In a Pitched Battle armies deploy one unit at a time and the opposing generals can decide how to react to their enemy's dispositions as they go along. This is the quickest way to set up a game.

Scenery

Players set up the scenery in any mutually agreeable manner.

Armies

Armies are chosen from the Warhammer Armies army lists to an equal points value agreed before the game.

Deployment

Armies are deployed no closer than 24" to each other and no closer than 12" to the side edges as shown on the example tabletop map. Players take it in turns to choose and deploy one unit at a time starting with the side which has the most units. Champions are automatically deployed as part of their unit. All other characters are all deployed last as a single choice. All large monsters are deployed at once as a single choice, and all war machines including chariots are deployed at once as a single choice. Although deployed all at the same time, large monsters and war machines can be placed in different locations either as individual models or as loose units of several models as defined in the game rules.

Special Deployment Rules

Units which are allowed to deploy closer to the enemy or after normal deployment due to a special movement rule can do so. For example, Wood Elf Scouts are allowed to deploy beyond the usual permitted zones because they are assumed to scout out these areas some time before the battle, as described in the Warhammer Armies Wood Elf book.

Turns

The players elect to play for an agreed fixed number of turns or, alternatively, roll a D6 to decide how many turns to play. A score of 1-2 = 4 turns, 3-4 = 5 turns, 5-6 = 6 turns. The game continues until each side has taken the number of turns indicated, or until one player concedes.

Who Goes First

Both players roll a dice. The first player to complete his deployment adds + 1 to his dice roll. The highest scoring player chooses whether to go first or second.

Victory

Unless one player concedes beforehand the winner is the player who has accumulated the most victory points at the end of the game. The standard victory points schedule explains how these are worked out.