How exactly do the horn blowers work? Let's for argment's sake say that I have a horn blower embedded in a blue banner infantry unit. When they've "called" an adjacent unit of green banner infantry into a fight against an enemy unit og spearmen. After this is carried out (according to the rules), can the green banner unit make its own attack as well (since it also is ordered this round)? If not, what's really the benefit of the horn blowers?

Silverheart said:

By attacking with the Hornblower unit, the green unit has battled for that particular turn. The benefit is, that by combining the 3d attack of the blue banner unit with the 2d attack of the green banner unit one hopes that those 5d will limit the opportunity for a battle back (by either taking the unit or causing it to retreat) as opposed to attacking individually with the units. Also, when attacking separately, a BAN roll from the first unit may cause the second unit's attack to not be possible. Better to get all 5d in one shot.

While using a green unit may be the best use at the particular moment, usually better to use the hornblower to garner some more potent rolls with red units.

In addition to more dice at once, another benefit is that you are only reduced by modifiers (such as Lore cards) once. If a Lore card is played, it usually affects only one unit - the attacking unit - so the helper unit can contribute its full dice.

I forget the discussion on DOW, but I also think this combo is less effected by terrain caps as well. In this particular example of a Blue unit calling a Green to help, it is not that obvious as Blue fighting individually would most likely be capped at 2 and the green guy is already at 2 which would equal any combined cap of 4 dice.

But with a Red unit calling a Red unit, terrain could cut them down from 8 dice in 2 attacks to only 4 dice. With a hornblower, that brings the total up to 6 dice (2 for the attacker and 4 for the helper).

Thank you guys for the response. Although I think ffrom the text in the rulebook cimng with the HYW it is quite clear that caps apply to both units, I still see the benefits that you guys point out. Maybe not worth using a specialist card slot (if you play with only two specialist cards) to get them, but Horn blowers seems like a nice addition in a scenario.

BTW, can horn blowers also be used when battling back?

Silverheart said:

No. Both units must be ordered and in Battle Back, there is no ordering of units.

OK guys! I've got a few questions about horn blowers. I'm sorry that the rulebook is not clear about these ones.

1. What is the maximum number of battle dice you can battle with? Because both player has a set of dice of 6; but if you use horn blowers and/or some lore cards it can occur that you need some extra dice. Can you borrow your partner's dice, or what?

2. Can you put the horn blowers into units of the different races? The specialist card says, you have to put them into foot units... OK, but if it's so, can the blowers rush with the goblins or what?

3. Both of the attacker and the supporter unit have to be adjacent to the enemy unit to attack it... it's clear, but to do this, you have to have your supporter unit adjacent to the target unit just before your turn, because if not, you should move your supporter there (and, because it won't attack alone, it's turn is over), than you should move the attacker unit (and it can't call for help, because the supporter's turn is over)... so the only solution is that your supporter is already next to the target unit before the turn. Or you can move the units together and battle together OR WHAT???

I'm really frustrated about these missing rules...

Thank for the answers!

gyandris said:

"1. What is the maximum number of battle dice you can battle with? Because both player has a set of dice of 6; but if you use horn blowers and/or some lore cards it can occur that you need some extra dice. Can you borrow your partner's dice, or what?"

The number of physical dice available is not a cap on the number of dice able to be rolled - yeah, borrow your partner's dice or reroll the proper number of your own.

For fun, here's the highest number of dice I can come up with: If BattleLore is the Command Card and Cry Havoc is played with a level 3 Warrior, and a red foot unit with a Hornblower embedded calls another red unit to attack and no terrain restrictions are involved, the roll will require 14 dice. So, you will need that 2nd base game

"2. Can you put the horn blowers into units of the different races? The specialist card says, you have to put them into foot units... OK, but if it's so, can the blowers rush with the goblins or what?"

There may be an implied rule that Hornblowers are race specific, but there is no explicit rule. Unless you are bothered by the aesthetics, it is acceptable to embed the Hornblower figure in any foot unit, regardless race or faction.

"3. Both of the attacker and the supporter unit have to be adjacent to the enemy unit to attack it... it's clear, but to do this, you have to have your supporter unit adjacent to the target unit just before your turn, because if not, you should move your supporter there (and, because it won't attack alone, it's turn is over), than you should move the attacker unit (and it can't call for help, because the supporter's turn is over)... so the only solution is that your supporter is already next to the target unit before the turn. Or you can move the units together and battle together OR WHAT???"

You may be playing the game incorrectly (or I may be misunderstanding your question ) : The sequence of a turn (roughly) is to 1) Order all units, then 2) move all units (in any order the controlling player decides) , then 3) battle with all units (in any order the controlling player decides). When playing in this manner, the way the Hornblower mechanics work are that each of the two controlling player's units to be involved must receive orders and then either already be adjacent to each other and the enemy target unit, or move into such a position during the movement phase. Then during the battle phase, those two units will be able to roll their respective dice numbers concurrently.

"I'm really frustrated about these missing rules..."

It isn't the rules that are missing, but a FAQ and/or living rules. I am still hoping FFG gets one going soon. Reviving the Lore and Creature Compendia and starting a general FAQ...

"Thank for the answers!"

You are welcome

ColtsFan76 said:

And, as long as I am on a roll misunderstanding posts, if I understand what is being said here, that the unit being called would not be affected by the terrain restrictions it would normally incur, that is incorrect. Any unit called by a hornblower would be under any restrictions it would if it were battling separately.