In prepping for another big battle I felt my melee combat rules could do with a tweak. Here’s where they currently stand:
Select a target figure in base contact with the attacking figure. Roll the attacking figure’s MA die, and your opponent rolls the target figure’s DF die. The lower roller loses a number of lives equal to the difference.
If multiple enemies are in contact with the attacking figure add 1 to the defenders die for each additional figure.
Likewise if multiple enemies are in contact with the defending figure add 1 to the attackers die for each additional figure.
Re-roll ties.
If the loser is not killed they back away from the winner by 1”. If the loser cannot back away by 1” because there are allies in the way, they back away to the other side of those allies. If the loser cannot back away by 1” because there are enemies in the way they are killed.
I thought this all made so much sense, but as we all know no plan survives contact with the enemy.
Take the following example:
The Shining Templars charge into the Golem. The first bout is rolled for the Templars attack with D10s and the Golem defends with a D12. The Templar wins by 5. Rules as written would mean the Golem suffers the difference in wounds, and retreats 1” ending the combat.
In practice I wasn’t a fan of this as it meant the Templars that also made contact with the Golem didn’t get to fight. In a way you could be punished for rolling well.
Instead I’ve decided you roll all the possible bouts and then determine who retreats and who doesn’t based on which side caused the most damage.
In the above picture after the three bouts were rolled for the Templars had suffered 9 wounds and the Golem 10. The Golem would still be alive as it has 12 wounds in total and two Templars would be killed in the fight as they have 4 wounds each (the remaining wound sticks on the Templar unit), but the Golem retreats having taken more damage overall.
I think I’ll most likely have to increase the number of wounds each model has by 1-3, since wounds now carry over from model to model. Take the following example:
The Shining Templars smash into some Mutants. In the current rules the Wasp Mutant suffers 2 wounds and retreats 1”. The Caterpillar Mutant suffers 4 wounds and is killed and the Mantis Mutant suffers 6 and is killed. So 1 wounded Mutant and 2 dead.
With my revamped rules the Mutants would suffer 12 wounds overall which would kill 4 of them. So to keep the current casualty rates which feel about right, everything is going to need to be tougher.
I hope to get a game in this weekend where I can try all of this out. Hopefully it’ll be speedy and fun. Here are is a rough draft of my new melee rules:
When two units come into base to base contact they fight each other in melee combat. The unit that made contact is attacking and the other unit is defending. Each attacking figure in base contact with the defending unit makes an attack.
Roll the attacking figure’s MA die, and your opponent rolls the target figure’s DF die. The lower roller loses a number of lives equal to the difference. Re-roll ties. Once each attacking figure in base contact with the defending unit has attacked the combat is over.
The unit that lost the most lives overall loses the combat and retreats 6”. Each unit also suffers a number of casualties equal to their total lives lost divided by their LV stat. Any remaining lost lives that are not enough to kill a figure stay on the unit.
Deathzap 