13 – Timing of Character and Company Movement
Note: don’t try to understand this if you are a new player!
Although orders normally take place in numerical order, this is not quite the case with character (and company) movement.
The general rule is as follows: all orders relating to character movement (810, 820, 870) are considered, with regard to the possibility of characters also moving with an army or navy (830, 850, 860), and the restriction that no character can ever move more than 12 hexes away from the location in which they started the turn (with the exception of a 905 order), then the movement takes place in numerical order.
Implications for characters with armies
If a character is in an army, and issues an 810 Move Character order, they will leave the army and move away before the army moves with an 850 or 860 order. If, however, they issue an 870 Move Join order, this will take place after the army has moved, so will only succeed if the final destination is less than 12 hexes away from the hex in which they started the turn.
Implications for characters with companies when the company is disbanding
A company is disbanded if at any time if the last member moves out, leaving just the company commander. This has the following implications with regard to characters moving when a company is disbanding:
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If the last member of a company issues an 810 Move Character order and the company commander issues an 820 Move Company order, the member will move but the commander will not move, as they are no longer commanding an company to move. -
If both the company commander and the last member issue 810 orders, the order they take place is determined at random. If the member’s order goes first and they move, the company then disbands, and so the ex-company commander also moves. If the company commander’s order goes first, then it fails as they are a company commander, then the member’s order succeeds, then the company disbands. -
If the commander issues an 820 order and the member issues an 870 order, then assuming the 870 destination is within 12 hexes of the character’s location at the start of the turn, then both orders succeed, and the company disbands (the 820 order works because the character is still a commander, the 870 order works, then the company disbands).
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If the commander issues an 870 order and the member issues an 810 order, then both orders succeed and the company disbands (the 810 order works, then because the company disbands, the 870 order then works).
Or, to put it more simply, if you are disbanding a company and want to ensure all characters move without the need for the company commander to issue a disband company order, then have the company commander issue an 870 order, and everyone else 810 orders. (An 870 order works even if there is no commander at the destination, at which point it functions as a ‘late sequence’ 810 order.)