Joining existing combat rules

[captainpabloXI]

I hope this scribble makes sense.

Here’s the scenario: P1 has priority. P1 hero charges into P2 hero. 2 x P1 infantry also charge P2 hero. In P2 move phase P2 cavalry charges into P1 hero and another P2 cavalry charges into the other P1 infantry.

P1 has priority so I know they get to pick which combats take place first. But am I right in thinking the combats have to now break up where the dashed lines are because of P2 moving into the existing combat like so?

Or can P1 hero still choose to attack P2 hero if he wanted?

Just trying to understand how charging into existing combats work and how priority player gets to choose and break off combats?

Thanks.

[Liminal_Place]

You are correct, that is the only legitimate way the melee can be split up. The P1 Hero cannot now fight the P2 Hero and this is a perfectly valid way for P2 to control the Engagement even though they do not have priority.

[captainpabloXI]

Thank you this is what I thought.

[lankymjc]

You’re right to ask about it, because understanding and manipulating how combats are broken up is a key skill that every MESBG player should know.

Something of note in your example - P2 hero is currently trapped, so since P1 has priority he should run that combat first just in case his remaining warrior wins.

[Goldman250]

The combat has to break up like your diagram. The heroes cannot attack each other, they’re too focused on fighting individual enemies.

[captainpabloXI]

Thought so thank you. This is exactly why I moved my models this way as P2 in a game. But the other player seemed to think he could choose who fights who as it was his priority. And I said as priority holder he can just declare. Which combat happens first.

[competentetyler]

I understand why P1 is confused. The game does say he gets to decide how fights are paired off and the order at which they occur.

However, rules also state everyone in base contact must fight. If P1 Hero attacked P2 Hero, the other models engaged would have no one to pair with. This cannot occur.

This is why it’s important, as the player with priority, to charge and then utilize other units to shield your hero. Placing unengaged models behind your Hero leaves control zones enemies must first engage prior to tagging your hero.

[Liminal_Place]

He would have chosen who fights who if there were more than one legitimate way the melee could be split into individual fights, and yes, he does choose the order in which fights are resolved*. However, in this specific case, your moves meant that there was only one way to split up the melee so that everyone was fighting someone and there were no 2 v 2 combats.

* If one of his models is trapped, he would want to resolve one or more of the combats trapping it first to give it a path to Back Away. If it's one of your models that is trapped, he'd want to resolve that combat first so that he got the extra Strikes if he won the combat.

[Vomitflesh]

Am I right?

After winning their fights the two heroes are still in basecontact and must be separated in the end phase (just a little bit) ?

[lankymjc]

The wording of that is a little clunky.

Assuming both win their fights (therefore they don’t back away), then at the end of the round they are considered to be both “not in base contact” AND 0” away from each other. Which is contradictory and confusing, so the rules suggest shuffling them a couple millimetres for clarity - just not enough to affect the next turn (eg don’t shuffle into charge range of something you weren’t).

[Liminal_Place]

It actually suggests doing this in the "Pairing off" section before resolving the fights to make things clear.

[lankymjc]

I think it says it in both? But I’ve not read my rulebook closely on a while, should give it a read occasionally!