Heroes

Heroes are figures that represent individuals—those who command units and armies, and those who might stalk the field, seeking opponents to meet in single combat. The miniature figure representing a hero indicates a single person or creature, not 10 individuals (at the 10:1 ratio used for other figures). Also unlike other figures used with the BATTLESYSTEM™ rules, heroes do not need to be mounted on special bases of a certain dimension, though they can be so mounted if desired.

The word "hero," in this context, includes—in addition to the "good guys"—villainous humans and humanoids, and even nasty monsters such as dragons and giants. Wizards and priests, described in the advanced rules on magic (Chapter 8), are also treated as heroes. A set of rules, explained in this section, allows some heroes to be designated as commanders. A commander is placed with a unit of troops and serves to control that unit. If the rules on commanders are employed, a unit must have a commander in order to move and fight at full effectiveness. In the following text, "hero" is used to describe an individual figure that is not a commander, and thus not compelled to remain attached to the same unit for the duration of the battle.

A hero can become a commander, taking over control of a unit, if the unit's original commander is killed. Also, it is possible for a hero to be designated as the army commander. This special individual is not assigned to a specific unit, but can move to take control of any unit. However, a commander who is replaced does not become a hero; the figure must continue to move and fight with the unit to which it is attached.

The Unit Roster

For the most part, the roster of an individual looks like that of a unit. Attack Dice, Armor Rating, Hits, and Movement all indicate the same functions.

The only different category is Command Diameter (CD), which is substituted for Morale. This statistic is only used if the rules on commanders (see next column) are employed.

Commanders

A commander is any hero designated as the individual in charge of a unit or an army. If these optional rules are employed, players are allowed to add one hero (as a commander) to their army for each unit, and one hero to serve as the army commander.

The unit roster of a commander gives the individual's command diameter (CD), which describes the size of the circular area in which the commander exerts influence. The circle must include the commander, but need not be centered on the commander. All of the figures (troops) in a unit must be within the command diameter of their unit commander in order to be able to move or attack at full effectiveness.

Units that are not entirely within a single commander's CD are considered to be out of command. They remain out of command until they enter the diameter of the commander, or the diameter is shifted to include them (which can happen when the commander moves, or when the owning player states that the circle is being moved).

Moving and Fighting with Heroes

The movement allowance and combat abilities of a hero allow it the same movement and attack options as they would to figures in a unit. These combat rules apply to all heroes, including those used as commanders.

When a hero is in base-to-base contact with one or more figures of a friendly unit, the hero is considered to be attached to that unit, and can move and fight as part of that unit. This applies to commanders and also to heroes not used as commanders.

A hero moves like a figure in a skirmish unit; that is, it pays no extra cost for facing changes, and special terrain features don't slow it down as much as they do non-skirmish units.

The movement of a hero does not trigger an enemy unit's pass-through fire, opportunity charges, or skirmisher withdrawal. An enemy hero, however, can take pass-through missile attacks at other heroes and units. A hero cannot charge unless attached to a unit that charges.

In addition to its skirmisher-type movement, a hero can change facing at any time during a turn (just before being attacked, for instance, so that it can avoid being struck from the flank or the rear). During its movement step, a hero can freely move away from an opponent in contact with it; it need not flee or withdraw the way a unit does.

A hero can perform skirmisher withdrawal, with the same restrictions and procedures as for skirmishers.

A hero can attack any figure it touches, and be attacked likewise. When a unit in regular formation attacks a hero, the attacker does not get the benefit of additional attacks (one figure to the right and one to the left of the target) that it would receive against normal troops. In fact, no more than two figures of the same or smaller size, or one figure of larger size than the hero, can attack a figure representing an individual.

Also, the only way two figures can attack a hero is from two different sides—from the front and rear, or from the front and one side, or from both sides at the same time.

Heroes Fighting With a Unit

A commander or hero can be attached to a unit as explained above. The hero can be placed between two figures, or it can occupy a small space on the tabletop (only as large as the actual base of the figure). In either case, the addition of a hero to one of the ranks in a unit does not increase the width of that rank and does not require the unit to expand frontage in order to accommodate the hero.

The individual figure attacks along with the unit to which it is attached, and any hits that it scores are added to the damage done by the troops. One enemy figure (possibly two, if the hero is under attack from the flank or rear as well as the front) can be designated to attack the individual; hits inflicted by that figure apply against the hero, not the unit. A player does not have to designate a specific attack against an enemy individual.

Individuals as Missile Targets

An individual not attached to a unit is not eligible to be the target of a unit's missile attack. However, if a missile unit is firing at a target unit that contains one or more individuals, one firing figure can be allocated to shoot at each enemy individual figure in the firing unit's range. A moving hero, whether attached to a unit or operating by itself, cannot trigger passthrough fire from a missile unit—but other heroes can make pass-through attacks against the moving hero.

Showing Hits Against Individuals

Hits against individuals are marked with a d6 (or d12, if necessary). It is often easiest to stand the figure right on top of its damage marker, covering up the number on the die that indicates how many hits the hero has suffered. Alternatively, hits on an individual can be recorded on the unit roster or some other piece of paper, which enables the owning player to keep the total number of hits secret (unless the opposing player has been careful to also keep track).

Challenge to Heroic Combat

A hero can sometimes challenge an enemy hero to single combat, with the intention of eliminating the enemy hero or causing that individual to flee. A hero can challenge an enemy individual during the owning player's movement step, so long as the challenging hero has not moved during the current turn. Morale of nearby friendly units is temporarily raised when a challenge is issued or accepted.

A challenge can be issued to any enemy individual within 10" of the challenging hero. A hero can challenge another hero, or possibly a commander; however, a hero can only challenge a commander if the hero is attached to a unit that is in melee combat with the enemy commander's unit.

A commander can issue a challenge to another commander, or to a hero attached to a unit the commander's unit is attacking. For a commander to issue a challenge, neither he nor his unit can move during his movement step (though they can be engaged in melee).

Exception: If a commander's unit is engaged in melee with an enemy unit, he can challenge the commander of the enemy unit (or a hero operating with that unit), and then his unit can still perform wraparound movement before another turn of combat takes place.

The opponent must immediately respond to an individual's challenge, accepting or refusing it. If the challenge is refused, nothing occurs as a result—except that the morale of one or more of the challenging side's units will improve for the rest of the turn.

If the opponent accepts the challenge, the two figures are immediately moved to a point halfway between their previous locations and placed in base-to-base contact facing each other. If this location happens to be in the midst of a melee, the two individual figures will race each other, the flanks and rear of each one protected by friendly figures. No other figure can attack figures engaged in heroic combat.

The challenge combat must be fought with melee weapons. Each figure makes one attack during the Melee Combat Step of each turn. The combatants inflict hits upon each other until one figure is slain, or a player decides (during his movement step) to withdraw his figure from the duel.

Morale Effects of Heroic Combat

A unit commander can modify the morale of his own unit by taking part in heroic combat. A hero will modify the morale of the unit he is fighting with, if he is currently operating as part of a unit. Otherwise he can modify the morale of any single friendly unit that has at least one figure within 5" of the hero.

An army commander engaged in heroic combat can modify the morale of any of his units that have a line of sight to the heroic battle.

The morale effects are as follows:

When a challenge is issued: +1 to the morale of any eligible friendly unit(s) during that turn.

When a challenge is accepted: +1 to the morale of any eligible friendly unit(s) during that turn.

When a challenge is refused: no morale effect to the refuser's unit(s), but the challenger still gets the +1 modifier for any eligible unit(s).

When an individual breaks off a heroic combat, or is slain: The unit(s) on the same side as the defeated hero that received a morale benefit when the challenge was issued or accepted must make an immediate morale check without the + 1 modifier, which is negated as soon as the defeated hero is killed or flees. In addition, the following morale modifiers immediately take effect: -2 to the defeated individual's unit(s) for this and the following turn, and +2 to the victorious individual's unit(s) during the same time.