Panic

The battlefield is a disconcerting place, to say the least, full of confusion, death and unsettling circumstances. Under such conditions, it’s not entirely surprising that troops might not perform in the manner that you wish them too. Faced with allies and comrades being slain at the hands of the foe, you may find that your warriors scatter and leave the battlefield, rather than fight on. In Battleaxe, we govern these situations, and the likelihood of them occurring, with the rules for panic.
Panic (and more importantly, resisting panic) is an important factor in Battleaxe. Battles can sometimes be won and lost because an army panics and flees, even though it may not have been beaten in combat.
Troops who are nearby when their friends are destroyed or run away can easily lose their nerve and flee, causing other nearby troops to lose heart until the whole army routs in blind panic.

Panic Tests

In earlier chapters I've hinted at the times a unit will be called on to take a Panic test, but now we're going to discuss it in detail.
A Panic test is simply a Leadership test as described in General Principles. If the test is passed, everything is fine, but if the test is failed the unit will immediately flee as described later in this chapter.
Note that a unit only needs to take one Panic test in each phase (Movement, Magic, Shooting, and Melee Combat) even if there are multiple reasons to take Panic tests. Some Panic tests are taken immediately, and in larger games you'll find it helpful to mark units that have already taken Panic tests, in order that you don't end up mistakenly taking another as the phase goes on.
If two or more units from the same army have to take Panic tests at the same time, the controlling player chooses the order in which tests are made.
It's worth noting however that there are three circumstances under which even the most cowardly of units are not forced to take Panic tests.

• A unit does not take Panic tests if it is in close combat – the immediate fray blots out all other events going on around them.
• A unit does not take a Panic test if that unit is already fleeing – fear has already lent wings to these warriors, the prospect of further jeopardy does not accelerate their flight.
• Finally, remember that a unit does not take a Panic test if it has already passed one earlier in the phase – its nerve has been tested already!

Assuming a unit is not subject to the circumstances described above, the most common circumstances under which it must take a Panic test are:

The Chaos Warrior unit has been destroyed in close combat. All friendly units within 6" must immediately test for panic – the destroyed unit is left in place until the tests are made to ensure an accurate measurement.

Heavy Casualties

A unit must take a Panic test immediately if it loses 25% or more of the models with which it started the phase.
This test will most commonly be taken as a result of shooting attacks or damage caused by enemy spells, but can also be triggered by other factors that cause casualties, such as miscasts, misfires, Dangerous Terrain tests or other special rules. Rather than having a series of very specific triggers for a Panic test, we use this as a 'catch-all' to cover units that suffer high casualties for any reason.
For example: A unit of 21 models is shot at by an enemy unit and suffers four casualties – not enough for a Panic test. In the same phase, another enemy unit fires against them, causing two more casualties. Six out of twenty-one is above 25%, so the unit must take a Panic test.
A Heavy Casualties Panic test must also be taken (immediately!) by a charging unit if its enemies Stand and Shoot and inflict 25% or more casualties. Where this happens, it can sometimes result in the charging unit panicking while it is still technically out of range of the enemy unit's missile weapons, which can look a little odd. Under these circumstances, we assume the charging unit to have been shot at as soon as it entered range, panicked and then fled out of range again – rather than make all of these individual moves, we let the abstraction save us time and complication.

Nearby Friendly Unit Massacred

If a unit is destroyed for any reason, all friendly units within 6" must immediately test for panic.
This covers situations such as when a unit is wiped out by missile fire, magic, melee combat, pursuit or indeed any other occurrence. Obviously, it's best to leave the annihilated unit in place until the tests are taken in order to give a point to measure from.

Nearby Friendly Unit Breaks

If a unit breaks from close combat, all friendly units within 6" must immediately test for panic.
Measure from the unit's position before it makes any flee move.

Friendly Units Fled Through

A unit must immediately test for panic if fleeing friends move through it.
For simplicity, resolve the movement of the fleeing friends before taking and resolving the Panic test.
This is the most destructive form of panic, as one unit can panic and flee through another unit, which in turn might panic and flee through a further unit, and so on until your battleline is reduced to tatters.

Direction Of Flight

If a unit fails a Panic test:
Brought about by heavy casualties. Pivot the unit on the spot (ignoring other units) so that it is facing directly away from the unit/terrain that caused the most casualties in that phase – it then flees as described in The Movement Phase.
Brought about by any other reason. Pivot the unit on the spot (ignoring other units) so that it is facing directly away from the closest enemy unit, and then flees as described in The Movement Phase.
Providing that the panicked unit doesn't carry itself off the board with its first flee move, you'll have a chance to rally it in later turns, as we discussed earlier.

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