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).
Put to Flight
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).
Melee Combat Example
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.