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Fall Back
Units starting the Movement phase within 1" of an enemy unit can either remain stationary or attempt to Fall Back. If you choose to attempt to Fall Back, the unit must end its move more than 1" away from all enemy units. If a unit Falls Back, it cannot Advance or charge later that turn. A unit that Falls Back also cannot shoot later that turn unless it can FLY.

Roll a D6 whenever a unit attempts to falls back. Add 1 to the roll if the unit can FLY. Add 1 to the roll if the unit has a higher movement stat than all other units within 1". Add 4 to the roll if the unit falling back is a VEHICLE or MONSTER. On a 4+ the unit falls back successfully. If the roll is failed, the unit does not fall back. A roll of 1 always fails. In addition, VEHICLES and MONSTERS may move though enemy non-VEHICLE models and non-MONSTER models when making their fall back move as if they were not there.

Alternatively:
Roll a D6 whenever a unit attempts to falls back and consult the following table.
Dark Eldar Wyches special rule would instead cause units trying to fall back to roll 2D6 and discard the highest.

Not a huge fan of this. Why should a Rhino be able to flee from a Knight with only a 1/6 chance of failure?

Roll D6 vs Fleeing unit's WS. Units that suck in melee should suck at getting out of melee. Units good is melee should be good at getting out of melee. Failed roll = no Fall Back. The ATTEMPT to fall back would have the same consequences of Falling Back, i.e. no shooting and no charging.

duWhee wrote:
Roll D6 vs Fleeing unit's WS. Units that suck in melee should suck at getting out of melee. Units good is melee should be good at getting out of melee. Failed roll = no Fall Back. The ATTEMPT to fall back would have the same consequences of Falling Back, i.e. no shooting and no charging.

I like this option but would add in Vehicles being allowed to fall back without testing. Some of them are WS 6+ all the time it wouldn't make much sense for them not to be capable of escaping.

I think it's an improvement, but I'd probably make it so that vehicles and monsters only get the bonus if there are no enemy vehicles or monsters within 1", not sure if perhaps you intended it that way?


That said, my preferred method of counteracting consequence free fleeing is to bring back pursuit; if a unit flees it moves D6" directly away from enemy units within 1". Afterwards, each enemy unit that is no longer engaged in combat may pursue/consolidate D6" in any direction, but may only move within 1" of a fleeing unit, in which case they count as having charged in the next Fight phase.
Units with Fly, or Movement of 8" or more flee/pursue 2D6". In addition, you cannot fire at an enemy within 3" of a friendly unit except with Pistol weapons.

Basically the idea is that in order to guarantee success when fleeing, you must have your enemy either locked in place by another unit, or have another unit positioned for them to pursue into, if you don't then it's a gamble because the flee/pursue ranges are always random so you risk being immediately caught again every time. The friendly fire safety bubble means that an enemy that pursues but falls a little short isn't completely vulnerable to shooting.

Perhaps a simpler solution that preserves the uniqueness of things like DE caltrops: reverse overwatch. If you flee, each model you were locked in combat with takes one free swing at -1 or 1 free ranged attack at -1? Provide some disincentive for running but still a way to escape?

I do like possible tactics behind pursuit, though. Sacrifice my Storm Guardians (were I to ever field them) to pull an enemy unit into a kill zone/out of buff range.

Reverse Overwatch is pointless and just wastes time. Shooting overwatch as it is is already pointless now that casualties don't come from the front.

What about how Warmachine and Hordes does. When you declare that you will fall back, the enemy unit gets to attack again, then you fall back.

Fall Back!

Get Back in the Fight!

*Laurels of Command 4+*

First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire

Enemy evaporates...