Army List Structure

(Rule)
Description: Each army is divided into several Army Categories, restricting the selection of units in a way that enables players to enjoy a balanced and fair gaming experience. At the same time, they still ensure that armies used in the game can employ a wide variety of styles. This could represent a single Character and its hunting party or large armies numbering in their thousands clashing for the fate of the world.

All armies in The 9th Age: Fantasy Battles are subject to the basic composition rules detailed in this section.

Army Points

Before building an army, you will want to decide with your opponent on the size of the battle, referred to as Army Points. The combined Point Costs of every unit in your army, as described in , must not exceed the Army Points. An army may fall below the limit by up to 40 points.

Army Categories

An Army List is divided into Army Categories, and every unit on the Army List belongs to one or more Army Categories. These are marked by icons in the unit entries in the Army Book. The number of points a player can spend on each of these Army Categories is defined in each Army Book.

The Army Categories are divided into three groupings: the commanders and the outstanding individuals (Characters), the backbone of the force (Core and Special), and the thematic unique additions (Army-Specific). All armies must have units from the Characters and Core Army Categories in their Army List.

Characters

If the attack was allocated towards or distributed onto a Character, the attacked model loses 1 Health Point for each unsaved wound. If the model reaches 0 Health Points, it is removed as a casualty. Keep track of models that have lost Health Points, but not enough to reach 0 Health Points (placing Health Point markers next to such models works fine). These lost Health Points will be taken into account for future attacks. If the model is removed as a casualty, any excess Health Point losses are ignored.

This Army Category always has a maximum amount of points that can be spent on it, usually 40% of the Army Points.

Each army must contain at least one Character that is eligible to be the army's General (see ).

Unless specifically stated otherwise, entries that belong to this Army Category are Characters (see Characters).

Characters represent the leaders and exceptional individuals who, through their particular sets of skills, influence the course of battle using either brute force, tactical acumen, spell casting ability, or engineering knowledge. It is they who muster the army, and your force will always include at least one representative of this Army Category to serve as your army General.

Core

This Army Category always has a minimum amount of points that must be spent on it, usually 25% of the Army Points.

The Core represents the most readily available warriors a faction has access to and will form the bulk of combatants under the command of the Characters in the force. No matter where or why the faction fights, the Core are those units that will always be present in some combination as part of the fighting force. They are also those warriors that a society can provide for battle in the greatest numbers. While armies can overwhelmingly be formed out of the Core units, it is rarely the case as each commander seeks to deploy a force that contains as many of their finest or more specialised warriors as possible, depending on the resources available to them.

Special

This Army Category has no maximum or minimum limit. You are free to spend any amount of points on units in this Army Category, so long as the requirements of the army composition are met.

The Special Army Category represents more specialised warriors. A faction can call upon large numbers of these warriors and they can often be the most numerous segment of the entire fighting force. However, their numbers are still limited, and though some of these units can form an entire battle line, there just isn't enough of them to form armies on their own.

Army-Specific

This Army Category has a maximum amount of points that can be spent on it; the limit is defined within individual Army Books.

All armies have one or more Army-Specific Categories.

The Army-Specific Categories are introduced to provide additional limitations in the process of army building. These limitations are designed to be reflective of the nature of the faction in question, and with the goal of ensuring greater balance of the game. There are three types of Army-Specific Categories: one type is simply an additional grouping of units connected with a certain theme. These are given a thematic name reflective of the army they are part of or the function they perform (e.g. Orcs and Goblins -- Death from Above). The second type of Army-Specific Categories provides limitations linked with a certain function a unit from another Army Category performs within the army (e.g. Beast Herds -- Ambush Predators). And the third type of Army-Specific Categories is a mix of the above.

Units Belonging to more than one Army\ Category

Some units can be included in more than one Army Category, which is represented by more than one icon in their entry. In these cases, simply count the unit's Point Cost towards the limits of all its Army Categories, but only once towards the army's Point Cost.

Adding Army Categories

Choosing certain options can make a unit count towards another Army Category in addition to its original Army Category. For example, giving a unit Shooting Weapons might make it also count towards the Ranged Support Army Category. This is marked by a small icon of the additional Army Category, displayed underneath the original Army Category icon(s), together with the conditions for counting towards this additional Army Category.

Splitting Point Cost between Army\ Categories

In some rare cases, a unit's Point Cost can be split between different Army Categories, where the Point Cost for some particular option is additionally counted towards a different Army Category than the unit. This is marked in the unit entry by a split icon, with the two halves representing the two Army Categories the unit counts towards.

For example, a 250 pts Elf Character, counted towards the Characters Army Category, decides to ride a 500 pts Dragon, which is an option marked to count additionally towards Beasts and Monsters. In this case, the player must count the entire unit's Point Cost (250 + 500 = 750 pts) towards Characters, and the Dragon's Point Cost (500 pts) towards Beasts and Monsters.

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Common unit entry.

Duplication Limits and\ Restrictions

Certain units and options are limited in number in the army.

0--X Items per Army

Some items in the Army Books are marked with 0--X items per Army (e.g. 0--2 Units per Army, 0--2 Models per Army, 0--2 Mounts per Army). Such items can be included from zero to X times in the same army. The maximum limit (X) is halved for Warbands and doubled for Grand Armies, rounding fractions up (see below).

One of a Kind

Items (units, upgrades, equipment, etc.) marked as One of a Kind may only be taken once per army. This is not changed for Warbands or Grand Armies.

Minimum Army Size

Every army must contain a minimum of 4 units. Characters do not count towards this minimum. All units with the War Machine Universal Rule together count as a single unit for this purpose.

The General

A single Character in the army must be named the General. At least one Character must be included in the army that is eligible to fulfill this role. Who is the General must be noted on the Army List.

The General gains Commanding Presence.