Formation
Each squad fights in a 2×3 grid: two ranks — Front and Back — across three files — Left, Center, Right. Where a soldier stands is as much a part of your doctrine as anything on their writ.
| Left | Center | Right | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front rank | Fighter | Knight | Fighter |
| Back rank | Hunter | Cleric | Wizard |
A classic line: armor forward, arrows and staves behind.
Front-rank protection
The front rank shields the back. Melee attacks cannot reach the back rank while any front-rank soldier still stands. A sword must break the line before it can touch your archer.
Some attacks don't care. Skills marked ignores row protection — arrows like Sniper Shot, spells like Hex Bolt, thrown things like Venom Dart — slip past the line and strike anywhere. So the shield is real, but it is not absolute: a healthy front rank stops swords, not arrows.
Sweeping skills bend the law further. A skill that fans out — Cleaving Sweep across a row, Skewering Shot down a column, Firestorm over the whole grid — aims at one soldier and catches everyone standing in the shape. The line only guards the aim: whoever else the sweep washes over is struck regardless of rank.
When the last front-rank soldier falls, the line is broken, and everything can reach everyone. Plan for that moment — it is when most battles are decided.
What formation means for your writ
- Guard the soft. Menders and mages live in the back rank. A Cleric in the front rank is a Cleric the enemy's swords may reach first.
- Sweep where they crowd. Conditions like Full Row, Row Holds 2 Or More, and Full Column let a rule fire only when the enemy is conveniently bunched — the natural leash for a sweeping skill.
- Hunt the back line. A rule pairing a line-slipping skill with Back Row is the classic sniper's writ: ignore the shield, delete the healer.
- Read their line like yours. The enemy's front rank protects their back rank by the same law. Your melee soldiers will hit the front until it breaks, no matter what you write — so write with that in mind.
A formation cell is also a door: in the Barracks, double-click a soldier's cell — or their roster row — and their Standing Orders open for editing on the spot.
The full list of formation conditions is in the condition reference.