Characters

Characters

Characters are a step up from Command Models. Like Command Models, they grant their Regiment powerful upgrades. Unlike Command Models, Characters are a Stand of their own, sometimes representing the Character alone, or on a monstrous mount, or with a Retinue.

The Character Profile

Characters have a Characteristics Profile just as other Stands do.

Name: Imperial Officer

Class:Medium

Type:Infantry

M	V	C	A	W	R	D	E
5	1	2	4	4	3	3	0

Retinues

Great commanders and warriors often go to battle accompanied by their most trusted advisors, bodyguards and officers. To represent this, infantry Characters have access to Retinue upgrades as described in their respective Army List entry. These upgrades can be purchased in addition to any other Items or Abilities the Character has access to.

These models are placed on the Character Stand and confer certain unique abilities to the Character. Retinue models do not have a Characteristic Profile of their own and therefore cannot be allocated Wounds unless otherwise stated, but simply provide bonuses to the Character they are the Retinue of.

Retinues and the Character Stand

Retinues are usually available to Infantry Characters and the model used to represent them takes up a slot on the Character Stand. A Character Stand can only have as many Retinue members as the slots available on its Stand. It is not necessary to fill the Character Stand with Retinue upgrades. The slots left empty can either be left so or have other models placed on them. Either way, any model on the Character Stand that was not purchased as a Retinue upgrade is purely cosmetic and does not provide any additional benefits.

When a Character is removed for any reason, their Retinue is removed as well and any bonuses conferred from the Retinue are lost.

Retinue Abilities and Tiers

Retinue Upgrades come in different categories. Each category confers tiered abilities that become more potent the more Retinue upgrades you take of that category (p 193). Some Tiers of Retinue Upgrades can only be unlocked by specific Characters as detailed in the Faction’s Army List.

Character Stands and Regiments

Character Stands cannot act alone – they must join a Regiment to take part in the battle. That being the case, you will assign each of your Characters to a Regiment of the same Type, from their Warband, during Deployment. Characters cannot join Regiments of a different Type to their own. Some Characters reach such epic levels of power or ride monsters so large, they are considered Regiments on their own. In these cases it will be clearly marked in the models’ Special Rules.

Character Stand Position

A Character Stand is always placed in the front rank of a Regiment. If a Regiment has only one rank, you can either create a new rear rank and displace a non-Character Stand to it or simply expand the front rank. That said, Characters aren’t required to remain with the same Regiment throughout the battle – they can move to other Regiments as the battle unfolds, as we will discuss later. Each Regiment may only be joined by a single Character Stand at a time.

Characters and Wounds

Characters are always treated as a single model regardless of how many individual pieces are present on the Stand. A Character Stand accumulates its own Wounded markers, and is removed as a casualty once the number of its Wounded markers is equal to or greater than its Wounds Characteristic. Please note that Characters suffer Wounds only through Duel Actions and Special Rules and Abilities that specifically mention they cause Wounds to Characters. Regular Volley and Melee Actions cannot target Characters that have joined Regiments. If a Character is marked as a Regiment, these rules are ignored.

Character and Actions

Unlike Regiments, Character Stands can only take a single Action each Turn. Furthermore, they only take Actions unique to them (p 191, See Below). However, if the Character’s Regiment takes an Action, the Character Stand Acts alongside the Rank and File Stands, so it is perhaps more accurate to say that a Character Stand takes three Actions each Turn: one when their Command Card is drawn, and two more when their Regiment’s Command Card is drawn.

If the Character’s Regiment moves for any reason, the Character’s Stand moves as well. If the Character’s Regiment takes a Charge Action, the Character Stand Charges (or fails to Charge) along with the rest of the Regiment. If the Character’s Regiment performs a Take Aim or Inspire Action, the Character Stand benefits from the bonus, but not for Duels as Inspire only adds +1 Clash for Clash Actions.

If the Character’s Regiment takes a Clash or Volley Action, the Character Stand Attacks blows and fires Shots alongside with it (the latter, assuming the Character Stand has a Barrage special rule with sufficient Range).

If the Character Stand is in base contact with an enemy Regiment, it uses its full Attacks. If not, it adds one supporting Attack. Use different colored dice to represent the Character Stand’s Attacks at both the To Hit and Defense Roll stages, as these will often have different Clash values and/or Special Rules.

Killing Character Stands

Note that Character Stands cannot be Hit as part of a Clash or Volley Action. The only way to kill a Character is to wipe out their Regiment or slay them as part of a Duel Action or Special Ability.

Die Fighting!

If your Character’s Regiment is destroyed, and the Character has not yet acted that Turn, they immediately make an out-of-sequence Clash Action against one enemy Regiment in base contact. One last heroic stand, in other words! If there is no enemy Regiment in base contact with the Character, then the Character Stand is removed as a casualty without fanfare.

Unique Character Actions

If your Character’s Regiment is destroyed, and the Character has not yet acted that Turn, they immediately make an out-of-sequence Clash Action against one enemy Regiment in base contact. One last heroic stand, in other words! If there is no enemy Regiment in base contact with the Character, then the Character Stand is removed as a casualty without fanfare.

Duel (Combat Action)

To resolve a Duel Action, choose a Character Stand in an enemy Regiment in base contact with your Character Stand’s Regiment. The Character does not need to be in contact with your Character – we assume that voices travel a long way, and so do bloodthirsty combatants in the swirling melee.

Your opponent can now elect to accept the Duel, or decline. If they decline, the enemy Character Stand’s Regiment becomes Broken as a result of the shame.

If they accept, both Character Stands Attack simultaneously, rolling To Hit and making Defence and Resolve Rolls as usual. Any Wounds inflicted are applied only to the appropriate Character Stand, not its Regiment. If your Character Stand is slain during the Duel Action, your Regiment immediately takes a free Combat Reform Action. This Combat Reform does not require you to roll against the Regiment’s Resolve. However, you may only reduce ranks and files by the minimum amount needed to fill the gap created by the Character’s death.

If both Characters die as a result of the Duel, the First Player makes the first Combat Reform. Wounds caused by a Duel Action do not provoke Morale Tests.

The Warlord

One Character, chosen when you build your army, is your Warlord – a powerful and influential figure capable of changing the course of the battle. Not only does your Warlord grant you a Supremacy Ability (p 139), but they also have the Turn the Tide Draw Event.

Seek New Escort (Out-of-Combat Action)

A Character uses a Seek New Escort Action to leave their current Regiment and join another friendly Regiment that they can legally join regardless of the Warband the Regiment belongs to. Characters may not legally join Regiments already containing a Character.

Resolving the Action

Once your Character takes a Seek New Escort Action, choose a friendly Regiment of the same type no further from the Character’s current Regiment than twice the Character’s March Characteristic. You may not choose a Regiment currently in contact with an enemy Regiment as the target of the Seek New Escort Action. Furthermore, the Regiment the Character was originally part of, cannot have acted this turn in order for the Character to Seek New Escort.

Remove the Character Stand from its current Regiment. The Regiment immediately takes a free Reform Action. However, you may only reduce ranks by the minimum amount needed to fill the gap created. Then, the target Regiment takes a free Reform Action, adding the Character to its formation. However, you may not increase files, and may only increase ranks by the minimum amount needed to fit the Character Stand in its front rank.

Spellcasting (Combat or Out-of-Combat Action)

This Action can only be taken by a Character with the ‘Wizard’ or ‘Priest’ special rules. It allows the Character to attempt to cast a spell, as described on page 198.

Character Personalization

Characters and Items

Magical Items and Heraldry are an important part of a Faction’s culture and history. Each faction has access to a list of Items as described in their respective Army List.

Unless noted otherwise, each entry may be only be selected once in your Army List, and it does not have to be visually represented on the character. Each item confers abilities or attributes to the Character, and their bonuses are lost as soon as the Character is removed from the game for any reason.

Unless otherwise specified, the following restrictions apply: Selecting an item from the Arcane Category requires the Character to possess the Wizard (X) or Priest (X) Special Rule. Selecting an item from the Banner category requires the Character to possess at least 1 Tier in the Tactical category. Finally, Characters with the Wizard (X) Special Rule may not purchase items from the Armor Category.

Characters and Retinues

These options can be taken by any Infantry Character unless stated otherwise. Every faction will have its own Regiment Tiered Upgrades. Certain tier of upgrades can only be reached by certain Characters. Unless otherwise specified, you need to have obtained the previous Tiers in order to obtain the Tier you wish (i.e. to obtain Tier 2, you must have also obtained Tier 1 etc).

Not every Character has access to all categories of Retinues. Those allowed will be clearly stated in the relevant entry in the Army List, with the indication of either “available” or “restricted”. The character selects Tiers freely from the available categories, while they may only reach Tier 2 on the restricted categories. In addition, selecting a Tier from a restricted category costs double the points indicated.

Tier	Tactical	Combat	Magic
1	The Character and any Regiment he has joined reroll one failed Resolve die per Character’s Tier in Tactics. (5pts)	The Character gains +1 Wound. (5pts)	The Character gains the Blessed special rule and +1 Wizard/Priest Level. If the Character is not a Wizard/ Priest, he counts as Wizard (1) for disruption purposes. (10pts)
2	The Character may purchase 1 different perk from the faction list (in addition to any they may already be able to gain). (10pts + perk cost)	The Character gains +1 Clash. (10pts)	When using a Spellcasting Action, the Character treats all regiments as having 3 fewer stands for scaling purposes. (20pts)
3	The Character and any Regiment they have joined gain the Flank special rule. (35pts)	The Character gains +1 Cleave and +1 Attack. (25pts)	The Character adds 1 success when using a Spellcasting Action. (30pts)

Faction Perk List

• The Hundred Kingdoms

May select an additional Battlefield Drill (see Imperial Officer page 231)

• The Spires

May select an additional Tactic (see High Clone Executor page 252)

• Dweghom

May select an additional Relic from a different category (page 278)

• Nords

May select an additional Aspect (page 284)

Characters and Masteries

Characters are heroes of renown or highly gifted individuals, who excel above and beyond the masses. Be it through luck, education, training and effort or other powers at work, Characters have mastered abilities that make them exceptional, though it is not uncommon for two such heroes to have mastered the same path.

Masteries are optional upgrade abilities for your Characters, which are noted on your army list and confer bonus abilities to your Character. A Character may select only one Mastery according to the Character’s allowed lists in the following section. Each Mastery can be bought multiple times, however each time you wish to add a duplicate (or more) of the same Mastery you pay double the costs of the previous Mastery. For example, selecting “Eccentric” costs 20 points, while taking it a second time it would cost the second Character 40pts, and a third time it would cost the third Character 80 pts.

There are three categories of Masteries, and each Character may select one Mastery from a category allowed in his entry in the relevant Army List. Although there are common Mastery lists provided below, each Army List may include additional Masteries specific to that Faction.

Tactical Masteries

Disciplined	40 points
Characters of Light or Medium Type Only – Once per game, the Character and any Regiment they have joined may perform 1 Clean Withdrawal without rolling a die or suffering any Wounds.
Knowledged	35 points
(Must be Tier 3 in Tactical Retinue) The Character may replace their Supremacy Ability with any other Supremacy Ability in the List.
Calm Strategist	25 points
Once per game, the Character may refuse a Duel without suffering any penalty.
Eccentric	20 points
(Must be Tier 2 in Tactical Retinue) The Character must select 2 Core Regiments and only 1 Restricted regiment, but they may select any Regiment in the list as their Restricted option.
Long Lineage	15 points
May take an extra Heirloom/Trove Find/ Relic/Mutation.

Combat Masteries

Expose Weakness	20 points
At the beginning of a Duel Action where this Character is involved, choose one of your opponent’s Items, Retinue Bonuses or Masteries. It has no effect during this duel.
Marksmanship	15 points
The Character gains Barrage +2. If the Character does not have Barrage, they gain Barrage (2) (24”).
Veteran Warrior	15 points
(Requires Tier 3 in Combat Retinue) The character gains the benefits of 1st Tier Tactical Retinue.
Overkill	10 points
(Requires Tier 2 in Combat Retinue) Every time this Character wounds an enemy Character during a Duel Action, the accompanying enemy Regiment must make a number of Moral Tests equal to the wounds suffered by their Character.
Disorienting Strikes	10 points
Any Character in a Duel Action with this Character suffers a -1 Clash penalty during the duel.

Arcane Masteries

Learned in the Occult	20 points
The Character may purchase one extra spell from a different School.
Magus	20 points
The Character increases any non-scaling spell difficulty value by 1.
Cautious Casting	15 points
(Requires Rank 2 in Magic Retinue) Once per game, the Character may re-roll all dice for a single Spellcasting Roll.
Focused	15 points
The Character may reroll 1 die during any Spellcasting Action.
Wizened Caster	15 points
(Requires Rank 3 in Arcane Retinue) The character gains the benefits of 1st Rank Tactical Retinue.

SOURCES

Source Materials