Back To Basics: The Priority Phase and Move Phase

Good morning gamers,

In our last post, we talked about how you build an army and what a model's profile looks like. Today we're covering the first two phases in a battle round: the Priority Phase and the Move Phase. While these two phases are technically separate, they often flow together because the player who wins priority on certain turns can dictate how the round goes. So, let's dig in and learn how to play!

The Priority Phase: Who's Going First?

The Priority Phase is pretty simple: both players roll a die and the player with the higher number "wins priority." In the case of a tie, the player who did not have priority on the previous turn "wins priority" (reroll as many times as needed on the first turn until one player gets a higher roll than the other).

The player with priority gets to:

• Move all of his models before his opponent;
• Shoot with all models that can shoot before his opponent; and
• Choose the order in which combats are resolved.

In our last post, we talked about how "Might points" can be used to call "Heroic Actions" - three of which can interrupt the normal flow of the game (these are the three oldest heroic actions in the game and two of these - Heroic Moves and Heroic Combats - have remained some of the most popular heroic actions in the game):

• Any hero can spend a Might point to call a "Heroic Move," which allows that hero to move before the player with priority gets to move AND if the hero wishes, he may call "With Me!" to allow friendly models within 6" to also move before the player with priority gets to move (so long as the models that move early end their movement within 6" of the hero who called the Heroic Move. A Heroic Move can be cancelled if the hero who has called a Heroic Move is charged.
• Any hero can spend a Might point to call a "Heroic Shoot," which allows that hero (if he has a ranged weapon) to shoot before the player with priority gets to shoot AND if the hero wishes, he may call "Loose!" to allow friendly models within 6" who can shoot to also shoot before the player with priority gets to shoot. A Heroic Shoot can only be cancelled if the hero calling the Heroic Shoot is killed before he has a chance to resolve it.
• Any hero can spend a Might point to call a "Heroic Combat," which allows that hero to resolve his fight before the player with priority starts choosing the order of the combats and if he kills all enemy models he's engaged with (which is the fancy way of saying "in base contact with"), he and any friendly models that are engaged in the same fight get to perform a move and (if they wish) charge other models. Unlike Heroic Moves, you don't have to stay within a certain distance of the hero who called the Heroic Combat. A Heroic Combat can be cancelled if a hero finds himself without anyone to fight when he begins to resolve his Combat (which is very hard to do, but is technically possible).
• Note: If both players call a Heroic Move/Shoot/Combat on the same turn, a roll is made to determine who resolves a Heroic Move/Shoot/Combat first, with players alternating between their choices until both players have resolved them all (generally speaking, the Good player gets to resolve first on a 4-6, while the Evil player gets to resolve first on a 1-3). 

Pretty simple, but there's a lot of nuance here. For example, there are turns when you want to get priority AND turns when you don't want to get priority.

When Do You Want Priority?

• If you're running a cavalry-heavy army, your cavalry get extra bonuses if they charge (move into base contact with) enemy models, so if you have cavalry models that are able to be charged by enemy models, you want priority.
• If you have lots of throwing weapons in your army that can be charged, you won't get to use them if you're charged, so you probably want priority.
• If you need to tie down a big enemy hero and keep them from slamming into lots of your models (or one very vulnerable model), you want priority.
• If you need to tie down enemy models so that other friendly models can charge towards an objective, you want priority.
• If you have models that have been knocked Prone (usually because they survived a cavalry charge or have been knocked down by a Magical Power) and can be charged by enemy models, you want priority (otherwise, they will be unable to attempt to wound their assailants and will count as Trapped if they lose the fight - which usually results in them dying).
• Note: If you have any of the above and you DON'T get priority, you probably want to call a Heroic Move (which means you need to have a hero in a good position to call it).

So basically, you want priority right? Not necessarily . . .

When Do You NOT Want Priority?

• If you're running a cavalry-heavy army and your opponent is not able to charge you, you don't want priority - by your opponent committing to where he's going to be first, you know where you can charge (and who you can charge) or even whether you will be able to charge at all. You will also know that the enemy cannot charge your cavalry with cavalry of his own (which usually cancels out the benefits of the cavalry charge). Generally speaking, a good cavalry charge happens on a turn when you don't have priority.
• If you have lots of throwing weapons and your models can't be charged, you don't want priority - once again, if you know where your opponent is, you can move to just-barely-within-range and shoot at the models you want.
• If it's early in the game and there is no way you can be charged, you don't want priority - again, it helps to know where your opponent is so you can react to his movements.
• Note: If you didn't want priority and you get it, there is no Heroic Action you can call that makes your opponent get it - so you can encourage your opponent to call a Heroic Action if you wish to react, but most of the time, you're out of luck.

In general players want priority. As has been highlighted, there are a few cases where players don't want priority, and probably the biggest situation where you don't want priority is on the first turn of a scenario with "maelstrom of battle" deployment. Very few scenarios have it, but it means that (for most armies), no models start on the board. Instead, models roll to see where they show up (if they show up that turn) - and since most models can't charge on the turn they arrive, it helps to not have priority so you can react to your opponent (which we kind of already covered above). It's doubly important, though, in maelstrom, since you can use Might to modify your roll, allowing your warbands to concentrate their arrival near a lone enemy warband (or avoid your opponent's army if he arrived together). It is possible to reduce your arrival value with Might to not arrive on the first turn, but since most of the "maelstrom" missions reward you for getting somewhere quickly on the map, this comes at a risk.

The last thing we're going to talk about with regard to priority is that there are ways you can design an army to not "need" priority. Obviously, if you're running a cavalry-heavy Rohan army, you will probably have a few turns when you really NEED priority in order to get the most out of your army. However, there are a few strategies you can employ (for virtually any army) that makes losing the priority roll (from a movement perspective) okay:

• Terror: your opponent's models need to pass a Courage test in order to charge any models that have the Terror special rule (and be unable to move if they fail the Courage test), which means if you move first and charge your opponent, he doesn't have to test for Terror. If you don't have priority, your opponent may have models that are rooted in place, which can mess up his formation and limit the models you actually have to fight. Once he commits, you can then counter-charge him.
• Reserves: I've mentioned this obliquely in a formations post I did recently on cavalry - if you charge into your opponent with cavalry on a turn when you don't have priority (so your opponent can't react), it helps to have some troops held back in reserve who can't be charged on the following turn by the enemy, but can charge into the enemy if they try to wrap around your cavalry. If you lose priority on the following round, the models who are close to the enemy will probably be charged, but your reserve troops will sail in and save the day (mitigating the casualties you take). If you win priority, your models close to the enemy can move wide around the flanks while the fresh reserve troops come slamming up the middle.
• Bubbling: some heroes are vulnerable to being killed if they're charged (by anything, but especially by a lot of people). Forming a "bubble" around vulnerable heroes (like unarmed models, like Galadriel or Cirdan) is a great way to make sure they stay alive regardless of who gets priority. This is particularly useful to do when you have a hero with magical powers (like Galadriel and Cirdan), since a model that has been charged won't be able to cast magic (which we'll talk about shortly).

Okay, so you hopefully have some idea about how priority works and why it matters. Let's dig into the Move Phase (which we've already started covering - see what I mean by these two phases being closely tied together?).

Move Phase: The Art of Maneuvering

To illustrate the Move Phase, we'll be looking at the following two armies at 500 points (which is probably the smallest of the typical tournament points limits that you'll see):

• Forces of Good: Minas Tirith (24 models)
• Denethor, Steward of Gondor
• 6 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 1 Warrior of Minas Tirith with shield, spear, and banner
• 2 Rangers of Gondor
• Gandalf the White on Shadowfax
• 3 Knights of Minas Tirith with shields
• 5 Rangers of Gondor
• 1 Ranger of Gondor with spear

• Forces of Evil: Cirith Ungol Legendary Legion (22 models)
• Shagrat, Captain of Cirith Ungol with heavy armor and the Shield of Cirith Ungol
• 3 Mordor Uruk-Hai with Orc bows
• 3 Mordor Uruk-Hai with Orc bows and two-handed maces
• Gorbag, Captain of Cirith Ungol with shield
• 1 Orc Warrior with shield
• 2 Orc Warriors with shields and Spears
• 1 Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• Orc Captain with shield
• 7 Orc Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Orc Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• Shelob

We see here two armies of roughly equal numbers, each showcasing different rules in the game (and one is a pure Minas Tirith list, while the other is a Legendary Legion - see our last post for the differences between those options). Let's get a brief look at the stats of the models we're viewing (the most important value we're looking at today is the Mv stat - the others will be important in later posts):

Gandalf the White and the Knights of Minas Tirith have Mv values of 6", but won't use them until they are dismounted - instead, they'll use the Mv values of their mounts (10" for the Knights, 12" for Gandalf). The Mordor army is all infantry, so they're a little slower:

Most of the models on each side have a "Mv" value of 6 (which is 6" of movement) - this is pretty standard for most infantry in the game. Let's start off with how models move.

Like we mentioned last time, models have a movement stat that indicates the maximum distance in inches they can move in the Move Phase and in the case of these armies, models that wish to move and shoot (the Rangers of Gondor and the Mordor Uruk-Hai) will only be able to move up to half of their max move.

Your board might have different kinds of terrain on it - there's a whole section on the different kinds of terrain in the main rulebook - which will be classified as "open terrain" (where everyone moves normally), "difficult terrain" (where infantry models move half their speed through it and cavalry models move a quarter of their speed through it), or "impassible terrain" (no one can end their movement on it and generally speaking can't move through it). Some models have special rules that allow them to treat certain kinds of difficult terrain (or in Shelob's case, all kinds of difficult terrain) as open ground - which makes them very maneuverable (and when outnumbered, you tend to find them in or near these kinds of terrain pieces.

We don't have any flying models in this scenario, but models that have the Fly special rule (such as Great Eagles and Ringwraiths on Fell Beasts) don't use their normal movement, but instead can move up to 12" provided that they do not end their movement in a woodland terrain piece (because the treeroots get in the way, presumably).

Non-flying models may have to take tests to cross certain terrain pieces on the map - if there are obstacles (such as a hedge or low wall), a model needs to pass a Jump test, while a chasm or river requires a Leap test and nearly-vertical surfaces require a Climb test. These tests require rolling a single D6 (for the Old Dain model we looked at in our last post, you take the lower of two D6s) and then you compare your result to a chart (1s are bad, 6s allow you to keep moving if you have the movement, and a 2-5 means "you did it and are done moving"). Most models don't have special rules that help with these kinds of tests, so it's pretty normal for new players to just avoid terrain that requires these kinds of tests. Some models (like Moria Goblins or Riders of Rohan) get boosts to these kinds of tests (either a +1 to their roll or a reroll), so making them is a much simpler decision.

Okay, with these general principles on moving, let's look at common formations you can make.

Warband Formations: General Principles

We've written a lot of articles on different formations you can run (it's a passion of ours) - all of which you can find on our Tactics page. Most of what we're going to cover here is from an article Rythbyrt wrote back in September 2019 and is a great summary of how to organize your troops.

First and foremost, keep your spearmen in base contact with a model in front of them (who can also have a spear, though it does nothing in the game). A spear allows a model to give another friendly model who is engaged in combat an extra die in his combat, making it more likely that you win your fights (which we'll cover in two weeks). Most of the formations Rythbyrt and I cover in our tactics posts use this principle (assuming your army can get spears).

Your archers generally have lower Defense than your melee troops (assuming you can get shields), so hiding your archers behind friendly models can keep them alive longer. In this particular formation, the Uruk-Hai are hiding behind the Orcs while the enemy advances, though they should probably switch the formation around (retreating 3" with one Mordor Uruk-Hai so he can still shoot, then pulling his spearman around to support him and so on and so forth until the formation looks like the image below).

One key thing to remember is the first maxim that Centaur came up with for this game: archers are swordsmen. We've seen in the movies how archers die under the assault of enemy cavalry and melee infantry of all kinds - but that's not true in this game (well, the cavalry part might be true). Archers fight just fine, with no penalties to their rolls - and they don't have to spend time swapping weapons, so charging archers just means, "Okay, guess I'm drawing my sword/dagger/axe/whatever". So don't be afraid to use your archers in combat!

Finally, your cavalry can move really far - but just because you can move your full movement distance doesn't mean you should move your full movement distance. If your cavalry race ahead of the infantry, they'll be without support when they engage - and if they're engaged for too long without help, your opponent can take your army apart piecemeal. Some mounted heroes are really good and take a while to tear apart (and can kill a lot of guys before they go down), so it's not like this strategy doesn't work sometimes, but most of the time, you want your cavalry attacking at the same time as your infantry blocks (assuming you have some). This gives them better match-ups and because they're so fast, you can tuck them behind your infantry formations to make them harder to hit with arrows (which we'll cover next time).

Miscellaneous Move Phase Stuff

Besides moving your models, there are other things that happen in the Move Phase. We'll go over a few of them now. First and foremost, models who charge and are equipped with throwing weapons can shoot once at a model that they're charging (and if they kill the model, they get to finish their movement charging someone else in range). As you already know by now, we'll cover shooting in our next post, but the important take-away here is that because these kills are done when models are still moving, having lots of throwing weapons can really change the tempo of a round and make things one-sided pretty quickly. Other times, throwing weapons will disappoint you - this is a dice game after all.

Probably the biggest thing that you'll do in the Move Phase besides moving models is testing for Courage. The most common occurrence for this is when a model wishes to charge an enemy model with the Terror special rule (which we mentioned above). To pass a Courage test, a model rolls 2 dice and adds their Courage value. If the sum total of both dice and the Courage value are equal to or greater than 10, the test is passed and the model may charge. If the test is failed, the model cannot move, shoot, or cast magic (but fights normally).

If, at the start of a force's Move phase, they have lost more than 50% of their starting models, the force is "broken" and need to test for Courage on every one of their models to see if they stay in the fight. The player with the broken force will test for their heroes first and any warriors who are within 6" of a hero who passes his Courage test and can see the hero will automatically pass their own. Some heroes increase this range, some heroes only affect warriors of a specific race (usually because they're monsters), and Heroes of Legend pass the first test automatically. 

Models that have not been charged and have at least one magical power may cast one magical power in the Move phase. We covered the process of casting magical powers in a post earlier in the year on wasting Might points, so check that out if you're interested. I will say that I did a review of every magical power in our Mastering Magic series, so if you're curious about that, check that out too.

Heroes are also able to call Heroic Actions, which we did an in-depth review of each of the eight specialized heroic actions at the end of 2020 in our Heroic Heroes series and we highlighted the three generic heroic actions heroes can call in our last post. In the Move phase, the heroic actions you can call are:

• Heroic Move: as we discussed last time, it allows the hero who calls it and models near the hero to move before the player with priority gets to move (models need to stay within 6" of the hero who calls the Heroic Move). This is easily one of the top three most frequent Heroic Actions called in the game.
• Heroic March: the hero who calls it and models near the hero who haven't moved yet get +3" of movement if they're infantry and +5" of movement if they're cavalry (models need to stay within 6" of the hero who calls the Heroic March). This heroic action is very popular early in the game when the armies start apart from each other and are trying to close (especially if the enemy army has lots of archery).
• Heroic Channelling: the hero who calls it gets a stronger version of the spell he casts (assuming he successfully casts it). Most players see channelling the vast majority of spells to be a risk - and I happen to agree.
• Heroic Resolve: the hero who calls it cannot move but that hero and models near the hero receive a free die to resist magical powers that are cast on them that turn. The "not moving" part is usually a deal-breaker for most heroes who have this heroic action, so you don't see it very often.

At the start of the Move Phase, heroes who wish to declare a Heroic Action must do so (you can only call one Heroic Action each phase though). If both players have at least one hero who calls a Heroic Actions that change the cadence of the turn (Heroic Move in this phase), the player with priority rolls a die on a 1-3 the Evil army gets to resolve one of his Heroic Moves first, while on a 4-6 the Good army gets to resolve one of his Heroic Moves first. Note that in matched play, you can have Good vs. Good or Evil vs. Evil, in which case players decide who is "more evil" or "more good" than the other before the game begins (or at least before the first roll-off is made).

If a hero who declared a Heroic Move, Heroic March, or Heroic Channelling is charged before he is able to perform his move, his Heroic Action is cancelled (since you can't perform a move or cast magic once charged) and the Might point is not regained. Be ye very careful on what you declare - Might points are very important in this game!

Conclusion

Well, that about covers it for the Priority and Move phases - at a beginner's level. There are other oddities that we could talk about (things like water features, Mumaks, and the One Ring, for example), but I think this gives you enough to start playing the game with most armies. What was hopefully conveyed through the article was how important moving is in the game - if that wasn't evident in the article, we'll be coming back to it again and again in our next few posts on shooting and combat. What separates really good players from the rest of the pack is how well they maneuver - so pay attention to this part!

In our next post, we delve in to my favorite phase of the game: the Shoot phase. While you can use throwing weapons to shoot in the Move phase, chances are all of your shooting will happen in the Shoot phase. But how easy is it to kill things with arrows? Should you run lots of bows? How much is too much? And when can shooting "well" actually make you lose a game? Find out the answers to all of that next time - until then, happy hobbying!