"We Smell the Enemy" rule suggestion (about face initiative move variant)

[flankyou]

WSTE (pronounced "westee") - a unit may make a facing change to directly face the closest enemy in the initiative phase *regardless of LOS* (edit). They must keep the same formation and no stand may end closer to the closest enemy after the facing change. Facing is determined by drawing a line from the centers of the 2 closest stands, whereby the closest stand's front edge will be perpendicular to that line.

The intention here is that often times an enemy (especially flyers) will get behind a unit, sometimes only 1cm away, and yet that unit can only react by getting an order. A facing change represents a basic level of awareness of what's around them, regardless of LOS, i.e. - they can "smell" or hear the enemy when close.. I don't think allowing a charge is appropriate here as others suggested, as it unfairly negates the effort the enemy took to maneuver, but it at least ensures that the unit can get into some semblance of a defensive position.

Some possible tweaks:

- WSTE can only be used if the enemy is within 10cm.

- Undead can not use the WSTE rule (maybe reptilians too?)
     edit: Undead can't use initiative, so no issue there

[Geep]

I've got a feeling that that's an unnecessary addition. I don't have the means to double check right now, but I'm pretty sure you can do an evade initiative move from up to 20cm away, moving a minimum distance and reforming to face as wanted in the process. I don't think LoS is required to do this.

[flankyou]

Most Current WMR RAW state that you need LOS for an initiative move.

[Geep]

It seems you're right- for some reason I was under the impression that Evade moves did not require line of sight.

Still, I'm not sure if I'd consider this an important addition. Avoiding unexpected flanking is a large part of the game, even from flyers, and if you're really paranoid about it you can always keep a unit in irregular formation so one stand faces backwards- that way you can use initiative to evade (or even charge), but pay the price of slower movement and being in an irregular formation. Alternatively, arrange your attack as waves, so flyers have fewer useful places to land.

[flankyou]

Great point about having some stands face backwards - I didn't even know that was possible. Thank you for your feedback as well.

[empireaddict]

Now, under WMR, I don't really see this as a problem that needs solving.  And especially not by weighing down the rule-set with more text.  If a unit is in that position and you really need to turn it around,  then a character gives a first order.  Pass; it turns round and/or moves full distance.  Fail; it turns round and/or moves half distance.  If you haven't got a character that can reach to give even an order that will probably fail, then the likelihood is that you haven't placed them sensibly or, more likely in many cases, you haven't included sufficient characters in your list.