Each army has 1 General Staff unit. This represents your generals and their staff , and must be protected.
General Staff units have the following special abilities:
• High Command: General Staff units always count as having a Commander, as long as any models are still part of the unit. All rules that apply to units with a Commander also apply to General Staff units.
• Inspirational: Units close to the General Staff are less likely to break. When a friendly unit is within 2 hexes of your General Staff unit, it receives a +4 bonus to all Fortitude Tests (see Fortitude), +2 bonus to Attack Values, and +1 bonus to Defense Value.
• Rally Point: If a Shaken unit is able to move into a hex adjacent to a friendly General Staff unit, it immediately becomes Hesitant and stops moving. Remove 1 Morale Marker from the Unit Flag (See Flee).
• Dishonor: If your General Staff unit is destroyed, all of your units on the game board must immediately make a Fortitude Test with a -2 penalty. For the rest of the game, all of your units have -2 Fortitude (See Fortitude Tests).
The orders you issue to a unit may increase or decrease the unit’s abilities, such as Attack Value or Fortitude.
These modifi ers apply for the entire turn, unless the unit’s orders change (due to a failed Fortitude Test).
A few orders are changed from the Basic Rules, and there are new orders that apply to units that fail Fortitude Tests.
Modifiers: -2 Attack; +1 Defense; -1 Fortitude
Modifiers: +1 Defense; +1 Fortitude
Modifiers: -2 Attack; -1 Defense; -1 Fortitude
If the attacker suff ers casualties from the defender’s fire and fails the resulting Fortitude Test, it must stop moving.
Modi fiers: None
Modifiers: +2 Attack
Modi fiers: None
Modifiers: -1 Attack; -2 Firepower
Modifiers: -1 Attack; -1 Defense; -1 Fortitude
Modifi ers: -3 Attack; -2 Defense; -2 Fortitude
Units that are Shaken (units with 2 red Morale Markers on their Unit Flags) will execute the Flee order every turn, during the Retreat Step of the Execution Phase.
The unit must move at its fastest rate towards your General Staff unit, following the shortest possible path (2 hexes for infantry and 4 hexes for cavalry). Units executing the Flee order can leave melee combat.
If the unit reaches a hex that is adjacent to the General Staff unit, it immediately becomes Hesitant and stops moving for the turn. Remove 1 Morale Marker from the Unit Flag (automatically: do not make a Fortitude Test).
If you have no General Staff unit (because it was destroyed), units executing the Flee order must move towards your edge of the game board instead.
Modifi ers: Attack = 0; Defense = 0; -3 Fortitude
Units that are Panicked (units with 3 red Morale Marker on their Unit Flags) will execute the Panic order every turn, during the Retreat Step of the Execution Phase.
The unit must move at its fastest rate towards the nearest edge of the game board, following the shortest possible path (2 hexes for infantry and 4 hexes for cavalry). Units executing the Panic order can leave melee combat.
If the unit reaches the last hex on the edge of the game board, the unit is routed and removed from the game (treat it as if it was destroyed).
Modi fiers: None
This order is given to a unit in melee combat if its enemy is Put to Flight, if there are no other enemies engaged with the unit and it fails its Fortitude Test. If there is another enemy unit in its Zone of Control, it immediately turns to face the strongest enemy and engages it in melee combat instead (see Ending Melee Combat).
You must write down the number of the enemy unit that your unit is going to pursue (your choice if there are multiple enemy units running away from that melee combat).
A unit with Pursue orders always moves directly towards the fl eeing unit at maximum speed (2 for infantry or 4 for cavalry). If it can reach the enemy unit, it will engage that unit in melee combat again.
Modifiers: +3 Attack; +1 Defense; +2 Firepower; +1 Fortitude
If an enemy unit approaches the hidden unit from any direction that is not in its Defense Zone, the units are engaged in melee combat, but it does not count as a Flank or Rear attack. The hidden unit does not receive the +3 Attack value bonus, but it still receives +1 Defense and +1 Fortitude.
If an enemy unit enters the Kill Zone of a hidden ranged unit, the hidden unit shoots with +2 Firepower.
Modifiers: -2 Attack; -1 Defense; -1 Fortitude
If two Hesitant units join up, the combined unit is still Hesitant. If a Hesitant unit joins a Normal unit, the combined unit will be at the Normal Morale Level. After the two units join up, recalculate the unit’s Fortitude based on the new unit’s size.
Example: A Hesitant unit with 2 models joins a Normal unit with 3 models. The new unit will be Normal and include 5 models. The combined unit will only be at -1 Fortitude.
Modi fiers: None
Modifiers: None
Modifiers: -2 Attack; -1 Defense; -1 Fortitude
Modifiers: Attack = 0; +1 Defense; +1 Fortitude
If a unit is victorious in melee combat, it may gain an Honor Marker. Each unit on the winning side of a melee combat receives 1 Honor Marker if the enemy unit is completely destroyed or if it surrenders (by failing a Fortitude Test when Panicked—see Unit Morale).
A unit may never have more than 1 Honor Marker at a time. Any additional Honor Markers are lost.
If a unit has an Honor Marker, it receives the following bonuses:
• +1 Attack Value
• +2 Fortitude
If a unit with an Honor Marker fails a Fortitude Test, the Honor Marker is lost instead of the unit losing a Morale Level. Do not put a red marker on the Unit Flag.
When the stress of battle may cause a unit to lose the will to fi ght, it must make a Fortitude Test. The following situations force a unit to make a Fortitude Test:
• Each time the unit suff ers casualties (after the attack is complete). Remember that the unit loses 1 Fortitude for each casualty before it makes the Fortitude Test.
• When the unit is attacked from one of its Flank sides.
Remember that the unit suff ers a -3 penalty to its Fortitude for this test only. This test must be made before the melee combat is resolved.
• When the unit is attacked from its Rear side.
Remember that the unit suff ers a -5 penalty to its Fortitude for this test only. This test must be made before the melee combat is resolved.
• If the unit is Hesitant, Shaken, or Panicked, and not engaged in melee combat, it must make a Fortitude Test during the Morale Phase each turn (see The Morale Phase).
• If your General Staff unit is destroyed, all of your units must make a Fortitude Test once the attack is resolved, with a -2 penalty. For the rest of the game, all of your units suff er a -2 penalty to Fortitude.
When you must make a Fortitude Test, fi rst determine the current Fortitude value of your unit. Remember to count all modifi ers (if the unit has a Commander,
bonuses or penalties for Orders you have given, if your General Staff is within 2 hexes, from suffering casualties, etc.) and mark the correct value on the Unit Card. Then roll the die: If the number rolled is less than or equal to the unit’s current Fortitude, it passes the test. If the result is higher, the unit fails the test.
Example: A unit of Ashigaru archers began the battle with a Fortitude of 10. This turn it has Fire and Retreat orders, which imposes a -1 Fortitude penalty,
but it is only 2 hexes away from its HQ unit. The archers just su ered their rst casualty, so they must make a Fortitude Test. The unit’s current Fortitude is 10 (base) -1 (Orders) +4 (HQ) -1 (1 casualty) = 12. If the die roll for the Fortitude Test is 12 or less, the unit passes. If the roll is 13 or more, it fails.
If your unit fails a Fortitude Test, it’s Morale Level will get worse:
• If the unit has an Honor Marker: The Honor Marker is lost (remove it). The unit suff ers no other penalty.
• If the unit did not have an Honor Marker: The unit’s Morale Level decreases by 1 level:
- If the unit was at the Normal Morale Level, it is now Hesitant.
- If the unit was Hesitant, it is now Shaken.
- If the unit was Shaken, it is now Panicked.
- If the unit was Panicked, it may now rout or surrender.
To show that the unit’s Morale Level has decreased, add 1 red Morale Marker to its Unit Flag.
Exception: If a unit fails a Fortitude Test during the Morale Phase, or when testing to see if it must pursue an enemy unit that is Put to Flight, its Morale Level does not get worse (see The Morale Phase and Put to Flight).
Units engaged in melee combat must continue fighting until one of the following occurs:
• The unit is issued the Retreat order;
• The unit is completely destroyed;
• The enemy unit is completely destroyed or retreats;
• The unit is Put to Flight; or
• The enemy unit is Put to Flight.
If a unit destroys an enemy unit in melee combat, the winning unit receives 1 Honor Marker.
A unit with an Honor Marker gains +1 Attack Value (see Honor) and +2 Fortitude (see Fortitude).
If there is another enemy unit in the winner’s Zone of Control, the winning unit must engage the strongest of these enemy units during the next turn (the enemy with the highest total Attack value)—turn the unit to face the next enemy.
If the enemy unit is Put to Flight, the winning unit does not receive an Honor Marker. If there is another enemy unit in the winner’s Zone of Control, the winning unit must turn and engage the strongest of these enemy units next turn. If there are no more enemies, the winner will try to pursue (see Pursue).
A unit engaged in melee combat will be Put to Flight if it is Hesitant or Shaken and it fails a Fortitude Test for any reason. After combat is resolved for the turn, during the Retreat Step of the Execution Phase, a unit that was Put to Flight will make a Flee or Panic move (see Unit Morale).
This unit of Samurai cavalry has engaged some Ashigaru spearmen. The Samurai are attacking!
Step 1: Determine Attack Value: Since the Samurai are attacking an infantry unit, it must use the Attack Value Against Infantry, which is 8. This is modified by the Samurai unit’s Assault orders (+2) for a fi nal Attack Value of 10.
Step 2: Roll Attack Dice: There are 2 models in the samurai unit, so it rolls 6 dice. The die results are: 1, 3, 4, 9, 13, and 13.
Step 3: Count Hits: Each die that rolls less than or equal to the Attack Value (10) scores 1 hit, so the Samurai infl ict a total of 4 hits on the Ashigaru!
Step 4: Apply Damage: The Ashigaru unit has not been attacked yet this turn, so it still has its base Defense Value of 1. The fi rst hit reduces this value to 0 (which is marked on the Ashigaru Unit Card). The remaining 3 hits each cause 1 casualty, so 3 models are removed from the Ashigaru unit. This reduces the unit’s Fortitude by 3. Since the Ashigaru unit suff ered casualties, it must make a Fortitude Test against its reduced Fortitude value. The roll is a 14: the unit fails
the test!
All melee combat is simultaneous, so the Ashigaru unit will get to attack the Samurai unit at the same time, before the 3 casualties are infl icted. Since the Ashigaru unit had 4 models at the start of the fi ghting, it will roll 4 dice when it attacks.