Is there any limit for players or monsters using fatigue/wounds for free actions? It just feels a little goofy since several times we've had stuff flying across the encounter area either by paying enough wounds to just about kill the monster or fatigue to almost faint the player character and clobber whatever they were trying to hit. In the case of the monster it dies, but it's a monster so it doesn't really care and in the case of a player he will typically end the encounter and get some sort of fatigue back. It makes it very difficult for ranged scouts or casters (both players and enemy NPCs) since there's really no effective way to be out of range of kamikaze melee. I hope I'm just missing a rule.

The only limit is roleplaying, but it should be enough. The movement rules are abstract to allow for situations where drama demands something special, or where the PCs are willing to take a huge risk to get something accomplished. If someone insists on constant Kamikaze tactics, then they're abusing the letter of the rules to undermine the spirit of it.

Sounds like the problem is "he's a monster so he doesn't really care". Yes, monsters are meant, out-of-character, to die for the furtherance of the plot, and to provide challenges to the players. But in-character, most people, and even most beastmen or orcs, don't truly consider themselves expendable. Religious zealots in a frenzy, sure. A monster defending it's mate or offspring or den, probably. But watch a few nature shows, and you'll see that real predators (lions and tigers and bears, oh my) won't often run themselves into unconsciousness. They'll take (reasonable) risks, but will also flee if injured. Someone taking half their wounds just to get into melee should be fairly rare. Orcs and Beastmen may be stupid and/or fearless, but they can't be that extreme, at least not across the board, or else they'd never be a real threat to the Empire. It's pretty easy to defend a city if half the invading army kills themselves trying to cross the last quarter-mile. In-character, taking wounds is painful, and shouldn't be done lightly.

If your GM is doing these extreme rushes real often, then you might have a talk with him or her about how it's limiting the number of viable character concepts, and diminishing your fun, in addition to straining credibility.

If you are the GM, and the players are doing this in fight after fight, then you're probably not hitting them with enough fatigue from external sources. There's several monsters with fatigue-inducing actions (Skaven, for example) that could effectively deter players from doing this, or at least teach them a lesson their next character won't forget. You might also be able to curb some of this behavior via Location cards, by putting obstacles in the way, or by making an ideal spot for the PCs to make a stand that's not where the monsters begin the battle.

Radish said:

And just to make sure, you mean "for free manoeuvres?", not actions, right? A character only gets one action card per turn*. So you can pay fatigue to move around and do various assorted minor things, but you only ever get one attack in a turn.

*: aside from a few exceptions such as Quick Casting for spellcasters, and actions such as Riposte, Mighty Blow, Executioner's Shot, etc, all of which state on the card exactly how they work.

I think another problem I have is that since fatigue is related to toughness (and wounds in monsters) it means that typically tougher but slower characters like dwarves and orcs are the fastest things in the game since they can just blow through a bunch of fatigue, run and kill what they want then have a huge advantage. I guess you can have the GM do things to counter this but it just feels weird.