A Surprise Attack is a variant of the straightforward Pitched Battle. It differs in that the commander who deploys first is allowed to move troops onto the battlefield, enabling him to occupy tactically advantageous ground and set up a devastating surprise attack in the first turn.

Scenery

In a Surprise Attack the 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 below on the example tabletop map. Each side chooses and deploys a single unit at a time, as described for a Pitched Battle, but starting with the player who rolls the highest score on a D6.

The first side to completely deploy gains the advantage of surprise and is allowed to advance onto the battlefield while the enemy is still positioning troops. When it is his turn to place troops the player who has completed his deployment can move a unit he has already deployed a further 4" onto the battlefield. The unit moves 4" regardless of its own Movement characteristic. The advancing army moves one unit at a time, and can move the same unit several times if the opportunity presents itself. No advancing units may be moved within 8" of enemy troops.

Special Deployment Rules

Units which are allowed to deploy closer to the enemy due to a special movement rule cannot do so. These units do not have time to scout out the territory before the battle.

Turns

The players elect to play for an agreed fixed number of turns or, alternatively, roll a D6 to dice 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

The player who completes his deployment first takes the first turn.

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.