Arena: Dwarven Urgrosh vs. Barbed Chain

Arena: Dwarven Urgrosh vs. Barbed Chain

Let's have another arena fight! This time, we decided to test out some exotic weapons - the barbed chain from LTC2 and dwarven urgrosh.

--Red

ST 12 HP 12    Basic Speed 5.5

DX 12 Will 10  Basic Move 6

IQ 10 Per 10   Dodge 8

HT 10 FP 10    DR 2* (torso)

Barbed Chain swing (13) 2d+1 cr, Reach 1-4*, Parry 7U

Barbed Chain thrust (13) 1d+2 cr, Reach 1-4* Parry 7U

Dagger thrust (12) 1d-2 imp, Reach C, -1 Parry 8

Kusari-14

Knife-12

--Blue

ST 12 HP 12    Basic Speed 5.5

DX 12 Will 10  Basic Move 6

IQ 10 Per 10   Dodge 8

HT 10 FP 10    DR 2* (torso)

Dwarven Urgrosh swing (14) 2d+2 cut, Reach 2, Parry 10U

Dwarven Urgrosh thrust (14) 1d+1 imp, Reach 1-2* Parry 10

Spear-14

Two-Handed Axe/Mace-14

Form Mastery (Dwarven Urgrosh)

Since both the combatants have identical Basic Speed and DX values, we determined who goes first randomly.

Second 1

Blue

Starts with his dwarven urgrosh in the spear form. He takes a step forward and performs a Wait maneuver to setup a stop thrust. (Mistake: You are not allowed any movement with the Wait maneuver.)

Red

Starts with his barbed chain at Reach 4. Spends 1 FP to perform a Giant Step, and swings at his opponent, rolling against 13. Rolls 8. Blue decides to Parry. His Parry is 10, but he also takes a -4 penalty. He rolls against 6, and gets a 6. That's a successful parry. (Mistake: If someone parries your kusari with a weapon, make a skill roll immediately. On a success, your kusari entangles his weapon. We forgot about this thing, and it could have made things go in a very different direction.)

Second 2

Blue

Swaps to the axe form as a free action thanks to the Form Mastery perk, then does a Move and Attack, rolling against 9. Rolls a 9. Red spends 1 FP to do a retreating feverish dodge, rolling against 12. Rolls a 8, escaping unscathed.

Red

Takes a step back and does a Ready, because a 3-4-yard-long chain requires two Ready maneuvers to ready after an attack.

Second 3

Blue

Performs another Move and Attack, rolling against 9 to hit. Rolls 13.

Red

Another step back and Ready. The chain is now ready, but is still at Reach 4.

Second 4

Blue

Steps forward and swings his urgrosh at the opponent, rolling against 14. Rolls a 4. That's a critical hit, so the red combatant gets no defense. We roll a 9 on the critical hit table, getting "normal damage only". Blue rolls 2d+2 cutting damage, getting a 9. 7 cutting damage goes throug, resulting in 10 points of injury, which is a major wound. Red rolls against HT 10 to avoid stun and rolls an 8.

Red

All-Out Defense (Dodge). Being below 1/3 HP and having -4 shock penalty is no joke.

Second 5

Blue

Goes for a finishing blow. All-Out Attack (Determined) with Deceptive Attack (-4 to attack/-2 to defense). Rolls against 14 and gets a 10. Red spends 1 FP for a feverish dodge, but he still has to roll only against 6. (Mistake: Base Dodge value is halved, and only then the modifiers are applied, so Dodge should have been 8.) Rolls an 8. Blue rolls 2d+2 cutting damage, and gets 11. 9 cutting damage goes through, resulting in 15 points of injury, triggering both a major wound roll and an unconsciousness check. Red wins the first check, but loses the second one.

Red

Loses consciousness.

Conclusion

Well, that was quick, and it did not really show off the special features of the weapons. The lessons we've learned are:

1. Try to keep distance from a person with a Reach 2 axe.

2. Kusari-type weapons are more useful when you have friends who can protect you when you are readying the weapon after an attack, and who can exploit sweeps and entanglements that such a weapon can provide.

3. Readying a stop thrust against a Reach 4 kusari wielder is not a good idea.