S.S.U.S.R: Problem Solved?

Something had been niggling me for quite some time regarding my Super Simple Universal Skirmish Rules and that was the activation sequence.

The sequence as it stood, was as follows:

The player that deployed second is the activate player and can pick any of their fighters to activate.

Once that fighter has activated: 

1. If they attacked an enemy but did not kill them, that enemy is activated, and the other player becomes the active player. If the other player’s leader is within 6” of the attacked enemy, they can activate that fighter or any other fighter within 6” of their leader.
2. If they attacked an enemy and did kill them, then the active player can pick a different fighter to activate.
3. If they did not attack an enemy, then the player remains as the active player and can pick any other fighter to activate that they have not yet activated since becoming the active player.

A player can never activate more than 3 fighters consecutively, before the other player becomes the active player.

Before scrolling further, try and guess what the problem might be.

As you can imagine, a turn sequence based around you losing the initiative if you attempt and then fail to kill something, will likely mean that you’ll either wait till that third activation before you try a kill, or you’ll heavily rely on your most powerful units to do all the work.

So why bother taking weaker units? That’s a good question. Hence the niggle.

I down graded the bar to get a second or third activation a while ago, so you didn’t have to kill the enemy just wound them, and that helped a little, but still those lower level figures still didn’t really get a look in, not until they were the last ones left.

Here’s how Melee Attacks work anyway so you get an idea:

A fighter attacks any enemy in base to base contact. A fighter rolls 3 dice as standard for the attack. Berserkers, Monsters and Reapers roll 4 dice.

To hit their target the fighter must pass an attack check. Compare the attacker’s Might to the target’s Might:

Attacker Hits On

Attacker Double+ 3+

Attacker Larger 4+

Defender Equal or Larger 5+

Defender Double+ 6+

Assassins and Reapers add 1 to their rolls.

If the attacker scores 1 hit the target is stunned.

If the attacker scores 2 hits the target is wounded.

If the attacker scores 3 hits the target is killed.

If a stunned fighter is stunned a second time then they are wounded. If a wounded fighter is wounded a second time then they are killed.

So what was my simple solution… (which took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out)?

The player that deployed second is the activate player and can pick any of their fighters to activate.

Once that fighter has activated: 

1. If they attacked an enemy with a lower Might value, but did not wound them, then that enemy is activated, and the other player becomes the active player. If the other player’s leader is within 6” of the attacked enemy, they can activate that fighter or any other fighter within 6” of their leader.
2. If they attacked an enemy with an equal or higher  Might value, and did not wound them, then the active player can pick a different fighter to activate.
3. If they attacked an enemy and wounded or killed them, then the active player can pick a different fighter to activate.
4. If they did not attack an enemy, then the player remains as the active player and can pick any other fighter to activate that they have not yet activated since becoming the active player.

A player can never activate more than 3 fighters consecutively, before the other player becomes the active player.

So that simple change should encourage some weaker guys to take some potshots before you send in your heavier guys to do some work.

But I do want to get some more changes in too. I’d love to have some basic force archetypes to diversify my warbands further. I’m not really sure how that manifests yet, I’d like to maintain some semblance of simplicity… this is supposed to be my ‘Super Simple’ skirmish set of rules after all!