Battles are fought between two opposing sides - two armies that will struggle for supremacy using all their armed might and cunning. The warring armies are commanded by kings and generals, wizards and heroes. Their model counterparts are commanded by you - the player.

In a real battle, lots of things happen at once and it is very difficult to tell exactly how the battle is progressing at any one moment. The fortunes of each side sway throughout the battle as one side charges and then the other, roaring with fury and bloodlust as they throw themselves upon the enemy. Mighty war engines lob their deadly cargoes towards their cowering foes and clouds of arrows darken the turbulent skies.

For simplicity's sake, in Warhammer we represent the howling maelstrom of action in turns, in a similar way to chess or draughts.

A game of Warhammer consists of six game turns. During each game turn, each player takes one complete player turn, so that by the end of the game both players will have played six player turns. For brevity's sake, the term 'player turn' is usually shortened to 'turn' throughout this rulebook and all other supplements for Warhammer. Players alternate taking turns until the battle is over.

Within the player turn, actions are performed in a fixed order - this is called the turn sequence. Each player turn is divided up into phases during which the player moves all his units, shoots with all his missile-armed units, resolves all close combat, and so on.

When it is your turn, it is up to you to keep track of where you are in the turn sequence. If you forget, your opponent should be able to remind you. The phases in a turn are always completed in the order given below, and all actions in that phase must be resolved before moving on to the next phase.