From what I've been reading in the previews so far, my guess is the combat system will work somewhat like this :
EDITED 25.11.09
- When the active player moves one or more of his units into an area that contains enemy units, a battle takes place.
- Each player that has one or more "Initiative 1" units in the battle draws 1 Fate Card per unit ( probably attacker drawing first ) and resolves the result(s).
Example : the attacker has 3 archers and draws 3 " 1-damage" result Fate Cards : this means his archers inflict 3 damage altogether.The defender has no "Initiative 1" unit(s) in the battle, so he doesn't draw a Fate Card.
- Then, each player that has one or more ( surviving and standing ) "Initiative 2" units left in the battle draws 1 Fate Card for each of those units and applies the result(s).
- Continue this way until you've gone through all 5 Initiative levels.
- After five rounds of battle like this, the battle is over and the remaining figures are counted on each side to see who lost the battle - the player with the least remaining figures has the "least strength" and thus loses the battle and must withdraw ( if possible )
( If he can't withdraw, my guess is his remainig troops are destroyed, ... so better keep an escape route open at all times.
If the battle is a draw, my guess is the attacker has to withdraw. )
- During each Initiative round during combat, Tactics Cards can be played to influence the outcome of the battle.
- After each battle the drawn Fate Cards go back into the Fate Deck and the deck is reshuffled.
This is just a guess, of course, but I like it so far.
I especially like the fact that battles will most likely not rage on until one side is completely destroyed as indicated by the "Strength count" mechanism.
This potentially allows the loser of a battle to recover faster and a lost battle doesn't necessarily means a lost war.
It also means relatively fast gameplay, no time consuming battles and possibly rather tactical battles.
This combat mechanic reminds me somewhat of the battles in the A Game of Thrones board game where losing a battle most often means losing just one or a couple of units and then withdrawing the rest of your army.... which makes the game much more tactical IMO.