Order of Combat

Last edition, we had order of chargers that allowed you to control things on the board. After much consideration this will be the newest rule that will screw the most people up, or elevate those above the masses.
There is a lot to consider when you are dealing with 4-8 combats all in a 3x3 area of the battlefield. In the heat of the battle, your all pumped as you just got off the most awesome of charges. Then a couple of bad dice rolls later, your opponent looks like he pulled his dice right out of the microwave, and your army crumbles to pieces in a very bad way.

When if you had stepped back for a minute, you could have changed the entire battle by changing the order of the combats fought.

So lets take a minute an think about the order a bit.

1. First thing you should do in every close combat round when it is your turn to pick the order is immediately assume everything, is going to lose combat, break and run.
If that happens, what happens? Who gets Cutdown (my new word for Crossfire)? Who gets away free? What combats are close to your general, which ones are close to your BSB? Which ones might be close if the General or BSB break their enemy and overrun/pursue?

2. Which combats are auto-wins for you. You have the flank on a unit of Ogres. So you are at +5 and he has only 3 attacks. You've won the combat before a dice is picked up. Unless this is your general or BSB's unit or if this unit will Cutdown a fleeing enemy, these are usually safe do first.

3. If the Generals leadership or the BSB's re-rolls are needed in combats nearby, it is probably best to do theirs last. Unless doing so will set up an enemy behind you, that could lead to your General and BSB being Cutdown.

4. If you have a chance to break a unit, and pursue/overrun into the flank/rear of an enemy already in combat, it is almost always a good idea to do this, unless you losing this combat and breaking sets up some good Cutdown opportunities for your opponents.

5. Remember if a unit is no longer in combat, they become succeptable to panic. So doing a combat you know you will lose, to get an opponent out of combat, so you can force a panic test by breaking a unit you know you will break.

A lot is involved in this and it can become complicated very fast.

Lets take a look at the diagram below.


This is straight out of my last battle report. One side is Red with his general and BSB shown in yellow. The opponent is blue with is general shown in brown.

Here the order is crucial. Lets look at each individual combat from both view points.
1. The bottom left combat represents a good chance for the blue to win. If blue wins, he gets no additional benefits. But if red breaks blue, the blue can be Cutdown by the red unit behind him.
So for red, this is a "safe" combat to do first, with the potential to be really good. While for "blue" this is a very bad combat to do first.

2. The top left combat. Red has outflanked blue here. If red wins this combat, then he will probably pursue into the flank of blue. So unless this is an unwanted thing, Like hitting the flank of a unit of Frenzied minotaurs, that will cause you a lot of casualties with no benefits, then this is probably a very good combat to do first.
However, if you win or lose, you will not be there for the potential Cutdown from combat 1. So this is probably a good combat to do 2nd.
Also, since they are in range of the general and BSB, you would probably want to do this before in case you lose combat and you need them to stick around. Sure if the general's unit breaks them and you pursue, you are probably still in range. But if the BSB is killed outright, or if the general's unit is broken, you could be in real trouble.

For blue, this is a tossup. If you lose combat then you will leave the flank of your neighboring unit open for the pursuit. But you will draw the flanking unit out of the crossfire. If you win combat, you can push the flankers away from the potential Cutdown, and preserve your unit.
The best time for blue to do this combat, is after the #3 combat.

3. The general and BSB are a tough fight.
In this case, if you fight, lose and break you are losing your general and BSB to help combat 2 and combat 4. But if you do combat 4 first and they break and run, this could set up your general for Cutdown. But if you do it first, and win combat then do you not pursue to keep the general/bsb combo close to the #4 combat, or do you get the fleeing vp, that have a very good chance to rally.

For blue, this is also a toss up. You know your odds are against you facing so many characters. But the opportunity to remove the general/bsb combo out of the equation early on could be a great temptation. And this could be if you win or lose combat.
And if you are looking to hold, doing this one before #4 allows you to use your general's leadership.
But having the opportunity to break the red unit in combat 4, to setup even the slimest possibility of a Cutdown of he general and BSB might make doing combat 4 worth it.

4. Combat 4 is really iffy for red. Facing off against a character adds a whole new diminsion to things. Whether you win or lose, could draw the general away from the #3 combat. But a loss could put the general in range of the #1 combat and possibly set up a Cutdown for your generals unit.

For Blue you have the same issues. Setup the slim but possible Cutdown. Do you think your general's leadership is best served helping combat 3 or combat 1. But could only help combat 1, if you pursued a very long way.

This was how it actually played out with it being Reds turn:
1. I did combat #1 first. I had the chance for Cutdown with combat 2, I didn't have to worry about his general being nearby to help him out. And if I lost there was no huge detrement to me.
As it turned out, I lost combat, but held.

2. With no chance for Cutdown left for me, I did combat 2 second. This was setup to see a pursuit into the flank of combat 3, breaking their ranks and adding more attacks into the combat. This would give me 4 more attacks and he would only pick up 1. I also get to use the general/bsb if I lose. If I lose, there is no bad detrement to me.
As it turned out, I whiffed he did 2 wounds and wins. I hold but only because of the general/bsb combo.

3. This one was tough. I did #3 next, but later felt like I should have done #4 then. But the fear of setting up a Cutdown on my general's unit even though I felt confident of victory here, was tough to swallow. I had not even considered getting his general out of the way, which I should have.

As it turned out, I won combat, he broke. But fear of pulling my general/bsb out of range of combat 4, I restrained pursuit. I also restrained to help out my hounds fighting combat 2, that lost their first round of combat.

4. I did combat 4 last, and as it turned out, I won combat and he held.

Order of combats and their outcomes will become a very fluid portion of the game, and I think you will see people taking a lot more time working out what they want to do. Influencing new players in the order will become the new personality skill. "Why don't we just start on this side and work across?" Oh yea, you will hear that.

Being able to spot the advantages and disadvantages of doing combats in specific orders will be come a great skill that will serve you well for the next few years.