After a bit of a break (mostly due to Saga: Age of Chivalry coming out), we had a chance to return to Brethren. We used the Dark Ages army lists this time, for a Viking v Irish battle: https://blog.notasnark.net/2025/03/battle-for-the-chapel.html As before, some questions were raised. • There's a rule that says shooting into a wooded area gives a -1 to hit. But nothing seems to be said about shooting through a woods to units on the other side. Do woods block line of sight to the other side, or is it just a simple -1? • Once again, we were confused about who fights who in a big melee, especially where there is a big difference in number of figures. Do you have any explanations for how players go about deciding which figure is attacking which figure, when there are multiple possibilities and the decision greatly favours one side or the other? It was a good game, but we're still trying to get out of the mindset of large units v individual figures, which also led to some confusion.

I picked up the rulebook last month, and just had a quick solo game (using my Vikings and Irish Saga figures) today to try and clarify how things worked. Though the basic rules seem relatively straightforward, there are some elements which led to me being very confused about how the game is meant to work. • It seems that only a hero can order a charge - an individual figure can't charge by themselves. I assume that they can just move (or run) into base to base contact with an enemy figure and then have a combat in the combat phase, but don't get the bonus for a charge? • Is there anything stopping an enemy from simply moving away after a figure has moved into base to base contact with them (via a move, run, or charge action)? In the situation I had, a Viking moved into base contact with an Irish figure with javelins. The Irish then activated, did a move to move away, and then a shoot action to throw a javelin. There doesn't seem to be anything in the rules preventing this. This isn't particularly wrong, but does make it hard to force a melee against someone who doesn't want to melee. • After a combat, what happens if there is no winner? After a melee following a charge, no wounds were caused by either side. Do both sides simply remain in base contact? Or does one side always fall back? • When a hero gives a charge command, after the melee, do all individual fights count as different melees for purposes of winning and losing? So could some Vikings fall back, and some Irish fall back? Or do you total up all wounds and one whole side gets pushed back? • The rules seem inconsistent on swords. On page 16 it says that they provide no modifiers, on page 22 it says they give +1 to experienced warriors. I assumed the more specific rules on p.22 were correct. • The only difference in armour seems to be whether a figure is experienced or inexperienced. My Irish warriors have little or no armour, but they count the same as my Viking hearthguard in heavy mail. It could be that I'm overthinking some things, but it would be nice to get some clarifications. I have a more detailed write up of my first game on my blog: https://blog.notasnark.net/2024/12/brethren.html I'd really like to give things a second go, because it seems to allow types of games not easily possible in the current rules I play (mostly Saga and *Rampant). But after my first attempt I was feeling somewhat confused. Thanks!