So far in the run up to Warhammer: The Old World, we’ve prepared for battle in the Strategy phase, jockeyed for position in the Movement phase, and darkened the skies with arrows in the Shooting phase. It’s now time to get to the grimmest business of all: slinging swords and shouldering pikes in the Combat phase.
You may not be surprised by this point to discover that the fourth and final phase of the Game Round is divided into four simple steps: Choose & Fight, Calculate Result, Break Test, and Pursuit. As with the Shooting phase, these steps are followed in order for each separate combat. It’s too complicated to summarise in full here, but this article should give you a flavour of how it all works.
You begin the phase by choosing which combat you want to begin first. In general, fighting happens in ranks, and only the first rank* of an engaged unit can fight. However, a unit with a wider fighting rank than its opponent can still attack with every model in that rank – your troops surround and envelop the other regiment.
There are plenty of wrinkles to this – some models may make supporting attacks from a deeper rank, multiple units can be engaged in the same combat, and any model that is able to fight without being in base contact may only make one attack this turn.
Once you’ve worked out who can fight, it’s time to determine Initiative for each model and see who strikes first. The model with the highest Initiative statistic strikes first, and so on down the order – with a bonus for charging and a bigger one for hitting them in the flank or rear. There could still be a situation, however, in which a lumbering foe like a Stone Troll (Initiative 1) may find itself striking second on the charge against the preternatural senses of a Swordmaster of Hoeth (Initiative 6).
Weapon Skill and Rolling to Hit
The big news here is that we’re back to the classic Weapon Skill stat – which means higher WS is better, and that to work out each model’s roll to hit, you must compare your WS against theirs. Yes, the To Hit Chart is back and it’s as beardy as ever. Bad news if you’re a Goblin Spearman, but fantastic for that Bretonnian Duke who’s about to skewer them.
You roll as many dice as your engaged models have Attacks and, with the higher Initiative models striking first, a charging unit has the opportunity to overwhelm its enemies before they have the wit to swing back. Next, you roll to wound and make armour saves as normal.
Casualties are removed from the back ranks, representing the rear ranks stepping forward as their comrades bite the dirt. Set every death in each unit aside – you’ll need to tot them up for the next step…
Calculating the Combat Result
Combats in Warhammer: The Old World are usually decisive – one side or the other makes the breakthrough, and the loser is pushed back or breaks. Unlike in other Warhammer games, you don’t flee based on your Leadership alone; you have to calculate the Combat Result – in other words, you work out who’s won by totting up who’s killed who.
It’s not just how many deaths you’ve caused, however – you get bonuses for complete ranks, for having the high ground, for standard bearers, and for attacking the side or rear.
Add it all up and see who’s won. If it’s a draw, combat continues next turn, but if there’s a clear loser, they must take a Break Test. This is a Leadership test modified by how much you lost the combat by, and with several outcomes:
If the natural roll is higher than the Leadership stat of the testing unit’s leader (either that of its Champion or of a Hero model that’s joined it), then the unit Breaks and Flees
If the modified roll is higher than the Leadership stat, but the natural roll is lower, the unit Falls Back in Good Order
If the modified roll is lower than the Leadership stat, or if you roll a double 1, the unit Gives Ground
As you can see, this is a substantial change to combat rules from the last few editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and instead combines and refines a selection of rules from earlier editions and spin-offs of the game. It may seem complex at first glance, but it’s a mechanic that quickly becomes clear once you’ve run through a few combats – and it adds a ton of tactical depth to the most important part of the game.
We’ll be discussing Morale, Breaking, and Psychology next week – but we can still investigate the final step of combat, Pursuit.
Run Them Down!
When you win a combat, you have a range of choices depending on how the enemy reacts:
Restrain – pass a Leadership test to avoid pursuit and instead reform your ranks for free
Follow Up a unit that gave ground, re-entering combat a few inches forward
Pursue a unit that flees or falls back. If you catch a fleeing unit, it’s cut down and destroyed. If you catch a unit falling back, combat begins again and the pursuer counts as having charged
Overrun – in the case that the victor has completely killed its target, it may make a full move directly forward… and if you end up in another combat, that counts as a fresh charge. Clever use of Overruns will have heavy cavalry licking its lips…
There’s plenty more to the Combat phase – Wizards can use Assailment spells, for instance, while units fighting from behind a barricade or wall benefit from the extra protection.
That’s it for this week’s rules snapshot from Warhammer: The Old World. Next week’s instalment is all about Morale and Psychology – Fear, Terror, Hatred and all that good stuff.
* Referred to as the Fighting Rank. Certain units have the ability to fight in deeper ranks or offer supplementary attacks.
