Flanks and surrounding

Front, flank and rear#

Every soldier faces a direction. An attack from the front is an ordinary fight. An attack from the side gives the attacker a moderate advantage in combat and morale. An attack from behind gives a large morale advantage.

The rule to remember: do not let cavalry get behind your infantry.

Surrounding a unit#

Three attackers do not multiply a defender's damage taken. Each attacker deals its ordinary damage. Instead, pressure from several attackers and several directions wears down the defender's will to keep fighting. A hard-pressed unit gives ground, and surrounded units break sooner. Surrounding the enemy is valuable without making damage extreme.

Charges and holding#

Cavalry charges shock the units they hit. Infantry that holds a charge in Line or Shield Wall gains confidence instead.

In the development build#

The development build has front, flank and rear, pressure and charges. The three directions ahead of a soldier are its front, the two beside it its flanks and the three behind it its rear. A blow from a flank deals 115 % and from the rear 125 % of its damage, and costs the defender a little morale; a fleeing unit is always struck from the rear. Each second, every melee attacker beyond the first and every direction beyond the first cost the defender morale, more in Loose; three attackers make it give ground a tile. Cavalry that has ridden for two seconds strikes its first blow at 150 % and shakes its target, unless the target stands in Line facing it. A kill from the flank or the rear inspires the killer. A unit stepping back keeps facing the enemy. Chasers now keep pace with a fleeing unit; automatic pursuit still turns back twelve tiles from where it began. The values remain provisional. FLANKED and SURROUNDED callouts explain the pressure on screen; compare setups in the combat laboratory.

See Morale and routing for what happens when a unit breaks.