DAW: Battles Questions

I’ve played the sample scenarios 1 1/2 times solo so far, and questions have arisen. So far, the orcs have kicked the empire’s %^#.

  1. Irregular units must always attack if able to do so:
    – Does this include charging if they are able to?
    – I assume that the irregular unit may attack with any type of attack available to them (for example the orc crossbowmen can attack with their crossbows rather than advance to attack in melee)

  2. When fleeing, is a unit able to move through two consecutive squares adjacent to enemy units? I had a situation where a unit of empire light cavalry was deep in orc territory, but unscathed and unthreatened. During the morale phase, they decided to flee. They must flee back toward their own side, but this would require them to go through several hexes that would violate the above rule.

Also, once a unit’s uhp are 50% or less, the unit must take a shock roll each time it is damaged from then on (wether it takes 1 uhp or 20 uhp of damage), correct?

IANAA

  1. I do not believe so, as charging is a form of movement rather than an attack in and of itself.

  2. ??? Good question!

  3. Exactly Correct.

  1. Irregular units must always attack if able to do so:
    1a) Does this include charging if they are able to?

No. The rule applies after movement is completed.

The rule’s general intent is to force irregulars to attack and thereby trigger reaction attacks when a more disciplined force would do so. For example, if veteran elven longbowmen are ready to fire, it might be unwise for goblin slingers to fire on them…but if they are able to do so, they must do so. If orc infantry have just charged forward and find themselves adjacent to readied heavy cavalry they might not want to attack and suffer the devastating reaction attack, but they have to.

1b) I assume that the irregular unit may attack with any type of attack available to them (for example the orc crossbowmen can attack with their crossbows rather than advance to attack in melee)

Yes.

  1. When fleeing, is a unit able to move through two consecutive squares adjacent to enemy units? I had a situation where a unit of empire light cavalry was deep in orc territory, but unscathed and unthreatened. During the morale phase, they decided to flee. They must flee back toward their own side, but this would require them to go through several hexes that would violate the above rule.

Yes. Fleeing units do not have to obey that rule.

The limit on moving through two consecutive squares adjacent to enemy units was designed to prevent cavalry from “skimming” along the rear and flank facing of enemy forces, or “wiggling” through them, in order to get to some specially chosen unit. This was a very “gamey” tactic in some early sessions of play.

I just re-read the text and did not make this clear in the rulebook. Apologies!

  1. Correct.

Thanks Susan.

Another question regarding “irregular units must attack if possible”:

THE SITUATION:
It is Chief Awitar’s initiative. He has his orc heavy infantry unit #6 adjacent to and threatening an enemy unit. However, unit #6 charged last round, thus it is currently disordered. Both crossbow units under his command also have eligible missile targets. Heavy infantry unit #7 fled last round (and thus is currently disordered).

THE QUESTION:
Chief Awitar wants to activate heavy infantry unit #7 and bring it back into the fight. Does the above rule prevent him from doing so? In other words, must he spend all 4 of his available APs on the units that can attack (2 to cause unit #6 to attack and 1 each on the crossbow units)?

No, it’s nothing so complex as that.

The rule merely means that IF you activate an irregular unit then when the unit’s attack sequence is reached, IF it can attack an enemy, it must do so.

It’s just designed to prevent you from using irregular troops in very nuanced ways, like moving next to a unit that is ready but not attacking it, in order to avoid the moving unit being eligible to be struck by bow fire, say.

Thanks Alex, the answers are appreciated. I just concluded running the scenario 4 times by myself (not all the way to the end though, because after a certain point, it becomes a foregone conclusion), and the orcs have beaten the living daylights out of the empire each time. I’m enjoying learning the game, but it’s frustrating that I can’t manage to eke out a victory for the empire. Those ogre units seem impossible for me to deal with. I’ve been keeping the orc commanders behind the main battle line to keep their units out of combat, and so far, I haven’t been able to meaningfully break through to them, though I did manage to eliminate Chief Awitar in this battle (too little too late however… his sacrifice delayed the empire cavalry for one extra round, which seemed to me a turning point in the battle) and 3 units in his division still remained on the battlefield (all disordered). Once the commander is gone, I believe the remaining units are pretty much sitting ducks. However, it does not seem that they count towards units lost for the purposes of the morale phase (i.e. they must be physically off the board).

Fascinating! I’ve actually only ever seen the humans win in my playthroughs. The ogres have massive smashing power, but that cavalry unit has incredible tactical utility.

For example, you can have light cavalry hustle/march up and sit next to an enemy, ideally on their flank. The beastmen are then forced to rotate to attack the light cavalry, who can retreat for free so they never take damage (Unless you’re really sloppy and retreat to where you can be attacked, since the SECOND attack sequence can deal damage.) Then, because they turned 90 degrees to face the cavalry, your main force is now flanking! Land a hit with your archers- Now you’re flanking a disordered unit! +4s to hit all round! If you’ve got a heavy infant near by, he can charge and probably hit hard enough to finish it off, or at least force a Flee shock roll, which is as good as killing a unit because the beastman commanders can’t really afford to pay the 3 AP for activating a disordered unit out of ZOC that’s just going to die soon anyway.

Loose units versus Irregular units basically mean you can walk up to the beastman of your choice and go “You. You don’t get a turn. Also, you have to do something dumb.”

Are you sure you can force them to rotate and/or charge? I thought movement was not part of the “Irregular units have to attack if possible” rule.

You can’t FORCE them to rotate, but they also can’t disengage, since that’s an action in lieu of attacking, which means their options are

A. Rotate and attack (and then get hit in the rear by your army)
B. Do nothing (and then get hit in the rear by your flanking unit)