Retreat and Rout

Retreat and Rout: Troops forced back in retreat or rout, with backs to the enemy, must remain unmoved on the following turn while they rally. If they are attacked while rallying a die must be rolled in order to determine if they manage to quickly rally or continue to retreat or rout. If they fail to rally when attacked, casualties are suffered by them, while the enemy will take none in return (the attacker only rolls dice on the Combat Tables). A score of 1-2 is required to rally when attacked.

Contact with Another Unit: If a retreating unit contacts a formed body of friendly troops the retreat is immediately stopped, but both groups must spend the next turn rallying and are subject to the rule below regarding continued retreat. If a routing unit contacts any friendly troops it will cause them to likewise rout, and rallying is necessary; note also that these troops are likewise subject to the rule regarding continued rout stated below.

Continued Retreat or Rout: If a retreated or routed unit is forced or voluntarily continues to move they must be diced for in order to rally them in later turns. If the required score is not made the unit must immediately be moved again, another turn of movement noted on their records, and they must check again on the following turn. Any unit that retreats or routs off the table is removed from play for the remainder of the game.

Turn of Retreat or Rout	Die Score to Rally
1st	Automatic on next turn if not attacked
2nd	3-6
3rd	6
4th	Automatic removal from play

Rout Movement

A unit that becomes routed has only one real objective: to get to a place of safety as soon as possible. Rout movement simulates the action of a unit whose morale has been shattered, and which is running away from the battlefield in panic.

The figures in a routed unit are turned, if necessary (no movement cost), to face toward the end of the battlefield where they began the scenario and away from the attack or threat that caused the rout. If these two directions are not the same, the unit's first priority is to head for "home." A routed unit will normally try to avoid coming into contact with other units (enemy or friendly), but will not stray too far from the most direct path possible between its present location and the place it wants to get to (the edge of the tabletop).

A routed unit always moves as far as possible (up to the limit of its movement allowance) in a straight line. It is allowed to move 45 degrees to either side (changing the direction of movement, but not changing facing) to avoid contacting a unit in its path, or to avoid being hemmed in by impassable terrain (see the following section, "Terrain Effects on Movement"). This oblique movement must be performed at the beginning of the unit's move if it is performed at all; a routed unit cannot, for instance, move 2" directly forward and then veer off to one side or the other.

A routed unit that cannot avoid touching an enemy figure is considered destroyed, and should be removed from the field and placed with the other casualties. A routed unit that cannot complete its movement because of battlefield terrain is also considered destroyed.

A routed unit cannot change frontage, unless that is the only way it can perform its rout movement. For instance, it can change frontage to squeeze through an opening on the battlefield if the unit would otherwise be blocked by terrain, friendly or enemy units, or other obstacles. A routing unit cannot rout through a gap too narrow to accommodate the widest stand of figures in the unit.

A routed unit cannot change facing, except if it needs to make a turn to get itself pointed in the right direction (toward the edge of the battlefield) just after becoming routed. The unit can veer up to 45 degrees as often as necessary to avoid contacting a friendly unit that lies in its path. However, any friendly units thus avoided might be forced to make a morale check; as explained in Chapter 3, a friendly unit must make a general morale check if a routed unit with an equal or higher morale rating comes within 3" of it.

If a unit cannot complete its rout movement because a friendly unit lies in its path (and all the routing figures cannot veer around it), then the friendly unit blocking the path must retreat 4" and (if it was in good order) become shaken. If this retreat still does not allow the routed unit to pass (or to complete its movement without making contact), then the blocking unit automatically becomes routed and performs its own rout movement before the original routed unit completes its move. This phenomenon can have a chainreaction effect; any friendly unit that lies in the path of any routed unit is subject to being routed itself. (This is one good reason why players should be careful not to pack their units too closely together front to back—in the worst case, a single unit that routs has the potential to cause disruption throughout an entire army.)

A routed unit performs rout movement each turn until it rallies or it leaves the battlefield. If the unit does not rally and is not destroyed by running into an enemy unit or impassable terrain, then the figures in it are removed from play (and counted as casualties) as they leave the field. If not all of the figures in a routed unit leave the field in the same turn, the figures remaining on the battlefield can still rally and come back into play on the following turn.

Terrain and Rout Movement

A unit performing rout movement does not incur any penalties for traveling through special terrain; however, impassable terrain is still impassable. For instance, a cavalry unit that routs can move through light woods, climb elevations, and clear obstacles as though they weren't there— but the unit is destroyed if its path takes it into dense woods, swamp, water, or rough ground. The "benefit" of not being slowed by terrain can often be a curse instead of a blessing, though; a routed unit that runs pell-mell through a forest could end up being wiped out because its movement takes it into contact with an enemy unit lurking at the opposite edge of the woods.