The Turn
The game is played over a series of rounds. Each round follows this sequence:
Turn Structure
The game is played over a series of rounds. Each round follows this sequence:
Activation Count
At the start of each round, count each player's Active and Downed fighters on the battlefield. This is that player's activation count. Do not count fighters who are Stunned, Out of Action, or Escaped.
Use activation count to determine initiative and Pass tokens. Do not recalculate either as the round progresses.
1. Start of Round
Determine initiative. During the first round, use the initiative determined during battle set-up. During each later round, the player with the lower activation count has initiative and activates first. If both players have the same activation count, the player who did not have initiative last round now has it.
After initiative is determined, that player gains Pass tokens equal to the shortfall. For example, if one player counts 5 and the other 3, the player with 3 has initiative and gains 2 Pass tokens.
2. Alternating Activations
Starting with the player who has initiative, players take turns activating one fighter at a time.
When a fighter activates, they may perform 2 actions selected from the action list. Actions may be taken in any combination and in any order.
After a fighter's activation is complete, the other player activates one of their fighters, and so on.
When it is their turn to activate a fighter, a player with a Pass token may spend it to pass instead. They do not select or activate a fighter, and play passes to the opposing player. A player cannot spend a Pass token on two consecutive turns to activate; they must activate a fighter before passing again.
Only fighters who can activate may be selected. Stunned, Out of Action, and Escaped fighters cannot be selected.
If a Stunned fighter becomes Active during the round before their player has finished activating fighters, they may activate later this round with 1 action. If they become Downed instead, they may activate later this round, but only to Recover. Do not recalculate initiative or Pass tokens.
3. End of Round
The round ends when every fighter who can activate has activated.
If one player has no fighters left to activate before the other, the remaining player activates their remaining fighters normally, one at a time.
At the end of the round, remove all unspent Pass tokens.
Begin a new round at Step 1.
Ending the Battle
The battle ends immediately when only one retinue has fighters remaining on the battlefield, either due to all other fighters being taken Out of Action, or because the enemy Retinue fled the battlefield. The remaining retinue wins.
Escape
When making a Move action, a fighter may leave the battlefield through any battlefield edge if they have enough movement to reach it. Remove the fighter from the battlefield. They have Escaped and cannot return during this battle.
An Escaped fighter is not Out of Action and does not roll on the Casualty Table after the battle.
Morale
When a retinue's losses mount, fighters may break and flee.
Count fighters deployed at the start of the battle as the starting count. A fighter is lost if they are Out of Action or Stunned. Active and Downed fighters are not lost.
A fighter removed from the battle to fuel a summon is not lost if a replacement fighter is placed on the battlefield as part of that summon. If no replacement is placed, they count as lost. (See summoning rules in Traditions and Summoning.)
A retinue is routing when more than half of its starting fighters are lost — not when half are lost. For example, a retinue that deployed 5 fighters is routing when 3 are lost, not 2; a retinue that deployed 4 is routing when 3 are lost, not 2. Check whenever a fighter becomes lost; a retinue that starts to rout mid-round does not make fighters who have already activated this round test until their next activation.
While a retinue is routing, each fighter who is not Broken makes a Will check at the start of their activation, before taking actions:
- Stunned fighters do not test — they cannot act. If a Stunned fighter becomes Active or Downed before their player has finished activating fighters, they test at the start of their next full activation.
- Fighters with the Summon keyword auto-pass if any friendly fighter is within 6" and line of sight. Otherwise, test normally.
- All other fighters on the battlefield make a Will check with these modifiers:
- +1 for each other friendly fighter within 6" and line of sight
- +2 for a friendly Leader within 6" and line of sight (instead of +1 for that fighter)
- +1 if the fighter has Fearless
Pass: The fighter activates normally.
Fail: The fighter becomes Broken and resolves the Broken condition for this activation. If they do not Escape, they remain Broken.
A fighter with Fearless may still flee the battlefield — not because they are afraid or in a panic, but merely to find out what happened to the rest of the retinue, or due to boredom.
Pass Tokens
Pass tokens compensate for numerical disadvantage by letting the player with fewer available fighters delay an activation.
Pass Tokens
Start-of-round tokens: At the start of the round, the player with the lower activation count receives Pass tokens equal to the shortfall. (See Activation Count.)
Pass: When it is their turn to activate a fighter, that player may spend 1 Pass token instead. No fighter activates, and the opposing player takes the next activation.
No consecutive passes: A player who spends a Pass token must activate a fighter on their next turn to activate. They cannot spend another Pass token until they do.
End of round: Remove all unspent Pass tokens.