Movement and Terrain Effects

Movement Points

At the beginning of each turn all units are given movement points to use for the turn.

The amount of movement points each unit gets is the sum of:
1) The unit's base movement (including any increase from blessing or magic items) +
2) Leftover movement points from the prior turn +
3) Any group movement bonus that the stack has (best unit plus best hero)

Example: A Mammoth unit ends its turn with 1 movement point left. At the beginning of the next turn the number of movement points the Mammoth unit gets is 14 (his base movement) + 1 (leftover movement from the prior turn) + 4 (group movement bonus) = 19. A stack of Mammoths ending their turn with 1 movement point left likewise have 19 move points on the next turn, since multiple group movement bonuses from units do not stack.

Leftover Movement Points

The maximum amount of leftover movement points that a unit can retain from the prior turn is 2. Any excess beyond 2 is lost.

A unit that arrives from a portal is considered to have retained 2 movement points from the prior turn.

Tip: It is advantageous to save your last 2 movement points each turn and not use them up. The reason is that next turn you still have those points to use. This allows you to potentially change directions if needed and have 2 more move points than you otherwise would have. The obvious exception to this is if those last 2 movement points allow you to reach your destination (city/ruin/tower, merge with another stack, attack an opponent etc).

Moving

As a unit moves on the map, movement points are subtracted from the units movement total based on the terrain square the unit is moving into. The amount subtracted is the unit type (land/air/aquatic) cost for the terrain.

When a unit no longer has enough points left to move onto a terrain square on the map it will be unable to move there.

Note:When any unit in a stack does not have enough movement points to move to the next terrain square the entire stack will not be able to move there. That unit must be deselected from the stack and left behind in order for the rest of the stack to continue moving.

Example: A stack consisting of an Eagle with 2 movement points and a Lt Cavalry with 5 movement points wants to move to a Forest square. The move cost in the Forest for the Eagle (air) is 2 and the move cost in the Forest for a Lt Cavalry (land) is 4. This move can take place because each unit has enough points. After the move the Eagle will have 0 movement points left and the Lt Cavalry will have 1 movement point left.

Terrain Types

Here are all the terrain types and their base movement costs for land, air and aquatic units. For boat movement see Maritime Travel.

Terrain Types
Terrain	Landscape	Move Cost Land / Air / Aquatic	Combat Terrain
Open	Grassland	2 / 2 / -	Open
Road	Surrounding terrain	1 / 2 / -	Surrounding terrain
Forest	Forest	4 / 2 / -	Forest
Swamp	Swamp	5 / 2 / 2	Swamp
Hills	Hill	6 / 2 / -	Hill
Desert	Desert	3 / 2 / -	Desert
Snow	Snow	4 / 2 / -	Snow
Mountain	Mountain	- / 4 / -	Hill
Volcanic	Volcanic	-[1] / - / -	None
City	Cities	1 / 1 / 2	City
Razed City	Razed Cities	2 / 2 / 2	City
Temple	Temple	2 / 2 / 2	None[2]
Ruin ground	Ruin	2 / 2 / 2	Ruin[2][3]
Ruin water	Water	- / 2 / 2	Water
Tower	Surounding terrain	Surrounding terrain	Surrounding terrain
Resource Field	Surounding terrain	Surrounding terrain	Surrounding terrain
Bridge	Bridge	1 / 2 / 1	Open/Water[4]
River	River	- / 2 / 2[5]	Water
Ford	River	7 / 2 / 2	Water
Shore	Shore	- / 2 / 1	Water
Shallow water	Shallow water	- / 2 / 1	Water
Deep water	Deep water	- / 2 / 1	Water

[1] Elementals can move through Volcanic terrain at a cost of 3. Heroes with the Ash Walk skill can move through Volcanic terrain at a cost of 2.
[2] All defending units on a Temple or Ruin (ground) receive a +5 wall bonus.
[3] Ruin terrain allows all units (attacking or defending) to add their undead lore skill to their strength. Heroes only add their own undead lore skill to strength. This includes undead lore from items, but excludes a bonus from other stacked troops, such as Scouts or Ghots, unlike for ruin exploration.
[4] Land units crossing over a bridge use the Open terrain bonus. Aquatic and ship units moving under a bridge use the Water terrain bonus. If land units fight aquatic/ship units on a bridge each uses their respective terrain bonus.
[5] Aquatic units move over a waterfall at a cost of 6.

Movement Bonus

Some land units are specialized at moving in a certain terrain and use a reduced move cost to move through it (Elves in a forest only require 2 points instead of 4).

The specialization can be limited to the individual unit (Scorpions in a desert) or it can allow that unit to lead others through the terrain so that they also use the reduced cost (Elves can lead all land units in the stack through the forest for 2 move points).

Here are all the land units that can lead other land units (but not air/aquatic) through their terrain at a reduced move cost.

Terrain Stack Movement Bonus Units
Unit	Terrain	Move Cost
Dwarf	Hills	1
Sandworm	Desert	1
Elemental	Desert	2
Elf	Forest	2
Giant	Hills	2
Mammoth	Snow	2
Medusa	Desert	2
Orc	Swamp	2
Unicorn	Forest	2
Wolfrider	Forest Swamp	2 2
Yeti	Snow	2
Scout	Desert Forest Hills Snow Swamp	2 3 3 3 3
Ranger	Forest	2

Combat Bonus

Some units are specialized at fighting in certain terrain and receive a bonus when fighting there (Elves in a forest receive +10 combat strength).

The specialization can be limited to the individual unit (Elves in a forest) or it can allow that unit to provide a morale bonus to all friendly units or a fear penalty to all enemy units (Sandworm in a desert gives a 5 fear penalty to all enemy units).

Here are all the units that provide a morale bonus to friendly units or fear penalty to enemy units in their terrain.

Terrain Stack Combat Bonus Units
Unit	Terrain	Bonus / Penalty
Elephant	Open Desert	+12 Morale +12 Morale
Kraken	Swamp Water	-6 Fear -10 Fear
Mammoth	Snow	+5 Morale
Sandworm	Desert	-5 Fear
Wolfrider	Forest Swamp	+5 Morale +5 Morale