At the start of the Battlefront, you are told how many Air hordes and Land hordes you can bring to the battle. After allocating air hordes and land hordes, you then select two commanding characters, one in charge of air hordes and one in charge of land hordes. The character in charge of Air Hordes is called the Air Marshal; the character in charge of Land Hordes is called the General.
The first combat phase of the Battlefront is the Air Contest. Both sides start with a Morale Level, which is calculated as is usual for Hordes (i.e. based off the Air Marshal's FB, with other modifiers.) In this Phase the Air Marshals on both sides make an Opposed Scholastic Lore (Tactics) test. Each Horde modifiers this test by an amount depending on their type; Interceptors add +1 per Squad, Starfighters add +2 per squad, and Bombers add zero.
Whoever wins the Opposed Test is considered to have won the round. The loser's morale drops by one, and all of their Hordes take Magnitude Damage equal to the number of Degrees of Success won by the victor, plus the difference between the Degrees of Success between the victor and the loser, plus 1 for every Horde the winner has.
All of the Winner's hordes take Magnitude Damage equal to half the number of Degrees of Success won by the loser plus 1 for every Horde the loser has.
After this, all of the Loser's hordes make a Break test, resolved in the usual way. Once this is over, the next round starts.
Repeat the events above until five rounds have passed or one side has been defeated, either due to retreating, all of their units breaking, or being wiped out.
At the end of the Air Contest, each side tallies up the magnitude amounts remaining on the battlefield. Consult the chart below to determine the result:
Result |
Name |
Effect |
You have 200+ more Magnitude remaining than your opponent |
Air Supremacy |
You may draw three Advantages from your remaining Air Hordes. Your Land Contest's Width increases by two, and the enemy General must deploy four of their hordes first. |
You have 100+ more Magnitude remaining than your opponent |
Air Superiority |
You may draw two Advantages from your remaining Air Hordes. Your Land Contest's Width increases by two, and the enemy General must deploy four of their hordes first. |
Your Magnitude is within 100 of the opponent's, either higher or smaller |
Stalemate |
You and the enemy both may draw one Advantage from your respective remaining Air Hordes. |
Your opponent has 100+ more Magnitude than you |
Conceded Sky |
The enemy may draw two Advantages from their remaining Air Hordes. Their Land Contest's Width increases by one, and you must deploy two of your Hordes first. |
Your opponent has 200+ more Magnitude than you |
Enemy Sky |
The enemy may draw three Advantages from their remaining Air Hordes. Their Land Contest's Width increases by two and you must deploy four of your Hordes first. |
After the result is determined, proceed to the Land Contest.
The last combat phase of the Battlefront is the Land Contest. Both sides start with a Morale Level, which is calculated as is usual for Hordes (i.e. based off the General's FB, with other modifiers.) In the Land Contest, all units are deployed on the "Battle Grid". The Battle Grid represents a number of rows- two for you, two for your enemy. The row near your enemy (the top row for the player) represents your 'Front Line'; the bottom row represents your 'Rear Line'. Most Hordes can only attack from the Front Line; the exception is Artillery, which can attack from the Rear Line. Finally, each side has a Width; this represents how wide your Lines are. If you have a Width of 6, then you can deploy up to 6 Hordes per Line. Width is modified by terrain and by whoever is the Defender.
Positioning on the Battle Grid is important. Usually, a Horde may only attack an enemy Horde directly in front of them. If there is no Horde in front of them then they can attack to either their left, right, or behind the square in front of them; if those squares are empty than they can keep expanding their range until they can hit an enemy. There are exceptions to this: Artillery can attack the enemy's Front Line from your Rear Line, and if a unit has the Maneuver trait, then it can attack to the left or right of the square in front of them (AC Suits begin with Maneuver, as do enemy tanks)
Both sides deploy their forces secretly at the same time (unless one side is benefitting from Air Superiority/Supremacy, in which case the enemy has to deploy a number of Hordes first). Once all forces are deployed, they are revealed to the enemy and the battle begins.
Each General decides which targets their Hordes will attack, then makes a Scholastic Lore (Tactics) test. Whoever scores the most Degrees of Success wins; the loser loses one Morale. Horde Attacks are resolved using one of their weapons, with all the usual effects, set at their maximum rate of fire; eg a Blast 4 weapon does 4 extra Mag damage. Furthermore, each Horde uses their General's DoS value as their dice roll for damage, up to the maximum (ie. If a Horde had a 1d5 weapon, a DoS of 6 would only net it a 5).
The Winning General adds his DoS to any Magnitude Damage his hordes dealt to the losing General's Hordes; the Losing General adds half of his DoS to any Magnitude Damage his Hordes dealt to the winner's.
After this, all of the Loser's hordes make a Break test, resolved in the usual way. Once this is over, the next round starts.
Once per round, a General can play a Stratagem. These Stratagems can take place before, during, or after the combat roll, and provide special effects. Stratagems do not need to be purchased like talents; they are automatically granted, assuming the General meets the prerequisites.
Repeat the events above until ten rounds have passed or one side has been defeated, either due to retreating, all of their units breaking, or being wiped out.
At the end of the Land Contest, each side tallies up the magnitude amounts remaining on the battlefield. Every Infantry mag counts as 1.5 Mag for the purposes of victory (rounding down). Consult the chart below to determine the result:
Result |
Name |
Effect |
You have 200+ more Magnitude remaining than your opponent |
Decisive Victory |
You may draw three Advantages from your remaining Land Hordes. |
You have 100+ more Magnitude remaining than your opponent |
Victory |
You may draw two Advantages from your remaining Land Hordes. |
Your Magnitude is within 100 of the opponent's, either higher or smaller |
Stalemate |
You and the enemy both may draw one Advantage from your respective remaining Land Hordes. |
Your opponent has 100+ more Magnitude than you |
Defeat |
The enemy may draw two Advantages from their remaining Land Hordes. |
Your opponent has 200+ more Magnitude than you |
Decisive Defeat |
The enemy may draw three Advantages from their remaining Land Hordes. |
After this, the Battlefront is resolved. Depending on the Battlefront itself, achieving a certain result might bring other rewards (or losses).
This is a Battlefront between German and French forces. The Battle's Width is 7, but the rough terrain reduces the Invading Army's Width by 2; because the German (red) army is invading, its width drops to 5. The greyed out squares represent that drop in Width.
Units on both sides organise attacks. Because the squares in front of the French AC Suits and Tanks are empty (due to Width), they can attack enemies to the left or right of the empty square. Artillery can attack to the front row as well despite being a Rear Line unit.