I agree with those that like the 'Falling Back in Good Order' rule and the associated 2-1 rule. One of the things that I've been mulling over with regard to the WAB rules is the way that panic tests and break tests don't take into account the situation that the unit taking the test is in at the time. Actually, that's not quite true, in that the fact that the unit has to take a test at all reflects its current situation to some extent, for example that it's lost a round of combat, or has been charged to the flank while engage to the front. However, once triggered, the tests are very all or nothing affairs, where you either flee or hold. This can create some odd results, most noticbly where a unit in a plainly quite safe position will run off, or on the other hand where a horribly battered unit keeps on fighting just as easily as a fresh one.
The new rules in AoA address this to an extent, by limiting the effect of skirmishers on formed units, and allowing units that outnumber their opponent by over 2-1 to 'fall back in good' instead of fleeing if they fail a break test. However, I still have a feeling that there is more that could and should be done. What I would like to achieve is something where when the position and state of a unit on the tabeletop is *visibly* either good or bad, then this effects its reaction to events around it. On the other hand I want to avoid coming up with a long list of modifiers or complex special rules which would slow down or otherwise muddy the clean mechanics used in Warhammer.
Anyway, as I said I've been pondering this for a while, and so below is my first stab at dealing with this thorny problem. The new rules build on the foundation laid in AoA with the 'falling back in good order' rule, by adding in the concept of 'Confident' and 'Edgy' psychological states for units in your army. Being confident or edgy modifies the way a unit responds to or takes a panic or break test, and does something to mitigate the 'all or nothing' nature of these tests. I hope that the effect of these rules will be to reward good play. In particular, the 'edgy' rule makes flanking the enemy *much* more dangerous than it is as the moment, while the 'confident' rule should make reserves and forming up in a neat battleline more useful. Please note that these rules haven't been tested yet - you're in at the ground floor here guys! Please give them a try if you like the look of them, and if you can email me with any comments, I'd appreciate it!
By the way, for those of you that haven't got AoA yet, a unit that can fall back in good order flees normally, but then rallies automatically at the end of the move. It can be pursued, but if caught it's not wiped out; instead the pursuers count as charging in the next combat phase. Units that fall back in good order may not charge in their next turn, but otherwise can shoot or move normally.
OK, here are the new rules...
Sometimes the circumstances that effect a unit will make it more confident than would normally be the case, while at other times units, or even the whole army, can decide that things are going against them, which will make them edgy and prone to panic. To represent this there is a chance for a unit to be either *confident* or *edgy*. It is possible for a unit to be both confident and edgy at the same time, in which case both sets of special rules will apply! Sometimes the situation a unit is in will change over the course of a turn or a phase, so that a unit that starts off confident ends up edgy. In the case of a dispute it is always the player whose turn is in progress that decides what order things happen during his turn (i.e. what order to take break tests, fight close combats, move units, etc.).
Units are confident if *any* of the following circumstances apply:
a) They are at full strength and no unit in the army has been broken in close combat other than skirmishers. OR
b) They have secure flanks and rear support (ooo-er missus!). See below for a definition of these. OR
c) The army general is with the unit. OR
d) They won a round of combat this player turn.
IMPORTANT: Units in skirmish formation can never be confident.
A confident unit will fall back in good order as described in AoA if it fails a panic test. Note that confident units that break suffer the normal penalties.
Flanks & Rear Support: I'm not going to write legalistic definitions of these, as it'll just encourage some players to get round the letter of the rules as opposed to their spirit. So, a flank is secure if it is covered by friendly units or terrain in such a way that the enemy can't possibly get at it. Rear support means that if an enemy should charge the unit in flank or rear, there is another friendly unit in a position that it could charge that enemy in its' next turn.
If *any* of the following circumstances apply then a unit is deemed to be edgy.
a) The unit has suffered 50% or more casualties. OR
b) The unit is more than 12" from any other friendly units (friendly units that are fleeing don't count!). OR
c) The army general has been killed (this doesn't apply until the turn after he has been killed). OR
d) There is an enemy unit (other than skirmishers) in a position from which it could declare a flank or rear charge on the unit. OR
e) The army has lost 50% or more of it's starting number of models
An edgy unit takes all Ld tests on 3D6 instead of 2D6.
These rules are quite easy to forget, especially in the heat of battle. It's therefore up to you to remember which of your units are confident, and its up to you to spot which enemy units are edgy. If you forget to do this at the time you can't back-track when you spot the mistake later on - it's assumed that the troops weren't quite as confoident or edgy as one might have thought!