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Bakerkenn’s Guide to Movement and Positioning

Often overlooked and ignored, movement and base positioning is a very important part of the game. It is what allows you to have melee combat with your opponent. It is part of what will win or lose you the game. Without paying attention to movement and base positioning you will probably lose the game.

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Movement Basics

Movement is used to move your pieces across the battlefield. What most new players don’t realize is that you don’t have to move in straight lines. This is why we have flexible rulers. You can make S patterns to move around terrain and other figures.

Why This Matters

Consider attacking two ranged pieces with a disposable harasser followed by your ranged formation. (Disposable harassers are figures like Imps, Shades, and Woodland Scouts.)

• If you attack from the front: The figures will not have to move to have you in their front arc. When they kill your harasser, they will still be in position to shoot you.
• If you move your harasser behind them: At least one figure will have to spin to kill your harasser. This leaves their figures out of position to shoot at you, and you can take at least one “free” shot at them while they reposition.

The Disappearing Base Rule

Something a lot of players don’t realize: your figure’s base supposedly disappears when it is moving. So you are able to move through any little gap that you want to. At the end of your move, however, you must have enough space for your base to be there.

This tidbit of knowledge can be used to your advantage when someone is trying to block your path somewhere.

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Movement Distance

Remember that you don’t have to move a figure its printed movement. You may move a shorter distance than what is printed on the dial.

I feel that while being cool figures, the figures with only a 6” movement are not that good, with the possible exception of Troll Artillerists. An 8” or higher move is preferable.

Why Higher Movement Matters

There are many movements you can make in 8” or higher that are just impossible to do with a 6” movement:

Arc Flanking Example: Stop your figure just outside the range of one of your opponent’s ranged figures with a 90-degree arc. On your next turn, with an 8” or higher movement you can move outside of the arc AND closer to the ranged figure.

With higher movements of 10” or 12” your options just increase.

Range Matching Tactic: If you have a figure with the same movement as your opponent’s ranged attack, you can stay just outside their range. Then, on your next turn, you can move your figure into base to base (B2B) with the opponent’s figure!

This tactic has kept many of my figures safe from a ranged attack that could tear them to pieces.

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Base Positioning

After you move a piece that has a ranged attack, you must pay strict attention to your base positioning. Most figures with a ranged attack only have a 90-degree arc that they can fire out of. Make sure you are positioned so you can fire in the direction you want to.

Melee figures’ base positioning is pretty irrelevant, unless they are in melee combat.

I cannot tell you how many games I won because of my opponent not really caring how his base was positioned, because he thought I was too far away for it to matter. I managed to slip some figures into the gap of his arc, and he had to waste a movement to put them back into correct positioning.

For non-ranged healers: Remember they can only have 2 figures within their 90-degree arc. Make sure to keep those figures you want to heal in that arc.

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Firing Arc Strategy

With more ranged figures, you can cover a wider arc. The question is: do you split up your figure’s arcs to get wider cover, or do you overlap your figure’s arcs so you can shoot at the same figure?

It depends on the army you face:

Opponent’s Strategy	Your Arc Strategy
Lots of formations, figures clumped together	Overlapping arcs — concentrate fire
Individual high-speed attackers, few formations	Wider arcs — maximum coverage

As you can see, it’s rather difficult to decide which way to place your firing arcs, because you have to recognize what your opponent is doing with their army. Of course, you can and will run into those people who use both tactics in their armies.

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Large Figure B2B Contact

Some figures (like Troll Artillerists) are too big to maintain B2B contact in some positions.

Remember that there is a ruling that you may state that figures are maintaining B2B contact if the figure interferes with the B2B contact. Just be sure you tell your opponent which of your figures are in B2B with other figures.

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Using Terrain for Positioning

Don’t forget to use the terrain to help you position:

• Hindering terrain + Stealth: Use hindering terrain to help you close with opposing figures
• Blocking terrain: Use it to block Line of Fire (LOF) of your opponent’s figures, allowing you to get your figures closer to theirs

No matter what army I use, I position terrain all over the board to try and help me get closer to my opponent wherever they may be.

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Summary

Movement and positioning are used in all games to put yourself in a better position to attack your opponent. Correct usage of these often-misunderstood concepts can help you win your matches and make you a better player.

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Special Thanks to WarLordKolrael, Crazyvc, and the DC Crew for helping to edit and giving their opinions on this article.

—Ken Baker, “The Not Quite Godlike but Pretty Darn Tough Anyways, Guy with the Hierophant Army”