Heroes VII: flanking, facing and spells on the battlefield
Six situations and eighteen steps with original creatures, a commander portrait and spell icons. Compare front, flank and rear, Black Guard’s Defensive, Time Stasis, Fog Shroud, Lightning Reflexes and Legionnaire’s Shielding.
A1–E5 coordinates identify a local excerpt. Flanking pictures compare alternatives with a stated facing rather than three attacks with unchanged orientation or free rotation. Steps do not automatically equal three rounds and calculate neither casualties nor battle results.
Front, flank and rear of the same target
Three pictures compare alternative melee attacks against a target facing left. The pale-blue arrow on its portrait marks the assumed front. These are not three consecutive attacks with unchanged facing.
Sentinel stands in front at B3. For the stated facing this is a frontal hit without an ordinary flanking bonus. Shooting and spells have different conditions; the arrow does not calculate casualties.
The alternative attack cell is C2, directly to the side of the same assumed front. The ordinary addition is twenty-five percent. First verify the attacker can actually reach the cell using a valid action.
D3 is directly behind a target facing left: ordinary full flanking adds fifty percent. This example offers no free arbitrary rotation command; after actual movement or retaliation read the current game preview again.
Check before the actual action
Ordinary flanking has a reference twenty-five-percent bonus; full rear flanking fifty percent. This is not the full damage formula or a guarantee of surviving retaliation. Backstab and protection such as Vigilance can change the rule; verify the attack preview.
Trial by Fire’s Black Guard has Defensive: defending grants unlimited retaliation and prevents flanking until its next turn. Owning the trait alone does not mean the defensive state is always active.
Black Guard is assumed to face left and has not yet defended. The diagram shows a rear threat; the Defensive trait alone does not establish unlimited retaliation at this moment.
The stack spent its action defending. While the state lasts the attacker gains no flanking bonus and the defender has the stated unlimited retaliation. Attacking remains possible and can still cause damage.
Conditional later state: Black Guard reached its next turn and the previous protection expired under the reference. The trait’s name does not keep the state active afterward. The example grants no free extra Defend.
Check before the actual action
Banshee or Vampire Lord’s Vigilance is separate protection. Neither trait makes attacking from a side impossible: the relevant bonus is prevented. Unlimited retaliation does not grant unlimited voluntary actions.
In Heroes VII Time Stasis is not a damage window against the target as in VI: until round end it prevents actions and attacking or targeting that stack. Other enemies remain separate threats.
Illustrative commander outside the field
Solmyr
1. The state removes the target from ordinary interactions
After a valid cast Brute is in Time Stasis. The crossed red link marks an invalid attack plan against it rather than a resolved hit. No invented creatures are removed.
The other Crossbowman is not disabled by this cast. Spend valid actions addressing another target or preparing the next round; a new target still requires reach and correct ordering.
This conditional later picture is after round end, so the state has disappeared. The target returns to ordinary rules. This does not immediately grant Sentinel another attack outside its own order.
Check before the actual action
Expiry is the current round’s end rather than automatically three later actions. Cost depends on Prime mastery and other discounts. Neither state nor icon grants a free friendly action: casting assumes learning and a valid hero opportunity.
Fog Shroud protects a shooter while restricting its own shooting
Shroud restricts ranged targeting as well as the target’s own shooting and activated abilities. It is not universal invulnerability: a melee threat remains relevant.
An opposing shot threatens the shooter. Before casting compare protection with whether the friendly Crossbowman needs to fire now. The spell has both a cost and timing requirements.
2. Shroud restricts both directions of the shooting plan
After valid Fog Shroud both shooting links are crossed out. Protection from opposing ranged targeting also means the protected stack cannot be assumed to fire normally or use a restricted activated ability.
Conditional later situation: the enemy Sentinel used a legal move to adjacent C3. Shroud alone does not prevent this melee hit. With the base spell, taking damage could also end protection.
Check before the actual action
The base effect ends within two rounds or when damage is taken. Master of Water I removes the damage-break condition rather than automatically removing every restriction on friendly shooting. Item sources and cost discounts have separate descriptions.
Ordinary Lightning Reflexes adds a melee strike with its own adjusted Attack. The base order permits retaliation before that extra strike; Master of Air III changes the ordering.
The example begins with the base spell already validly active, without Master of Air III. Sentinel spends its action attacking the adjacent target; the status does not grant unlimited further actions.
If the target survived and has an eligible ordinary retaliation, its response comes before the base extra strike. Without actual damage the diagram does not guarantee both stacks survive.
The conditionally surviving attacker completes its extra hit. Magic and spell mastery determine its Attack adjustment. Do not confuse this base sequence with the perk-modified ordering.
Check before the actual action
The second strike need not have equal strength and requires surviving the earlier response. Master of Air III moves it before retaliation and adds ten Attack. A higher numerical mastery row alone does not replace that separate perk.
Shielding belongs to Legionnaire rather than base Sentinel
In Heroes VII the upgraded Legionnaire has adjacent protection. The base Sentinel in this inventory lacks that trait. Matching names from VI do not justify importing its percentage calculation.
Legionnaire stands at B3 beside Crossbowman at A3. The base Sentinel link lets you verify that the same protection is not automatically present on the base form.
An eligible shot at the neighbor uses the stated two-recipient rule. The diagram does not convert percentages directly into lost creatures or imply the protected stack is completely invulnerable.
Alternative decision: the protector spent its action moving to D2 and is no longer adjacent to the shooter. Reassess protection before the next enemy action. This is not a free move between parts of a single hit.
Check before the actual action
The reference gives the adjacent ally twenty-five percent of a melee or ranged hit and Legionnaire another twenty-five percent. This is neither a seventy-five/twenty-five split nor VI’s thirty-five-percent transfer. Multiple protectors and ordering with other defenses can depend on version.
Original illustrations and icons are game artwork with separate rights. Grid, directions, arrows, states and explanations are original editorial work. Artwork rights and individual sources.
Creature rules are checked against Acid Cave and spells against Jaskinia Behemota. Base directional bonuses are separate from Backstab, Vigilance and other modifiers. Black Guard belongs to Trial by Fire. The complete battle outcome is not calculated here.
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