Combat

Combat is a general term for encounters in Heroes of Might and Magic III, where heroes and their armies fight against each other in order to vanquish the hero and his troops. Combat takes place, when a player or computer attacks another hero or a wandering creature stack. Winner of the combat will be the hero, who can destroy all of other hero's army or all the wandering creatures. However, defending hero may also retreat or surrender while attacking hero may only retreat. Wandering creatures never surrender or retreat, but they may flee before the combat.

Battlefield

Combat takes place on the battlefield, that is 11 rows of 15 hexagonal frames (hexes). Because size of most the creatures is one hex, a creature with speed of 13 can traverse across the battlefield to attack another creature stack directly opposite to that creature. Additionally, a creature with a speed of 18 can tarverse diagonally from one corner to its opposite corner.