Combat

The Battleground

When you and your warband plunge into the brutal chaos of combat, there's no doubt the GM will be weaving a thrilling story of your character's prowess and the many terrifying foes they face. To help make sense of it all, the Battleground is a simplified representation of combat that helps the GM and players to quickly understand who is involved, what they are doing and who can attack who.

At a glance, the Battleground shows all of the player characters and NPCs who are currently present on a hex, their remaining health and the Tactics they are currently using. If your warband has Warband Co-Op mode enabled, you will also be able to see players from other warband in the same hex that also have Warband Co-Op mode enabled.

To enter a Battleground, tap Explore Here from the World Map screen, then tap on the Enemies icon. The icon will be disabled if there are no enemy NPCs present on that hex.

Initiative

At the start of the player's turn, they must roll for Initiative. The initiative roll represents how prepared the player is to fight and how quickly they react. A higher initiative provides a bonus to attack rolls and a lower initiative imparts a penalty. This means targets may often be selected by picking out the least well-prepared foe with the lowest initiative.

Initiative modifiers are explained in full on the following pages.

Initiative does not dictate the order of turns or actions. Players always fight in the player turn phase and each player makes their actions at any time during that phase. Enemy NPCs always fight in the GM turn phase and make their actions in the order chosen by the GM.

Combat Actions

Players can make combat actions when they are in a Battleground. These include Tactics, Attacks, using combat-related abilities and looting slain enemies.

Tactics are special actions that define your character's movement and position on the Battleground. Vantage, Strike, and Evade are the three types of Tactics that can be made when you are in the same hex as one or more enemies. These actions allow you to select your target – either gaining a vantage point to use ranged weapons, charging within melee strike range, or evading combat to distance your character from an undesirable or unwinnable fight.

Players that have gained vantage or strike on an enemy may Attack their target with melee or ranged weapons. They can also use Special Attack abilities, or any one of a number of other abilities such as spells that can inflict damage or penalties on enemies, or provide themselves and their allies an advantage or healing powers.

Special Attack abilities and most other hostile abilities require the player to gain Vantage or Strike before they are able to use that ability. Other abilities require Focus, meaning that they can only be used if the player does not have Vantage or Strike on an enemy. These requirements are shown on the information card for each ability.

Tactics and Attacks are explained in full on the following pages.

Some other actions are limited by combat. If an enemy NPC has Strike on you, you may not move out of the hex you are in.

Some combat features are still in development. This includes Warband Co-Op mode and other limitations that will be applied while players are engaged in combat – such as disallowing unrelated actions like Crafting items.