In Age of Magic, when combat occurs, the referee sets up a combat "board" representing the area in which the fight is taking place. It is normal in Age of Magic for the combat "board" to be a hex-board, a grid of hexagons, where each hexagon or hex represents one square metre. The rules are written assuming such a grid is used. However, should the referee so desire, he/she is free to adapt the rules to any type of board he feels is best to represent the combat.
Each character in the combat is represented by a marker (e.g. a piece of cardboard, or a lead figurine). A character's position in a combat is shown by the position that his/her marker occupies on the combat "board". A character's position on the combat "board" determines what he/she is able to do (e.g. whether or not he/she can attack an opponent).
In addition to his/her position, a character's marker also shows the direction in which he/she is facing (i.e. where he/she is looking). On a hex-board, facing is determined by the adjacent hex towards which the character's marker is pointing (see diagram below). A character has good vision into the hexes in front of him, but only limited vision into the hexes to his/her rear.
A character moves on the combat "board" by making actions or reactions. The description of each action/reaction explains how this affects the character's position on the combat "board".