Cry Havoc! complete PBEM rules

by Lutz Pietschker alias Noitaler
Version: 1.0 Date : 27. April 1995
This html version by: M.S. Sozzi


Version 1.0 covers all rules from the games "Cry Havoc!", "Siege", and "Samurai Blades".
Terrain types, equipment and some rules from "Dark Blades", "Outremer", and "Viking Raiders" were also described and consolidated. What is missing entirely is magic. Those who are interested in it should take a look into "Dark Blades"- but if you read carefully, you might find a dragon somewhere in this text.
To play the game you also need the file MAP.CH that describes map coordinates in detail.

Disclaimer: My English may not be quite standard, which has the simple reason that I am German and this is all they ever taught me. In cases of doubt please read what I meant, not what I wrote. And, yes, it is meant to be UK English.

Copyright: The games and original rules are under copyright for Standard Games and Publications Ltd., UK, who have done a great job providing us with them in the first place. You must have the original games and rules to play, for technical reasons and to protect this copyright. Ordering information is included in section 29.

Contents

Preface

The rules in this file are the megalomaniac attempt to outdo Standard Games, Ltd., and to provide a complete set of rules usable for every game of the "Cry Havoc!" series. They are meant to replace the rule booklets (in a technical sense only, see copyright notice above), not to add to them, so read the rules carefully, please: some might be different than those you are used to!
Some familiarity with the game is assumed, though, and historical background and character descriptions are only included where necessary in the context of the rules.

I tried to keep playability as high as it was originally, and often decided to use a simple rule but to explain it in some breadth on the assumption that reading a long text is still faster than reading a short text some times over.
For additional explanations, see also the "Plagiariser's Notes" at the end of the text. If you want to replay the examples of section 27. you need the mapboard "The Village" from "Cry Havoc!" and some counters.

If you do not like these rules, please play by the procedures described in RULES.CH, which are based only on the original rules booklets. If you are utterly annoyed and regard me as a scoundrel conning CIS connection charges out of you, just Cry Havoc! and send me a challenge. Keep those gauntlets flying!

PBEM Remarks

No game master is needed in a normal game (he would be necessary for playing a double-blind game, which certainly changes the characteristics of the game a lot and is, as I have been told, great fun to play.)

Each party could conceivably be formed by more than one player. A player turn (PT) would then be completed when each player of that side had sent his turn to each other player (of both sides). How far interaction and information between players of one side shall be allowed must be arranged beforehand. I think multi-player scenarios should use the optional rule about Command Control (22.3), and divide the forces along the zones of command. Exchange of information might be limited to one or two sentences per turn (just what a knight might call to another knight in 10 seconds), and should only be allowed between those commanders not currently in melee and in line of sight of each other.

The PBEM game uses the System of Chivalrous Dice, otherwise called the honour system. Each player rolls for any action that happens in his player turn, and the other(s) shall trust him to be honest. The same goes for any other action as counting arrows etc. To keep the game flowing you should even roll for the enemy in your PT.
If you are not willing to follow this rule, please tell your opponent so before the game starts. If you do not trust your opponent, please do not play with him.

Errors and rule violations must be claimed by the opponent instantly in his next PT. If he does not do this, the results stand. Corrections are taken into account only if they are sent before the opponent sends his next message (time of sending the messages counts). If errors are detected by the opponent, the PT is not repeated but modified:
All characters who made no mistake act as plotted. Combat results are corrected if necessary, but plotted combat takes place, even if the odds are different from what the player planned. As far as possible, the original die rolls are used, and the active player shall make any additional die rolls that may be necessary.
A unit that "made a mistake" acts as plotted up to the point of error and voids all illegal action thereafter (further legal action is taken as far as possible). Missile fire that was not allowed, or was directed against an empty hex, still spends ammunition (he fired into the blue).
A chivalrous player might decide to correct or let errors be corrected that are obvious typos.

Most "Cry Havoc!" mapboards originally do not have a coordinate grid. Read MAP.CH about how to add a coordinate system to the mapboards. Play goes more smoothly, and less errors occur, if you mark each single hex before play begins. (Water-resistant overhead projection pens are excellently suited for the task.)

Definitions

Abbreviations:
SSR : scenario special rules
LOS : line of sight
MP : movement points
MPA : movement point allowance
">" stands for "greater than", ">=" for "equal or greater than", "<" for "less than", and "<=" for "equal or less than".
"DR" or "DR10" always stands for one roll of a 10-sided die.
"3DR" (or 3DR10) would mean three rolls of that die with the results summed up. If 6-sided dice have to be used, this is expressed as "DR6".
A "DRM" is a die roll modifier, a value that is added to the die roll (a negative DRM reduces the DR result, of course). Unless specified otherwise, all DRM are cumulative.
What is rolled on the dice is the "original DR". The "final DR" is calculated by adding the appropriate DRM to the original DR.
A "+1 CS" means a column shift of one column to the right when looking up a combat result table, and a "-1 CS" a shift of one column to the left.
The combat odds calculated by dividing the (perhaps modified, e.g. charge attack) combat strength values are called "original combat odds". The "final combat odds" are obtained by applying the appropriate CS to the original odds.

Random determination of a hex or location may be performed by assigning a number to each possible location and rolling a die. The hex whose number shows up is selected. Exactly one hex or location is selected. Random determination of a unit works differently: Roll a 10-sided die for each eligible unit. The (one or more) units who rolled the lowest number are selected.
The terms "attack (resp. defence) strength", "attack value", "attack factor", "attack points" are used synonymously.
If not stated otherwise, fractions of numbers are retained. Normally, this yields the same result as rounding them down, because they vanish in the calculation of odds, and fractional movement points may not be used either.

Ah, yes: "he" also means "she", etc.; even if this may not advance equality, it is at least an acknowledgement of the problem. Here's to you, Ladies! A real knight will always regard himself your humble obedient servant.

Unit is a general term including any character or animal, as well as carts, all siege engines, and ships, but excluding portable and minor equipment like torches, ladders, lanterns etc. In the text, it is sometimes used synonymously to "character".

A character is every unit on the map that has counters showing 4 different states of health. In principle, a character is capable of independent movement and/or action (even if not at that moment or in that scenario). He remains a character even if he is temporarily or permanently disabled during the game and thus loses his moving/ acting capability.
A character is identified by the name printed on the counters, belongs to one or more character class(es), and may have special abilities and special status attributes. Most characters that are allowed to mount have 2 additional counters, showing the healthy and wounded mounted character and the live and dead horse.

Animals are different from characters insofar as they only have two health states ("healthy" and "dead"), and that they never move or act independently (the dog is a slight exception to this).

Equipment are carts, siege engines, ladders, screens, torches, barrels of oil, treasure etc. Frequently a distinction is made between "non-portable" and "portable" equipment, with the portable sub-divided into equipment that "hinders movement" (i.e. MP are needed to carry it) and such that does not. Ships are a special class of equipment with its own set of rules.

Character status:
Healthy: This is the "good order" status of a character or animal, the status with the highest strength and movement values.
Live/Dead: Live characters can be healthy, wounded, or stunned. Live animals can only be healthy. Active/Inactive: Active characters are those who act or move by the player's decision, even if currently trapped in a situation that limits their freedom of action or movement (for example, panic). Stunned, dead, or neutral characters, prisoners, and animals are regarded inactive. If a rule demands an "active" character for a task, he may be wounded or healthy.
Mounted/Dismounted: A character can be mounted, i.e. on horseback, or dismounted. He has different capabilities and restrictions in each of those two states. Only certain character classes may mount horses. No other animals may be mounted. A mounted character is also referred to as "rider" or "cavalry", an unmounted character as "infantry" or "foot". If in the process of mounting (which may take several turns, see 12.3) he remains dismounted until mounting is completed, and vice versa.
Armoured/Unarmoured: Armoured characters are those with an encircled defence strength on the counter (as used in "Outremer"). In addition all knights, and all characters with an unmounted healthy defence strength of >= 6, are regarded as armoured. All other units are unarmoured.
Friendly / Neutral / Enemy: All characters controlled by one player are "friends" to that player, all characters controlled by his opponent are "enemies". Neutral characters are controlled by neither player, they only act as guided by rules and will remain stationary and inactive otherwise.

Character Classes: The following character classes are defined:
Caparisoned Knights: Also called Barons. They have armoured horses in addition to their own armour and are treated like other knights in all respects.
Knights: This includes all kinds of Kings, Barons, Knights, Mamluks, Viking Jarls, Saxon Earls and Thanes, and all kinds of Samurai. All knights are armoured, may mount horses, and exercise command control over friendly characters.
Sergeants: Sergeants may have command control defined by the scenario special rules or set-up. All sergeants may mount horses.
Archers: This includes (mounted and unmounted) shortbowmen and longbowmen.
Spearmen: They may use their spear as a missile only by SSR. Even if the weapon has been thrown, attack and defence values remain the same. Spearmen have a special combat attack option against characters in water hexes (see 17.5).
Missilemen: This includes archers, crossbowmen, slingers, and spear-, dagger- or shuriken-throwing characters. Ammunition for missilemen is limited for daggers (2 per assassin character) and spearmen (1 spear, or by SSR), for others only if the optional ammunition limitation rule is used (see 22.2). Crossbowmen use own fire phases (and phase restrictions) because of the complicated loading process; all other missilemen fire like archers. The combat values of missilemen who are out of ammunition remain unchanged; they just may no longer fire missiles.
Soldiers/Civilians: Some characters may be designated as "civilians" in a scenario, or may be civilian implicitly by their profession (merchant etc.). All characters that are not civilians are soldiers. Engineers manning the siege engines are soldiers, and cleric personnel may be civilians or soldiers depending on the scenario.

Special Character Types: Some character types have special abilities:
Engineers: Engineers are soldiers with special technical knowledge (some of them could even do multiplication), and very light armament. They are required for operating, repairing and building siege engines. They may do this even if wounded, as it is more their special knowledge that is needed than their physical strength.
Berserk: Berserk (or Berserker) are a Viking character type. They worked themselves into a rage before the battle, and rushed into the fray like madmen, disregarding pain, danger and even injury to some extent. Berserks behave normally in battle except as noted below (for an explanation of the term "ADJACENT" see 3.4): On the beginning of each own movement phase the player rolls a die for every active berserk that is within movement range of an active enemy. On a DR of 1 to 7 he remains (or returns to) "normal", on a DR of 8 to 10 the character goes into (or remains in) "berserk rage" that lasts to the beginning of his next movement phase, when he has to check for rage again. There is a +3 DRM if the character is already in a rage. If the character is in a rage already and rolls an original 10, he goes into "mad rage" and will, regardless of existing melees, attack any one eligible character in this one turn, even of his own side. The character attacked in "mad rage" is determined by the rules below, but random decision is continued until exactly one target character is singled out. While in a rage, the berserk's wounded and healthy attack strengths are increased by 7 points, and his defence strengths by 2 points. In addition, he will treat the first "wounded" result received in each fit of rage like a "no effect" result. A berserk in a rage will always attack ADJACENT enemies in combat, never break melee voluntarily, and never accept surrender (this is an exception to 22.7). If there are more than one ADJACENT enemies, the berserk may attack one or more of them at his choice (only one in "mad rage"). He may attack as part of a combat group, and may shift targets, like any other character. Only if there is no ADJACENT enemy, the berserk will move ADJACENT to the nearest (measured in MP) enemy in his LOS. He will always take the route using the fewest MP, choosing freely between equivalent routes. If, during the move, he gets a LOS to a nearer target, he will switch his attack to this new target. If he becomes ADJACENT to an enemy on his way, he will stop immediately and attack in the combat phase. No rage starts, and any rage ceases immediately, if he has no enemy in LOS or within his movement range.
Assassins: These are fanatic Muslim characters that have specialised in (you guessed it) assassination, and other covert forms of warfare. They usually carry 2 daggers with them which they may throw. Assassins have advantages at night. They are immune to the "night" DRM on the Panic Table. If not illuminated, they may be seen only if adjacent to the viewer (their own ability to see units is normal). Assassins have a -2 DRM on the Swimming Table.
Ninja: Ninja are Japanese warriors with special training and great determination. They are the only units that may throw the shuriken throwing knives. Ninja have advantages at night. They are immune to the "night" DRM on the Panic Table. If not illuminated, they may be seen only if adjacent to the viewer (their own ability to see units is normal). Ninja have a -2 DRM on the Swimming Table.
Japanese Monks: Those monks often put their mental power to practical use. One of their common, if astounding, feats was to deflect missiles. The attacking player throws a die whenever an active infantry monk was hit by a missile (except dagger, shuriken, ballista bolt) with a result other than "no effect". The damage result is modified as follows: DR 1,2,3,4: A "killed" becomes a "wounded", a "wounded" a "retreat", and a "retreat" a "no effect" result. No further deflection attempts may be made in this fire phase DR 5,6,7 : The result is taken in full but he may attempt deflection again in this fire phase on another missile attack. DR 8,9,10 : The result is taken in full, and no further deflection attempts may be made in this fire phase.

Time and distance scale:
1 hex is about 1.50 m, so one mapboard is approximately 25 by 35 m.
Normal time flow is assumed as 10 seconds real time per player turn, with player turns taking place nearly simultaneously (they are only separated for playability). The 10-second-interval only refers to the short-term flow of action; you may not conclude that 24 hours equal 8640 game turns. Obviously there will be slack periods of time, and those are worked into the game turns imperceptibly. A 10-turn-scenario may well depict a brawl of 30 minutes real time, for example, and time passes even faster under siege conditions.

In some scenarios, and in campaigns, certain actions are considered in a matter of days. The first definition for a "day" is as given in the "Siege" scenarios:
The scenario attacker and defender each roll a die. If the defender rolled 5 more than the attacker, he has the initiative for that day, else the attacker has the initiative.
In turns with defender initiative, the defender may chose to sally against the attacker, or to sally for supplies. In a turn with attacker initiative, the attacker may chose to attack the castle, or to batter the castle, and/or to repair or build siege engines.
Scenarios for this sequence are included in the "Siege" scenario booklet. The "sally" and "attack" actions are in fact scenarios, with the siege situation providing only the background and the circumstances. So the decision for attack or sally just means "now play that scenario".
The battering and building/ repair actions are handled very abstractly and without playing a scenario for that day ("offboard" procedures, see 19.3, 19.51, 19.6); the day passes without any other player action but to allocate men and siege engines to the task planned, and to resolve the battering damage or the building/ repair success, which is done by rolling one or more dice and looking up the results in the appropriate tables.
At the end of each day repairs, healing, resupply, and reinforcements come into effect. If night action takes place, it is limited by similar conditions, but without further repair or healing results. Since this definition of a day leaves most of the action to the attacker, I propose that at least the defender may effect repairs on days with attacker initiative. Still, it might lead to an unbalanced game in terms of player activity.

I offer an alternative definition that allows to play a day in more detail, though it works on a scale that probably does not allow to play a whole siege. It may be useful, perhaps, to represent a sequence of a few days of a siege situation. With this definition, each day is a scenario of its own, and most action happens "onboard (see 19.4, 19.52, 19.7). The day is assumed to have passed when

At the end of each day and/or night scenario, players may draw back forces into their camps, castles, houses or whatever they consider their own uncontested base of operations, and may rearrange them freely inside that area. In effect, this results in a new set-up for each new day or night action (excluding siege engines). All fires (excluding campfires and fireplaces set up deliberately for illumination) are extinguished, all places that were on fire are regarded as destroyed.
The beginning of a new day may also be the time to apply healing, resupply, etc.

Maps, Hexes, Counters

Half-hexes at the map edge are playable exactly like full hexes. They also have the full movement cost. All units are regarded "onboard" as long as they occupy at least one hex or half-hex of the map.

Hexes that are formed by two half-hexes with different terrain butted together provide the movement possibilities and costs of the more difficult terrain, the better cover, and the more disadvantageous terrain modifier of the two.

A hex has only one terrain at a time, there are no different "locations" in a hex. Exceptions to this rule are the siege tower (19.12), the Dungeon (16.33), Gate hexes (16.31), Bridges (16.124, 16.125), and the Drawbridge (18.1).
Example: A hex with a ladder is a ladder hex; a character in this hex is always on that ladder (you can not walk "under" the ladder).

Every terrain fills the entire hex (but excluding the hexsides) even if the artwork does not show this. For line of sight purposes, the same is true for hindering equipment or characters. The exception to this are slope lips, building walls etc., which are extended hex borders rather than hex terrain, and for which the actual artwork decides about line of sight.
In cases where two adjacent hexes share a normal hexside (i.e. no "hexside terrain"), and both of those hexes provide cover resp. a LOS hindrance, LOS is not free along that hexside but determined by the hex with the lesser cover resp. hindrance. See also chapter 5., "Line of Sight".

Hexes are called "adjacent" in these rules if they share a common hexside and a LOS exists between them. Adjacency allows a missile attack. If, in addition, movement directly across the common hexside is allowed (assuming a character had the necessary MPA, and ignoring in-hex movement hindrances), the hexes are called ADJACENT. For a combat attack ADJACENCY is required, and this might not be reciprocal: for example, a rider may not attack through a window (because he is not allowed to move directly, in his present mounted status, through the window), whereas infantry, even if wounded, might attack him through the window (because in principle infantry is allowed to cross window hexsides). (The "spearman special" combat attack (see 17.5) is an exception from the ADJACENCY requirement for combat.)
Offboard characters are not adjacent to any other character.

Some additional counters or markers might be useful, e.g. to mark melee status or open/shut status of doors and gates. Torches and cauldrons of boiling water are an example for special equipment for which no original counter exists.

Notification of unit positions is by hex coordinate, if necessary preceded by the mapboard short name (see file MAP.CH). Hexsides are designated by the adjacent hex coordinates, separated by a slash (e.g. VilT6/S6 is a window hexside).
For units that occupy more than one hex the front or "head" hex coordinate is given first. (Example: A horse in VilL9-L10 looks into the yard of building 4; if it is in VilL10-L9 it probably just came out of the yard, with his rear end still in the doorway.) Animals led or strung together are written from "head" (or leader) to "rear", with "+" signs indicating the coherence. (e.g. Tybald VilT10 + Horse U10/V11 + Mule_1 V12 + Mule_3 V13 ...).
For upright ladders, the hex the ladder top points to is given behind the ladder base coordinate after an angled bracket (a ladder in CasK5>K6 stands in K5 and points to K6).
Carried Equipment is noted in parentheses behind the carrying character's name, for example "Ben (torch)".

For horses and carts, the 3 frontmost hexes adjacent to the "head" hex are called the "front arc", the 2 hexes to the right and left the "side hexes", and the 3 remaining hexes adjacent to the rear hex the "rear arc".

Sequence of Play

Each Game Turn (GT) consists of two identical Player Turns (PT). Each player works out his PT and sends the results to his opponent(s). At least two messages must be exchanged for each GT (that is, one for each PT). From time to time, additional messages are necessary to resolve the results of missile attacks, pinning, or other incidents. Each PT has several phases (or steps).

PT phases for the first player:

PT of second player:

This is exactly like first player's turn.

Note: If missile attacks have a "defender retreat" result and it matters where the defender retreats to, additional messages would have to be exchanged after such attacks. If the retreat path is pre-determined by the rules, the attacker moves the retreating unit himself; if the attacker decides that he does not care where the defender retreats to, he may continue and leave the retreat resolution to the next player in his PT.
Messages should always deal with complete phases. It is not appropriate for the game scale to ask for retreat resolution after every missile fired; in this respect, all fire in one phase shall be regarded as simultaneous.
Comments in the PT messages can create a realistic atmosphere and should be used freely.

Line of Sight

Line of sight (LOS) is important for missile fire, catapult use, and for detection of enemies and consequently raising alarm.
In daytime scenarios, LOS is always reciprocal: If A can see B, B can also see A (and shoot at him, for example). In night-time scenarios this may not be the case if one character is illuminated and the other is not, or if the characters have different capabilities for stealth (Ninja or Assassin, see 2.74 resp. 2.73).

LOS is always traced from hex to hex. If a hex is visible, a unit in it can be fired at (though it may receive cover). Units that are not on the map are always out of sight.
In most cases, LOS may be traced from any part of the viewer's to any part of the target hex (see also optional rule 22.4, "Alternative LOS"). Exceptions apply only for fire through apertures (windows, doors, arrow slits). In this case LOS is traced from any point on the edges of the aperture depiction, or any point between them. This applies regardless if the aperture is a hexside or an in-hex-feature. (Note that range is still measured from hex to hex.)
In cases of doubt, LOS checks can be carried out by stretching a piece of thread along the LOS. Hindrance or blocking occurs only if the obstacle is visible on both sides of the thread.

LOS can be hindered by intervening characters, equipment and terrain, or be blocked completely by them. A hindrance is referred to as "cover" and modifies missile attack results.
LOS across a common hexside always exists if this hexside is not a wall without aperture, or a closed gate door or drawbridge (a closed door or window are no apertures until opened). Even between adjacent hexes, in-hex-terrain or the common hexside may provide cover against missile fire.
Elevation may affect LOS. Elevations in man-made terrain features are always marked by stairs that must be passed while moving from one location to another.
The number of stair hexes passed on this (hypothetical) move marks the elevation difference. Natural elevations are marked by a LOS crossing a slope or moat lip. Slope elevation is equivalent to one stair hex for LOS purposes.
In the following, the terms "elevated" (or "higher") and "lower" always refer to the relative elevation between two locations, not to an absolute elevation.

Hindrance is always determined only by the one most heavy of all hindrances passed by the LOS. For example, multiple "light" hindrances still give only light cover. When LOS is exactly along a hex border, the hindrance of the lighter of the adjacent terrain types or hex contents applies. LOS to multi-hex-units may be traced to either hex, and the target receives the appropriate cover, but note the missile fire restrictions in 6.52.

Special LOS cases
This listing is meant to alert the player to the existence of special LOS cases. In cases of doubt, the LOS description in the terrain or equipment section shall be used. For cover, see 6.5.

Elevation differences block LOS only in the following cases:

Elevated positions provide an extended LOS, and elevations block same or lower level LOS themselves. Note that a slope only creates an elevation if the LOS actually passes the slope lip.
For fire from an elevated position, walls (including battlements) give cover only if the wall hexside is closer to the target than to the firer, but even then no LOS exists through the roof of a building into building interior hexes. LOS into or through doors and windows is not affected by elevation. Castle Wall terrain (16.19) and castle towers (16.113) always blocks LOS regardless of elevation.
Intervening characters do not block LOS, though they may hinder or block fire (see 6.2). Intervening equipment may hinder or block LOS (for details, see sections 18. and 19.). The siege tower blocks all LOS through its hexes.

Missile Attacks

Missiles can be arrows, crossbow bolts, ballista bolts, stones hurled from a sling, thrown daggers and shuriken, and thrown spears. All missiles are lost after use and may not be recovered for further use under any circumstances. If the optional ammunition limitation rule (22.2) is not used, however, only daggers and spears are limited in supply. If a character with a missile weapon has no ammunition left, he obviously may make no further missile attacks. He still may have combat normally, and his combat values are not affected. Missile supply may be refreshed by SSR, during campaign games, and by ammunition exchange (see 22.2).
The attacker decides which missile attacks take place and determines LOS. He may observe the results of every attack before deciding on the next one (in other words, attacks are not pre-registered). Each missileman may only fire once in each of his fire phases, and each fire must be directed against one single character. No rule forbids to fire on friendly characters, and if this happens in error or otherwise, the results stand.
No missileman may fire if he is in melee or in the same location with an enemy.
No missiles may be fired by characters in deep or bottomless water, or on ladders.
Missile fire and movement restrict each other. Crossbowmen who fired may not move in the same PT, and archers may only fire in the second missile fire phase of the PT if they used <= half of their MPA in the movement phase.

Only targets in LOS may be attacked. Only one hex of a horse or rider needs to be in LOS to fire at him. If both hexes are visible, the firer may chose which of them to attack. In any case, the fire is resolved normally and afflicts the entire unit at full strength. No fire is allowed into overstacked hexes (see 7.2).
Fire is allowed over intervening characters (or the equivalent animals, see 13.) as long as the following conditions are not violated:

Regardless of elevation difference and weapon type, any fire is forbidden if an intervening active unit is adjacent to, and on the same level as, the target or the firer. If the target or firer is a rider or is on a cart, though, only an adjacent rider or horse blocks fire. Implicitly, fire is also forbidden into overstacked hexes (see 7.1).
To fire, calculate the distance (so many hexes, including the target but exclusive of the firer's hex), and determine to what range (short, medium or long) this corresponds for this type of missile. No fire is allowed into the firer's own hex ("zero distance") or above long range. If the optional ammunition limitation rule is used, mark off the used ammunition from the firer's supply.
Now roll a die, and add resp. subtract the applicable DRM. Among others, there are modifiers for weapon type, range, cover, movement status, etc. Find the appropriate Missile Fire Table, look up the damage result, and apply the damage.

Cover
The terrain in the target hex, terrain along the LOS, or hexside features may hinder missile fire. From the target's point of view, this is called "cover".
The cover of different terrain types is treated in the "Terrain" section of the rules (16.).
Cover only modifies the result of missile fire, not of combat. Light cover adds a +1 DRM to the DR, medium cover a +2 DRM, and heavy cover a +3 DRM.
"Infinite" cover is synonymous to a blocked LOS and thus blocks fire completely. Cover is cumulative with other DRM, but if different cover DRM would be applicable only the one most heavy of them is used. Multiple "lighter" covers do not add up to any heavier cover.
Riders and horses receive the cover of the one hex the firer aimed at. This hex must be in LOS of the firer. If both hexes are in LOS, the firer must chose the nearer of the two hexes as his target hex; if both are equidistant, he may chose between them freely.
Cover received from exterior building corners and doors is special insofar as it is limited to certain fire directions. In-hex-doors only give cover from the inside or from the outside, not both. A hexside door only gives cover for fire passing through it.
Exterior building corners only give cover if the corner depiction blocks LOS to some part of the corner hex. Even if cover exists, the character in the corner hex may only claim one of the two possible LOS "shadows" as cover at a time.
Thus, if he decided to get cover from one specific fire or general direction, he is in cover for all fire with a similar LOS shadow, and in no cover for all other fire. This is true regardless of elevation.
The player must state which cover he claims, else it is determined by the first incoming fire (as described in 7.9).
For same-level fire, the target receives light cover (+1) if any characters intervene.
Regardless of the number of scrub, tent and fence hexes passed, these terrain types provide light cover (+1) for same-level fire. Fire from an elevated position voids the cover of scrub and fences. It also voids cover for fire over tents, but not for fire into the tent hex.
Trees provide light cover (+1) regardless of elevation.
Rubble provides medium cover (+2) regardless of elevation if the target is in rubble or LOS passes a rubble hex.
Rock provides medium cover (+2) for fire into or through rock hexes, which is voided for fire from elevated positions.
Cover from water is not affected by elevation.
Debris from destroyed tents, siege engines, carts etc. provides no cover itself, but does not affect cover received by terrain or other circumstances.

Ambush
A missile attack by a hidden enemy force is called "ambush". An ambush situation modifies panic determination in the PT in which this attack occurs. It has no other effects. For hidden setup see also 22.8, for panic determination 22.9.

Damage
The damage done, and possible consequences, are described in the "Combat and Missile Fire Results" (10.) section of the rules.

Movement

Stacking:
Each hex may be occupied by only one live character or animal at a time. During movement or retreat, characters and animals may pass through friendly characters and any head or tail hex of animals not currently mounted by an enemy. They may not end their movement in such a hex. Animals strung together and/or led are treated like one "long" animal and may be passed only in their end hexes (see 13.62 / 13.7).

There are some exceptions to the stacking rule:

Each character has a movement point allowance (MPA) printed on his counter. As he moves through each hex he expends movement points (MP) depending on the amount that each hex costs to pass through. Some hexsides need additional MP to cross them, for example windows and battlements. MP needed to carry equipment are spent before MP may be used for actual movement (so a task that demands to spend the "complete MPA" of a character is incompatible with carrying equipment).
He may spend none, some or all of his MP in one movement phase, but he may not accumulate unused MP for later use, nor may he exceed his MPA (exception: a character climbing out of water may exceed his MPA, see 17.). He may transfer MP to other characters only by "helping" them (see 12.2).
A player may move one, some or all of his characters in his movement phase in any sequence, one at a time. A character who ended movement may not resume movement later in that movement phase, even if he still has MP left.

No character (or animal led by a friend) may pass through a hex containing a live enemy (note that stunned characters are "live"). Friendly and neutral units may be passed through if their hindrance (7.8) is not sufficient to block movement, but movement may never end in such a hex.

No unit may pass through any hexside or enter any terrain that is marked as "impassable" for this type of unit.
Elevation differences may only be negotiated by slopes, moat slopes, stairs, scaling ladders, or use of the siege tower. (In some cases, slopes may be circumvented using flat ground terrain.) The cost for taking the elevation is worked into the movement cost for the terrain resp. equipment.
Movement of riders and led horses must observe additional restrictions:

At every moment, all hexes of a unit must be on firm ground. Even if only part of a unit is forced to move into non-ADJACENT terrain, the whole unit falls into this hex and an ADJACENT hex (determined at random). Animals die, riders are dismounted and are placed ADJACENT to the horse at random, characters (including riders) receive a "wounded" damage result, equipment is destroyed. If falling into deep or bottomless water, animals drown, equipment vanishes, but a falling character is not wounded by the fall.

Besides terrain, debris and live and dead characters and animals may hinder movement. Up to 3 foot characters do not hinder movement, 4 to 6 double the movement cost for that hex, and more than 6 make the hex impassable. A horse or oxen is equivalent to 3 characters, a mule to 2 characters, and any other animal to 1 character. Debris is equivalent to 3 characters. Besides hindering movement, this also changes the in-hex terrain combat advantage to "negative".

For a character in an exterior corner hex or door hex the controlling player should note, for each turn he arrives at or remains in such a hex, from which side he shall receive cover. He may change this in every own movement phase and, if he does not move otherwise, this changing of cover does not count as movement. See also 6.53 for cover from corners.
If cover direction is not stated, it is determined in every turn by the first fire directed at the character in that turn, in a way that he receives cover from this fire. (Of course, a cunning enemy might use this to his advantage by setting the fire sequence to do maximum damage.)

Charge Movement
A charge is a fast movement towards an enemy preparing a charge combat attack. Charge attacks are only available to cavalry and must be declared before starting the move. To declare a charge the attacker must have a LOS to at least one of his targets before he starts to move.
A charge is a movement of which at least the last 6 hexes are straight forward towards the target. The movement must not be necessarily be along a hex row, but must be as straight as possible on the hex grid, i.e. have no "bends" except those imposed by the hex grid. It may not include pivoting, or circumventing obstacles with use of MP.
A charge attack increases the attack strength, but may also incur risks to the attacker: see 9.4.

Pinning a Passing Character

Characters may pass ADJACENT enemies without any special hindrance. However, any passed active enemy that is not in melee already may try to "pin", i.e. stop the passing character. He may try this only in hexes where the passing character would be allowed to end his move. The pinning attempt is done out of sequence, in the opponent's movement phase.
Each character may only make one pinning attempt per movement phase, but more than one pinning attempts may be made (by different enemies) against a passing character in one hex.
Only characters that actually move may be the target of a pinning attempt, and the attempt is always in the hex "moved into", so in the start hex of a move no pinning is possible. Passed units may not combine their strength for the pinning attempt, it is always done on a one-on-one basis.
The pinning attempt is decided by evaluating a "combat" between the characters. Any "defender" damage result successfully pins the mover; any other result rejects the attempt. The "combat" result is in every respect obtained like a normal combat result, but it only decides about the success of the pinning attempt; no actual damage is caused. Infantry trying to pin a rider must use a -1 CS in addition to all other combat modifiers (even in addition to the normal "Infantry attacks mounted character" CS).
A successful pin locks both characters in melee immediately. The moving character forfeits the rest of his movement phase, but the player may give him new combat orders.
A rejected pinning attempt has no effect whatever, and the passing character may continue movement.

Since the pinning rule could severely affect PBEM game speed, all pinning attempts are handled as follows: The defender shall read the opponents movement orders hex-by-hex, decide about pinning attempts immediately (i.e. before reading on about other movement- honour rules apply), and also evaluate them before reading on. When he is through with reading the movement phase and any pinning attempt succeeded, he must inform the moving player of the changed situation. Pinning voids any other plotted action of the pinned character, but he may decide to attack the pinning character (or any other ADJACENT enemies) in the combat phase. (He obviously may fire no missiles since he is in melee now.) Orders for fire, movement, combat etc. of other characters may not be changed. This may lead to situations the attacker did not plan nor like, but, well... this is war, not a puzzle game!

Combat

A character may attack any character(s) that are ADJACENT to combat. Note that equipment that provides a possibility to move between adjacent hexes at the same time makes them ADJACENT and allows combat between them (e.g. ladders, siege tower); on the other hand hexside terrain or elevation may block movement and make even adjacent hexes non-ADJACENT.
Characters are never forced to attack, even if currently in melee (exception: combat on ships, see 15.). Each character may attack only once per combat phase, but a unit may be attacked any number of times.
The attacker decides which combats take place, and he may attack in any order. He may observe the results of previous combats before deciding on the next combat constellation.

To resolve combat, divide the attacker's attack strength by the defender's defence strength (use modified strengths if applicable). Round the result down to the next relation given in the appropriate Combat Table to obtain the "original combat odds". Apply column shifts (CS modifiers) to get the "final combat odds". Among others, there are modifiers for terrain and mounted/unmounted status.
Now roll a die, look up the damage result in the table, and apply the damage.

Multiple Combat
If more than one character of both sides are ADJACENT to each other, the attacker chooses in which constellation they actually have combat in this turn.
To do this, he groups units that shall attack together, and declares which defenders shall be attacked as a group. All attack factors of an attack group are added into one combined attack strength, and similarly a defending group defends with its combined defence strength.
Note that even as part of a combat group a character may only attack ADJACENT enemies. No combat group may be formed that violates this rule.
The combat constellation may change in every PT at the active player's decision.
In multiple combat, the attacker may use a specific "+" CS modifier only if it applies to all units of the group, and must use all "-" CS modifiers that affect any unit of the group. The defender may claim a "-" CS modifier if it applies to any unit of the group, and suffers only from "+" CS modifiers that apply to all units of the group.
Damage results normally are taken only by one character of the losing side. If the losing side is a group, random selection is used to determine which unit takes the damage, and this may cause more than one unit to suffer a result (see 2.).

Encirclement
A character is encircled if he is in melee with (not just ADJACENT to) more than one character, and any two of those characters are not adjacent to each other. This situation obviously presents a serious disadvantage in combat and is allowed for by the "encircled" CS (see Combat Table). Encirclement may apply to both attacker and defender (in which case the CS cancel themselves).
Note that not all encircling characters actually have to take part in the combat; it is sufficient that they are in melee status with the encircled unit. It is possible that an attack causes encirclement of either side for subsequent combats of the same combat phase.

Charge Attack
Charging is a special, powerful form of combat attack that can only be used by cavalry. It is declared and started during the movement phase: see 7.10.
A charge attack is always a separate attack; it may attack more than one target, but not combine attack strength with other characters. Each unit may only be charged once per PT.
The charging attacker receives a bonus of half his normal attack strength for this one attack.
Example: A knight with an attack value of 27 would attack with a strength of 40,5 after a charge. Otherwise, a charge attack is a normal combat attack and also causes melee status.
If the target is a rider that is not currently in melee, and the charge hits his front arc, there is a possibility that the charge fails. In this case the attacker must roll a die before resolving the combat and apply the following results:

An evasion, counter-charge or parry result itself does not change the map positions of the units, though the damage results may do so.

Terrain Influences
Certain terrain gives an advantage or disadvantage in combat. To take this into account, the combat odds are modified with a terrain advantage CS; see the terrain descriptions and the Combat Tables for details. Only one modifier for in-hex terrain may be used for each side. Cavalry and horses always use the more disadvantageous modifier of the two hexes they occupy.
The presence of debris in a hex, or of characters or animals that present a movement hindrance (7.8), changes any terrain to "negative" terrain. This replaces the normal modifier for the in-hex terrain, but it is cumulative with hexside terrain or other modifiers.
Some terrain or hexside features make combat impossible because they make hexes non-ADJACENT. For example, no combat is allowed through walls without aperture, and arrow-slits. Mounted characters may never attack through window and door hexsides, and may not attack into the interior of a house from a door hex. Elevation differences may also make hexes non-ADJACENT (e.g. rampart/ moat). See also 3.4 for a definition of ADJACENCY.

Combat against animals
Riderless animals are attacked on the Combat Table for "Combat against mounted target, or against animal" (26.32), ignoring all damage results given for the rider. Retreat results apply. The exception to this rule are dogs which have combat like infantry (see 13.3). A mounted horse may not be attacked separately; the attack must be directed against the mounted character.

Ambush
A combat attack by an enemy force of which more than half of the attack strength was hidden from view until it attacked is called "ambush". An ambush situation modifies panic determination in the PT in which this attack occurs. It has no other effects. For hidden setup see also 22.8, for panic determination 22.9.

Combat and Missile Fire Results

Missile fire and combat have immediate effects and may cause additional consequential damage. Any missile fire or combat (even a "no effects" result) makes the target aware of the enemy, so that he may raise alarm etc. (at night, a missile attack does not necessarily imply that the character is able to see the firer).
Any damage result but "no effect" forces a character to drop any items that require MP expenditure to carry them. Other items must be dropped only if "dismounted", "stunned", or "killed".
A unit may receive more than one damage result in one PT or even turn phase. Each damage is resolved immediately, so a second attack (or even consequential damage of the same attack) might hit the unit in a weakened state and lead to most final consequences.

For damage resulting from multiple combat, the character(s) affected by a damage result are determined by random selection (see 2.).
There is one exception to this: if random selection for any (infantry, horse, or rider) "killed" result indicates more than one unit to take damage, only one unit (random, too) will actually be killed; for the others it is reduced to "wounded" or (in case of animals) "none".

If a character is stunned or killed while he carried something, he drops that item into the hex he occupies. If retreating or wounded, he only drops items that cost MP to carry them. If dropping has any effect on the item this is mentioned in the "Special Equipment" section.

Advance after combat
If a unit retreated or was killed, one character of the victorious side of that combat (player's choice) may advance immediately after resolving the damage. He must start his advance into the hex vacated by the retreating or killed character, but is free in his advance movement afterwards. He may never violate normal movement rules in an advance.
Advance is only possible after combat, not after missile fire. Note that advance can be used by the victor of the combat, regardless if he is attacker or defender in this PT. Only one of the characters directly involved in the combat may advance, and only immediately after this combat. Advance is voluntary. No pinning is possible during an advance.
The advancing character may use up to half of his MPA if he is not ADJACENT to any enemy before the advance. He may move one hex, spending no more than his full MPA, if he is ADJACENT to an enemy before the advance, but not in any melee.
He may move one hex, but spend no more than half of his MPA on that move, if he is in melee. Even if this move should break melees he may not advance further.
Advance is a move out of sequence, and MP used for advance do not count against the MPA for the next movement phase.

Panic and rout
Combat or fire results may lead to panic or rout. These rules are optional and only valid if agreed beforehand or by SSR. See 22.9 for details.

Melee

Melee status is a consequence of combat, pinned movement, or overstacking.
Missile attacks and combat against animals or inactive characters do not cause melee status.
Melee status imposes some limitations to the actions of both characters. It links individual characters with each other; you might imagine that melee status creates a tie between them that will exist until it is broken by some positive action.

While in melee, a character may not do anything but to continue combat or withdraw from melee. In particular, a character in melee may not fire any missiles, mount, or dismount, try to pin enemy movement, challenge to single combat, light or extinguish fires, operate or repair equipment, etc. He may not pick up equipment, but is not forced to drop things he carried before entering melee. A rider that is in melee may not be led by another character. He may attack any characters that are in melee with him, or any additional units that are ADJACENT, thus bringing them into melee, too. He is not forced to attack every character in melee with him; he may attack one, some, all, or none of them at his choice, though a refusal to attack does not break melee status (he just decided he would concentrate on defence only). Melee does not change combat odds or influence combat in any other way.

Melee status is initiated automatically by combat, regardless of the damage result. A character can be in melee with more than one character. In multiple combat situations, all attackers and defenders of the combat are in melee with each other immediately.
Melee status may be rejected by a rider that is not currently in melee and that attacks one or more infantry characters. The rider must attack alone in this combat (.i.e. not as part of a combat group), and he must declare if he will accept or reject melee status before combat is resolved. (This exception simulates a hit-and-run situation made possible by the speed and impact of the rider.) For all other combat situations melee is automatic. Once in melee, all character types are treated equally.
Melee status is also caused by a successful pinning attempt (see 8.), or from the moment overstacking occurs (see 7.2).

Melee status between two characters is broken immediately when one of them becomes inactive or withdraws, but this has no effect on other melees a character is in. Once he is free from all melees, all limitations imposed by melee status end immediately.
A withdrawal from melee can be performed voluntarily in 3 ways, and may be forced by a few involuntary types of movement:

Other Actions

Tasks
Certain actions take more time than one turn phase, and are therefore governed by special rules. Such actions are called "tasks".
A task is always accomplished in full PT increments, and it may take one or more PT to complete it. If not specified otherwise, those PT must be consecutive.
If a character shall begin a task this must be declared at the beginning of the PT, and that character may not be in melee.
While working on a task, he may take no other action whatever, nor may he move, lead animals, guard prisoners, etc. If he does, or is attacked in combat (regardless of the result), the task is broken off and is regarded as if it never had been begun (there do not remain any "partial" results of the task). He may be wounded by missile fire without being forced to break off, but he uses his wounded strength from then on. Any retreat forces him to break off the task.
Wounded characters use their wounded strength factors. For tasks that are described as taking so many turns, this number of turns is doubled for wounded characters, or two wounded characters may replace one healthy character.
The result of an accomplished task comes into effect at the end of the working character's PT if not explicitly stated otherwise.

Helping other characters
Any character with a MPA of at least 3 may help an ADJACENT infantry character to move over obstacles, through windows, and other difficult terrain. He may transfer up to two MP to that character, but may not in this turn fire missiles or attack in combat. He must begin his movement phase ADJACENT to the character he wants to help and must remain ADJACENT throughout the move. Otherwise, both characters spend MP normally during this move.
It is also possible to help a wounded character to mount, which reduces the time needed for the task (see 12.33), or to help a character leave the water which improves his chances to climb out and also adds to his MPA (see 17.), or to support a wounded character in deep water which improves his chances to survive and move (see 17.42). All these special helping actions take the full MPA of the helping character, so that he may not move himself while helping.
A (live or dead) unmounted character may also be carried by 2 healthy characters who start their movement phase at opposing hexes ADJACENT to the carried character. The whole assembly moves as one rigid piece and has a MPA of 2 which it may use to move straight into any direction, or to pivot 60 degrees round the carried unit. Straight movement and pivoting may be combined freely. The helpers may also load/ unload their burden on/ from a cart hex that is ADJACENT to the carried character and to one of the helpers, with the other helper moving into the hex that was occupied by the carried character (this takes one complete movement phase and will disrupt resp. create the assembly, see the example in 27.7).

Mounting and dismounting
Only horses may be mounted, and only by characters that either started the scenario mounted, or are of the Knight or Sergeant character class, or are allowed to mount by SSR. In addition, peasants may mount a horse that is attached to a cart, but may not attack while mounted and must dismount before the horse may be detached. A character that has no special counter for the mounted state uses his infantry counter on top of the riderless horse counter and may add 5 to his combat attack strength while mounted. For all kind of movement (including advance, retreat, etc.) the MPA of the horse is used. All carried items that hinder movement must be dropped before mounting.
Mounting and dismounting is possible only from/to one of the 2 side hexes of the horse, and the side hex used must be ADJACENT to the horse. In addition, mounting and dismounting is not possible across a window, slope or moat lip, river bank, or door hexside (mounting from/into a door hex is allowed).
Mounting is a task that takes one PT; mounting comes into effect at the end of the PT. Neither horse nor character may move in that PT. Characters in melee may not mount, but the mere existence of ADJACENT characters is no hindrance.
Wounded characters take two entire PT to mount, and mounting is effective only at the end of the second PT. If helped by another character (which costs all MP of the helper, see 12.22), a wounded character may mount in one turn.
Dismounting is not a task, but a special form of movement that takes the full MPA of a character. It becomes effective at the end of the movement phase. Neither may the horse move before the dismount, nor the character after dismounting, but the character may act normally in all phases before and after the movement phase. Missilemen may fire before dismounting, but not after. Dismounting is allowed for characters in melee, and the dismounting may break the melee. There is no penalty for wounded characters.

Taking and guarding prisoners
One procedure is described in 22.7, "Ransom and Surrender", and may be applied to any character that surrendered by any reason. SSR may define other procedures instead. The guard must be allocated to the prisoners explicitly, and may not lead animals at the same time as guarding prisoners.
In addition, a stunned character may be taken prisoner if the nearest friendly soldier is in a distance >= his MPA to him. A friendly soldier that is currently in melee only prevents capture if he is ADJACENT to the stunned character.

Picking up, carrying, and dropping equipment
Only infantry may pick up and carry equipment. Picking something up is only allowed in the movement phase, at the cost of 1 movement point. Of those things that cost MP to carry (that "hinder movement"), a character may never carry more than one at a time, and he will lose them if he receives a "stunned", "retreat", or "dismount" combat or missile fire damage, or if he panics. Other items are only lost on a "stunned" or "killed" result.
Missilemen may not fire while they carry anything. A character in melee may continue to carry items, or drop them, but he may not pick up any new items. A character may drop an item he carries at any moment during his PT, at no cost. If not dropped before the character begins his move (regardless whether it a normal move or advance), the cost for carrying the item is subtracted from whatever MPA the character has available for this move. For the actual move, he may only spend what is left of his MPA after that. Dropped items remain in the character's hex.
Exchanging items is simply a sequence of one character dropping the item and another picking it up again.

Opening and closing doors, windows, and gates
Normally all doors, windows and yard gates are open; closeable apertures in buildings and towers exist only by SSR. SSR must also state if a door is of the "building" or "keep" door class as regards battering resistance. (It is common to give at least the keep, or strongest castle tower, a massive door of the "keep door" class.)
There are 2 different ways a door or window can be "closed": "shut" means that it may simply be opened again from both inside or outside, "bolted" means that it has been secured from the inside and must be unbolted from there again before opening it. The only way to open a bolted door or window from the outside is to batter it.
To open or shut a door or window, a character must be ADJACENT to it and expend 2 MP in his movement phase. To bolt or unbolt it requires the complete MPA of a character, and this may only be done from the interior of the building.
A door or window must be shut to bolt it, and unbolted to open it.
To open, shut, bolt or unbolt a door or window a character may not be in melee. No active enemy may be ADJACENT to either side of the door resp. window while shutting it, and no active enemy may be ADJACENT to the interior side of while bolting or unbolting it.
Gate doors exist implicitly in gate hexes. They may only be opened or shut from an ADJACENT hex on the inside of the castle resp. town. To open or shut a gate door is a 1-turn task. A shut gate doors bolts automatically, and unbolting is done automatically with the opening action. Opening or shutting is not possible if the gate hex contents would block infantry movement through this hex.

Raising the Alarm
SSR may demand that units are alerted before they may act. To do this, a character must become aware of an enemy by seeing him, or by being attacked by missile fire (regardless of LOS and result), or by being alerted himself by another unit. If still active by then, he may raise the alarm at the end of this PT, and all characters in a 10-hex-radius are aware by the start of the next friendly PT. (Note the difference between "this" and "friendly" PT.) If he is equipped with a signal horn by SSR, his alerting radius is 20 hexes.
Alerted characters will pass the alarm on in their next PT automatically, thus spreading the "circle of awareness".
A dog may also raise alarm (see 13.3).

Chivalrous Single Combat Challenge
A player may challenge his opponent in his own player turn before taking any other action (except resolving retreats and other "mopping up" from the last PT). This action is possible if the challenger has at least one active mounted knight that is not in melee in his onboard ranks currently, and the other at least one healthy mounted knight. Only one such challenge may be made by each side in one scenario. An accepted challenge interrupts the normal sequence of play.
The challenger must name one knight who will fight for his side and, if he wishes to do so, state additional conditions that shall be met. These conditions must be reasonable in the scenario context and may not by themselves decide the scenario victory. (For example, a reasonable condition would be to propose a specific fighting ground, or that the loser shall deliver a prisoner or a treasure. To demand that the loser shall withdraw all archers from the game would certainly be unreasonable.) The challenged player must now decide to accept or refuse the challenge.
If he refuses, play goes on with the challenging player continuing his turn as normal.
A refusal has the following effects: None of the currently onboard samurais of the refusing side may use the Glorious Suicide special action (see 12.10) any more in this campaign. European Knights may never refuse a challenge if they are on a quest for the Holy Grail, or by the orders of a lady, on penalty of forsaking their quest. However, this would be the individual fate of that knight and may or may not affect the scenario victory.
If the challenge is accepted, game freezes for the duration of the fight. All current combat and melee status ends immediately, no missiles may be fired, and no characters may move except by mutual consent to clear up space for the combat. Berserk rages cease, and no rage die rolls are taken for the duration of the challenge combat (exception: a berserk that is the champion of his side continues to check for rage, with all possible consequences if he attacks a character other than his chosen opponent). The player that violates this frozen state immediately loses this scenario, and his honour.
The challenged player now names any one mounted knight in his ranks as his champion, decides on the fighting ground, and places his champion. The challenger then places his knight. None of the fighters may be placed in a position with a positive terrain advantage. The challenged player then begins with the first turn. (Note that this sequence may allow the challenged player to charge attack, depending on the challenger's position.) The fighters may not use missiles, only movement and combat are allowed. Otherwise, the normal sequence of play is used.
The fighters may move freely subject to normal movement limitations, but may only enter "natural" terrain and bridges (no buildings, yards, etc.). They may not attack any other unit during single combat by penalty of losing the scenario.
If two PT have gone by without combat, the next player must do his best to attack in his PT. If a wounded opponent is dismounted, it is regarded as chivalrous (but not required) that his opponent dismounts, too, or lets him mount again without interference.
This challenge combat ends only and immediately with the death (or surrender, if allowed) of one of the knights. After that, play continues with a normal PT for the side that lost. Players must fulfil conditions set before the single combat or lose their honour (not necessarily the game).

Moving Bodies and Debris
For various reason, a player may want to clear hexes of bodies or debris. To move 2 bodies (or one dead mule, or 1 hex of debris left from destroyed equipment or tents) one hex is a one-turn-task for 2 healthy characters (or the equivalent), to move or pivot a dead horse or 2-hex-debris one hex is a 2-turn-task for 2, or a one-turn-task for 4 healthy characters (or the equivalent). 3-hex or larger debris (e.g. destroyed battering ram or siege tower) may not be cleared.
The body or debris may be moved 1 hex into any hex ADJACENT to both movers (even into their own hex, if stacking limits are not exceeded). It may never be moved into any terrain that would cost a foot character more than 2 MP to enter, and the workers themselves may not move.
Everything thrown into deep or bottomless water disappears from the map immediately, even if only part of the counter was moved into water.
Rubble may not be moved or cleared.

Glorious Suicide
Glorious suicide (seppuku) is only allowed to samurai type characters. If a player has only one living samurai left, and he deems the situation desperate, he may atone for his failure to succeed by committing seppuku. This is usually done by slashing his belly open with his own sword (hara-kiri), contemplating his interior for some time, meanwhile composing and reciting a short poem of deep meaning, preferably in the traditional "haiku" form (17 syllables with the rhythm 5-7-5). (James Bond 007 is said to have gained great honour with the poem "You only live twice- once when you are born and once- when you look death in the face", though in the end of course he survived. Well, it was not a pure haiku, on the other hand.)
Technically, seppuku is a special task that can only be accomplished by a dismounted, active samurai character. He must declare his intention to commit seppuku, and may not perform any action, especially not move, attack, fire missiles, for two full consecutive turns of the controlling player. Missile attacks do not affect seppuku if the samurai survives them; he will not retreat, but take a "wounded" result instead. If he defends in combat with his normal strength seppuku is broken off, but he may chose to defend with his "stunned" defensive strength, which would not interrupt his final task. The samurai must recite his poem at the end of the second player turn, and dies immediately after that.
If the poem composed by the player strikes a chord in the heart and mind of his opponent, and players remember it from game to game, the player may have lost that battle, but he has observed his duty towards his emperor and his ancestors, and may regard himself a worthy (perhaps even the superior) warrior after all. On the other hand, of course, a chivalrous player could "gain face" (i.e. win honour) by not interfering with the seppuku of a beaten, but brave enemy.

Animals

All animals remain stationary if not mounted by a character, or led, or driven from a cart. For retreat movement of animals, see 10.26 and the sections following it.
Animals are either healthy or dead, no other status is possible. They are attacked on the tables for mounted units and are affected only by the "retreat" and "horse killed" results (treat all other as "no effect") (exception: dogs use infantry tables, see 13.3).
Mules, horses and oxen may be strung together in any sequence, and a horse or oxen may be attached to a cart. (It is not forbidden, but serves no purpose either, to attach a string of animals to a cart. If it is done, only oxen or horses, not both, may be in that string.)
All horses (even those attached to a cart) may be mounted, and no other animal may be mounted. Horses are the only 2-hex animals; they have a "head" and a "rear" hex, and corresponding arcs that define "forward" and "backward" movement and pivoting. For all other animals these expressions are meaningless, they may move into any direction without penalty.
For terrain influence on movement, oxen are treated like horses, dogs are treated like infantry (except that they may not scale ladders), and all other animals are treated like mules.
All animals are considered neutral, even if currently led, so they do not hinder movement of either party through their hex (note that a string of animals may only be passed through at the tail or head end since it is regarded as "one long animal").

Horses and Oxen
Horses have a max. MPA of 8, oxen of 3, and both have a defence value of 1 if not stated otherwise on the counter. Horses and oxen hinder LOS and missile fire like cavalry, and hinder movement like 3 foot characters.

Mules
Mules have a MPA of 6 and a defence factor of 1. Mules hinder LOS and missile fire like infantry. They hinder movement like 2 characters.

Dogs
Dogs were not included in the original games (except some very nasty wardogs in "Dark Blades"). Dogs have an attack strength of 4, a defence factor of 2 and a MPA of 10. They only move if led, and may move in any terrain like infantry (with the exception that they may not scale ladders).
Dogs never attack friendly characters. (Well, I know they do, but this is a game.) If unattended, they automatically attack enemy characters, cats and postmen in ADJACENT hexes, and try to pin passing enemy characters. They attack the first enemy they can (one of them at random in case of ties), and will continue to attack this one character as long as possible.
If led, a dog will only attack on the controlling player's command.
Dog attacks are subject to normal combat rules, and combat with a dog causes melee status. Unlike other animals, they use the tables for infantry for missile fire and combat against them. They take or cause damage normally, except that a "defender wounded" result kills them. Dogs never advance after combat.
Dogs may also alert characters. If an enemy or neutral character approaches the dog to less than 5 hexes (regardless of LOS), the dog will bark loudly at the beginning of the next player turn. This can be heard to a distance of 15 hexes and makes characters aware of something going on.

Other Animals
Other animals may not be strung together. They use terrain like mules, never hinder LOS or fire in any way, and hinder movement like 1 foot character. If not given explicitly, their defence factor is 1, and their MPA 6. Their main function is to provide atmosphere, and as booty.

Dragon
The dragon- no, there must be a limit to your patience. ...
So, OK: the dragon was introduced in "Dark Blades". It is a 2-hex-unit with the states healthy (a:40, d:20, m:10), wounded (a:20, d:10, m:5), stunned (d:5), and dead. Since he acts independently, he is rather a character than an animal. So you can go on and play Young Siegfried or such like, and even invent some fearful flame spitting abilities or whatever. Ah, I forgot: the dragon is green. Refer to "Dark Blades" for details.

Stringing animals together
To string two animals together, or to un-string them, is a task that takes an active foot character one turn, during which he must be ADJACENT to both animals.
Only horses, oxen, and mules may be strung together, in any order. Horses may be connected head-to-rear only (i.e. the head of one horse must always be in the rear arc of the other, and vice versa). Strung animals must always be connected in a single file, not parallel to each other. It is allowed to connect or disconnect an animal at both its front and rear end in the same turn, but one character may only make one connection per turn.
A string of animals may have any length. A string of animals is treated as one "long and winding" animal, with the rear part of the last animal treated as rear hex and the head part of the first animal as the head. The string's MPA is that of the slowest animal in the string. If led, the leader becomes the "head" of the string. A character may pass through a string of animals only at its head or rear hex. For retreat movement of a string of animals see 10.27.

Leading Animals
Animals may be led by any (mounted or unmounted) active character. A rider may also be led, but only by a friend, and only if he is not in melee. Since a string of animals is treated as one "long" animal, all rules for leading also apply to a string of animals. A leader may only lead one animal (or string of animals) at a time, and may not guard prisoners at the same time.
To begin leading, the character must move (or be) ADJACENT to the head hex of the animal and declare his intent to lead it from now on. A mounted leader must always keep the head hex of the led animal in one of his own rear arc hexes. A character may not begin to lead an animal if a enemy that is not in melee is also ADJACENT to the animal's head hex. Enemies have no special hindering effect once leading has begun.
The leader and the animal become a "string of animals" (13.6) in this moment, with the leader (or his head hex, if he is mounted) as "head" of the string. To take up an animal for leading costs 1 MP for the leader. The leader may continue his movement with the rest of his MPA, taking the animals with him. Leading itself causes no additional MP cost. A led animal may neither exceed its own MPA nor that of the leader, taking terrain into account normally. An animal may change leaders in the movement phase any number of times, but never exceed its MPA in one movement phase.
The led animal follows its leader hex by hex or as directed by him. If a string of animal is led, this applies to the first animal of the string, and the others follow it hex by hex. Even if led, animals may not violate movement rules. Backward movement is allowed for single animals, or for the first animal of a string as long as the rest of the string remains stationary. If one animal of the string is dead the string may only move in a way that the dead animal remains stationary. As long as the general requirements for leading (ADJACENCY, etc.) are observed it is allowed to lead an animal into a new hex without moving the leader himself, or to move the leader without moving the animals. Note that the leader's movement is done before that of the animal, so the animal might provide a movement hindrance for the leader.
While leading animals, the character's attack value is halved, and he may fire no missiles. His defence and movement values remain unchanged. Riders may not charge while leading. Otherwise, the character may act normally.
Led animals may not be "stolen" from the leader, he must be forced to let them go to gain control of them. Animals remain neutral even if led and do not become "friendly" or "enemy" units.
The leader may drop the animals anytime he wants in his own PT, and any effect of leading ceases immediately. He will let go of the animals automatically upon receiving "stunned", "retreat" or "dismount" damage from missile fire or combat, but simply entering melee does not force him to let them go. If a friendly mounted character is led, leading may also be ended by that character at any time. Once the leader dropped the animal for any reason he must use exactly the same procedure as described above to begin leading again.
Animals might conceivably be led by each player in his PT, and so move twice in a GT.

Carts

The cart is 2-hex-equipment with a front and rear hex (the front is where the word "cart" is written on the counter) and corresponding arcs. Attaching and detaching a draft animal to/ from a cart uses the same mechanics as stringing and un-stringing animals to one another (see 13.6).
A cart may be pulled by a horse or oxen at an MPA of 4 or the MPA of the animal, whichever is less. To move an animal-drawn cart, the drawing animal must be led, or ridden, or driven from the cart's front hex. Note that a peasant may mount and ride a draft horse while it is attached to the cart (see 2.54), but that he must dismount before the horse may be detached again. It is allowed to attach a string of animals to a cart, but it serves no purpose (in particular, it does not increase the MPA of the cart). The rear hex of a draft animal must always occupy a hex of the cart's front arc. The draft animal may only move or pivot forward, and the carts follows in its wake (for oxen, the front arc is defined by assuming the oxen as "head" and the cart front hex as "rear"). The cart itself may never pivot. No move is allowed if all characters that could currently act as leaders or drivers are in melee. If the draft animal is forced to retreat, it will rather stop retreating than move the cart.
A moving cart may be "pinned" (see 8.) by pinning the leader resp. mounted driver. No pinning is possible if the cart is driven by a character riding in the cart.
A cart may also be pushed forward or backward by 2 healthy foot characters which gives it a MPA of 2, or by 3 healthy characters with a MPA of 3. A healthy character may be replaced by 2 wounded characters. Mechanics of movement are similar to horse movement (see 7.6) except that no pivoting is allowed. Before a cart may be pushed, any live or dead animal attached to it must be unstrung, but the characters must not be "strung" to the cart. It costs the characters all MP they have to move the cart (they may make no other move in this movement phase).
Pushing characters may move the cart from any hex ADJACENT to the cart. They must move with it so that they remain exactly in the same relative position to the cart, pay no additional MP cost for their own move, but they may not pass through impassable terrain or hexsides. To determine the path a pushing character takes, think of him as glued to his current position and observe through which hexes he "sweeps" while the cart moves. For straight movement this presents no problems. For forward turning movement of the cart, imagine the cart first moving one hex straight forward and then swinging round 60 degrees, for backward turning movement it will first "swing round" and then move straight.
Animal-drawn carts may enter any terrain that a horse may enter, and at the same cost (see terrain descriptions), but may use only forward movement. A pushed cart may only enter flat ground and yard entrance hexes, but unlike the animal-drawn cart it may use backward movement (at double movement cost, as usual). A cart may never be moved through hexes that contain movement hindrances equivalent to 2 or more characters (see 7.8). A cart makes a hex impassable for any unit except to embark or disembark. It hinders LOS and gives cover like tent terrain. A destroyed cart becomes debris, with the former contents of the cart remaining in their hexes.
Infantry may ride a cart. They may embark or disembark from any ADJACENT hex, and do not change the cart's MPA. The cart may not move in a PT in which characters enter or leave. To enter a cart hex from any ADJACENT hex (even another cart hex) costs 2 MP, but it is only allowed if no other character or baggage is in that hex. Terrain advantage is negative for a character on the cart.
A cart may also transport barrels or chests (max. 4 barrels resp. chests per cart hex, in any combination). No character may enter a cart hex containing any barrel or chest, and vice versa. Loading one barrel into the cart from an ADJACENT hex takes 3 MP (in addition to the MP for carrying the item).

Ships

Ships are described in detail in "Viking Raiders". Use those rules for any ship action.

Terrain

The following list sums up the terrain used on the "Cry Havoc!" mapboards. Behind each terrain name, an example for this terrain on a mapboard is given. Special equipment in a hex may replace the movement, cover and terrain advantage values of a hex. For battering resistance of terrain and equipment, see tables under 26.7. Note: If a terrain is impassable for horses, it is also impassable for oxen, carts, non-portable equipment, and items of similar size. If it is impassable to mules, it is also impassable for all animals. Dogs may use any terrain like infantry except that they may not climb scaling ladders.

In-hex Terrain

Hexside Terrain Features

These "terrain types" are actually extended or special hex borders. For LOS purposes, their depiction on the map is used. The terrain advantage is always the advantage of the in-hex terrain (exception: a window provides an advantage for the defender). Note that a door can be either a hex (as it is in most cases) or a hex border. Combat is not possible across walls without apertures and through arrow slits.

Very Special Terrain

Water

Normally, all water hexes are treated as "bottomless" and are impassable to any unit. Should, however, a character or animal enter a water hex involuntarily, the following procedure shall be used: Animals (not necessarily their riders) and armoured or stunned characters drown immediately and are removed from the map. Bodies, equipment and debris also sink and disappear from the map.
All other characters must make a DR in each own movement phase on the appropriate Swimming Table. Characters adjacent to a bank hexside or adjacent to a ship may attempt to climb out. Climbing out requires a successful "climbing out" DR; movement cost for climbing out is that of the terrain entered plus 2 MP for crossing the bank hexside.
If climbing out exceeds the MPA, the character may climb out anyway but m