Movement

When moving a unit, move each stand one at a time. Experienced players usually find it convenient and quicker to move whole units at once but in principle, stands always move one at a time to ensure a path can be traced. Select one stand from the unit and move it. Then move the second stand into formation with it. Then move the third to complete the formation (assuming a unit of three stands). Note there is no need for the unit to retain its original formation – the stands are simply re-arranged as needed when the unit moves.

All stands must be able to trace a clear path to their position in the unit’s final formation. Stands do not have to move to their front – they can move backwards, to the side, at an angle or in any orientation or direction.

No part of a stand can move further than its permitted maximum movement distance. Always measure from the part of the stand that moves the greatest distance – this will often be one of the corners. A stand cannot move through the base area of a stand from another unit whether friend or foe either wholly or in part. A stand can move through other stands of the same unit if they have not yet moved and are not engaged in combat. This allows stands to move out of their own unit’s formation without jamming each other. Even where they belong to the same unit. A stand cannot move through other stands who have already moved or are engaged in combat.

There is an exception to the rule that prevents stands moving through other units – this happens when a unit bursts through another during an evade and is described later. Stands can always move through characters as described in the Generals & Heroes section.

When a stand moves it can be oriented to pass through any gap so long as the gap is at least as wide as the stand’s shortest edge, usually this will be 20mm. For example, an infantry stand might be turned to its side to move through a gap between impassable walls and a river.

The exception to this rule is that a stand cannot pass through a gap between two enemy stands, or between an enemy stand and any feature or friendly stand, unless the gap is wider than the stand’s own frontage, as shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6. For example, there must be a gap of more than 40mm for an infantry stand to pass between two enemy stands, between an enemy stand and a friendly stand, or between an enemy stand and the edge of a river.

This rule prevents units moving through gaps whilst close to enemy units and where there is little room for effective manoeuvring. Note that although stands are not permitted to pass between enemy stands as described, this does not prevent them moving between such stands to charge them, assuming there is room to do so (See Moving Chargers).

It is well known fact that terrain features radically affect strategy, providing strong points to defend as well as obstructions to movement.

Infantry can move into or over terrain features with no reduction to their movement distance.

Cavalry and monsters can’t move into or over terrain features on the battlefield except for hills, bridges, shallow fordable rivers, grown fields and low obstacles (hedges, walls, fences or ditches, for example).

Chariots and artillery cannot move into or over terrain features on the battlefield except for hills and bridges.

Machines have special rules but in general treat terrain in the same way as chariots.

There are rules in the rulebook and army lists referring to some terrain features as a dense terrain. A dense terrain imposes −1 Command penalty as described in Command phase – Terrain. Typical dense terrain features are woods, built-up areas and broken or marshy ground (for more detail see Advanced Terrain Rules).

Any other feature large enough to warrant representation on the tabletop is considered to form a barrier to cavalry, chariot, monster, machine and artillery movement (unless players choose to agree otherwise before the game).

Hills can be moved over by all troops if they are essentially open and quite shallow but steep, rock strewn or wooded hills are considered impenetrable to all units except infantry.

In some exceptional cases, terrain might be considered a barrier to all troops, including infantry as well as cavalry, etc. Obvious examples include a huge canyon, a lake of molten lava, the ocean or an especially large river. These are unusual and entertaining features but don’t really enter into the majority of games, so we won’t concern ourselves with them any further. If you refer to the Advanced Terrain Rules section you’ll find further examples of rules for unusual terrain.

Rules occasionally oblige units to move into terrain they cannot cross. If units attempt to move into terrain they cannot cross they will halt at the edge. If they are driven back into impassable terrain as a result of shooting or magic, they may become confused (see the Shooting Phase section and the Confusion section). If a unit is forced to retreat into impassable terrain during combat, then stands may be destroyed as a result (see Combat phase – Retreats).

High walls, tall towers and large buildings block movement as you might reasonably expect. In these cases, troops must move through gateways or gaps. The exception to this is flying troops and this is covered in detail in the section on Flying Units.

The only time when ground troops can move across an intact curtain wall, tower or similar fortification is when infantry are making an assault as described in the chapter Siege & Fortresses. Assaulting troops come prepared with scaling ladders, grappling hooks, siege towers and a hefty dose of grim determination.

When troops evade, they move directly away from the closest enemy they can see up to their full pace move, by at least 1 cm. When we say ‘directly away’ or, for that matter, ‘directly towards’, the direction is established by placing a tape measure between the closest points of the closest two opposing stands. Where stands are equally close, the evading player may choose between them. The resulting line indicates the exact direction in which the evaders move. See Figure 9.

Move the evading unit one stand at a time. First, move the evading stand that is closest to the enemy. This stand must move in a straight line in the indicated direction directly away from the evaded enemy. The stand can be oriented to face any direction during its move allowing the evaders to move through gaps, turn to face their enemy, or change the stand’s final facing. Move the rest of the stands one stand at a time and arrange them into the unit’s new formation. Remember to take into account any necessary distance required to reorient stands as they move.

Evading units cannot move through terrain they could not normally enter, nor through enemy units or combat engagements. An evading unit must end its move at least 5cm from any enemy unit or any unit engaged in combat. If unable to comply, units cannot evade.

An evading unit can move through a friendly unengaged unit if the player wishes assuming the evaders have sufficient move to pass completely through. This is called a burst through and is an exception to the normal rule that units can’t move through each other. The burst through represents a situation where trained troops in good order manoeuvre through each other, one unit opening up its ranks to allow the other to pass. See Figure 10. This obviously takes time, so a unit which is burst through is automatically confused! See the Confusion section.

Characters move at the end of the Command phase after unit movement has been completed. Characters never move with units during the Command phase, not even if a character joined a unit in a previous turn or if such a unit charges or evades using initiative. When units are repositioned during other phases, during pursuit combat for example, characters which have joined units are moved with them.

Each character can move once and up to 60cm, or 100cm if flying. Characters can always move at full pace and, unless mounted on a monstrous mount or riding a chariot, always treat terrain as if they were infantry. No Command test is required for a character to move. Any failed Order rolls made in the Command phase do not affect his ability to move.

Due to their unique role in Warmaster, characters are treated differently to other types of units. Character stands are essentially ‘tokens’ that are considered to be ‘transparent’ on the battlefield. In other words, this means they can move through units from their own side, and similarly, a unit can move through its own side’s characters. All stands from either side can see past and, if they are appropriately armed, can shoot through characters as if they were not there.

See the Generals, Wizards and Heroes section.