Can a player use tactical movement if “engaged”?

Question

If a player is "engaged", ie was hit in combat last round, can they still use tactical movement? There is mention in the rules that they cannot retreat, doesn't retreating imply full movement only?

Answer 1

I'd say no, but the rules are not terribly clear on what constitutes melee.

In fact, neither OM&M pp. 13-14 nor RM&M pp.20-21 define melee for purposes of retreat, and nothing notes an engaged character can't move. It does mention he can't retreat unless he either forfeits his attack (Revised) or Attacks successfully for no damage (Original).

If a character is engaged, I don't let them move other than by the disengage action.

It boils down to what you mean by retreat, melee, and disengage.

I take retreat to be movement that would take one out of melee weapons range. I also tend to run M&M extremely "fast and loose"... and treat melee as a distance of 0... what is, in minis terms, "base-to-base contact."

But I'm gonna ask on the M&M list... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mazesandminotaurs/

And the Official Answer from Ollivier:

Hello

The answer is obviously NO - that's the whole point of being engaged. Since the Movement phase occurs before the Melee phase, allowing an engaged character to use tactical movement would simply allow him to walk / run away from melee at any time. And there would be no need for a Disengage option.

Sorry if that seemed unclear - I really thought it was obvious, taking that "engaged" implied "locked in melee" (and thereby unable to use tactical movement). Perhaps my English Language skill failed me on this.

I've noticed the flurry of questions asked over the last few days by Matt Joiner on the site you mention - funnily enough, he asks about flying creatures in combat and initiative, two topics which will hopefully be covered in the next webzine.

Answer 2

"Disengage" is not so much an "action" as it is an "option". It costs nothing, it just requires you have not been hit in Melee during the battle round.

"Retreat", however, requires to be "disengaged" first and costs you your attack, like any Full movement.

And the only use of Tactical movement is in the first battle round when you charge-into-battle, or later on, when you have just killed your opponent and want to attack someone else who is, for example, 20 feet away and not just next to the previous one.

When you disengage, you only use Full movement.

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Battle Round 1

1. Declaration phase
   The player declares that his/her character moves into Melee range and then attacks.

2. Missile phase
   The character takes no action.

3. Movement phase
   The character moves up to his Tactical Movement, and gets into Melee range. He is now "engaged".

4. Melee phase
   The character attacks.

Battle Round 2

1. Declaration phase
   The player cannot declare a movement, because he is engaged. He can only move again if his direct opponents are killed or after he disengages first.

2. Missile phase
   The character takes no action.

3. Movement phase
   The character cannot move. (Unless he's no longer engaged in Melee because opponents were killed in Missile phase or last round...)

4. Melee phase
   The character attacks.

   Let's say, this time, all his opponents fail their attack. He thus can disengage.

5. The player chooses to disengage or not.
   This is not an action, it doesn't cost an attack. The character just automatically (at this point) disengages if the player chooses so.

Battle Round 3

1. Declaration phase
   The character can declare he engages combat again. Or, he can declare than he makes a Retreat, he therefore forfeits all attacks.

2. Missile phase
   The character takes no action.

3. Movement phase
   The character moves up to his Full movement (this could lead to him being engaged in Melee again elsewhere).

4. Melee phase
   The character takes no action (even if he's engaged again).