Long Reach (3)

The model is armed with a long weapon like a pike or a very long spear. In a normal one vs. one melee, this does not confer any advantage. The user can attack over a friend's shoulders as seen in the illustration below, as long as the friend is the same size or smaller.



In the image, Pink may attack White over Purple’s shoulder, as long as Purple is of the same size or smaller than Pink..

When a character attacks someone in this fashion and loses the Combat roll, the model with Long Reach may turn a knockdown result on itself into a Recoil, unless the other combatant also has Long Reach. Long Reach weapons are at -1 in cramped situations (battlements, dungeon corridors, tunnels, openings in a room, thick forest, etc.) because the length of the weapon interferes with the character's movements. However, models attacking an otherwise unengaged model with Long Reach lose any Mounted or Higher Elevation bonus they might have. A model can help to outnumber a foe by using the Long Reach Trait over the shoulder of a friend. This is NOT allowed if the friend is of larger size. The maximum outnumbering modifier on a single figure that can be caused by Long Reach weapons is -3. Even if you bring more than four figures in contact with the opponent, too many pikes or spears jabbing at the same target will hamper each other; hence there is a cap on the modifier.