When things get tough, the tough run away as fast as they can, highest ranking officers first. When one side in a battle fails its morale check, all remaining units on that side retreat away from the hexagon of battle. A retreating force will attempt to retreat to the hexagon it last occupied and/or away from the hexagon that the victorious force moved from.

Retreating units stand a chance of dying in the retreat (victorious armies aren't known for graciously allowing defeated foes to escape from the battlefield). The chance for a unit to die during a retreat increases dramatically if it was damaged during the battle. Though units may suffer additional damage and be slain when they retreat, leaders fare better in retreat and suffer no additional damage. They say that rank has its privilege...

The computer chooses the best retreat path for the defeated forces, moving them as quickly as possible into a safe hexagon (a hexagon that does not contain non-allied units and is not adjacent to an Avatar that initiated the battle). Wherever possible, the computer retreats units into hexagons owned by the units' realm. After the retreating force has entered a safe hexagon, damage to the remaining units is recovered. Avatars never regain lost hits in this way.