Characters Retreating 30 cm

[BlackEd]

Here's the situation:  A character is not attached and somewhat forward of his troops so that the second command won't get the distance penalty.  The character is touched by an enemy unit.  The character must move 30cm to a friendly unit or be destroyed.

So far, so good.

What if my wily opponent creates a box of troops around my character before touching the character wil his troops?  My character, on foot or on horse, cannot trace a 30cm path to a friendly unit.  Is the character destroyed?

Now if the character was on a flyer, I could see that the chracter would fly over any obstacles between him and a friendly unit.

I ask because I want opinions before I use this tactic for killing enemy heroes.

People I play with here leave the heroes exposed to the enemy.  If I started using this tactic it would change how we play!

Ed

[Lex]

This can become a hotly debated issue......   and it IS practiced this way, but for convenience sake, a character stand does NOT have a "footage", so the move of the stand is done on a singularty one pica line path allowing it to ALWAYS be able to "move away", which does not allow that tactic

[Guthwine]

I would say as long as he is in 30 cm range (linear distance) of a friendly unit, he can be attached to the friendly unit, as he sees the enemies comming and withdraws.

I dont think that this character hunting fits the spirit of the game.

[pw]

I'm with Guthwine on this. From the rules I thought this tactic might be possible (I could be wrong) but I don't think it sounds like a fun way to play. I've always assumed that the 30cm rule was to make it risky for heroes to move far from their troops rather than to reflect the possibility of battlefield  assassination. When I want to kill characters I'd try to get into combat with the nearby units and then jump on the head of the hero!

[BlackEd]

I remember reading something about this on the gw-warmaster group, so I thought I'd bring it up.

It is a nasty thing to do, and I am not sure how it work out on the battlefield.  For example, you might end up parking 4-5 units in initiative charge range of a very peeved enemy.  And this is the kind of trick you do ONCE, because after that, the opponent will not let you do it again.

Overall, I think it is a cheap trick myself.  I like the idea of the chracters seeing the enemy coming, and so get out of the way.  This makes sense as an explanation.

And no, I will not try this in game play.

[Lex]

And no, I will not try this in game play.

Just point out o your opponent that you could, and that will influence his thinking...

[mspaetauf]

actually the rulebook nowhere says that chars cannot move through enemy units. They just cannot stop on enemy units. (IIRC).

Apart from that, chars should be considered "markers" instead of proper units (also says so in the book).

don't get Warhammer cheese into Warmaster, please!

regards,
 

[jchaos79]

I am on mspeaf in all he says

[spiritusXmachina]

Hear, hear!
We're discussing this issue at the playtest group too.

I'm totally with you that this tactic should not be possible and I am happy that so many players around here agree. See the fact - even the players who know this trick are reluctant to use it (which speaks for the players imo ;-)). I do not think it is the aim of Warmaster to "bully" out "those not in the know" with cheesy and frustrating tactics. And even the threat of it is in no way enriching the tactical system Warmaster imo. 

In future Erratas it should be highlighted that it is the actual distance to friendly units counts - not the movement-distance. And even if one could already interpret that in the moment already, it is disputable - which it should not be.

Greetings,
Gerald

[Carrington]

I'd note that the reason the characters are hanging out in no man's land to begin with is that they move differently from units.  I'd be happy enough with the proposed character overruns if characters were able to move while attached to units (i.e. give an order, move the character with the unit, give another order, still at 0cm range, etc.).  But such a change to the game rules would be much more comprehensive, and hardly worth the dubious benefit of allowing character assassinations.

[wmchaos2000]

I agree.

On other hand, to eliminate the character, i would engage the enemy 30cm from character, after eliminating those i then move on to characters position. Problem solved.

[pw]

Now that sounds like a good plan, tactically quite challenging to achieve and a useful mechanism to have in the game. Worrying about characters (whether to join a combat, whether to leave the safety of the battle line, etc) is a good part of the game. Their vulnerability to (legitimate) attack is part of their charm.