Morale Checks

Instability Due to Excess Casualties: When casualties from any and all causes exceed a certain percentage of a unit's original total strength, morale for that unit must be checked by rolling two dice. If the loss is brought below the set percentage by missile fire, the unit must check before the melee portion of the turn. If the loss is brought about by melee, the unit must check morale after melees have been completed for that turn. If the unit remains stable, it need not again check morale until such time as it suffers losses to the stated percentage of its original strength, but at that time it must be removed from the table for the remainder of the game.

Loss Table

Any unit that fails to make the required score to remain in battle is removed from play immediately unless no route of retreat is open to it. Surrounded units that fail morale checks are assumed to immediately surrender.

Unit Type	Casualty %	Score to Remain
Light, peasants or levies	25%	8 or better
Heavy Foot	33 1/3%	7 or better
Elite Heavy Foot, Armored Foot, Mongols	33 1/3%	6 or better
Medium Horse (not Kts.)	33 1/3%	7 or better
Swiss Pikemen	50%	5 or better
Heavy Horse, Norman Knights	50%	6 or better
Mounted Knights	50%	4 or better

Order: A Unit's Status

Any unit in a BATTLESYSTEM game is always in one of three states of morale: good, shaken, or routed. If a unit fails a morale check, it drops one notch on this scale and/or is forced backward 4". A shaken or routed unit can try to rally; a successful rally check moves it a notch back up the scale, from routed to shaken or shaken to good.

GOOD: A unit in good order performs movement and combat functions with no penalties because of morale.

SHAKEN (BROKEN): A shaken unit has been disorganized by events of the battle. It is one step closer to running away than is a unit in good order. (When one of your units becomes shaken, mark it by placing a suitable token beside it.) There are several limitations on the use of a shaken unit:

1. It cannot charge.
2. It suffers a — 1 penalty to its morale rating for all morale checks (including rally attempts) made for the unit while it is shaken
3. It cannot move into contact with the front of an enemy figure or unit. (It is still courageous enough to contact the enemy on the flank or in the rear; see pages 41-42.)
4. A shaken unit that suffers even a single hit from enemy pass-through fire (a missile attack that occurs during the shaken unit's movement step) must cease moving for the rest of the turn, regardless of whether a morale check is required because of the hit(s)

ROUTED: A routed unit has lost all will to fight, and is concerned only with placing as much distance as possible between itself and the enemy. (When a unit becomes routed, mark it by placing a token—different from the one used for shaken units—beside it.)

The restrictions for a routed unit are similar to the limitations given above for a shaken unit, except that its morale rating penalty is -2, and it cannot stop moving if it is hit by pass-through fire. After the consequences of such an attack are resolved, the unit must continue fleeing just as if the attack had not occurred.

A routed unit cannot attack and cannot move voluntarily. If its flight away from the battle causes it to move close to other friendly units, those units might be required to make a morale check to see if the routed unit affects their own morale.

General Morale Check

If a unit in good order is required to make a general morale check, the player can choose to retreat the unit 4" directly backward instead of making the check (and risking failure).

Exception: A unit checking morale because it is about to be hit by a charge cannot choose to retreat; it must make the check.

A unit that retreats to avoid making a general morale check remains in good order. If a player decides to make the check, he must abide by the results.

A unit in any order (good, shaken, or routed) that succeeds on a general morale check suffers no positive or negative effect—it continues about its business or remains in place, as appropriate. If the unit fails the check, however, the exact effect depends on whether the unit is in good order, shaken, or routed.

If the unit that failed was in good order, the player must reduce the unit to shaken order and retreat 4".

If the unit that failed was shaken, it must retreat 4" from its current position and make another general morale check. If it fails this second check, it routs, assumes irregular formation (see page 20) if it was not already in that state, and immediately performs rout movement (see page 33).

If the unit that failed was already routed, it performs rout movement.

Catastrophic Failure: If a unit fails a general morale check with a dice-roll result at least 7 greater than the unit's modified morale rating, the unit automatically routs.

Retreating: The retreat performed by a unit after failing a morale check is a simple rearward move. The unit pulls back, directly away from the attack or threat that caused the check to be made, and every figure in the unit ends the retreat facing in the same direction as when it began the move.

If a unit is unable to retreat the full 4" because its path is blocked by impassable terrain (including the edge of the tabletop) or another unit (enemy or friendly), then the unit moves as far as possible—up to the edge of the obstruction—and halts there. However, if a unit in good order wants to avoid making a morale check but does not have a clear line of retreat at least 4" long, then it must remain in place and make the check.

Making Morale Checks

Morale checks are required at many times during a game. Several factors can modify a unit's morale rating, increasing or decreasing it from the rating listed on the unit's roster. These factors should be determined before the check is made, and may vary from check to check.

A unit must make a morale check at any time during the game when at least one of the conditions listed below is in effect. If more than one condition occurs at the same time, only one morale check is required. Regardless of what happens to it, a unit is not required to make more than one morale check during any step of a turn (but may make more than one if the owning player desires to do so).

A unit must make a morale check:

1. When the unit loses its first figure as a casualty of combat. (Elite units, representing highly disciplined troops with exceptionally strong morale, are exempt from this check.)
2. Whenever the unit takes 4 or more hits in one step.
3. Whenever the unit finds itself within 3" of a routed unit with an equal or better morale rating.
4. When the unit is reduced to 50% of its original size, and during every step thereafter when it loses at least one additional figure.
5. When the unit finds itself 1" away from an enemy unit that is charging and about to strike
6. When the unit attempts to begin a charge, unless the target of the charge is a shaken or routed enemy unit.
7. When the unit, in the course of making a charge, attempts to cross an obstacle in its path.
8. When the unit is routed and not in contact with an enemy unit at the end of its movement step. (This morale check, also known as a rally check, is optional for a shaken unit but mandatory for a routed one.)

The intermediate and advanced rules (Chapters 6 and 7) introduce other conditions requiring morale checks. All of the conditions, collectively known as morale triggers, are listed on the Reference Card printed on the last page of this book and on the perforated foldout inside the back cover.

How to Check Morale

However, often the morale rating of a unit is improved or worsened by conditions around it. Thus, before dice are rolled for a morale check, the player should check the following list to see if he needs to modify his unit's morale rating—for the current check only— before he rolls.

The conditions that affect a unit's morale rating, and the amount of the benefit or penalty, are listed below.

Morale Rating Modifiers

-2 if at least 50% of the unit's figures have been removed

- 2 if the unit is routed

- 2 if the unit attempts an opportunity charge, and no charge had been previously declared for the unit on this turn

- 1 if the unit is shaken

+ 1 for each rank in the unit beyond the first, to a maximum modifier of + 4

Other modifiers are introduced in the intermediate and advanced rules (Chapters 6 and 7). All of the morale rating modifiers are listed on the Reference Card at the back of this book.

Morale And Flying Units

A unit in flight suffers a -1 penalty to its morale rating whenever called upon to make a morale check. (Some airborne creatures may be specifically exempted from this penalty.) A unit in flight, even if it is in good order, cannot withdraw instead of making a morale check.

Other situations requiring morale checks are handled the same way for flying units as for ground units. However, there are some major differences in the way flying units are affected when they become shaken or routed.

If a unit in the air becomes shaken, it is marked to indicate its new status, but it is not required to withdraw 4" as must a ground unit. However, if it is moving when it fails the check, it adds 4" to its forward move for that turn, and must use all of its movement allowance before stopping.

A shaken flying unit cannot gain altitude, nor can it be rallied while airborne. Normal restrictions on shaken units all apply to a shaken flying unit. It rallies from shaken to good order normally when on the ground.

If an unit routs while it is in the air, the creatures are assumed to dive away from the battle with all possible speed. If a flying unit routs, it is removed from play immediately without going through rout movement. If a unit of flyers routs while on the ground, or at an altitude of 1" (10 feet in scale) above the ground, it can perform normal rout movement on the ground, and can be rallied the same way that a ground unit is rallied.