Effects of Buildings on Morale

The effects described here apply to the defenders of a building or fortification—and also to the attackers, if every surviving figure of the attacking unit is within the walls of the enclosure.

A player can always choose to apply the standard effects of morale to one of his units instead of the special procedures listed here. In fact, such a decision need not be made until after the morale check dice are rolled.

The primary effect on morale is that units are not required to rout when they are within walls. An important additional consideration is the determination of troops to stand firm at a wall, gate, or breached wall, defined as "holding the breach."

Effects on Rout

The routs seen on a battlefield, where troops panic and flee toward imagined safety, are less relevant in a fortress—particularly when such a flight would send the fleeing force pouring over the back wall into the teeth of the encircling foe. Even attacking troops, however, will not be so likely to fly from the shelter of their hard-fought gains, once they have worked their way into a castle or fortress.

When a unit makes a morale check that would ordinarily result in its routing, the following effects occur instead:

1. The unit becomes shaken (if it did not already have that status).
2. One figure is removed, in addition to any casualties that might already have been lost; no additional morale check is required for this lost figure.
3. All of the remaining figures in the unit are moved 4". They must move away from enemy figures as much as possible, and are allowed to change elevation within the building by using stairs or permanent ladders. Any figures that cannot complete a 4" move, or that come into contact with enemy figures during the move, are eliminated. Figures can be faced in any direction after the move is completed.

Units in Separate Rooms

If figures suffer a rout result when a unit is split between several different rooms or enclosed areas, only those figures within the affected room are required to perform the 4" move explained above. The entire unit is still reduced to shaken status, however.

At best, sieges are difficult to handle. The following rules will be helpful in conducting such a game, and it is suggested that they be used in combination with the rules for man-to-man combat.

Morale: Generally speaking, defenders in a castle need never check morale. In other cases morale is to be checked when 33 1/3% of an army has been killed. Use the standard morale tables, check by type of troop, and allow any bonuses to dice.