Sunday, January 16, 2011

Fleeing units do not count for victory points

Up until now (this includes 7th ed) when counting for victory points we've always awarded points to the opposition for any units that are:

  • less than half strength, 
  • fleeing
  • dead or fled
I spotted this the other day.  So, let's look a little closer at the rules...

p143: Dead of Fled:
[paraphrasing] Only count enemy units that have been destroyed or fled the table for victory points.

Seems pretty straight forward. 
What about units that you've worn down to a nub? A massive block of 30 Dark Elf corsairs that's taken turns to wear down, they've fled the combat and only have 2 figures left but you still don't get any points for them?

IMG_2023

Even worse if that unit included the enemy General, you wouldn't get any points for the General. 

That can't be right. /me checks rules for rallying.
p24: Rally Fleeing Units
[paraphrasing] ...a unit that has less than 25% of its starting figures can only rally on a double 1.

So rallying those 30 Corsairs gets pretty damn difficult when they're down to 7 models, but they don't need to rally they just need to still be on the table at the end of turn 6. In which case your enemies could indeed flee in the last turn, and if your stunties don't catch them and they haven't left the table, well they don't count. Your hard fought mini-victory on the table was all for naught.

Options?
If a fleeing unit is charged, it's charge reaction must be to flee. No choice in the matter.
p17: Flee!
[paraphrasing] ...units which are already fleeing must declare a Flee! reaction.


The Flee! reaction occurs immediately, before determining if the charging unit makes contact. So you can declare a charge at the maximum range for your unit to force the already feeing unit to make another flee movement.
A Gyrocopter could prove useful here both for long distance charges of fleeing units, and for holding in reserve to actually run down fleeing units.

What are the options for your charging unit when the fleeing unit auto-flees your charge?
p18: Redirecting the Charge
[paraphrasing] ...the charging unit can choose to complete the charge after the unit has fled (made their dice roll and moved), OR may redirect the charge if they pass a Leadership test. 
- if the test is failed, the charging unit must complete their charge against the original unit
- if the test is passed, the charging unit can redirect the charge against a viable target
n.b. if there are no viable targets then the charging unit cannot redirect and must charge the fleeing unit
n.n.b. a unit can only make one redirect a turn


I'll be taking a lot more notice of fleeing units in future, provided I can get them to flee in the first place!

1 comment:

  1. This has to be the biggest upset for Dwarfs in my opinion. On the last turn my Elf opponents regularly decline challenges, flee charges and generally p*ss about knowing I can't wipe out their units in full. We just don't have the manoeuvring options such as fast cav and anything that can get over 15" charge.

    Andrew NZ

    Good post!

    ReplyDelete

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