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How to Read Unit Entries

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Description: ../pics/unit_entry_header.texHeader of a common unit entry.

../pics/unit_profile.tex
Unit profile of a common unit entry.

Every unit in the game has a certain set of Characteristics and possibly optional or mandatory upgrades, and, as explained above, every unit is part of an Army Category. In addition, the models in that unit may be equipped with particular weapons and armour, and they may have one or more Model Rules, as you will learn in later chapters of this Rulebook (see Model Rules).

Every unit is represented by its unit entry in its Army Book, and these unit entries contain all the information pertaining to that unit, including the data above as well as further information like Model Type and Height, base size, restrictions regarding the number of models or certain equipment, and so on.

This section will explain how the most common information in unit entries is presented in the Army Books of T9A.

Common Unit Entries

Unit entries usually consist of a header, the unit profile, and options, as illustrated in figure figure/common_unit_entry.

Header

The header of a unit entry usually contains all the general information on the unit (see figure figure/unit_entry_header).

1 - Unit name

This is the name of the unit that will be used e.g. when choosing the unit to perform an action like Charging, or when targeting the unit with a spell or a Shooting Attack.

2 - Army Category

Every unit is part of an Army Category, like Characters, Core, or Special, which is important e.g. for building an army or for certain Model Rules. Each Army Category is represented by an icon that corresponds to the respective Army Category as shown in each Army Book's section on Army Organisation.

Note that some units may belong to more than one Army Category (see ). In this case, the icons of all these Army Categories will be depicted.

3 - Unit size

The unit size tells you the minimum and the maximum size of the unit when building an army. The minimum unit size corresponds to the number of models that the unit must contain at least. And accordingly, the maximum unit size represents the number of models that the unit can consist of at the most.

In the example in figure figure/unit_entry_header, a unit of Tin Men must consist of at least 15 models when building the army, while you can add up to 35 models, attaining the unit's maximum size of 50 models.

4 - Unit cost

The unit cost tells you how many points you have to pay for adding the unit to your army in its minimum size, and how many points each additional model will cost. For some units in the game, an additional model will cost the same amount of points as a model that is part of the unit's minimum size, while for others additional models may be more or less expensive than the initial models.

In the example in figure figure/unit_entry_header, a unit of Tin Men consisting of the minimum size of 15 models will cost 120 points, while each additional Tin Man model will cost 10 points. So for instance a unit of 25 Tin Men will cost a total of 220 points (120 points for the first 15 models and 100 pts for the 10 additional models).

5 - Scoring

Some units have a certain Model Rule called Scoring, which is relevant for winning Secondary Objectives during the game (see Scoring and ). Units with this Model Rule will be marked with a pennant icon.

6 - Unit cap

Certain units can only be selected a limited number of times in an army. In this case, you will find a 0--X Units/Army cap in the unit entry. In the example, an army may contain up to four units Tin Men, regardless of their size, equipment, etc.

7 - Model specifications

Every model in the game has a specific Height, Type, and base size, which are relevant for a wide variety of game mechanics and Model Rules.

Unit Profile

The unit profile contains the models' Characteristic Profiles and Model Rules, including their mundane equipment (see figure figure/unit_profile).

../pics/unit_entry_options.tex
Options in a common unit entry.

8 - Characteristic Profiles

The Characteristic Profiles of each unit entry contain the values of all of a unit's Global, Defensive, and Offensive Characteristics. Note that the values displayed here represent the models' unmodified Characteristic values, excluding any modifiers e.g. from Model Rules and equipment:

• For instance, in case of Armour, the Characteristic value displayed here represents the models' innate armour (granted e.g. from scales or a tough hide). Any armour from Armour Equipment, like Light Armour in the example above, will have to be added on top of the Armour value displayed in the Defensive Profile. In this example, the models will have an Armour of 3 (2 from the models' innate armour and 1 from their Light Armour), which will give them a 4+ Armour Save against attacks without any Armour Penetration (see ).

• The profile also displays the models' unmodified Strength and Armour Penetration. Any Strength and Armour Penetration modifiers, e.g. from weapons, will have to be added on top. In our example, the models' Close Combat Attacks will have a Strength value of 4 and an Armour Penetration value of 1, due to the innate Strength of 3 and the +1 Strength and Armour Penetration modifiers from the Halberds the models are equipped with.

9 - Model Rules

In this part of the unit entry, the unit's Model Rules are displayed:

• The Global Model Rules comprise the unit's Universal Rules (in alphabetical order).

• The Defensive Model Rules comprise the unit's Personal Protections and Armour Equipment. In case a unit has more than one Model Rule from these categories, Personal Protections will be listed first (in alphabetical order), followed by the unit's Armour Equipment (in alphabetical order).

• The Offensive Model Rules comprise the unit's Attack Attributes, Special Attacks, and weapons. In case a unit has more than one Model Rule from these categories, Attack Attributes and Special Attacks will be listed first (in alphabetical order), followed by the unit's weapons (in alphabetical order).

In some unit entries, you will notice certain Model Rules in bold, like Tin Man's Heart in the example above. Bold font is used here to highlight army-specific Model Rules that are defined in the unit entry.

Options

In this part of the unit profile illustrated in figure figure/unit_entry_options, you will find all the optional and mandatory upgrades that can be bought for a unit when building the army.

10 - Command Group options

Certain units have one or more Command Group Options in their unit entry, which allow them to upgrade one model of the unit to a Champion, another model to a Musician, and another model to a Standard Bearer. This means that a single R&F model cannot be upgraded to be a Musician and a Standard Bearer at the same time. In addition, each unit can only upgrade models to a single Champion, a single Musician, and a single Standard Bearer.

Note that upgrading the unit with a Champion/Musician/Standard Bearer does not grant you extra models for the unit as you upgrade models that are already part of the unit.

Some Command Group models have additional options for upgrades, for instance the Standard Bearer in the example above can purchase a Banner Enchantment. These options are listed indented underneath the corresponding Command Group model. In order to have access to such an additional upgrade, you must first upgrade a model to the corresponding Command Group model, and only then you can buy the upgrade for that model.

../pics/complex_unit_entry.tex
Character unit entry.

11 - Unrestricted options

Many units have options to upgrade their models with weapons, armour, certain Model Rules, etc. In some cases, the Point Cost per unit is indicated, regardless of the number of models, while in others, like in the example above, the unit entry gives the Point Cost per model.

Note that if you choose to buy such an upgrade, you must always upgrade all models of the unit accordingly.

12 - Restricted options

Certain options may come with restrictions. These may for instance be associated with an altered maximum number of models per unit (in the example above 25 instead of 50), or with a restriction regarding the number of units with the upgrade an army may contain (up to 2 units in the example above). Another possible restriction is an upper limit on the total number of models with a given upgrade per army. In this case, the sum of all models of all units with that upgrade in the army may not exceed that upper limit.

Other options cannot be combined with one another. These are listed indented underneath One choice only in the unit entry. In the example above, the models in the unit may be upgraded either with Shields or with Paired Weapons, they may however not gain Shields and Paired Weapons.

In case there are several groups of these One choice only upgrades for a unit, the unit may be given up to one choice of each group.

13 - Model Rules

In case a unit profile contains any unit-specific Model Rules, these rules will be explained in this part of the unit entry.

../pics/unit_entry_multipart_model.tex
Unit entry of a Multipart Model.

Complex Unit Entries

In addition to the elements detailed above, certain units may have additional distinctive features that will be explained based on the Character unit entry in figure figure/complex_unit_entry.

a) Certain units, like Characters, consist only of a single model. These units are labelled as single model units. They follow the same rules as units consisting of multiple models, but there may be certain differences, like Characters being able to join other units.

b) Just like regular units, Characters may have a unit cap. This cap applies to all Characters of this type, regardless of their upgrades, equipment, and mounts. In this example, this means that you can only have up to 3 Wicked Witches in your army, e.g. one of them on foot and two on Witches' Brooms.

c) Models that can cast spells are referred to as Wizards. Wizards come in 3 different types: Wizard Apprentice, Adept, and Master. The Model Rules tell you which Wizard type the model has by default (in this example, the Wicked Witch is a Wizard Apprentice), while the Magic Options show you which types the model can be upgraded to. In case you upgrade your Wizard, the upgrade replaces the default Wizard type. In addition, you will also find in this section the Paths that the Wizard has to choose a single one from. The Wizard will select its spells from this chosen Path (see Spell Selection).

d) Certain models, like most Characters, have access to Weapon Enchantments, Armour Enchantments, Artefacts, etc. These upgrades are referred to as Special Items (see Special Items and The 9th Age: Fantasy Battles -- Arcane Compendium). If a model can buy Special Items, you will find this information in the unit entry's options, together with the maximum amount of points a model can spend on them.

e) Characters are usually on foot by default. Most of them can however be given a mount. The Mount Options will tell you which mounts are available for a Character and how many points you have to pay for them. Note that a Character may always only take a single mount.

f) As explained above, unit entries will contain unit-specific Model Rules. In addition, you will sometimes also find Optional Model Rules. In order to gain these Model Rules, you must buy the corresponding upgrade for the model.

Unit Entries with Multipart Models

The examples above show entries of units with models consisting of a single model part, but there are also many Multipart Models in the game (see ). The unit entry of a Character mount, the Winged Monkey Chariot from the example in figure figure/unit_entry_multipart_model, will be used to explain the particularities of this type of unit entry.

a) Like for any other unit entry, there may be restrictions on the number of Character mounts that can be part of an army. In the example above, the army may only contain up to a single Character, regardless of the type, on a Winged Monkey Chariot. This restriction only applies to Character mounts, so if an Army Book contains the Character mount additionally as a unit in another Army Category, you are allowed to take this unit in addition to the Character mount in your army.

b) In case of a Multipart Model Character, many of a model's Characteristic values will be determined by the mount's Characteristics, unless they are marked with C or C+X in the mount's profile (see ), which refers to the value in the Character's profile. In this example, the mount does not have a proper Discipline Value, but the Multipart Model uses the Character's Discipline, which is 8.

c) Models consisting of a single model part have one Global, Defensive, and Offensive Profile each. Multipart Models also have one Global and Defensive Profile each, which apply to the entire Multipart Model. However, they do have a separate Offensive Profile for each identical model part. The mount above has 5 model parts: 2 Crew members and 2 Winged Monkeys (as indicated by the 2 in brackets) and a Chassis, which all have their own Offensive Profile.