Retreating is an underrated topic in Age of Sigmar. This is especially the case because it works differently than WHFB or 9th Age. While a retreat at WHFB is a forced action after a failed morale test, in AoS it is a voluntary movement action in the movement phase for units in close combat. Even if it costs you a few attacks, getting rid of an awkward situation and surprising your opponent is a great way to get away.
The rules
Units that are in 3" enemy units have only a choice to stay or retreat. Even when retreating the unit has the opportunity to run. Without appropriate abilities, a retreating unit can't shoot or declare a charge.
You are not forced to flee directly from enemy units, but must complete your movement outside 3" to enemy units.
This means, it is possible to retreat from melee with a unit to achieve a better position.
When does a retreat make sense?
When you retreat from a fight, your opponent will have the opportunity to move freely and charge again in the next round.
That means you should be aware of the effects of your retreat. You should only retreat if you can prevent a unit from being destroyed, you want to use some movement ability in the next round, or you can build more pressure from the retreat.
Retreating to build up pressure.
The funniest reason to retreat from close combat is to surprise your opponent with unexpected pressure. This can be done more often than you think.
Because the retreat is a rather unused move, people do not expect you to pull out a melee unit that has the upper hand. Use this to your advantage!
As you become aware of what you can do by retreating, more opportunities will open up.
If you understand how to influence the game with a retreat before you attack, use the right magic.
Building pressure on objectives
Age of Sigmar is a mission-based game. A retreat from melee combat to occupy or defend a objective is always a good idea.
This is especially good in games in which a last-minute capture can bring you the win. Think of scenarios like "Bloody Glory" or "Conquer and Hold" that have a victory condition if you keep all objectives at the end of the round or "Gift of the Sky" , where there are points depending on the current number of laps.
Before any attack, friend or foe, you need to know how to effectively withdraw with your unit. In this way, you can use the move to improve your position if you want to retire.
Before any charge, friend or foe, you need to know how you can impactfully retreat with your unit. This way you can use your pile-in move to improve your position for when you want to retreat.
Once you declare you will retreat with a unit, you need to follow through. This means that you cannot rely too much on the result of your run roll. Try to figure out where you need to go with your retreat and if you movement plus the 3.5″ average of your run move will get you there.
It is important to think about how you can prevent your opponent from following up. Since all objectives have a minimum distance you need to be in to capture it, you can simply screen the distance with the unit you just retreated. Be careful that your opponent does not obliterate you on the charge.
By attacking the Bloodletters (red unit) with my Liberators (green unit), I was able to prevent them from conquering the objective behind them. With my attack and move up, I tried to get as close as possible to the objective.
In my movementphase, I pulled my Liberators back into the marker and positioned them so that only the edge of my bases was within range of the marker. In this way, when the Blood Letters attack me, they can not take the marker because they can not attack through my Liberators.
Pressureing on key targets
Similar to objectives, retreating can also be used to build pressure on key targets. However, it must be possible to attack in the next round.
If you retreat towards an enemy unit, you must have your goal in mind. Do you have to destroy the enemy unit or force it away from its postion?
Many support units need to have some reach to their allies, so it can be enough to drive them out of their position.
After you have to be able to attack in the next round to put pressure on the key target, it is important to keep the opponent from being able to tie you in close combat in his next round.
If you plan to make an attack with the goal of retreating in the next round, you have to make sure that you have the means to stay ahead. Have another unit available that can attack as well.
In this scenario, the Liberators (blue unit) were attacked by 7 Bloodletters (red unit). The Liberators were assisted by a Lord Celestant (purple unit) and the Bloodletters by a Blood Secrator (orange unit)
In my turn, I withdrew my Liberators from the Bloodletters and attacked the Bloodletters with my Lord Celestant. That way, in the next round, I'll be able to attack the Bloodsecrator next round without the Bloodletters being able to stop me
By attacking the outer models of the Bloodletters, they can only move within reach with a few models so that the hero will survive. However, I had to be careful to move the Liberators so that the Bloodletters were not able to tie the Liberators by repositioning, as there are also models in the unit closer to the Liberators than Lord Celestant and in their direction would move up, if it allowed the formation (see the two following pictures where models could tie the Liberators by moving back .
The Bloodletters still have plenty of models closer to the Liberators after the Liberators' retreat, so they can move to the Liberators in 3 "to tie them up again, so they may have to retreat again or move back towards the Bloodletters and the Blood Secrator is still safe.
Exchange of a cover unit with a combat unit.
In some situations, you may want to prevent the damage-causing unit that relies on an attack from being hit unprepared. This can be achieved by being covered by a cheap unit. See field check.
If the covering unit is tied in melee, you can try to pull them out of melee to make room for your attack unit. Leave enough space in your direction to get the cover unit out of the opponent's 3 "range to attack with the other unit itself.
Doubleturn
Retreating to build up pressure is especially good if you have the chance to get a doubletrun.
The doubleturn allows you to immediately carry out the planned follow-up attack or cover objectives.
Do not count on getting the doubleturn, as there is always the chance to not get it (read more about this in the chapter <Placeholder Doubleturn>
Retreat from a lost fight
The usual situation from which to retreat from melee combat is losing the fight. These fights are easily recognizable by the stack of killed models.
Before you decide to retreat the unit try to analyze the situation. In what condition is your unit wanting to retrat?
Are you still strong enough to have influence in another fight? Are there objectives they can claim or other units that need their help?
If your unit can not do anything else, the question is if it's better if the unit stays in close combat or not. How long can she survive and it is important that the unit with which she is in close combat remains bound.
If you've decided to retire and know where to go, it's time to figure out how to protect them from harm.
This is much easier with fast or flying units than with slow units. Try to prevent your opponent from pursuing them by moving them by hiding behind other units or by tying with another unit.
Retreating for mobility
If you are tied in close combat, you can not use charging or movement abilities.
Some units in Age of Sigmar do not deal much damage, but are very hard to kill. These units are good for fixing units to defend other units or mission targets. We call this a "tar pit" (by preventing the agility of the enemy unit)
Even though the damage output of the "tar pit" is quite low, it accumulates over several rounds and takes away the ability to move. If you can not destroy a "tar pit" within the next 1-2 rounds and you want to use or attack movement abilities, it's time to get out of melee as fast as possible!
You can do this in the same way you would with other units, except that it is very important that you prevent other units from suffering the same fate. Try to tie up an enemy "tar pit" with a cheap unit while trying to minimize the damage you suffer.
Stopping the pursuit
In many cases, you do not want your opponent to track fleeing units to tie them back in close combat.
Prevent the pursuit by moving far enough, binding the unit, or covering the fleeing unit.
Prevent a retreat
If you want to prevent an enemy unit from retreating from melee, you must try to prevent them from moving. This is possible either when the unit that wanted to retreat has no way to move out of the 3 "range of enemy units, but also by "pinching" enemy unit models with two of their own models.
Although the following FAQ point refers more to moving through your own units but also that you can only move through gaps if you also durchpasst.
That means, if one manages to fix a model of the enemy unit with several models so that it would not fit through the gap between models, the unit can not retreat.
Since one model of the red unit is completely surrounded and does not fit through the gap between 2 models of the green unit, the red unit can not retreat.
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