An enemy unit that has had a charge declared against it must hold or perform a charge reaction – shooting at the chargers or retreating from the threat. Once the charge reaction is complete, the charging player can declare a charge with another unit, until he has declared all the charges he wishes to.
When you declare a charge, the target unit isn't necessarily going to sit there passively waiting for your warriors to bear down on it, oh no!
Depending on the target's armament and general fighting ability, it might choose to steel itself for the charge's impact, all the better to fight off the attackers, fire a volley of arrows or other missiles into the oncoming chargers, or simply decide to opt for discretionary valour and flee from the foe.
The response your unit makes when a charge is declared is referred to as a charge reaction. As your opponent declares a charge, you can declare a charge reaction for your charged unit. There are three types of charge reaction:
Stand & Shoot,
Retreat!, and
Hold.
Stand & Shoot
If a unit elects to perform a
Stand & Shoot reaction it readies its missile weapons and gives the charging unit a swift volley. Obviously, a
Stand & Shoot reaction can only be declared if the unit has missile weapons of some kind.
As the unit requires time to aim and fire its weapons, a
Stand & Shoot reaction can only be declared if the range to the enemy is greater than the charging unit's Movement characteristic.
For example, if a unit of Orcs (M4) declares a charge against a unit of Empire Handgunners, the Handgunners can only declare a
Stand & Shoot if the Orcs are more than 4" away.
If a
Stand & Shoot charge reaction is declared, the unit makes a normal, although out of sequence, shooting attack against the charging unit (see
The Shooting Phase for more details on shooting attacks). Once the shooting attack, and any Panic test caused by it, have been resolved, the unit is treated as having declared a
Hold reaction.
A
Stand & Shoot reaction can be declared against an enemy unit that starts its charge outside the firing unit's maximum range – the shooting is resolved normally assuming the enemy is just within maximum range of the shooting unit's shortest-ranged weapon. If the charge fails, for whatever reason, we assume that the chargers closed to within the weapons' maximum range before being driven off.
In most cases, there's no downside to a
Stand & Shoot reaction over simply holding. You'll probably manage to pick off a few enemies as they charge, so it's normally a good idea to shoot if you can.
A unit can only elect to
Stand & Shoot once per
Charge sub-phase - there is no time to reload!
Retreat!
A
Retreat! reaction (also called a Flee! reaction) is exactly what it sounds like: the unit turns tail and runs rather than receive the charge.
You'll normally want to declare a
Retreat! reaction if you think that your unit has no chance of surviving the ensuing fight. A
Retreat! reaction is not always voluntary – units that are already fleeing must declare a
Retreat! reaction, and certain terrifying creatures may force an otherwise steady to unit to
Retreat! instead of other options (see the rules for Terror in the Special Rules section).
If a unit chooses a
Retreat! reaction, for whatever reason, use the following procedure:
Immediately turn the unit about its center so that it is facing directly away from the center of the charging enemy unit (ignore other units or impassable terrain). This turn is 'free' and does not reduce the distance the unit will flee.
After turning, the unit flees 2D6" in the direction it is facing, as described under
Move Fleeing Units in the
Compulsory Movement sub-phase.
It should be noted that a
Retreat! reaction does not guarantee escape from oncoming chargers. If the fleeing unit rolls poorly and the chargers roll well, the fleeing unit might yet be caught, as we will discuss later.
Redirecting the Charge
If the target unit declares a
Retreat! reaction, the charging unit now has a choice: it can either attempt to complete the charge against the now-fleeing unit, or try to redirect its charge by making a
Leadership test. If the test is failed, the charging unit must attempt to complete the charge against its original target. If the test is passed, however, the charging unit can declare a fresh charge against another viable target (the chargee may declare a charge reaction as normal). If there are no other suitable targets to charge, a charging unit cannot test to redirect.
Each unit can only make one redirect per turn.
Unusual Retreats
Sometimes you'll find that the
Retreat! rules create unusual situations, for example: a unit running headlong towards the enemy lines, or perhaps fleeing from a small enemy unit and hurling itself into the arms of a much more dangerous foe. This may seem peculiar at first, but is entirely deliberate. Fleeing troops don't have much situational awareness – they're so fixated on the thing that spurred them to flight that they don't recognize other dangers until it's too late. This will be discussed further in the
Compulsory Movement section.
Fleeing Off the Battlefield
If a fleeing unit touches the edge of the battlefield (or indeed has spilled over it), the entire unit is removed from play and counts as destroyed. We assume that having fled so far from the battle, the remaining troops scatter, regrouping only after the battle is over.
Hold
If a unit
Holds, it stands fast in place to receive the charge. A unit will normally elect to
Hold if it has no missile weapons and fancies its chances in the coming fight. Units that are already in close combat can only
Hold. Holding units stay exactly as they are and await the charging foe. This is the most common reaction to a charge.
Charging More Than One Unit
A unit can normally only declare a charge at a single enemy unit. However, if there is no way at all of completing the charge against an enemy unit without touching another (sometimes known as 'clipping') then the charging unit must also declare a charge against the other unit(s).
Each target unit must declare and resolve its own charge reaction (in the order chosen by their controlling player). As normal, any units that do not declare charge reactions are assumed to
Hold.
Being Charged By Multiple Units
A unit might well be called upon to make several charge reactions over the course of a
Charge sub-phase, if it is charged by several enemy units.
The
Stand & Shoot reaction does not have to be used against the first charging unit – the chargee can opt to
Hold against the first charge and
Stand & Shoot against the second charge. It could even then elect to
Retreat! in reaction to a third charge if it wished!
A unit that
Retreats! once in a
Charge sub-phase will have to keep fleeing if it has more charges declared against it, as described earlier.
For example, a unit of Night Goblins declares a charge against a unit of High Elf Archers. The Elves could stand and shoot at the Goblins, but think they might well be charged by the Wolf Riders lurking nearby so elect simply to
Hold in response to the Night Goblin charge. As it turns out, the Wolf Riders do then declare a charge against the Elves, who take the opportunity to
Stand & Shoot against this second charge. Finally, the Greenskin player unleashes his true attack – a charge by a unit of Black Orcs. Having already 'used up' their
Stand & Shoot, the Elves declare that they will turn tail and
Flee!
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