Can you retreat from a coexistence battle? If so, how do the Imperial units retreat? Do they stay in the same region and place a rout token, thereby meaning that there will be another coexistence battle on the next change of initiative. Alternative do they retreat as a defender would to an adjacent area and then place a rout token?

Rulebook seems fairly silent on the issue, strict reading would imply they stay in the area but I was under the impression that coexistence battles were pretty much always supposed to finish (8 iterations in most circumstances means one side does tend to die fully), therefore we played our game that they retreat in the same way a defender would.

Also, to clarify, rout tokens don't affect units other than prevent ordering the units and causing them to be destroyed if they rout/retreat again? In other, similar games a fight against a routed token might cause the units to draw less cards or fight less effectively. There is no precedent in the rulebook for this but it seems like it should have more effect

I agree. A strict reading indicates the Imperial player could "retreat", stay in the same space, and end the battle. I can also see this being disallowed in a FAQ. I sent the question to FFG via their "rules question" link. I'll post their response.

TK

I've had several coexistence battles which ended with neither side fully extinct/retreated. Some of them ended in Routs - we just left the units there, waiting for the next battle (coexistence or else)!

The book states that battles can end in several ways... & with no clear winner/loser.

HtH

L

Well, the combat section states that the area where a coexistence battle is fought counts as both the target and the origin area. As he is always the defender in coexistence battles if the Traitor player has units that rout or retreat then they have to move to an adjacent friendly or neutral area.

The retreat rules for the attacker just says that the units stay in their origin areas so if the Imperial player retreats all units would remain in the area together, until one moves out or another battle is fought. The Imperial player would also put a routed token in the area. This prevents him for retreating again as "a player cannot retreat if any of his engaged units are in an area that already has one of his routed activation markers in it."

Simple.

Remember that if a unit routs (retreats involuntarily) into an area that already has a friendly routed activation marker it is eliminated. So the Imperial player should be careful if he retreats in a coexistence battle containing a daemon horde.