Oath Stones

At the start of the game, a character with an Oath stone must nominate a unit of Warriors (but NOT Rangers), Longbeards, Ironbreakers or Hammerers to be his Stonebearers. The character must deploy with this unit and cannot leave it during the game. The presence of the stone with the unit confers Magic Resistance (1) as its runes act to absorb wild magic. No other character may join a Stonebearer unit. Furthermore, while the character lives, if the Stonebearer unit is charged, the character may 'set the stone' and stand upon it as part of a Hold reaction. This indicates that he has chosen to stand and fight where he is. Accordingly his Stonebearers, inspired by his resolve, form up around him, facing in all directions. It is not necessary to move the models to represent this. Setting the stone has the following effects:

• The Stonebearer unit has no flanks or rear from this point, even if the character on the stone is killed. This means, for example, that they do not lose their rank bonuses if charged in flank or rear, that no enemy unit gets a combat resolution bonus for attacking them in flank or rear and so on.
• The Stonebearer unit may not move in any way unless forced to Flee and may not choose to Flee as a charge reaction. The character on the stone may not be moved within the unit.
• A Character on an Oath stone must always issue a challenge in close combat and meet any challenge whether he is fighting or not (he is not hard to find - he's the one on the stone!).
• If the Stonebearer unit flees, then the Oath stone is lost. Also the Victory Points for the owning character are lost whether he survives the battle or not, such is his dishonour.