Hi, its my first topic and i want to say im chilean, so my language is Spanish, and sorry if my english isnt good enough :c , the question is something like that:

When losing a combat, the participating units have to retreat, and if the area retreating is empty , its considered a " legal " area to be chosen, but , as i know, routed units can't take control of an area , for example if the retreating player controls 6 castles/stronhold , and he retreats to the "number 7 " , the routed units won't give him the victory beacuse they can't control the area, the question is then… " ¿When and How , routed units control the area they retreat to ? "

The possible answer is : "At the end of the turn, when they are not more routed "

But the thing is that i think that it is like "too nice or favorable" lose combats and retreat sometimes, it suposse to be a bad thing , and if the units are not killed that turn, retreating is like a " Free Move " to conquer the empty area where the units are retreating.

What do you think of that?

Im " using a house rule " that force the retreated player to put an March Order to control the area, if there are 2 or more units the player must leave at least one in the are to stablish control, or ove all the units but leaving a power token

Hope you can understand my english and waiting for your opinions C:

Remember two things:

1. Only Defending Units get to retreat to any available area. Attackers must retreat the the area they Marched from.

2. You may not retreat to an area controlled by an opponent (this includes areas with an enemy Power Token).

It is extremely unlikely that there would be an unoccupied Castle/Stronghold by this time in the game. If your opponents leave one that wide open to be taken, they deserve to lose!

i dont really understand your answer(sorry :c ) , but remeber that an area not only may contain a Castle/Stroghold, can contain supply or crowns icons too, but you are saying , that the retreated player controls the area at the end of the turn when the units are no more routed?

kauai1964 said:

I now understand your answer, that's true its an uncommon situation, but i made that " extreme " example just for see the situation more complicated that could happen, but in any moment of the game, gaining control of a Castle/Stronghold by Retreating and not using March Order is too much benefit i think.

i mean if the Westeros Card: Mustering appears, what would have happen if the losing " defender " player wouldnt had reatreated to an area containing a Castle/Stronghold? that turn, the mustering couldnt be done

BUT in the other case, he loses the combat, but he think: " wow , there is a castle, the next turn if im lucky, i could mustering there, this defeat grant me more benefits than penalties "

I dont know if you really understand my point, the thing is , you say that if the ROUTED UNITS dont die that turn, they control the NEW area they retraeted to, at the end of the turn?

No, I am saying that retreating/routed units take control of the area WHEN they move there -- NOT when the turn ends.

Rules, Page 24:

"A House is said to control a land area when it has at least one
Footman, Knight, or Siege Engine in the area, or has previously
established control in that area by placing a Power token there."

If it happens to be an area with the 7th Castle/Stronghold that you need, you win!

kauai1964 said:

Never thought of this before, because as you said it is an extremely rare case and since only defenders can choose where to retreat (that is if they survived the attack and not completely destroyed), this cannot be thought of as a strategy indeed…