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 are provisional until the combat laboratory, and the battle screen does not show flanked or surrounded yet.

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