Crouching

If you are in a standing position,
you can elect to crouch at the begin-
ning of your turn, as part of any
maneuver. If you don’t move, or if you
only step, you may also crouch after
performing another action such as
attacking or readying. However, you
may not move more than a step and
then crouch at the end of your move-
ment to avoid attacks – not in one sec-
ond! But if you are already crouching,
you may leave your crouch at any time
as a free action.
An “attack” is an attempt to hit a
foe or other target. If you execute an
Attack, All-Out Attack, or Move and
Attack maneuver (or convert a Wait
into any of these), you may try to hit a
foe. You can only attack with a
weapon if it’s ready (see Ready, p. 366).
The GM always has the option of
ruling, for any reason having to do
with the situation, that some fighters
cannot attack certain opponents. For
instance, eight attackers could not hit
one human-sized foe at the same time.
(Even three or four attackers at once
would be unlikely, unless their victim
had no allies!)
There
are
two
basic
types
of attacks: melee attacks (pp. 369-372)
and ranged attacks (pp. 372-374).
Your target must be within reach
if you’re making a melee attack, or