Units

Armies on the battlefield are made up of units of many individual soldiers. Each unit is independently controllable and represented on the battle interface by a Unit card.

One or more units may be selected at any time. Movement orders are issued to all selected units.

More advanced control-methods are also available to maneuver selected units.

* Banners are displayed above units on the battlefield and indicate the unit’s type, strength and allegiance. Unit behaviour is influenced by leadership and vigour levels.

## Roles of units

### Melee units

Melee units are made for fighting in close combat (melee). They generally cannot attack from range.

Guard mode is an important button for melee units, as it prevents them chasing fleeing enemies if the player doesn't want that.

### Ranged units

Ranged units, aka missile units, can fire projectiles to damage the enemy from afar. Each will have a different range, and different amount of ammunition.

In battle, ranged units can be set to skirmish mode, where they will automatically run away if enemies come close.

Ranged units can also attack in melee, though they are usually not very good at it.

### Hybrid units

While all units can attack in melee, some units such as Lothern Sea Guard and Free Company Militia are designed to be good in both melee and at range.

### Flying units

Flying units can fly across the battlefield above other troops, and above terrain. They can land to attack in melee combat. Some have ranged attacks they can use from the air.

### Weapon types

* Swords, axes, dual-weapons etc: These generally perform poorly against armoured units or large units, but do well against polearms.
* Polearms: Spears, halberds and similar weapons usually give the unit a bonus against large units, but are at a disadvantage versus
* Great weapons: Large heavy melee weapons that often have armour-piercing damage.
* Shields: Shielded units are able to block 30% of incoming missiles from the front.

## Vital statistics in battle

* Health: The current health of the unit, divided up between the remaining models in the unit.
* Unit size: The number of soldiers/models in the unit. Some units such as Skavenslaves have as many as 200 soldiers. While most characters and large monsters only have 1.
* Leadership: The current leadership (morale) of the unit. When this goes to zero, a unit may rout or crumble.
* Ammo: The current ammunition of a ranged unit. When this is spent, the unit cannot fire any more and can only engage in melee combat.
* Fatigue: How much energy this unit has left. This also affects leadership – tired units are more likely to rout.

## Large units

Units are either considered large or small. Infantry, war beasts and most artillery crews are small. Cavalry, chariots, war machines and monsters are large.

## Attributes

Units may have an attribute, indicating that unit's role on the battlefield. Some of the more notable ones are:

* Expendable: These fodder units can be sacrificed to the enemy without much worry. In some cases, other units leadership won't be harmed if these units rout or are destroyed.
* Anti-large: This unit does extra damage to large units.
* Armour-piercing: This unit does extra damage to heavily armoured units.
* Decent melee combatant: This ranged unit can perform OK in melee, if it has to.
* Causes Fear / Terror: These effects deplete enemy leadership. Often found on monsters.
* Hide / Stalk: This unit can become invisible to the enemy under certain circumstances.

## Unit abilities

Some units (especially characters) have special active or passive abilities in battle. Active ability buttons will be on the bottom left of the UI in battle, when the unit is selected.

## Unit types

A unit's type type broadly defines its capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Each of the factions has a sizable set of units to choose from.

* Infantry units are generally slow, but heavily armed and armoured.

* Missile units and artillery are long ranged and devastating, but usually lightly armoured and vulnerable to strikes by mounted troops.

* Mounted units, for example, are generally swift and powerful but vulnerable against spear weapons.

* Monsters are tough but vulnerable against spear and missile troops.

* Flying units are fast but vulnerable against missiles.

### Infantry

* Infantry units are dense formations of men armed with hand-to-hand weapons. Massed ranks of infantry are the mainstay of most army compositions.
* Infantry units are often heavily armed and armoured, but are generally slow and vulnerable to being outranged or outmaneuvered.
* Infantry are strong against enemies in front of them but are vulnerable when attacked in the flank or rear.
* Infantry troops can carry a variety of weapon types, such as swords, spears and axes.
* Infantry units are usually best arranged in a line, so that each unit covers the flank of the next.

### Missile units

* Missile units are best employed in battle to stand back from the action and fire, sling or hurl projectiles at the enemy.
* An arc of fire is displayed when a missile unit is selected.
* Missile units will automatically fire at enemies within their arc of fire, unless the fire-at-will ability is deactivated.
* Missile units are generally lightly armoured and weak in hand-to-hand combat.
* Missile units may use the skirmish ability to automatically retreat from an advancing enemy.

### Mounted units (cavalry)

* Mounted units are able to move quickly across the battlefield, either in support of allied troops or to strike at the enemy where they are weakest.
* Mounted troops are highly maneuverable, but generally more expensive and fewer in number than infantry.
* A mounted charge can impart a big leadership shock to an enemy, particularly if delivered to the flank or rear of an enemy unit.
* Mounted troops are useful for picking off weak or isolated units.
* Mounted troops are vulnerable against spear weapons or in prolonged engagements.

Ranged cavalry
* Ranged cavalry are usually best used as skirmishers, shooting enemies then running away and kiting if followed.

### Chariots

* Chariots are a kind of war machine which is similar to cavalry.
* They typically have lower numbers per unit than cavalry, but have a lot of mass and can punch through enemy lines on the charge.
* Some chariots are ranged, operating similarly to ranged cavalry.
* Typically have decent armour.

### War beasts

* War beasts are animals, monsters or cavalry which are smaller than a cavalry unit.
* They typically have low mass and low armour, and are good at harassing vulnerable ranged units and artillery crews, or for chasing routing units.
* Not meant for sustained combat.
* Examples: Norscan Ice Wolves, Fell Bats, Carrion, Harpies

### Monsters

* Monsters are huge, powerful creatures that inspire terror into their enemies. They are best used for scattering and disrupting formations of enemy infantry.
* Monsters can be used to attack the gates in a siege battle.
* The size of monsters makes them vulnerable to attacks by missile weapons and spears.
* Some monsters are available by themselves, whilst others only appear as mounts for Lords and Heroes.

### Wizards / Spellcasters

* Magic-wielding wizard units may tap into the Winds of Magic to cast powerful spells. These spells can be used to empower allies or to sow destruction amongst the caster’s enemies.
* Wizards units are generally formed of a single wizard, occasionally with a small bodyguard.
* Wizards are often also the Lord of the army, or a Hero from the campaign map.
* The spells available to a wizard are shown on the Winds of Magic panel when the wizard is selected.
* Wizards are usually vulnerable to physical attack.

### Flying Units

* Some units fly high over the battlefield, either attacking at range or descending to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting.
* Like mounted units, flying units can be rapidly deployed to strike at a vulnerable target or reinforce a weak point in the army.
* Flying units can engage each other in hand-to-hand fighting without descending onto the terrain.
* Some flying units can drop bombs on the enemy below.
* Certain Lords and wizards can gain mounts that can fly.

### Artillery

* Artillery units, such as cannons and catapults, can fire projectiles at the enemy over long distances. They are most useful against bunched infantry formations, monsters, and enemy fortifications.

* Artillery units move slowly, and their crews are vulnerable if engaged in hand-to-hand fighting.

* If an artillery crew are all killed, the artillery unit is not usable. However, not all artillery units have a crew.

* Artillery crews can abandon their artillery equipment (for instance if they rout), and then man it again.

* Artillery units generally have very limited ammunition.
* The fire-at-will unit ability can be deactivated to prevent an artillery unit wasting its ammunition on undesired targets.

### War machines

* War machines are mechanical units which, can move around freely in battle mode and do not have a crew.
* Sometimes they double as artillery, other times they do not.
* Examples: Gyrocopters, Doomwheel, Steam Tank.

### Siege weapons

Siege weapons are large, constructed weapons of war that are used to attack the fortifications during siege battles. Rams are used to breach the city gates, and siege towers are used to get troops on top of the city walls.

Siege weapons are equipped by infantry units, who are then able to push them towards the enemy fortifications.

A selected infantry unit can be instructed to pick up some siege equipment by right-clicking on it.

A selected unit can be ordered to drop an equipped siege weapon by clicking the Drop button.

A unit carrying siege equipment can be instructed to attack a section of the enemy fortifications by right-clicking.

## Game settings

* The actual size of the unit is determined by the **Unit Size** setting in Graphics/Advanced Settings:
	+ Small unit sizes will reduce the total number of models per unit to 25%.
	+ Medium to 50%.
	+ Large to 75%.
	+ Ultra will see units at full size (100%). This wiki shows unit sizes at Ultra settings.
* Unit's total HP scales down as well.