A unit threatens the area around it with its weapons, and this limits the enemy’s ability to move through that area. This is called a “Zone of Control”. The Zone of Control for all units includes all 6 adjacent hexes.
No unit may ever move through an enemy unit’s Zone of Control. If a unit enters an enemy Zone of Control, it must stop moving and enters melee combat with that unit. Similarly, if a unit moves in a way that puts an enemy in its own Zone of Control, it must stop moving and engage the enemy.
Example: A unit of Samurai cavalry moves across the battle eld, and into a hex adjacent to an enemy archer unit. Since this hex is in the archers’ Zone of Control, the cavalry must stop moving for the turn.
It is now engaged with the archers and they will fight during the Melee Combat Step of the Execution Phase.
A unit that has the Defend, Ambush, or Fire and Retreat order does not have a Zone of Control. Instead, this unit has a “Defense Zone”.
Important: A unit engaged in melee combat does not have a Zone of Control.
Defense Zone
Only units that have been given Defend, Ambush, or Fire and Retreat orders have a Defense Zone. When you give one of these orders to a unit, you must turn the unit on the game board so it is facing a single side of the hex it occupies. This will determine where the Defense Zone is.