Backing away when defeated in combat

[Dr Grant]

Hi guys, we've had quite a few rules questions come up recently and before we head off to the UK doubles tournament in a couple of weeks I thought I'd get some feedback. I'm posting them as multiple threads as one thread with multiple questions might easily get bogged down with discussion of one topic.

So, the basic question is:

When a warrior is defeated in combat do they have to retreat 1" directly away from their opponent or can they move away in any direction?

On page 27 of the BRB it states "The loser must 'back away' 1"/2cm from his opponent to represent he has lost the fight"

On page 28 it also states that "Where a single model is beaten back by two or more enemies the retreating player can retreat through any gap that is wide enough for the model's base to pass"

We have always played it the 'sensible' way where the model can retreat in any direction as long as it has space which certainly seems fair. However, both pictures that demonstrate the process (p.26 & 29) show the model moving directly away from the model.

This obviously has large implications for trapped fighters. We tried a small game recently where we moved the figures directly away and found that it led to far more trapped fighters and felt unreasonable.

I know this has been discussed in two previous threads but I didn't see any confirmation or proof one way or the other, it seemed to be largely gamers stating the way they played it.

Thanks for all your help guys, see you in the next thread!

[Jobu]

The model does not have to back away in any specific direction. It could move sideways if there is space.