CLOSE COMBAT

 

A character can change weapons as part of the charge action (e.g. drawing a sword) but loses the +10% charge bonus if he does so.

 

Initiating Close Combat

Make a Charge action. Character with weapon with Reach 4 or more can stop within 3 yds of the enemy and fights at arm's length. Other characters must stop within 1 yard of enemy.

 

A character in close combat declares actions one at a time. Roll the Action dice to see how many actions he can perform that turn.

 

Actions that can be performed in combat

Attack: A character at arm's length may only make attacks with weapons with Reach 4 or greater.

 

Circle: Move character 2 yds to his left or right but not further away from or closer to his enemy.

Advance and attack: Character who is at arm's length closes in 2 yds and makes another attack- Combatants are no longer at arm's length.

 

Step back: Move character 2 yds away from enemy. Combatants are now at arm's length.

 

Fire pistol: May only be fired at arm's length. Attacker rolls using WS rather than BS. Defender may only parry by using a dodge, and moves 2 yds left or right instead of away from attacker.   

 

Break off: Character must puss ;in Initiative test (+20% if at arm's length), if he passes, i.e. makes one run action out of combat. If he rolls more than double his Initiative, enemy gets a free action.

 

Facing and positioning

Attacker can automatically turn to face his opponent as part of an action.

 

A prone character must spend an action getting to his feet before he attacks. A prone character at arm's length may fire a pistol.

 

Making Close Combat Attacks

One attack per action. Attacks may be made only against enemy 45" to the front.   

 

Must roll equal to or less than WS after modifiers to score a hit.

 

Unmodified roll of 01-05 always hits.

Unmodified roll of 96-00 always misses-

Modifiers:         Charging: +10%

 

Parrying Summary

 

Weapon reach: For every point of Reach which the attacker's weapon has over defender he gains +10% to hit.  For every point lower he suffers -10% to hit.

 

Positioning: If defender is prone the attacker gains +20% to hit. A character who is at least a yard higher up than the defender has a +10% to hit.

 

Two weapons and off-hand attacks: -20% if attacking with off-hand and -20%, if using two weapons.

 

Enemy size: Less than half size of human: -30%. More than 50% bigger than human: +30%.

 

Critical hits

Critical hit scored if roll one tenth of the attacker's required to hit number. Critical hits do double damage, doubled after dice are rolled and modifiers added, but before deductions for armour.

 

Parrying

Parry an attack by rolling equal to defender's WS for first parry. WS halved for second parry and halved again for each subsequent parry.

 

Deduct weapon's parry penalty from score needed to successfully parry.

 

Unmodified roll of O1-05 always succeeds.

Unmodified roll of 96-00 always fails.

 

Weapon reach: For every point of Reach which the defender's weapon has over attacker he gains +10% to parry. For every point lower he suffers -10% to parry.

 

Positioning: If defender is prone he loses -20% to parry. A character who is at least a yard higher up than attacker has a +10% to parry.

 

Side and rear attacks: If character is attacked outside of an arc 90" to his front he must turn to parry and suffers -20% to parry. If he has to turn over 90": -40% to parry.

 

Off-hand: -20% to parry with a weapon held in off-hand.

 

Dodging

Can elect to dodge as part of a parry. Does not use parry penalty of weapon but adds +20% to chance of success. Dodging character is moved 2 yds directly away from attacker. May not counter-attack. If defender is prone, he is moved 1 yard left or right.

 

If a character dodges at arm's length, he moves 2 yds left or right, remaining within 3 yds of attacker.

 

Parrying with two weapons: May parry with both at same time (+20%) or may use one weapon at a time. Count number of parries made by each weapon in The turn rather than total number of parries made by the character to determine proportion of' WS used.

 

Counter-attacks

If a parrying character rolls equal to or less than the score he needs to parry minus his weapon's parry modifier, he may counter-attack- This is a free action, worked out just like an ordinary close combat action.

 

Ending a Combat

Combat ends when a character breaks from combat, is defeated or if the combatants end up more than 3 yds apart. When combat ends and a character has any actions left that turn. his next action must be a pause for breath action.

 

Unarmed attacks and improvised weapons

A character not holding any weapon or just a pistol is considered unarmed. He has Reach 0 and can only parry armed attacks with a dodge.

 

A character with a basic weapon or improvised weapon has a Reach 1 and a -30% parry penalty, a character with a weapon with Reach 4 or more not fighting al arm's length and not in first round of combat counts as having an improvised weapon.

 

Shooting into combat

Randomise who has been hit. At close quarters (within a yard) there is an equal chance of hitting (1-3 target character 4-6 the other character). If one character is prone there is less chance of hitting him (1-2 prone character 3-6 the other character).

This can be adjusted accordingly for more combatants. If at arms length there is only a third chance of being wrong (1-4 target character 5-6 the other character). If they are fighting two enemies at arms length randomise who is 5 and who is 6.

 

Multiple Combats

An attacking character can divide his attacks between any of the other combatants. To count as at arms length the character must be at least 1 yard away from all enemies. However he can attack an enemy at arms length with a weapon of reach 4 or more even if they are at close quarters of another enemy.

 

An attacker faces the last opponent he attacked. When counting parries count the number of parries that turn, not the number of parries against each enemy.