When a unit is attacked by another unit, the damage inflicted on the defending unit must be calculated.
All melee combat is resolved after missile fire has been resolved.
With melee combat, damage is normally two-way - the two engaged units do damage to each other, unless one unit is attempting to disengage (in which case it does not do any damage to the units it is engaged with that battle turn). If a unit is engaged with more than one opponent's unit at the same time, the unit splits its combat streangth between the units it is engaged with, when working out damage.
The commander of each attacking unit makes a dice roll using his/her Tactics (including leading a unit in battle specialism) + IQ. Situational modifiers apply as follows:
| Attacking unit's status | Modifier |
| Strength of attacking unit | Add unit's melee value |
| Attacking unit's morale | +2 (if good), +0 (if average), or -2 (if poor) |
| Attacking unit's tiredness level | +0 (if fresh or normal), -1 (if slightly or quite tired), -2 (if tired or very tired), -3 (if exhausted), or -4 (if reeling) |
| Position of attacking unit versus target unit | +2 for a good location (e.g. attacking from the top
of a hill, gained advantage in previous battle turn's melee), +0 (if normal), or -2 for a poor location (e.g. attacking up a hill, at disadvantage from previous battle turn's melee, etc.) |
| If attacking unit is charging | +1 |
| If attacking unit is cavalry charging (additional to above bonus) | +6 (if armed with lance), +4 (if armed with spear or javelin), or +2 (if armed with other melee weapons) |
| If unit is infantry with spears or pikes who are receiving a cavalry charge (and are in close order and in a position to brace, i.e. attacked from the front and not in rout) | +6 (if armed with spear) or +8 (if armed with pike) |
| Target unit's status | Modifier |
| Protection of target unit | Deduct target unit's defence value |
| If target unit is in close order | -1 (if they are green recruits or irregular troops), -2 (if they are regular veterans) or -3 (if they are elite troops) |
| Orientation of target unit (versus the attacking unit) | +6 (attacked in the rear), +3 (attacked in the flank), or +0 (attacked frontally) |
| Conditions | Modifier |
| Visibility (e.g. twilight) | +0 (if normal or overcast), -1 if poor (e.g. twilight), or -2 if very poor (e.g. at night) |
The dice roll result determines how much damage the attacking unit inflicts on the target unit, as follows:
| Melee combat dice roll result | Number of casualties inflicted on target |
| zero or lower | None |
| 1-2 | 1% of own unit size |
| 3-4 | 2% of own unit size |
| 5-6 | 4% of own unit size |
| 7-8 | 6% of own unit size |
| 9-10 | 9% of own unit size |
| 11-12 | 12% of own unit size |
| 13-14 | 16% of own unit size |
| 15-16 | 20% of own unit size |
| 17-18 | 25% of own unit size |
| 19-20 | 30% of own unit size |
| 21-22 | 36% of own unit size |
| 23-24 | 42% of own unit size |
| 25-26 | 49% of own unit size |
| 27-28 | 56% of own unit size |
| 29-30 | 63% of own unit size |
| 31-32 | 71% of own unit size |
| 33-34 | 79% of own unit size |
| 35-36 | 88% of own unit size |
| 37-38 | 97% of own unit size |
| 39-40 | 106% of own unit size |
| per extra point | +5% of own unit size |
For example, Alexander's heavy cavalry successfully charge into the rear of the light cavalry unit (350 strong). Alexander is commanding the unit personally and has a talent for Tactics (+2), a Tactics score of 7 with a specialism in battlefield strategy of 3 and an IQ of +2. His unit of elite heavy cavalry are armed with spears, there are 250 of them and their melee value is 30. The unit is fresh and has good morale. They are charging into the rear of the light cavalry unit (defence value of 11 in skirmish order). To determine how many casualties are delivered this battle turn, Alexander makes a dice roll, with a basic value of 7 (Tactics) +3 (specialism) +2 (talent) +2 (IQ) +30 (melee value) +2 (good morale) +0 (fresh) +0 (normal position) +1 (charging) +4 (cavalry charging with spears) -11 (defence value) +0 (target in skirmish order) +6 (attacking the target's rear) +0 (normal visibility) = 46. He decides to risks ten dice, rolls10D+16, rolls a 6, 5, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2 and 3 giving a dice roll result of 53. This results in the attacking unit causing casualties equal to 171% of its size (i.e. 171% x 250 = 426 casualties). The light cavalry are annihilated.
Meanwhile, the light cavalry fight back at the charging heavy cavalry. The light cavalry unit (350 strong after having taken casualties from missile fire, with a melee value of 22) is led by Xerxes, who has a Tactics score of 3 (with +1 specialism in leading a unit in battle) and an IQ of +0. The unit is fresh and has good morale. They are attacking Alexander's heavy cavalry, who have a defence value of 18 and are elite troops in close order. To determine how many casualties are delivered this battle turn, Xerxes makes a dice roll, with a basic value of 3 (Tactics) +1 (specialism) +0 (IQ) +22 (melee value) +2 (good morale) +0 (fresh) +0 (normal position) -18 (defence value) -3 (elite target in close order) +0 (attacked frontally) +0 (normal visibility/wind) = 7. He risks 2D+1, rolls a 4 and a 3, giving a dice roll result of 8. This results in the attacking unit causing casualties equal to 6% of its size (i.e. 6% x 350 = 21 casualties). The unit strength of Alexander's heavy cavalry is reduced by 21.
Note that the two sets of melee combat are resolved simultaneously (after all missile fire).
The casualties inflicted by melee combat (and any missile fire) may result in the affected unit losing morale.