield with its whole rear rank touching that edge.

A unit arriving as reinforcements can't charge that turn (it's missed its chance to declare one) and can't march, but otherwise plays normally -- though it does count as having moved for shooting purposes. Every model in the unit must be set up within twice its Movement rate of the edge it entered from.

A quick reference for how far a unit moves under various circumstances.