Orders

A unit is always under one order. Advance is the order units start with. How to give an order is on Giving Orders. An order given to a unit is also given to the rest of its line. See Lines.

Advance. The unit marches forward. It shoots at engagement range, then keeps marching when it has nothing to shoot. If a friendly is close ahead on the same row, it stops; it does not switch rows to go around. In a line that is already Perfect Line, once any mate has opened fire the others that are Perfect Line with it hold and shoot with it. Units still closing up keep marching. Advance does not stop or dress the line just to square it when nobody is shooting. Engagement range and Perfect Line are on The Map. What they shoot is on Shooting.

Halt. The unit stops and shoots at full range. Guerillas Halted in the open only shoot enemies within stealth range (50 paces); occupying a terrain feature lets them Halt-shoot at full range. It recovers fatigue over time (blue + signs). See Shooting and Fatigue and Breaking.

Charge. The unit rushes forward at charge speed, seeking melee, and does not shoot until it is in contact. It ignores friendly footprints unless that friendly is also Charging or either unit is in melee. It gains fatigue while it moves. A charge hit in melee gains the unit's charge bonus. Charge does not end when fatigue is full. See Melee and Fatigue and Breaking.

Charge seeking picks a prey in the same lane: an In-Line enemy more than one row away first; otherwise same-row, then In-Line, then an enemy behind, then the nearest ahead. On the prey's row it closes in; if it has already passed the prey it reverses; if blocked it steps toward an open adjacent row. Off the prey's row, when it is In Line with the prey or has already passed it, it steps one row toward that prey; otherwise it keeps rushing forward and sidesteps when blocked. Once in Melee it holds and swings.

Fall Back. The unit moves backward at half speed and ignores friendly footprints. It may shoot at engagement range, but reloads at half speed. Skirmishers reload at full speed. See Units and Shooting.

Retreat. The unit moves backward at charge speed and ignores friendly footprints. It keeps moving while in melee. Melee attacks and leaving melee range do not stop or cancel Retreat. It gains fatigue while it moves, and Falls Back when it reaches its own end of the lane. Fall Back while in melee orders Retreat on that unit alone. Broken units Retreat on their own until the fatigue bar is full or they reach their own end of the lane, then Fall Back. See Fatigue and Breaking.

Reform. The furthest-forward units in the line stop. The furthest-back units move at full speed. Everyone else moves at half speed. Units stay on their own row and only walk forward or hold until they match the front's place along the lane — they do not snap into place, switch rows, or ease behind the line to get around a friendly. When the whole line is level with the front, every unit Halts. Reform only recruits same-type units on adjacent rows that are In Line; an empty row still splits the chain. See Lines and The Map.

Order passing. Troops only (including Grenadiers). An Advancing Troop that newly walks into Perfect Line with a Halted or Reforming Troop on an adjacent row takes that Halt or Reform on itself alone. A unit already in Perfect Line that is given a new order does not immediately take Halt or Reform again. A long-press (solo) Advance issued while already In Line behind a Halted or Reforming Troop on an adjacent row does not order-pass when that Troop later reaches Perfect Line — that unit may walk past the line. A normal line Advance still order-passes. It does not hand the order to other troops already In Line with it; further joining uses Reform's normal rules. Movement while Reforming does not trigger order passing. Other unit types do not order-pass. Perfect Line and In Line are on The Map.

Switch row. This does not replace the current order. Swiping a line that is not yet squared Reforms it first, then moves one adjacent row once the line is square. A line that is already squared moves one adjacent row immediately. A long-pressed unit moves alone, still only one row. If the adjacent row in the swipe direction already holds a matching unit that is In Line, the line Reforms instead and does not queue a row change. While finding a gap, units ignore friendly footprints and keep going in the same along-lane direction until the row is open. If one end of the line must ease forward or back around a unit that is not part of the shift, the whole line eases the same way with it until that row is clear, then they all change rows together. A new order cancels the switch. A unit in melee cannot switch. See Melee and Giving Orders.

Melee orders

A unit in Melee keeps its order. The only order you may give it is Fall Back, and that applies to that unit alone. Fall Back in melee is Retreat. Other orders given in melee are ignored. Retreat keeps moving through the fight, and melee attacks or leaving melee range do not stop or cancel it. When a unit that is not Charging or Retreating leaves melee because the enemy is no longer in reach, it Halts. A unit that suddenly blocks against a friendly already in melee while still overlapping that friendly peels away along the lane until clear; its order does not change.