The Historical Battle Game

Rulebook
GAME DESIGNER:
Luis Álvaro Hernández Albújar.

SPECIAL COLLABORATION AND CONSULTING:

David Soria Molina (PhD in Ancient History).

ARTWORK: Paco Arenas.

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Matías Cazorla Genre.

TRANSLATOR: Buster Lehn.

COLLABORATORS:
Joel Cabrero, David Palacio, Enrique Prieto, Iván Martín, Adrián Gª
Escudero, Eduardo González Cauhapé-Cazaux, Sergio Rodríguez
Yanes, Javier Romero, Jose Manuel Moreno Ramos, David García
Martín, Enrique González, Mario Agudo Villanueva, Omar,
Jaime Hernández Albújar, Jose María Núñez de Castro,
Jose Antonio Melguizo, Fede Lozano, Javier Zurera, Jaime Devesa,
Andrés Delgado, Fernando Piedrabuena and Rodrigo Royo.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
To all the backers of our various crowdfunding campaigns, whose
support and gratitude has been welcomed in every occasion, many
of whom have become good friends and collaborators, both in this
and other projects, THANK YOU!

We also want to thank the support received in the forums

Darkstone, Puntadelanza, LaArmada, LaBSK, and many
others; to Matías Cazorla for his advice, sensational work and
help; to Paco Arenas and Ramsés Bosque, for the illustrations
and that “isometric view” that we have worked so hard to create;
to José María Núñez de Castro y José Antonio Melguiz for
being champions and ambassadors of the game; to @uino from
the Breaking War magazine; to Raquel López for her patience
and prototypes; to Sergio (alias Fardalejo) from Darkstone for
his advice; to José Manuel Moreno Ramos for his unconditional
support, solitaire rules, playmats and promotion; to Manuel
González from the game Krynea.

www.dracoideas.com
More information
© COPYRIGHT 2014-2022 DRACO IDEAS.
All rights reserved. No part of this product can be reproduced without explicit
consent from the publisher. ONUS! and its logo are trademarked properties.
Not suitable for children under 5 due to small components.

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 Content
I- INTRODUCTION 5
Armies of ONUS! 5
II- WHAT’S NEW IN THIS VERSION 6
III- UNITS 7
IV- GENERALS 8
V- ACTION CARDS 9
Orders 9
Events 9
VI- SETTING UP THE BATTLE 10
Creating armies 10
Victory conditions 10
Troops deployment 10
VII- TURN SEQUENCE 12
1. Activation Phase 12
2. Movement Phase 13
Types of movement 14
Regular movement 14
Forced march 14
Reduced movement 15
Special maneuvers 15
Movement in all directions 15
Free rotation 16
Extending or reducing the formation 17
Adopting or changing special formations 17
Performing a ranged attack 18
Combining Special maneuvers 18
Charging 18
Charging against several units 20
Charging against extended or enveloping units 20
Activation of units engaged in battle 21
Enveloping the enemy 21
Reducing an extended unit 22
Repositioning a unit engaged in battle 22
Withdrawal 24
Retreat 25
3. Ranged Attack Phase 25
Procedure 25
Range 26
Line of Sight (LoS) 26
Events 26

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 Combat resolution 27
Consequences 27
4. Skirmishers Phase 28
5. Melee Phase 29
Sequence 29
Combat development 29
6. Flight Phase 33
7. End of Turn Phase 35
VIII- SPECIAL FORMATIONS 36
IX- UNIT ABILITIES 38
Abilities in different types of terrains 39
Other abilities 39
X- MODIFIERS 41
XI- MORE INFO ABOUT ORDERS AND EVENTS 43
XII- OTHER WAYS TO PLAY ONUS! 44
A. Optional rules 44
Rookie General 44
Always-active General 44
Several generals 44
Playing without events 44
Limited visibility 44
Fog of war 45
Protected flanks 45
Advancing in line 45
Intimidating dromedaries 46
Reinforced units 46
B. Games with 4 or 6 players 47
C. Games with 3 or 5 players 47
IMPORTANT RULES SUMMARY 48
GLOSSARY OF TERMS 49
MODIFIERS SUMMARY 52

IMPORTANT:
This is the rulebook of the ONUS! game system, for both Traianus and Pack editions, and examples of both are
used in the manual.
You will find the list of components and armies of this edition in the Campaign Book.

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 I - Introduction

Have you ever dreamed of leading powerful armies of Antiquity?

Have you enjoyed a good historical novel about Ancient Rome and
would have liked to go back to those time in the midst of battle?
Would you like to change History or recreate what happened in a
historical setting?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then this is the game for you.

ONUS! is a historical battle simulation wargame, similar to miniature games, in which two armies face each other in battles
of Antiquity.

Armies of ONUS!
Lead your favorite army. This game represents powerful ancient armies such as:

Rome vs. Carthage

(GAME)
Romans Carthaginians Mercenaries
PACK

Greeks & Persians

(EXPANSION)
Athenians Spartans Persians Greeks

Macedonia
(EXPANSION)
Macedonians
TRAIANUS

Romans Celts Dacians Roman Aux.

Traianus
(GAME)

Germanic Parthians Sarmatians Mercenaries

Peoples

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 II - New additions in this version
This rulebook is an improved version of the 2nd and 3rd editions of ONUS! Rome vs Carthage, which is a stand-alone but
can be combined with the entireONUS! series.

The rules remain the same for the most part, aside from adding more detailed explanations with more examples.

You must also keep a few changes in mind. If this is your first time playing ONUS!, you don’t need to read this section:

New abilities: new unit abilities have been added for all sorts of terrains, really handy if you are playing with the Terrains and
Fortresses expansion.

Free Rotation: we have eliminated to possibility of rotating the units backwards, since we now have the Free Rotation option
that includes it. You can also charge. More info in the Special Maneuvers section (VII-2-b).

Flight Phase: now, fleeing units will do it using their regular movement value, instead of the reduced one. See section
VII-6.

The discard option is now more beneficial. By the end of the turn, if you didn't play an order and choose the discard option,
you draw 1 additional card to the number of those discarded. See section VII-7.

The modifiers for attacking fleeing or marching units have been simplified.

Elite units now have two options instead of one to apply events. See section XI.

Skirmishers can do a charge even if they did a ranged attack that same turn.

The new card engine with Orders and Events are called Action cards. They are slightly different and have been expanded,
to better adapt to the new era of the game.

The size of General cards has been increased to include larger illustrations and make it easier to read their attributes and abilities.

The names of generals and some units is the same in both the English and Spanish versions, using their original names in
Latin, Greek, or their own native languages, which are easier to identify for players from all over the world, and also improves
the historical immersion in the era.

New optional rules are included to allow the players to feel more comfortable with the game system or to increase the
realism of the battle.

Special formations: in chapter VIII-Special formations of this rulebook, it is explained that you can charge with these units
when they adopt said formations. Also, during deployment , you can put each of them in an activated special formation
(blue markers), as you see fit.

Cavalry (now mounted units): the bonus to Hit when your cavalry charges against infantry units has been removed.

New game components: which you can use with the previous games and which will be explained later on:
+1/-1 Modifier: to help you remember the modifiers of a dice roll.
Split Movement markers: to remember the previous movement of skirmishers before the shooting phase.

For more info and questions regarding the game, check out our website: www.dracoideas.com.

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 III - Units
As a general rule, Unit cards represent military HEALTH: represents the wounds that the unit
formations of 80 to 100 soldiers in the case of infantry can receive before being destroyed.
(the equivalent of a Roman centuria), of around 30
riders in the case of cavalry (the equivalent of a Roman MOVEMENT: represents the maximum
turma) and about 6 elephants or chariots. However, distance in DU (1 Distance Unit = 5cm) that
depending on the scenario you are playing, they could a unit can move in a turn under standard
represent larger units. conditions. Units can move up to that maximum
distance.

UNIT VALUE: the points that each unit costs.

It is used to select your army at the start of the
Section battle and to determine the amount of casualties
suffered.

SECTIONS: Unit cards have marks on the

perimeter that divide them into 4 sections on
the front and rear and 2 on each side.
Said sections will allow you to know if all or part
Attack Defense Health Abilities of the unit is engaged in combat with the
(hit/damage) (dodge/armor) enemy, and thus, how many dice you will roll in
Value Ranged Morale Movement melee combat.
attack
(power/range)
ABILITIES: they represent, by using icons,
special abilities of the units. Some are triggered
Unit card and attributes in ONUS! automatically (in orange and green) while other
need to be activated (blue). They are fully listed in
A Unit has the following attributes: section IX- Unit abilities.

ATTACK: represents the unit's melee power.

The first value is used for hitting and the second
for damaging.

RANGED ATTACK: only units with ranged

capabilities have these values. The first value is
the power (both to hit and to damage) and the
second one is the range.

DEFENSE: a unit’s resistance, for both melee

and ranged attacks. The first value is the ability
to avoid a hit (dodge) and the second to prevent
damage (armor).

MORALE: represents the level of discipline

and cohesion of the soldiers in a unit. Normally,
failing a morale check disorganizes the unit,
leaving it BROKEN. A broken unit that fails a
second morale check FLEES. Examples of other Unit cards.

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 IV - Generals
The General marker represents the leader of your army, SPECIAL ABILITY: details each General’s
with their aids and escort. At the start of the game, you special ability.
must place it on one of your units of your choice.
POINTS MODIFIER: indicates the army
The General is tied to that unit’s destiny: if it’s eliminated, value increase caused by the General. Add the
the General dies. However, there are Action cards that percentage of this modifier to the army’s value.
can affect the General or even allow you to transfer it to a
different unit. For example, an army of 1,000 points led by
Trajan will increase its value by 30%, becoming
Birth worth 1,300 points (1,000 + 300). You can also
and death reverse this process. If you are going to play a
Army Points 1,000 point game and want to use Trajan, then
Modifier you can do the division of 1,000/1.3 = 769
points that you can spend in units.
Illustration
of the DEAD, WOUNDED OR FLEEING GENERAL:
General Modifiers when any of these circumstances happen, flip the
Attack
General's marker. From that moment on, all the
Name Defense units of your army will have -1 to all morale
Morale checks they perform. To remember this, place the
Area of indicated marker on the General’s card as a
Ability influence
reminder. Additionally, the leadership value is
Leadership
also reduced by -1.

General card and its attributes. The General’s bonuses and abilities will no longer
have any effect. If the General’s unit is fleeing and
The General card defines who leads your army, with recovers for any reason, these penalties will no
their name, illustration and relevant historical dates, longer apply, but a wounded or dead General
aside from the following information: cannot recover for the rest of the battle.

MODIFIERS: they improve the attributes of

the General’s unit, represented by the attack icon
(applicable for both melee and ranged attacks),
defense and morale.

AREA OF INFLUENCE: this number shows

the distance in DU up to which the General's
area of influence reaches. All your units within
that area of influence receive a +1 morale bonus.
The area is measured from any edge of the card
where the General is to any part of the Unit card
to which you want to apply the effect.
Other General cards.
LEADERSHIP: determines the starting number
of Action cards, as well as the player's hand limit at
the end of the turn. There are also orders that take
the Leadership value into account.

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 V - Action Cards
Action cards are divided in two sections. The top section ORDERS allow you to activate units or apply special effects
includes an ORDER in orange and the bottom section at the start of your turn:
an EVENT in blue.
ACTIVATION: it allows you to activate certain
ORDERS represent command instructions to activate units for them to act in this turn.
units or generate special effects in the active player’s
Activation Phase. COMMAND: affects your General and Action cards.
EVENTS are played during the Melee or Ranged MORALE: affects the morale of the troops.
Attack phases.
HEALTH: helps units to recover their casualties.
Each player starts with as many cards in hand as the
Leadership value of their General. You can never exceed that
Orders must be played in the Activation Phase by using
hand size at the end of your turn, unless an event modifies it.
the cards you have in your hand. You can use as many as
you want, but the same unit cannot receive more than one
Back order in the same turn.

Events
Military History is riddled with events, many of
Order them anecdotal or fortuitous, which decided the
battles: Harold II's arrow in the eye at Hastings,
Napoleon's piles at Waterloo, Caesar returning a
fleeing standard-bearer to the front by the scruff of
the neck, or a Roman consul throwing the augural
Event hens overboard in front of his troops.

EVENTS are generated in combat, by drawing a random

card from the deck and reading it.

Additionally, each player can play events from their hand

ORDERS during those same combats.
In Ancient Times, a commander could not give a direct
order to all their units. Often, they could not make The icon in the lower right corner indicates to whom it applies:
themselves understood in short distances due to the
noise of the fight, nor could they know what was going APPLIES TO THE ACTIVE PLAYER
on everywhere at all times. (the attacker this turn).

Their orders could fail to reach their destination APPLIES TO THE NON-ACTIVE
(intercepted or disoriented messengers, unseen or PLAYER THIS TURN
unheard signals, etc.), they may have been confused (the defender this turn).
and, in the same way, the officers could fail them, not
understand their orders, make their own decisions APPLIES ONLY TO
(good or bad) or not make any at all. RANGED ATTACKS.

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 VI - Setting Up the Battle
In ONUS! the contenders define the composition of the armies and the battle conditions. Also, you will find some scenarios
in the game to recreate historical battles.

The battle setup comprises the phases detailed below.

Creating the Armies

Before starting, the contenders must choose which army they are going to play with, as well as the size of each army, measured
in points. As a general rule, both armies will have the same amount of points, but if one of the players is a beginner, you can
balance the game by giving them some extra points.

If you are playing a Historical Scenario, follow the instructions for that scenario.

Each player chooses their General and, secretly, their units. Both players may include mercenary troops in their armies.
The sum of the value of the selected units, plus the value of the General, cannot exceed the maximum army value
established for the battle.

The game includes reference cards with different preset armies of 1,000 and 1,800 points for quick games.

Also, in the webpage www.dracoideas.com you will find an Excel file that will help you calculate the points of your army and
the number of units of each type that you can use.

Victory Conditions
Unless you are playing a historical scenario, the contenders will agree on victory conditions. The most common options are:

CASUALTIES: all eliminated or fleeing units are considered casualties. At the start of your turn, if you have losses of
more than 50% of your starting army value, including the General, you must perform a leadership check for your army.
If the General is dead or wounded, you fail automatically and lose the game. Otherwise, roll 2 dice:

If the result is equal to or lower than the General's Leadership, then your army will continue fighting for one more turn.
You will have to repeat this roll every turn as long as your casualties remain above 50%.

If the result exceeds the General’s Leadership, then you lose, your army retreats and the game ends immediately.

TOTAL ANHILATION OR SURRENDER: the game will not end until one army surrenders or all their units are
fleeing and/or are eliminated.

DEATH OF THE GENERAL: if the General dies, the game ends immediately with the defeat of the army whose
General was eliminated.

Troop Deployment
Once both players have the Unit cards to form their armies, have chosen a General and agreed to the victory conditions, they
can deploy troops in the game area.

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It is recommended to use a table as large as possible, especially for large battles or games with more than 2 players.

DEPTH: it is advisable for the depth of the battlefield to be at least 70 cm. Each side will deploy their troops within the
first 15 cm (the size of the measuring ruler) of its end, in such a way as to leave a central space of at least 40 cm between
the two armies.

FRONT: the width of the game area should be at least 70 cm for every 1,000 army points.

It is possible to play on a larger mat or table, but it is recommended to maintain these distances between armies in the initial
deployment.

Starting with the player with the most Unit cards (decide randomly in case of a tie), each player will place one Unit card face
down in their deployment area. If a player has finished deploying all their units, the other player will deploy the rest.
Afterwards, the players reveal their troops. You may deploy your units in special formations (blue markers, if they have the
ability to do so) and with extended sections.

The player who deployed the last Unit card places their General marker on one of their units, and then their opponent
does the same.

2 DU General

3 DU

8 DU GAME AREA

General

In this example we have established a battle space 110cm wide and 90cm deep, so there are 40cm (8DU) between both armies,
with a deployment depth of about 15cm and 10cm free behind the armies.

Finally, shuffle the Action Card deck and deal each player as many cards as the Leadership value of their Generals.

The starting player will be whoever the Historical Scenario you are going to play indicates, or whoever wins a die roll with
1 die by adding the Leadership value of their General.

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 VII - Turn Sequence
The active player will perform each of the phases in this order, and may not play the next phase before finishing the
current one.

These are the phases into which the game turn is divided:

1 ACTIVATION: as the active player, you may play as many Action cards (from your hand) as you wish, applying the
orders located on the top section of the cards, to activate units and mark them with an Active Unit marker and/or
applying special effects. Activated units will be the ones that can move and attack for the rest of the turn.

2 MOVEMENT: you can move your active units.

3 RANGED ATTACK: active units capable of launching projectiles can do a ranged attack.

4 SKIRMISHERS: units with the skirmisher special ability can spend unused movement points from the movement
phase. That is, you can split their movement before and after the ranged attacks.

5 MELEE: in this phase you will resolve the battles of all units engaged in combat (both of the active units and of those
already in combat in previous turns). The active player decides the order.

6 FLIGHT: all your units that were in flight in previous turn perform a morale check. If they pass it, they reorganize and
stop fleeing. If not, the continue moving towards the rear.

7 END OF THE TURN: draw Action cards. Then, check that the number of cards in your hand doesn’t exceed your
General's leadership, and discard any excess cards.

Once your turn is over, your opponent’s turn begins, alternating between the two until the game ends.

1. Activation Phase
VICTORY CONDITIONS: if you are playing with the option to win by casualties, now is the time to check the volume of
losses of the active player. If the conditions are met, roll the dice to do a leadership check of the active player’s army.

If they fail the roll, the active player loses and the game ends immediately. See section “Victory Conditions" (page 10).

As the active player, you can play as many Action cards from your hand as you wish. In this phase you will only take the
orders into account, ignoring and losing the events of the bottom section of the cards.

For Command B, Morale A and Health cards C, the effect is applied immediately.

For Activation cards D, activate the indicated units following the instructions on the card. Place an Active Unit marker on
each activated unit.

Only active units can move, change formation and charge.

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 2. Movement Phase
Active units that are not in flight can move and turn
according to the movement value on their cards.

You are not required to exhaust the unit’s movement value.

MOVING THROUGH UNITS:

During movement a unit CANNOT move through
enemy units, neither partially nor completely.

Friendly units CAN be traversed, unless the unit you

are moving through is under one of the following
Active unit. circumstances:

UNIQUE ORDERS: It's in an active special formation (with a blue marker).

You cannot use 2 order cards on the same unit in one turn. The traversing unit also cannot have an active special
formation.
For example, you cannot use the order card
“REINFORCE UNIT” to heal 2 wounds, and then a It’s engaged in combat.
“SKIRMISH” card to activate that unit.
It’s an elephant unit in flight.
NON-ACTIVE UNITS IN COMBAT:
Units engaged in combat will continue to fight in the If the traversing unit is in a normal state, the traversed unit
melee phase, without the need to activate them. is unaffected. However, if the traversing unit is broken or in
flight (in case it's moving during the Flight Phase), the
However, if they are not activated, they cannot move or traversed unit will break. Immediately place a Broken Unit
change their orientation during the movement phase. marker on it.

ACTIVATING BROKEN UNITS: If the traversed unit was already broken or in flight, it will
If you activate a broken unit, that is not already in combat, remain unnafected. However, a unit traversing a broken
you may then perform a morale check, with all applicable unit will also become broken.
modifiers. If the unit passes it, it reorganizes and you can
remove the Broken Unit marker. Said unit will have OVERLAPPING:
reduced movement (see ahead) and cannot charge. Unless a special rule says otherwise, no unit may end
the Movement Phase above or under another unit, be
If you fail the morale check, or if you didn't do it, the unit it friend or foe.
remains broken but they can move normally.
For this reason, moving through a unit requires
ACTIVATING FLEEING UNITS: completion of the movement without overlapping.
When you activate a unit in flight that is not in combat, If this is not possible, the moving unit will have to stop
immediately do a morale check, with all applicable before they start overlapping.
modifiers. If you pass it, the unit recovers and the
Broken and Fleeing markers can be removed. You can Nonetheless, if both units have been activated, they may
also change its orientation. momentarily overlap if the second unit leaves the space
occupied by the first before the end of the Movement
Then, remove the Active Unit marker, since this unit Phase, crossing paths.
cannot move or fight this turn. There is no penalty for
failing the morale check (you can try to recover again
in the Flight Phase).

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2.a. Types of Movement
Units can perform three types of movement, each of them with their own advantages and limitations: regular movement, forced
march, and reduced movement.

REGULAR MOVEMENT

It allows you to move an active unit spending up to the maximum movement points indicated on the Unit card.
The unit can advance up to as many distance units (DU) as its movement value. Also, they can rotate forward up to 90º,
using any of its corners as a rotation point. When you rotate a unit, the rules described for “moving through units” and
“overlapping” must be followed. Each time you rotate, you spend 1 movement point (1 DU).

E.g. a unit (F 3) can move up to 2 DU and rotate up to 90º, or rotate twice and move 1 DU; or move 1 DU, rotate once,
and move 1 DU, etc.

If you rotate several times, you must always do it to the same side, that is, rotating over the same corner and in the same
direction (zigzagging in not allowed).

In this example, your unit of Camel Cataphracts (Parthians) is rotating 90º using the lower left corner as the rotation
point. The Legionaries infantry unit is rotating slightly over 45º on their upper right corner. They both spent 1 DU to do
this maneuver.

Units performing a regular movement can come into contact with the enemy to start a melee combat, this is called a Charge,
described later on.

FORCED MARCH

An active unit can move up to double their movement points by using the forced march. You must announce this before
moving and place a Marching marker on the unit when you finish its movement.

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A unit with 2 movement points doing a forced march could advance 3 DU and rotate up to 90º once.

A unit performing a forced march cannot do a Charge nor Ranged Attacks during that turn. Units in special formations (blue
marker) cannot do a forced march unless they get rid of that formation.

Units in extended formations (see below) can do forced marches, but morale penalties would accrue.

If a unit in a forced march is attacked, they will get a -2/-2 C and -2 D penalty for both melee combat and ranged attacks, as if
they suffered an attack from the rear, which does not accumulate with other flank or rear penalties.

A unit in a forced march will keep the marker and the penalty until it is activated again, at which time the marker is
removed at no cost.

REDUCED MOVEMENT

Reduced movement applies when units perform special maneuvers that involve an additional time cost (such as entering formation
or performing ranged attacks) or a particularly complex movement (advancing in phalanx) that causes them to move slower.
Units with reduced movement only have half of their movement points. For example, a unit with 3 DU will only have up to
1.5 DU (fractions are accepted).

In most cases, reduced movement will prevent the unit from charging against the enemy during the movement phase, unless an
Action card states otherwise, or if it is due to a wall of shields or phalanx formation, or in any specific situation described in the
Terrains and Fortresses expansion.

Units with the skirmisher special ability are an exception to this rule, as they can perform this type of special maneuver using their
full movement value and even do ranged attacks or charge.

2.b. Special Maneuvers

This section details all the maneuvers that cause reduced movement. Each entry includes a chart clarifying whether the unit
performing the maneuver can charge or make ranged attacks that turn. Also if the maneuver can be performed by units in special
formations (blue marker).

Finally, the exceptions to the general rule are indicated

MOVEMENT IN ALL DIRECTIONS

CHARGE NO RANGED ATTACK YES SPECIAL FORMATION NO

EXCEPTIONS SKIRMISHERS (regular movement)

Any unit that is not in combat can move in any direction, even backwards, maintaining the same orientation.
The unit can move in one direction, but it can also change at every step.

When doing this type of maneuver, partially or completely, the unit will have reduced movement and cannot Charge
(even Skirmishers). You can combine this with other special maneuvers

15
 1 2

You need to relocate your Parthian Cataphracts (F 4). With reduced movement (which drops to 2 DU), you move them
backward diagonally and then once to the side. If they were skirmishers, you could use your 4 DU.

FREE ROTATION

CHARGE YES RANGED ATTACK YES SPECIAL FORMATION YES

EXCEPTIONS SKIRMISHERS (regular movement)
DIAMOND FORMATION (regular movement, 1 free rotation per movement)

You can rotate a unit in any direction (360º), taking the center of the card as the axis, but you will only have half your movement
value (reduced movement).

When rotating, the rules of “moving through units” and “overlapping” must be followed.

Units with the skirmishers special ability can do any of those rotations at the start, during or after their regular movement.
In doing so, they spend 1 DU (the same as when turning 90° in regular movement) and will be able to charge.

Another exception are the units with the “diamond” special formation, given that they can do their rotation of up to 360º
at the start, during or after their regular movement and, additionally, without spending DU (once per movement).
Also, they can charge that turn.

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EXTENDING OR REDUCING A FORMATION

CHARGE NO RANGED ATTACK YES SPECIAL FORMATION NO

EXCEPTIONS SKIRMISHERS (regular movement)
MANEUVERABLE (regular movement, can charge)

Extending a formation involves extending a unit’s front line, using Section markers (white marker). When you extend a
formation, you must place a marker at one side or the other, or both sides of the front line. To reduce a formation, just remove
1 or 2 markers. Units that are engaged in combat cannot extend their formation, although they may reduce it, but they will
suffer a free attack by the enemy in that section (1 attack die per reduced section).

Extending a formation allows the unit to envelop the enemy more easily, but makes its front line thinner. Therefore, for each
extended section of the formation, its morale is reduced by 1. That is, if a unit has two extended flanks, its penalty will be -2 D.

Skirmishers and Maneuverable units can extend and reduce their formation using their regular movement.

Units in a special formation cannot be extended.

Unit in a two-sided extended formation. But beware, their morale is reduced by 2.

ADOPTING OR CHANGING A SPECIAL FORMATION

CHARGE YES RANGED ATTACK NO SPECIAL FORMATION YES

EXCEPTIONS MANEUVERABLE (regular movement)
BRAVERY (regular movement)

Active units that are not fleeing may, at the start or the end of their reduced movement, adopt or undo a special formation (arrow-
head, wall of shields, phalanx, square, etc.), or change to a different formation.

17
For this, just add and/or remove the corresponding blue marker, the unit has reduced movement (except if it has the
Skirmishers or Maneuverable abilities) and can charge.

PERFORMING A RANGED ATTACK

CHARGE NO RANGED ATTACK YES SPECIAL FORMATION YES

EXCEPTIONS SKIRMISHERS (regular movement)
SCORPIONES, ONAGERS AND BALLISTAE (can only shoot if they don’t move)

Units that want to perform a ranged attack in the phase following their movement will have reduced movement.

When a unit capable of shooting does a regular movement, its activation marker is removed as a reminder that it cannot shoot
during the Ranged Attack Phase.

Skirmisher units can move normally (even split their movement) and then shoot . Onagers, Ballistae and Scorpiones can only
shoot if they don’t move.

COMBINING SPECIAL MANEUVERS

All special maneuvers performed in the movement phase can be combined, as long as it is done at the same time. They must be
performed before or after the reduced movement.

For example, in the same turn, your unit could reduce their formation, do a free rotation, adopt a phalanx formation and then
do their reduced movement (half of its movement points).

2.c. Charging

A charge is a movement that allows active units to come into frontal contact with enemy units to engage in melee combat.

With the exception of units in phalanx or wall of shields special formations, who can charge with reduced movement, a
charge must always be done with regular movement. Skirmishers can perform special maneuvers during that Movement
Phase, but the charge must always be frontal.

If you want, your charging unit can rotate to approach the enemy (spending movement points as usual), move until it
contacts the enemy and then automatically (and for free) line up with it from the side you wish.

For example, if the attacker comes into contact with the corner of the enemy card, it will line up with the defender's position
on the side it wants to face.

The sections must be fully engaging each other; a section that is partially in contact must be adjusted to fully face the enemy.

That is, when facing each other, if there are 2 sections and a portion of the third section in contact, then the units are
brought together so that the 3 sections are completely aligned.

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In case one or more sections of the front are free, you will have the opportunity to envelop the enemy, using the appropriate markers
as long as there is free space to place them. The enemy will suffer penalties when attacked from the flank or rear. If a unit is in
Extended Formation, it can also envelop using the added front sections.

In the following example, your cavalry unit is in Extended Formation on its left side and charges against the infantry unit.
When they come into contact, it faces them from the side you prefer. In this case they engage it from the rear. The 2 sections
are in contact with each other and both units face each other completely. Finally, you can envelop the 2 free sections on the
left side of the card, and the extended section can envelop the front. That is, in this case, you would attack 5 sections (5 dice)
with advantage for attacking the flank and rear.

When you envelop an enemy you also prevent them from changing orientation or even moving. If you were enveloping
a fleeing or destroyed unit, immediately remove the enveloping Section markers if the target is no longer in contact
with your unit.

In this new example, your mounted unit has extended both flanks (6 frontal sections) and charges against the infantry.
Once their sections are aligned, it envelops the Roman rearguard with its extended left flank, and the right flank with the
other extended flank and 2 frontal sections. That is, it will fight with 6 sections: 3 against the enemy’s rear, 2 against the flank
and 1 from the front, so so the defender will have a penalty of -3/-3 C and -3 D.

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CHARGING AGAINST SEVERAL UNITS

When charging against a unit, if you are lining up both units and you “collide” with a friendly or enemy unit, the charging unit
will adapt as best as possible to line up correctly.

In this case the Parthians adapt to the new situation, they can even envelop with their left flank, and would engage in
combat with 4 sections against the unit in front, but there would be no combat with the other 2 side sections since the units
are not facing each other frontally.

CHARGING AGAINST ENVELOPING OR EXTENDED UNIT SECTIONS

If a unit charges against a Section marker of an enveloping or extended enemy unit from the rear or flank, said marker is removed and
the unit automatically receives one Wound marker per Section marker so removed. Any Section marker that separates from the unit
after the attack is also eliminated (also receiving a wound per removed marker).

In this example your mounted unit envelops the infantry. But another unit comes to their aid in the next turn,
approaches and charges against the sections enveloping the other unit and, by doing so against a non-frontal section, the
markers are immediately eliminated and the mounted unit receives 2 wounds. Then, the 2 combats of both units against
the mounted unit are played (in the order decided by the active player).

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However, if you charge head-on against a unit that has an extended front and you have front sections left, you can
envelop the enemy but without eliminating its extended section, as in this example where 4 dice are rolled for the battle
(for both attacker and defender).

2.d. Activation of units engaged in combat

Units that are engaged in combat are forced to fight in the Melee Phase, even if they weren't activated.

However, the active player can activate their units engaged in combat to envelop, reorient or disengage in the movement phase,
if they have the option to move without overlapping or passing through enemy units.

If a unit engaged in combat is activated, it can move, and is not blocked (unable to move anywhere), it can perform one of the
actions described below, to reposition itself before the fight or to disengage.

ENVELOPING THE ENEMY

The activated non-blocked unit can envelop the enemy, provided it meets the following two conditions:

At least one of its front sections must be in contact with the enemy. For example, if an enemy unit is attacking the activated unit
from the rear, this maneuver could not be performed.

At least one of its frontal sections and/or Section markers must be free (not engaged in combat).

In this case, the appropriate Section markers would be placed on the enemy unit, as is done when charging.

According to the previous example, your mounted unit receives a charge from the infantry. Both units roll 4 dice in combat.
If the mounted unit is activated in the next turn, it could envelop with its 3 remaining frontal sections (2 from the card and
1 from the extended section), enveloping the infantry in turn. In this case, both units would roll 7 combat dice.

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REDUCING AN EXTENDED UNIT

You may also activate units to reduce extended units or to remove enveloping Section markers. If the removed extended Section
marker is not engaged in combat, there is no penalty. However, if the section is in contact with the enemy, it would receive an
attack with 1 die for every removed marker, caused by the enemy unit with which they are in contact. These attacks are resolved
immediately, without playing event cards (explained later on). However, any damage caused this way does not count in
determining a potential morale check in the following Melee Phase.

A unit engaged in combat cannot extend its formation. Nor can it adopt a special formation, or undo the special formations
wall of shields or square, to return it to a standard formation. Remember that phalanx and arrowhead formations are undone
automatically after the first combat.

REPOSITIONING A UNIT ENGAGED IN COMBAT

This represents that the unit's soldiers move during the battle to find a more beneficial position. There are two types of repositioning:
90º and 180º repositioning.

90º REPOSITIONING:

A 90º repositioning represents the way that a unit changes shape in the heat of battle, under the command of a capable leader.
The unit must have free space to perform this maneuver. To reposition the unit, you can reorient the card 90º from its original
position, provided the following two conditions are met:

Your unit must keep the same frontal sections in contact with the enemy unit as it had before this maneuver (including
enveloping Section markers). It’s likely that the repositioning unit needs to place new Section markers when doing this.
You cannot eliminate or add Section markers for the enemy unit.

The repositioned unit cannot overlap units or enveloping Section markers.

In this example, , you reposition your left unit 90º. Then, 3 enveloping Section markers must be added to maintain the
same contact points.

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In this other example, the unit on the right is in a very unfavorable position, with two rear sections under attack, so you
decide to activate the unit and rotate it 90º, facing the enemy head-on. You also take the chance to envelop it, since you have
enough space to perform this maneuver. You will both fight with 6 dice.

180º REPOSITIONING:

A 180º repositioning means that you would leave the card in the same position but change its orientation. If you do this,
remove any Section markers of the repositioned unit that are engaged with an enemy unit, with the active player's unit immediately
suffering an attack with 1 die (no events) for every removed marker. If the repositioning unit is engaged with enemy Section
markers, the markers remain where they are.

Once a 90º or 180º repositioning has been performed, the repositioned unit can envelop, if the above conditions are met.

1 2

In this example, the unit on top attacks the enemy from the rear (1). In their own turn, to prevent the penalty, your
opponent activates its unit and repositions it 180º. Your enveloping Section marker remains in place, but after the
rotation, your opponent decides to envelop in turn.

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WITHDRAWAL

An activated unit that is engaged frontally in combat can make an orderly withdrawal movement.

In this case, they will move half of their movement points in the opposite direction to the enemy, without rotations and
without turning their back.

They cannot move through other units and the following conditions must be met.

The activated withdrawing unit must be facing the enemy and its front section must be in contact with the enemy
unit (or units).

Withdrawal, unlike retreat, does not generate any attack of opportunity from the enemy from whom your unit "detaches".

Each enemy units with which it is engaged has two options:

Hold the position: the opposing unit does not move and the Section markers of both units are removed without further
consequences and, even if either of them had an extended formation, they would revert to a standard formation.
The unit is no longer engaged in combat.

Maintain contact: the opposing unit moves, "chasing" the withdrawing unit and maintaining the same facing, unless the
opposing unit is engaged with another enemy. Enveloping Section markers from the pursuing unit are also maintained.
Both units would remain engaged in combat in the new position and combat would ensue.

If the opponent wants to maintain contact, but their maximum movement is lower than the path of the withdrawing unit, then they
may place their unit at that maximum distance, but without being able to maintain contact.

For example, a mounted unit with 5 movement points decides to withdraw, so it moves back 2.5 DU. If its opponent is a
unit that moves 2 DU, it would follow it when withdrawing, but would remain 0.5 DU away.

In this example the Romans withdraw and maintain their formation. The enemy can decide to hold their position or maintain
contact. If they stay where they are, the enveloping section should be removed, but they can keep it if they decide to chase it.

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RETREAT

An activated unblocked unit can decide to retreat from a battle. The player announces their intention to retreat and the
unit immediately receives an undisputed attack (with as many dice as the number of sections that the enemy has in
contact with the retreating unit), and with no events.

Subsequently, if the unit has not fled, any enveloping Section markers are removed, and the unit is now considered to be disengaged:
it can move, rotate, etc. Although, if it moves backwards it will have reduced movement, unless they are Skirmishers.

If the unit was in combat with two enemy units, it will suffer an attack of opportunity from both units.

3. Ranged Attack Phase

Ranged attacks allow you to shoot projectiles with different weapons (javelins, bows, slings...) against other units, as
indicated by the ranged attack values printed in their cards, which must be higher than 0.

For example, the archers have a ranged attack value of 3 (8), meaning that their attack value (to both hit and damage)
is 3 and their maximum range is 8 DU.

In order for this type of unit to be able to make a ranged attack, the following conditions must be met:

Neither the shooting unit nor the target unit can be engaged in melee combat, unless a card states otherwise.

The target unit cannot be farther than the maximum range of the shooting unit.

The shooting unit cannot have moved or has only done reduced movement this turn.

These rules can vary when using certain Action cards.

The Ballistae, Onager, and Scorpion cannot perform a ranged attack if they moved at all.
Skirmishers can shoot and do a regular movement.

PROCEDURE

A ranged attack must always follow this sequence:

1 TARGET: the attacker indicates which unit will shoot and which enemy unit is targeted.
2 RANGE: measure the distance and line of sight between both units.
3 EVENT: reveal an event card from the deck (random event). First the attacker and then the defender can play an additional
event card from their hands.
4 DICE: the attacker rolls 2 dice (long range) or 4 dice (short range), and the resulting wounds are applied.
5 DAMAGE: if the target unit suffers at least as many wounds as its remaining health points, it is eliminated and removed from
the game. If the total wounds inflicted are lower than that number, the defender must do a morale check.
6 FLIGHT: if the defender begins to “flee” as a result of the morale check, the fleeing movement is done immediately.

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This sequence is explained in further detail below:

RANGE

You must specify which unit is attacking and what the target is, without prior measurement. Next, determine the range
using the measuring ruler, from the center of the attacking unit's front section to any part of the target unit (including its
extended Section markers). If the target unit is closer than the attacker's range, the attack can be made.

Otherwise, the attack is lost and that unit cannot shoot at another unit. If the distance is lower than half of the attacking
unit’s range, it is considered a short-range attack, if not it is considered a long-range attack.

LINE OF SIGHT (LOS)

The line of sight is established from the front half of the attacking unit, within a 180 degree angle from its front, to any part
of the enemy unit. The line of sight will be blocked if it goes through any friendly or enemy unit. In this case, the ranged
attack rolls to hit and damage will have a -1/-1 penalty (regardless of the number of obstacles in the line of sight).

A B C

In this example, the archers can shoot at any Roman unit except the one engaged in combat to the right (d).
In addition, they cannot see the unit on the left (a) or the unit on the upper right (c), since the line of sight is not clear,
so they would suffer a penalty when shooting. If the archer unit does a side movement to the left (Reduced Movement),
they could see the Roman unit (a).

EVENTS

After verifying the range, play a random event by drawing the top card from the Action card deck. Then, the attacker may
play one (and only one) event card from their hand, revealing it. After that, the defender can also play one event from their
hand. The events are then applied, when possible, giving priority to those that cancel the combat or other events.
Events applicable to ranged attacks are those that have a bow icon and some of those with a shield icon. The description of
the event details if it’s applicable to this type of attack.

Depending on the nature of the random event, it will affect the attacker, the defender, both or neither. However, events
played by players will be applied in their benefit, as long as the requirements of the card are met and it affects ranged attacks.
Duplicate events cannot be played in a single attack.

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COMBAT RESOLUTION

The attacker rolls 2 dice for long-range attacks and 4 dice for short-range attacks. Only the attacker deals damage in
ranged attacks. A unit is at short range if the distance between it and the attacker is half or less of its maximum shoot-
ing range.

Combat is divided in two phases:

HIT: first the attacker rolls the dice (2 or 4) and adds its attack value and all applicable modifiers to each of them.
Each die that exceeds the opponent’s first defense value (dodge) is considered a hit. If none of the dice hit, the attack ends
here without consequences.

DAMAGE: the attacker re-rolls using only the dice that hit. Add to each of them the attack value and any applicable
modifiers. Each die that exceeds the opponent’s second defense value (armor) inflicts a wound. Place as many Wound
markers on the unit as the number of wounds inflicted.

In the final section you will find an Important Rules Summary, with all modifiers that apply in combat and
morale checks.

There are 2 special die roll results in combat resolution that do not require these calculations:

CRITICAL: rolling a 6 on the die will always be a hit on the first hit roll, or a wound in the case of damage rolls.

FAILURE: if you roll a 1, it is considered an automatic failure, both to hit or damage. Units with the professional
special ability may re-roll once each time they roll a 1 (once per die).

CONSEQUENCES

NO CASUALTIES: no wounds were caused. Nothing happens.

ELIMINATION: if the number of accumulated wounds equals or exceeds the health value of the defending unit,
that unit is eliminated and removed from the game.

MORALE CHECK: if the unit received wounds in the attack and is still alive, it must do a morale check.
Roll a die and apply the appropriate modifiers. If the resulting number exceeds the unit's morale, the morale check
has failed and the unit is broken (a Broken Unit marker is placed). If the unit is already broken, it is set to “fleeing”
(and a marker is added).

A roll of 1 on a morale check is always considered a success.

You use your archers B 3/(8) to attack a Roman unit C 5/8 at a distance of 3.5 DU. However, the line of sight is
obstructed by another one of your units, so you suffer a -1/-1 penalty. Since it’s a short-range attack, you roll 4 dice.
On the hit roll you get 1, 2, 4 and 5. The 1 is a failure. Only those rolls that by adding 2 (+3 attack and -1 for the
obstructed line) exceed the defense of 5 will be hits. In this case, your 4 and 5. Then you roll the damage roll and
realize that it is not possible, because you need to exceed an 8 after adding 2. You roll the dice and get 5 and 6.
Luckily, you will inflict a wound since a 6 is a Critical, and always succeeds. Since the Roman was wounded, they
must do a morale check.

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FLIGHT MOVEMENT: in case a unit is Broken and fails the morale check, the unit Flees and this movement takes place
immediately. Fleeing units move towards their rear line. When necessary, start by rotating the unit in that direction.

(Note: check the Flight in Combat section, pág. 32).

MODIFIERS FOR FLANK AND REAR ATTACKS: if a unit receives a ranged attack from the the flank,
the defender has a penalty of -1/-1 C and -1 D, and a penalty of -2/-2 C and -2 D if the attack comes from the rear, or when
doing a forced march or fleeing. Therefore, you must determine which side the projectiles are coming from by drawing a line from
the center of the attacking unit to the nearest point on the defender's card. If the nearest point is a corner of the target card, then
the attack comes from the nearest side and, if both sides are at the same distance, the defender decides.

Rearguard
Distance

Flank

In this example, the closest point of the Roman unit to the center of the archers' front is one side. Therefore, it is a flank attack
and the defender gets a penalty of -1/-1 C and -1 D.

4. Skirmishers Phase
Skirmishers who were activated during the turn and who did not exhaust all their movement points in the Movement Phase can
move as many DU as movement points they have left, and even charge to initiate a melee combat after a ranged attack.

Round up the movement points spent by the skirmishers to 1 DU or 0.5 DU.

As a reminder, you can use the Split Movement markers to mark every 1 DU or 1/2 DU that the skirmisher unit has
moved during the movement phase. By doing this, you have a reminder of how many 1 DU you have available for this phase.
Remove the markers once this phase is over.

For example, if a Skirmisher unit with a movement value of 3 F moves 1.2 DU in the movement phase, rounding up you
place Split Movement markers for 1.5 DU in total, and the unit may move up to those 1.5 DU in the Skirmishers Phase.

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5. Melee Phase
All melee combats take place in this phase, both those that started after a charge in that same turn, and those of units that
were engaged in combat from previous turns.

The active player decides in which order the fights are resolved, and is always considered the attacker, even when a fight was
initiated by an opponent.

Melee combat is only between two units. If a unit is engaged in combat with two or more enemies, it will fight each of them
individually, one after the other.

SEQUENCE

Standard or simultaneous melee combat follows this sequence:

1 EVENTS: draw and resolve events.

2 DICE: determine how many dice to roll. The attacker rolls the dice, first to hit and then to damage. Calculate the
amount of damage inflicted and then the defender repeats the process. If neither unit managed to inflict damage, the
sequence ends here.
3 DAMAGE: the damage to both units is applied simultaneously (with some exceptions). If one unit (or both) receives as
many or more wounds than its health value, the unit is eliminated and the sequence ends here.
4 MORALE CHECK: the unit that received more wounds in this combat will do a morale check. If both units received
the same amount of wounds, both make the check. If a unit fails the morale check it becomes broken. If it was already
broken, it flees.
5 FLIGHT: if a unit flees, the flight movement is done immediately. If both units are in flight, the active player flees first.
If neither unit is eliminated or flees, the units remain in combat for the next turn.

COMBAT DEVELOPMENT

Melee combat has many similarities with ranged attacks, so this section will only explain the specifics of melee combat.

EVENTS

PLAY EVENT CARDS: the procedure is similar to that of ranged attacks. After playing a random event, the attacker
may play an event from their hand and, after seeing the previous events, the defender can also play an event from
their hand. In those particular cases in which combat is not initiated in the melee phase (movement after removal of
Section markers, flight movements, movement of elephants), no events are played.

EVENT OWNERSHIP: if the random event shows a sword icon, the event benefits the attacker’s dice roll. If it shows
a shield icon, it benefits the defender. If it shows both icons, it applies to both. Events played by each player from their
hands always benefit the player who plays it, regardless of the icons on the card, unless the event specifies otherwise.

For example, if the event “Resist” with a shield icon (which gives +1/+1 C y +2 D) appears as a random event, it
will only favor the defending player. But, if you play it from your hand during the attack, it will favor you when the
defender rolls their dice. If the “Throw Javelins” event (with a A and C) appears as the random event and both units
have javelins, both players will benefit. But if you play it from your hand, only you will benefit from this special attack
even if both units have javelins.

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 TYPES OF MELEE COMBAT: there are three types of melee combat, according to the moment in which they are resolved:

Simultaneous: it’s the standard combat. Wounds inflicted after dice rolls are applied to the attacker and defender at the
same time, once both have rolled their dice. The morale check will be made by the unit that has received more wounds
in that combat (no matter how many it had before) and in case of a tie, both.

Attack Priority: various special formations, events and terrain advantages will give attack "priority" to a unit.
The priority unit will attack first, even if it is the defender. In attack priority combat, after the events are resolved,
the priority unit makes the attack and applies the wounds inflicted. If damage occurs, the affected unit must pass a
morale check. If the unit is still alive and doesn’t flee after the attack, it will then make its attack against the priority
unit, applying any penalties generated by the first attack.

The wounds inflicted are compared and, if necessary, morale checks will be made. This way, the non-priority unit
may have to pass two morale check in a single combat.

Single: the special ability “sarissas” allows a unit to perform an attack, in their first combat after engaging when the
phalanx formation is active, without receiving an attack from its opponent. If a unit with attack priority fights
against a unit with single attack, a priority combat occurs (but it will be the unit with single attack that acts as the
priority unit).

DICE

For melee combat, count all frontal sections (both of the card and enveloping Section markers) of the attacker in
contact with those of the defender. Roll a die for each section, and both attacker and defender will always roll the
same number of dice.

In this example, the Dacian unit charges with extended formation against the Roman unit, and then envelops it with its
2 free frontal sections. There are 6 sections in contact with the enemy. As all sections of the Romans are in contact with the frontal
sections of the Dacians, both will roll 6 dice for close combat.

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DAMAGE

As with ranged attacks, first roll the dice to hit, and with those that succeed a second roll is made to damage. Unlike ranged
attacks, the attack values of each unit to hit and damage can be different. Rolling a Critical F is still an automatic success,
and rolling a Failure A is an automatic failure. The attacker rolls first and then the defender, both with the same number of
dice. Place as many Wound markers on each unit as the amount of damage received.

Following the previous example, as the attackers, first the Dacians roll 6 dice. As they are enveloping from one flank, the
defender has -1/-1 C. Their hit value is 4 and the Romans' dodge value is 4 (5-1). After rolling, you get only 1 Failure with one
die, and the other 5 are hits. The damage value of the Dacian unit is 4 and the defense value of the Romans is 6 (7-1),
so you need to roll 3 or more to damage, and thus inflict wounds. You roll 5 dice (the ones that hit) and do 4 wounds.
Then, the Roman does the same and inflicts 3 wounds. Place a III (3) Wound marker on the Dacian unit, and a III (3) and a
I (1) Wound markers on the Romans.

Wound markers represent the casualties suffered by the unit: killed, wounded or missing. If a unit has as many Wound
markers or more than its health value, the unit is eliminated and removed from the game. It's possible for both units to be
eliminated in the same combat.

WOUND CONTROL: to keep track of the wounds inflicted in that combat, it is advisable to leave any old Wound
markers in the center of the Unit card, and place the new ones inflicted in that combat on the edge of the card.

WOUND MODIFIERS: the accumulation of wounds affects the unit's capacity. Each wound decreases the unit's
morale by 1. In addition, for every 3 wounds the unit will suffer a -1/-1 penalty to melee and/or ranged attack rolls.
However, the minimum attack value of a unit will always be 1/1, regardless of the number of wounds inflicted and
other modifiers.

These mercenaries have three wounds. As a consequence, their attack power is 2/2 and their morale is 5 (8-3).

MORALE CHECK: if both units survived, the unit that received more wounds in the previous combat (not in total)
will have to pass a morale check. In case of a tie, both units will have to make the morale check and, if neither received
wounds, no one makes the check. As with ranged attacks, a die is rolled to make the morale check. If you roll A,
it's an automatic success. If not, apply the modifiers and if the result is higher than the unit’s morale, the check fails.

Following the example, since the Romans suffered more wounds, they must pass a morale check. Their morale is 8, but
they have -1 for being attacked from the flank and -4 for their 4 wounds, resulting in 3. The die rolls a 4, so morale fails
(narrowly) and the unit is broken.

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 BROKEN UNIT MARKER: units break when they fail their morale checks. Some game circumstances
may also break a unit. When this occurs, place a Broken Unit marker on the unit, resulting in a -1/-1 penalty
to attacks and -1 morale.

FLIGHT IN COMBAT

FLEEING UNIT: if a broken unit fails its morale check, then it flees. Immediately remove any Special Formation (blue)
or Section markers and place a Fleeing marker instead. Also remove any enveloping Section markers of the enemy.
If the fleeing unit is blocked, don’t remove the enemy’s Section markers (but your own) and the melee combat continues
until the fleeing unit can move.

If it gets unblocked in that same turn, after resolving another combat, the unit immediately flees. When it occurs in a
different turn, the movement takes place in the Flight Phase.

INITIAL FLIGHT MOVEMENT: this movement takes place as soon as the combat that originated it ends, during
the Melee Phase. The fleeing unit can use its full movement value and can turn and rotate as many times as it needs to
break off from the attacking unit, and move towards its own lines following the most direct path.

In its flight, it will inevitably cross any of the friendly units that are in its path and are not in special formation.
In doing so, those units will break.

In 1, your Roman mounted unit resolves the combat against a Parthian unit. Your unit takes 3 wounds and none for
the Parthian. You do a morale check (-1 for being broken, -1 for being flanked, and -3 for the inflicted wounds) and
fail. In 2 you can see the flight movement: You reposition 180º to your rear and advance, moving through a friendly
unit, which breaks in turn.

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In this case, your mounted unit has been put to flight after fighting the Parthian infantry, who stand in your way to flee
to your own Roman lines, so you make a lateral move to break off (2 DU) and then keep moving directly to your rear
(another 4 DU), similar to a skirmisher unit.

VOLUNTARY FLIGHT: after a melee or ranged attack in which your unit has suffered at least one wound, you can choose
to flee voluntarily. Place a Fleeing or Broken Unit marker (if it did not have one before) on your unit and start its initial flight
movement. From that point on, it is considered “in flight” and suffers the same conditions as any units that are forced to flee.

BALLISTAE, ONAGER, & SCORPIONES: they are considered siege and artillery weapons, and can be used in
open field combat, but they cannot flee and are instead destroyed.

6. Flight Phase
Fleeing units do not move in the Movement Phase, cannot execute special or extended formations, cannot attack in ranged
combat and, unless they are blocked in combat or suffer an attack, will not fight in the Melee Phase.

They can be activated to try to recover them in the Activation Phase. If a fleeing unit leaves the battlefield partially or
completely, it is considered eliminated.

ATTACKING A FLEEING UNIT: a fleeing unit that suffers an attack will defend itself normally but with a -2/-2 C
penalty, but will not have to make a morale check since it is already fleeing.

PHASES: in the order decided by the active player, perform the following two actions for each fleeing unit, activated
or not, that has not started fleeing that same turn:

1 Perform a morale check to see if the unit recovers.

2 If it fails, the unit continues its flight movement to the rear.

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RECOVERING A FLEEING UNIT: make a morale check for the unit (with all applicable modifiers) to try to stop
it from fleeing. If successful, the unit stays where it is, but facing where you want it to face. Remove the Fleeing and
Broken Unit markers, but Wounds and any other markers remain.

Fleeing units that are engaged in combat and blocked will also make a morale check. If successful, they won’t move or change
their orientation, but you can remove the Fleeing and Broken Unit markers.

FLIGHT MOVEMENT: the units that have not recovered will continue with their flight movement. Fleeing units
use their full movement value to move, may turn and perform any necessary maneuvers (like a unit of skirmishers)
to take the shortest route to their rear line.

OBSTACLES TO FLEEING: a fleeing unit cannot move through enemy units (regardless of their status),
nor friendly units in special formations (with a blue marker), nor fleeing elephants (see below). In these cases, the fleeing unit
must rotate as many times as necessary to avoid such obstacles, always taking the shortest route to its line of deployment.

However, if there are friendly units on the shortest route, the fleeing unit moves through them as usual, as long as its movement
does not end up overlapping with the friendly unit. In this case, the fleeing unit will have to stop their movement right before
making contact. They can resume their movement in the next Flight Phase (and eventually move through the friendly unit if
it didn’t move or adopted a special formation).

A unit is considered to move through another even if there is only one overlapping corner, i.e., it does not have to cross it
from side to side. Friendly units that are moved through are “broken”. However, if the friendly unit is already broken or is
also fleeing, there is no additional effect.

FLEEING ELEPHANTS: elephants are powerful weapons of war, but can be uncontrollable in tense situations,
inflicting damage on friend and foe alike.

Like any other unit, unblocked fleeing elephants can turn and make the necessary movements to face their rear line.
Then, they will move in a straight line towards it.

ELEPHANT TRAMPLING: on their way, elephants will not deviate and will trample any units they move through,
regardless of their army and formation. To trample, the elephant must move completely through the unit. If this is not possible,
they must stop their movement just before making contact. When trampling, the elephants make an attack, without events,
rolling as many dice as the number of own sections traversing the enemy unit and applying the corresponding effects.

The trampled unit does not attack back. If the trampled unit “flees” as a result of being trampled, it will immediately perform
its flight movement, once the elephants’ movement is completed. If the unit is still operational after the end of the combat,
place on it a Broken Unit marker. If it was already broken (or fleeing), nothing else happens.

For example: Your unit of Balearic Slingers is trampled, after being crossed by an elephant unit with three sections, rolling 3 dice
and inflicting 2 wounds. The slingers roll the dice for a morale check and fail it, leaving the unit broken. If the unit did not fail
the morale check, it would still be broken by the fact that it had been trampled

On subsequent morale checks to recover the elephant unit, if the result exactly matches the morale of the animals (with any
appropriate modifiers), but is neither higher nor lower, you can decide whether the drivers kill the elephants to avoid further
damage, in which case the unit is eliminated.

In those days, elephant drivers carried a hammer and chisel to kill their animals in case they became too
dangerous for friendly troops.

34
 COMBAT WITH FLEEING ELEPHANTS: the unit to be trampled (friendly or enemy) may choose to engage
the elephants in combat. In this case, the elephants will face them (with no option to envelop) and a standard combat
takes place, only without events. If the units are still alive after resolving the fight and the defenders did not flee, they
remain engaged in combat. Then, if the defending unit flees, retreats or is eliminated, the elephants will continue to
flee if they have not recovered.

7. End of Turn Phase

The active player's turn ends with this phase.

TURN PLAYING ORDERS: if the active player has played at least one order during the turn, they draw 1 card.

TURN WITHOUT PLAYING ORDERS: if the active player did not play orders (even if they played events), they
must choose one of the following actions:

DISCARD: the active player can discard cards if they want to, and draw the same number of cards plus 1.
DRAW: the active player draws 3 cards.

If there are several players in one team, they can give action cards to each other. If the number of cards in their hand exceeds
the General's leadership value, the player must discard any excess cards.

END OF THE DECK: if the deck of cards is exhausted, shuffle the discard pile and turn it face down to form a new deck.
Keep in mind that this could trigger the end of the game in some scenarios.

Front and back of the help card.

35
 VIII - Special Formations
Some units have a round blue icon on their cards representing special formations they can adopt.

To activate a special formation, a unit with that capability can do so in the Movement Phase if it meets the following
requirements:

It must have been activated.

In the turn in which it is activated, it can only make reduced movement (except for Maneuverables and Skirmishers) and they
can also charge. In subsequent turns it can be deactivated and perform regular movement.

It cannot be engaged in melee combat.

Once activated, place the appropriate blue marker on the unit. No unit may have more than one active special formation
(only one blue marker per unit).

The benefits provided by special formations are in addition to those of special abilities (orange and green icons).

Unless a historical scenario specifies otherwise, the players can choose to start the game with units in active special
formations, after revealing the unit during deployment and placing the appropriate marker.

Below is a description of the peculiarities of special formations:

WALL OF SHIELDS: is a defensive formation in which the ranks are closed and large shields are used.

Adds +1/+1C to defense against ranged attacks and for melee combat.

Units with this formation active will have reduced movement.

PHALANX: is a formation in which the unit forms in compact ranks lining up its spears. This ability only applies if
any of the front sections are in contact with the enemy.

It has the Spearmen ability, with cumulative modifiers against mounted units.

The first time it enters combat, attacking or defending, the unit in phalanx formation will have attack priority
(it attacks first, even if it’s the defender, and will inflict damage first).

After this first combat, the phalanx formation is lost and ceases to have any effect. Remove the blue marker.

The unit will have reduced movement while this formation is active, but can charge.

If a Phalanx unit engages another unit with attack priority (e.g., being charged by a mounted unit with that special
ability), both effects cancel each other out and the combat is resolved normally (simultaneously).

36
The Punic Phalanx unit charges against your phalanx. However, your Triarii have attack priority, so they always roll
first even if they are the defenders. If any wounds are inflicted, the Carthaginian unit must pass a morale check before
rolling its dice.

SQUARE: this defensive formation consists of keeping the wounded in the center and forming a square with all
weapons pointing outward.

There are no penalties when attacked from the flanks or rear.

A square formation gives a +2/+2C defense bonus against mounted units.

It has a -1/-1C defense penalty against ranged attacks.

The unit cannot move while this formation is active.

ARROWHEAD: characteristic formation of some mounted units that increases the power of their charge.

+1/+1A attack bonus, only applicable when the unit charges.

Once the combat ends after the charge, the formation is lost and ceases to have any effect. Remove the blue marker.

It can be activated during a regular movement.

DIAMOND: this mounted unit's formation has the same characteristics as a an arrowhead formation,
but with the added advantage that, once per turn, the unit can free rotation on its axis without spending
movement points.

BRAVERY: represents the drive of the unit to increase its strength to the detriment of its defense.

It is a special ability, different from the previous ones, as it is not exactly a formation and, therefore, has some
exceptions to the general rules.

When active, attack is increased by +1/+1A but defense is reduced by -1/-1C.

Both to activate or deactivate this ability, it is enough to activate the unit and place or remove the marker,
without reduced movement in that turn.

37
 IX - Unit Abilities
They represent the special abilities of the different units. Unlike formations, they do not require activation, so their effect is
permanent. They are represented by orange icons for general abilities, or green icons for terrain abilities and special weapons
(javelins and spears). The benefits and bonuses they provide are cumulative. These are the abilities:

ABILITIES ON TYPES OF TERRAIN

SYLVAN: is an ability specific to units accustomed to moving in forest terrain. The unit is not affected by any penalties
related to movement, positioning or combat in forests.

MOUNTAINEERS: is an ability specific to units accustomed to moving in mountain or particularly rough

terrains. The unit is not affected by any penalties related to movement, positioning or combat in sloping or
mountainous terrain.

AMPHIBIOUS: is an ability specific to units accustomed to or especially trained to move through rivers, which
can be crossed like a ford. The unit suffers no movement penalties when entering, moving or exiting the water, nor
in combat when exiting the water.

OTHER ABILITIES

ATHLETES: units in excellent physical condition:

Add 1F extra DU when they charge against an enemy.

LUNGE: is a specific ability of certain mounted units and a few infantry units:

It only applies when charging against infantry units, and only during the first attack of the charge.

Gives +1/+1A attack.

The lunging unit will have attack priority (attacks and inflicts damage first).

If the defender flees or is eliminated after a lunge, the attacking unit can do an additional move with half its movement
value, but it cannot charge again.

If a unit lunges against an infantry unit with attack priority (e.g., a phalanx), both effects cancel each other out and the
combat is resolved normally (simultaneously).

SKIRMISHERS: are units that operate in very flexible formations, fast and able to move in the terrain without
maintaining a rigid line, but without ever separating too much to maintain the cohesion of the unit.

They can perform the special maneuvers detailed in the Movement Phase (movement in all directions, free
rotation, etc.) and shoot with normal movement instead of reduced movement.

They can split their movement between the phases before and after ranged attacks, so they can move, shoot and move
again until their movement points are depleted. It is advisable to use the Split Movement markers as a remider of how
much the unit has moved before shooting.

38
MANEUVERABLE: is an ability that certain mounted units have to quickly perform special maneuvers:

They can change formation (e.g., extend, reduce, or adopt another formation) and use their regular movement
that turn.

They can charge in the turn when they adopt or change formation.

PROFESSIONALS: well-trained units that rarely make mistakes in battle:

When they roll the dice to hit or damage in ranged attacks or melee combat, they may re-roll once for each die
that rolled a 1 (Failure).

FEAR: represents the fear that certain units cause to their enemies.

Units fighting in close combat with such units will always perform a morale check with a -1 penalty, even if they
were not damaged that turn.

STEADFAST: units with unbreakable morale.

They may break, but they will never flee unless the player handling them wants them to. They can hold out to
the last man.

BRASH: represent battle-hardened but undisciplined units:

During the Movement Phase, the active player's brash units will automatically charge (whether activated or not)
against any enemy within charging distance and with as many sections as possible.

If there is more than one enemy within charging distance, the owner of the brash unit decides.

This ability does not apply against units that are inside structures.

JAVELINS: these are short spears that were thrown before engaging in melee combat (like the Roman
pilum). Units with this ability can benefit from the "Throw Javelins" event, whether played in attack
or defense.

SPEARMEN: these are units with long spears, and very effective against mounted units.

They get +1/+1A in melee attacks against cavalry and other mounted units.

DEADLY: particularly aggressive units that are deadly in close combat.

In any melee combat, on the damage roll, "deadly" units inflict 2 wounds for each die on which they roll
a 6 (Critical).

ACCURACY: units with excellent marksmanship in attacking from a distance.

It only applies to units that did not move that turn.

Each 6 obtained in the damage roll inflicts double damage.

Your unit with the accuracy ability doesn’t move and shoots in the ranged attack phase. It rolls the dice and gets
3 hits. After rolling damage, it rolls 6, 1, 6, so it inflicts the opponent 4 wounds instead of only 2.

39
SARISSAS: are long pikes, which could go over 5 meters long, used by Macedonian and Greek units.

It provides all the benefits under the same circumstances as the spearmen ability.

Additionally, it improves the effects of the “Phalanx ” formation, turning the “attack priority” into a “single
attack”: When the unit has the phalanx formation active, it performs its attack without any possibility of
response from the adversary.

When a unit with sarissas has the phalanx formation activated and faces a unit with attack priority, the attack
becomes a priority attack, but with that priority in favor of the sarissas.

COMPLEMENTARY UNITS: these are units that can act together. One is the main unit and the other is the
auxiliary support unit (helping to transport heavy equipment, providing cover against projectiles, etc.).

When deployed, two complementary units can start stacked, completely overlapping, with the auxiliary unit
underneath and the main unit on top, perfectly aligned.

In the activation phase, it is only necessary to activate the main unit for both to be activated.

Stacking gives the main unit 1 extra DU for movement.

In the case of melee, take into account the attack and defense values of the main unit.

As long as they are together, both units will take any damage from ranged attacks or melee combat.

If they are capable of doing so, the auxiliary unit can also fire projectiles from underneath.

If they have javelins, you can play the event “Throw Javelins” .

In the Movement Phase, or due to a flight, the units can separate. If they do, they must separate completely
(they cannot overlap). If the units separate, they cannot rejoin for the rest of the battle, and will behave as
independent units. If wounded, both units will have that same number of wounds after being separated.

Unit Abilities Unit Abilities

40
 X - Modifiers
Below is a summary of the main modifiers, those that are not obtained through formations or unit abilities.

FLANKING: when a unit makes a melee or ranged attack from the flank (side of the card), the defender has a penalty
of -1/-1 C and -1D for each enveloped flank.

REARGUARD: when a unit makes a melee or ranged attack from the rear (rear of the card), the defender has a penalty of
-2/-2 C and -2D.

FORCED MARCH or FLIGHT: when a unit in forced march or in flight receives an attack, it has a penalty of
-2/-2 C and -2D.

ALLIES IN COMBAT: if two or more friendly units are in melee combat with the same target unit, the defender has a penalty
of -1/-1 C and -1D morale for each additional enemy unit they face.

In this example, the Punic Cavalry attacks with 5 sections, one of them extending its left flank to attack from the rear
(-2/-2 C), two sections attacking from the flank (-1/-1 C) and another two from the enemy's front section. Since there
is an ally attacking the same unit, the defender also has a -1/-1 C penalty. That is, the defender has a total penalty of
-4/-4 C against the attack with 5 dice, as well as -4 D, so it is quite likely that it will receive the 5 potential wounds.
In addition, the Romans are blocked, so they cannot maneuver or envelop. In its own combat, the other unit will attack
the Romans with 2 dice; the defender has a penalty of -2/-2 C (-1 from the flank attack and -1 from the other friendly
unitfighting against the same target).

41
 GENERAL: the Generals give specific benefits to the unit where they are, as described in the General's card.

Additionally, Generals improve the morale of other units:

All friendly units within their area of influence get +1D to their morale value. The area is measured from either side of the
General's card, and it is sufficient if it reaches part of the affected card.

If the General is fleeing, wounded or dead, all friendly units in the battle suffer a -1 penalty to all their morale checks.

CASUALTIES: the accumulated losses affect a unit’s morale and attacking capabilities:

Each wound gives -1D morale.

For every 3 wounds to a unit, it suffers a -1/-1AB penalty to its attack value in both melee and ranged attacks,
although the minimum attack value is always 1/1.

EXTENDED FORMATION: units in extended formations have -1 morale for each extended section. An extended
unit with a Section marker on each side will have -2 morale.

HERO: certain events can cause a hero to appear on a unit. Units with heroes have a bonus of +1/+1 defense
and +1 morale. There can only be one Hero marker per unit.

NO OFFICER: as a result of an event, the officers of a unit may be lost. Units with a No Officer marker have
a -1/-1 attack and defense penalty, both for melee and ranged attacks, and -1 morale. There can only be one
No Officer marker per unit.

BROKEN UNIT: units with a Broken Unit marker have -1/-1 attack and -1 morale. There can only be one
Broken Unit marker per unit. It should be noted that fleeing units have no additional penalties, apart from
those already caused by being broken.

Some General cards that you can find in ONUS!

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 XI - More info about Orders and Events
In this section you will find more information about some of the Action cards:

VETERANS AND ELITES (event): this event allows you turn a regular unit into a veteran, and a veteran unit into
an elite. These statuses do not give combat modifiers, but influence how events are played:

Veterans: if you have a veteran unit in combat, you can discard the random event and draw a new one.
The second card must be played, even if it is worse than the first.

Elite: it gives the same benefits as a veteran unit, but it also allows you to choose from these two options
before combat:

You can draw 2 events at random and apply the one you prefer. Only if the opposing unit is not also an elite.

Use 2 combat events from your hand, instead of 1.

At the start of the game, the players can agree to start with some veteran and/or elite units. Veteran units increase
their value by 30% and elite units by 50%.

For example, if you decide that your unit of Legionaries (value 100) is a veteran unit, it will cost 130 points, and 150
if you want it to be an elite.

AMBUSH (event): damage is applied immediately, after resolving the events, and combat is resolved as usual after
that. The defender unit will have the same penalties as a broken unit for their attack. Wounds generated this way are
considered to be part of the combat, so they count for determining who has to make a morale check.

THROW JAVELINS (event): it is a special attack that only benefits units with javelins. It is only valid in combats that
started that same turn after a charge (does not apply to units that were already engaged in combat).
If it appears as a random event, both units (with javelins) can make a short-range attack (with no events) and apply
the results (and if damage is done, the opponent will have to make a morale check).

Then proceed to melee combat as usual. In that combat, if the defender also has javelins, they will also have a
+1/+1 defense bonus by "softening" the enemy charge, in addition to making a ranged attack as above. If the event
is played from the hand, it only benefits whoever played it.

THE WIND CHANGES (event): for the purpose of determining range, the original and not the new target will be
taken as a reference. That is, if the original target was in short range you will roll 4 dice, even if the new target is farther
away or even out of range. In case there are no units of the active player within 1 DU of the original target, no attack is
performed (not even the original one).

STAMPEDE (order): the player who plays stampede must activate one of their units. All units, friendly or foe,
that have animals (horses, elephants, dromedaries...) and are within 4 DU of an edge of the activated unit’s card,
must make a standard morale check, with any applicable modifiers. Mounted units (including chariots) will have a -2D.
Any unit failing the check will become broken and start fleeing, which will be carried out immediately.

Then, the activated unit can move and fight normally in that turn.

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 XII - Other ways to play Onus!
In this section you will find a series of optional rules that players can agree to apply before the battle begins.
The most seasoned players can adapt them and even add new rules to improve the historical recreation or the fun (although
with caution so as not to unbalance the game).

A. Optional Rules
ROOKIE GENERAL
If one of the players is playing ONUS! for the first time, you can balance the game by increasing their army points.

ALWAYS ACTIVE GENERAL

The General unit is always active, without the need to play an order for it. By doing this, the General unit can move and
fight every turn. This variant can make the Generals more powerful, especially those of higher value. If a General
already has the ability to always activate the unit they are in, this rule allows the General to activate any additional unit
(one) each turn.

SEVERAL GENERALS
Each player can have several generals in their army. The one with the highest leadership will be the commander-in-chief.
The leadership of the army will be determined by the commander-in-chief. In case of a tie, you must choose one at the
start of the game. If the commander-in-chief dies, is wounded or flees, take the second highest leadership value as the
army's leadership thereafter. If the commander-in-chief recovers, they will return to lead the army. The penalty of -1
morale for the entire army due to the loss of the General will only apply if there are no Generals left. For the game to end
due to the loss of the General, all of them must die or flee. Morale bonuses for being close to a General are not cumulative
in case there are several Generals in range.

If the army consists of several armies, you can have one General for each of them. In this case, the General must always
be in a unit of their own army and their positive leadership (+1 morale) only applies to their army’s units. Likewise,
if the General dies, the -1 penalty will be applied to all units of their own army. You can also pair each General
with troops in a given area during initial deployment. For example, if your army has 3 Generals, you can assign one
General to each flank and the third one to the center of the army. You must clearly specify which units are commanded
by each of them.

To calculate the value of the army, add the values of the Generals to the units they will command.

PLAYING WITHOUT EVENTS

To reduce the randomness and duration of the game, it is possible to play without random events and only play those that the
players have in hand.

LIMITED VISIBILITY
To reflect how adverse conditions (rain, fog, dust...) affect visibility, you can apply the limited visibility rule. In these cases,
players may agree on specific conditions at the beginning of the game. For example, you want to simulate a battle in a foggy
day and you agree that: Shooting at more than 2 DU (-1 penalty to ranged attacks) and it is impossible to attack from a
distance of more than 6 DU.

44
FOG OF WAR
To reflect the real difficulty of distinguishing units at a distance in battle, the “fog of war” rule can be applied.

To do this, determine a distance beyond which there is fog of war (e.g. 6 DU) and apply the following rules:

All units start the game face down, showing the back of the card.

All enemy units that are at a distance greater than the fog of war from any of your own units remain hidden face down (you know
where they are, but not which units they are). As a general rule, and unless a historical scenario states otherwise, both armies will
stay hidden after the initial deployment.

Hidden units can move normally and will remain hidden until they are closer to an enemy unit than the fog of war distance.
When this happens (even mid-movement) reveal it immediately.

Units that become visible at any point cannot hide again, even if they move beyond the fog of war distance.

If a hidden unit makes a ranged attack, it must reveal itself before the attack.

Ranged attacks against hidden unit have a -1/-1 attack penalty.

If a hidden unit receives a ranged attack, it must be revealed if it has suffered at least one hit.

PROTECTED FLANKS
In the battles of Antiquity it was customary to advance in formation showing only one front and protecting the flanks.
This improved the morale and defense of the unit. For this reason, you can apply this rule to reflect that fact.

A unit engaged in close combat is considered to have protected flanks when:

The enemy attack is limited to the front of the unit. There is no direct contact, not even with Section markers, on the flanks
or in the rear.

There is a friendly unit positioned on the unit's flank, in such a way that it is not possible to place an Enveloping marker on
that flank (less than 2 cm).

The unit with a protected flank receives +1D morale for each protected flank it has.

ADVANCING IN LINE
To get your army to advance while maintaining the formation, without playing too many Action cards, you can imple-
ment this rule. In the Activation Phase, discard 2 Action cards to carry out the order Advance in Line, which allows you
to activate a whole line of units that are not in combat, with the following limitations:

You can activate all or part of the units “in line”. All movements must be made in the same direction (move forwards, diagonal-
ly, backwards...) and move as many DU as the movement of the slowest unit in the line.

Units can perform ranged attacks and even charge if the movement allows them to make contact with the enemy.

45
A line is defined as an indeterminate number of units that meet the following conditions:

Each unit must be at a distance of less than 1 DU, from any point on its flank to the flank of another friendly unit.

Each unit is connected to two units, one on the right and one on the left flank, except at the ends of the line, where only
one connection is required.

X A C
D

In this example you decide to move your army forward and discard two Action cards to advance in line. Your line is formed
by units A, B, C and D. Unit X is too far away. You could also have formed the line with Y instead of B, but not with both
since each unit only connects with one on each flank. You can also decide to form the line with only A and B (you don't have
to extend it to the maximum). But you would not be able to activate A and C, since they do not connect to each other and
you are required to activate everything you define as part of the line. In the movement phase, your entire line moves in the
same direction. In this case, you decide to “balance” your line. In addition, you make a standard movement with D as well,
but you start its movement with a 90º rotation to align it with the rest.

INTIMIDATING DROMEDARIES
Greek historian Herodotus (5th c. BCE) said that, in battle, the Lydian horses were scared by the smell and noises of
the Persian camels. Whether or not this anecdote from the father of History is true, we couldn’t resist incorporating
an optional rule to reflect this fact:

Camel (or dromedary) units are unsettling for horses. Enemy horse units (including chariots) engaged in melee
combat with a camel unit will suffer Fear, i.e., they have a -1 morale penalty and are forced to check their morale after
every combat.

REINFORCED UNITS
All units have 2 health points more than what their card says. Thus, fights may last longer, but there will also be more fleeing.
This increases the strategic relevance of morale, although it may lengthen games.

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B. Games with 4 or 6 Players
We highly recommend this game mode, it makes the games more fun since players on the same team can cooperate.
In these games the agreed army points must be distributed among the allied players of each team.

DEPLOYMENT ZONE: the easiest and most common way to do this is for each player to be in charge of one flank and,
if there are 3 players per team, for one of them to lead the central section of the army on the battlefield and the other two
to lead one flank each.

TYPES OF UNITS: another option, not exclusive with the previous one, and quite common in Antiquity, is that one
General commands the infantry units, another the mounted units and/or the other the ranged units.

DIFFERENT ARMIES: if there are mercenaries, auxiliary troops or other armies within one army, you can group those units
under one general per army.

The distribution of army points for allies in a team does not have to be balanced, but the total must not exceed the agreed
upon total for the battle.

The turn order may be carried out in 3 ways:

TEAM TURNS: the recommended option for convenience and agility of play is for allies to play their turns together,
phase by phase. That is, a new phase does not begin until all players on a team have completed the current phase.

ALLIED TURNS: another option is for allied players to play one after the other, and then the same for the other team.
Each player's turn is resolved as usual.

ALTERNATING TURNS: it is possible to agree on alternating turns, i.e., first player A of team X plays, then player B
of team Y, player C of team X and finally player D of team Y.

C. Games with 3 or 5 Players

You can play ONUS! battles even with an odd number of players. In this case you can choose between 2 options:

PLAYER WITH 2 GENERALS: the team with fewer players will have a player managing 2 Generals, with 2 hands of
cards, as a game with 1 additional player, with each General activating their own army.

FREE-FOR-ALL: you can play a battle in which several armies all fight against each other. Play alternating turns and ensure
that the initial deployment is equidistant, or as agreed by the players.

The turn order and the distribution of troops can be done in the same way as described for the 4 or 6 player games.

47
 Important Rules Summary
ACTIVATE UNITS:
You cannot activate a unit more than once per turn, nor can you play 2 order cards on the same unit in the same turn.

SECTIONS:
Roll as many dice as sections are in contact. Both the attacker and the defender always roll the same number of dice.

COMBATS:
Unless otherwise specified by the unit's ability or card effect, attacks are simultaneous.

EVENTS:
Events are played in combats between 2 units or in ranged attacks. A combat can have from 1 to 3 events (unless Elite
units are involved). Two duplicate events cannot be played in the same turn. The active player is considered the attacker.

: can be played by the attacker, only in melee combat.

: can be played by the defender, both against melee or ranged attacks.

: applies in ranged attacks.

Charges: only applies if the combat started in the same turn after a charge.

MODIFIERS:
The modifiers applied to attack, defense and morale will be the same for all sections or dice rolled. A unit’s minimum
value after the modifiers is 1.

MORALE CHECK:
Perform a morale check for every combat if it’s simultaneous. If not, perform a morale check for every attack that
caused damage. Events may alter this rule.

CRITICALS AND FAILURES:

When rolling to attack, a 1 is always a failure and a 6 is always a hit or an automatic wound, regardless of the result.

PHASES:
The active player must play all the phases in the established order and, once finished, draw the corresponding number of
cards before passing the turn to the opposing player.

SKIRMISHERS:
They can make a regular movement even if they shoot or make movements in any direction.

FORMATION CHANGES:
They must be performed at the start or the end of the movement.

MOVING THROUGH UNITS:

You cannot move through friendly units that are in a specific formation (blue markers).

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 Alphabetic Index

NOTE: the most relevant pages for each concept are shown in bold type.

A C
Abilities: 6, 7, 38 Casualities (see "Wounds")

Accuracy: 39 Charge: 18, 20

Activating broken units: 13 Combat, development: 29

Activation: 9, 12, 21, 22, 44 Command, order: 9, 12

Complementary units: 40
Activation phase: 12

Advancing in line: 45
D
Allies in combat: 41 Damage (see "Wounds")

Ambush (event): 43 Deadly: 39

Amphibious: 38 Diamond: 37

Area of influence: 8 Dice for melee combat: 30

Armies: 5, 10 Dromedaries: 46

Arrowhead: 37
E
Athletes: 38
Elephant trampling: 34
Attack of opportunity: 24, 25
Elephants: 34, 35
Attack, Value: 7
Elite: 43

B End of the turn phase: 12, 35

Brash: 39 Enveloping: 21, 23

Bravery: 37 Events: 9, 26, 29, 43, 44, 48

Broken unit: 27, 32, 42 Extending (or Reducing) a formation: 17

49
 F L
Fear: 39, 46 Leadership : 8

Flanks: 28, 41, 45 Leadership check: 10

Limited visibility: 44
Fleeing unit, recovering: 34
Line of sight (LOS): 26
Flight: 12, 25, 28, 32, 34
Long-range: 26, 27
Flight, marker: 27, 33
Lunge: 38
Flight phase: 6, 13, 32, 33, 34

Fog of war: 45 M
Forced march: 14, 15 Maneuverable: 39

Formation, blue marker: 36, 37 Melee combat, sequence: 29

Melee phase: 29
Formation, change: 17
Morale: 7, 8, 9
Free rotation: 16
Morale Check: 12, 13, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 39,
G 43, 46, 48

Generals: 8, 44 Mountaineers: 38

Mounted units: 6
General's points modifier: 8
Movement in all directions: 15, 38
Generals, marker: 8, 11
Movement phase: 12, 13

H Movement, types: 14
Health: 7, 31
Moving through units: 13, 32, 34, 48
Health, order: 9
No officer, marker: 42

Hero: 42 Non-active units in combat: 13

Hero, marker: 42
O
J Orders: 9

Javelins: 39, 40, 43 Overlapping: 13

50
 P Spearmens: 39

Phalanx: 36 Special formations: 6, 17, 36

Professionals: 39 Special maneuvers: 15, 16, 17, 18

Split Movement, marker: 6, 28, 38

R
Square, formation: 37
Ranged attack: 7, 18, 25
Stampede (order): 43
Ranged attack range: 7, 25, 26
Steadfast: 39
Ranged attack, consequences: 27
Sylvan: 38
Ranged attack phase: 12, 25

Ranged attack, resolution: 27 T

The wind changes (event): 43
Rearguard: 28, 41
Throw javelins (event): 43
Reduced Movement: 15

Reducing an extended unit: 22 U

Regular movement: 14 Unit value: 7, 10

Reinforced units: 46 Units engaged in combat: 12, 21

Repositioning: 22, 23
V
Retreat: 25 Veterans: 43

S Victory conditions: 10

Sarissas: 40 Voluntary flight: 33

Section: 7, 20, 21
W
Section, marker: 17, 20, 22, 30 Wall of shields: 36

Short-range: 25, 26 Withdrawal: 24

Skirmishers: 12, 25, 38, 48 Wound, marker: 27, 31

Skirmishers phase: 12, 28 Wounds ("Damage", "Casualities"): 7, 20, 25, 27, 29, 31

51
 Modifiers Summary

MELEE ATTACK MELEE DEFENSE

for every 3 Wounds. if the unit has a Hero.
if the unit has No Officer. if the unit is Marching.
if the unit is Broken. if the attack comes from the Flank.
PHALANX: and damages first in the same turn it if the attack comes from the Rear.
charges, both as attacker and defender. if there are Other Enemies attacking the unit.
if the unit has No Officer.
ARROWHEAD: when charging.
SQUARE FORMATION: against mounted units.
SPEARMEN: against mounted units.

LUNGE: when charging against infantry WALL OF SHIELDS:

and damages first.

RANGED ATTACK RANGED DEFENSE

for every 3 wounds. if the unit has a Hero.
if the unit has No Officer. if the unit is Marching.
if its Line of Sight is blocked. if the attack comes from the Flank.
if the attack comes from the Rear.
if the unit has No Officer.
SQUARE FORMATION:
WALL OF SHIELDS:

MORALE
if the units is within a General ’s area of influence. if the attack comes from the Rear.
if the unit has a Hero. if there are Other Enemies attacking the unit.
if the General is wounded, dead, or fleeing. for every Extended Section.
if the attacker causes Fear. for every Wound.
if the unit is Marching. if the unit has No Officer.
if the attack comes from the Flank. if the unit is Broken.

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