Combat

Combat is the focus of Mordheim. Warbands vie for supremacy as they scour the city for precious shards of the glowing rock that powers so many things in the Warhammer world.

Melee Combat steps:

1. Hit Chances: 50% +/- Weapon Skill spread between attacker and defender.
2. Damage Rolls:
   • Attacker's Strength: First digit is the number of Damage Rolls ; 10 times the second digit are the percentage chances of making an extra Damage Roll.
   • Each Damage Roll is based on Hit Chances (see above), modified by defender's Defence Multiplier (which is 100% - Defence).
   • Each success is 1 Damage.
3. Critical Hit: Damage is doubled on a successful Critical Hit Roll.
4. Parry: The target will reduce Damage by 3 on a successful Parry Roll (minimum 0).
5. Final Damage is substracted from target's Wounds.
6. Repeat this process for each Attacks.

Example : A Warrior with a Flail (WS 35, Str 32+10, Crit 15%) is attacking a Witch Hunter Captain in Armour and Shield (WS 40, Defence 35, Wounds 5, Parry 10%). Hit Chances are 45%. On a hit, the Warrior will make 4 or 5 Damage Rolls (20% of doing 5). Each Damage Roll has 29% chance of succeeding (45% * 65%). Let's say 2 Damage get through. There are 15% chances that Damage is doubled due to a Critical Hit (to 4). And then, there's 10% chances that a Parry will reduce that Damage to only 1.

Ranged Combat Steps

1. Hit Chances: 50% + attacker's Ballistic Skill + modifiers...
   • -10 or -20 if target moved or ran.
   • -10 if attacker moved.
   • -5 in multiple shoots (Quick Shot, Pistolier)
   • Cover depends on where it stands relatively to the shooter and the target (in between, on the side or behind ; thus, even if moving is a penalty, it may put the Cover behind the target).
   • Range is a multiplier determined by distance to target relative to the weapon's maximum range.
   • Accuracy is also a multiplier. See the weapon's stats.
2. Damage Rolls: Same as Melee (see above, #2).
3. Critical Hits: Same as Melee (see above, #3).
4. Final Damage is substracted from target's Wounds.
5. Repeat this process for each Attacks (ranged value, not the Stats itself).

Effects of Combat

1. A unit that reaches 0 Wounds or less will be Stunned (unless it has the Quick Recovery skill, or an Undead with pain immunity).
2. A Stunned unit can't move or act in any way, and is far easier to hit. It will heal 1 Wound per turn until it reaches positive value. This means the unit will have Recovered (acts normally next turn and stops being an easy prey).
3. A unit will be put Out of Action if it reaches a negative value equal to approximately 30% its original Wounds score. It may fully recover after the Mission, but may also suffer an Injury or Death.
4. A unit is considered All Alone if it's standing more that 6 squares away from a friendly unit and has either been shot at (and taken damage), or is in melee with two or more enemies. It must then pass a Leadership test or flee away in the direction opposite to the nearest threat.
5. On each turn that a Warband has less than half its total Wounds (pet Creatures excluded), during Leader's turn:
   • A Leadership test must be passed to avoid a Rout.
   • If a Rout is avoided, and the Leader can move (it can't if Stunned or just Recovered), you can still order a Retreat by hitting the new icon that will appear next to its portrait.
   • If the Leader is down, the unit with the highest Leadership value will do the Rout test and can order a Retreat.
   • If the current Leader is Stunned during the Rout test, the test will be failed automatically.
   • Because Rout and Retreat can only happen during your Leader's turn, it's particularly important this unit has a high Initiative (the earlier you can make that choice, the safer your Warband will be).

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