Heroic Combat: Iteration 2 Test

Heroic Combat: Iteration 2 Test

Let's use the same examples from Iteration 1 tests to test Iteration 2. This will showcase the differences.

SCENARIO #1 - DUEL

Swordsman

ST 12   HP 12    SM+0

DX 11  BS 5.5   Dodge 9

HT 11  FP 11     

Move 3

DR 4 (torso; medium segmented plate)

Light medium shield (DB 2) - Shield (14)

Thrusting Broadsword swing (14): swing 1d+2 cutting, Reach 1.

Thrusting Broadsword thrust (14): thrust 1d+1 impaling, Reach 1.

Bandit Captain

ST 13   HP 13    SM+0

DX 12  BS 6   Dodge 10

HT 11  FP 11     

Move 6

DR 3*, -2 vs. crushing (torso; light mail)

Thrusting Broadsword swing (14): swing 1d+2 cutting, Reach 1.

Thrusting Broadsword thrust (14): thrust 1d+2 impaling, Reach 1.

Short Bow (13): thrust 1d impaling, Acc 1, Range 195/300, RoF 1, Shots 1(2), Bulk -6.

First, let's assume the starting encounter distance of 15 yards on a featureless plane. Something like a large dungeon room. Since I am playing both sides, I will determine the combat tactics randomly (in this particular example, at least).

Round #1

Swordsman (HP 12/12, FP 11/11)

Bandit Captain (HP 13/13, FP 11/11)

Starting Distance: 15 yards

    Orders Phase: Swordsman - Hold Ground; Bandit Captain - Hold Ground.

    Initiative Phase: Swordsman - 3; Bandit Captain - 5.

    Bandit Captain:

        Movement Phase: The bandit captain does not move.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Hold Ground allows movement up to 1 x Move, and the bandit captain didn't move. Thus, he may expend this unspent Move to increase the number of shots from his short bow from 1 to 2. He decides to fire two arrows at the swordsman. This is a QC of Bow vs. Shield. The bandit captain rolls against Bow-10 (Bow 13 - 3 short range) and gets 12. The swordsman rolls against Shield 18 (Shield 14 + 2 DB + 2 tactics) and gets 7. The attack misses.

        Melee Combat Phase: Nothing.

    Swordsman:

        Movement Phase: The swordsman moves 3 yards, shortening the distance to 12 yards.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: Nothing.

    Morale Phase: Nothing.

    Fatigue Phase: I roll 1d and get a 5. No fatigue this round.

Round #2

Swordsman (HP 12/12, FP 11/11)

Bandit Captain (HP 13/13, FP 11/11)

Starting Distance: 12 yards

    Orders Phase: Swordsman - All-Out Offensive; Bandit Captain - Defensive.

    Initiative Phase: Swordsman - 5; Bandit Captain - 6.

    Bandit Captain:

        Movement Phase: The bandit captain does not move.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Defensive tactic allows movement up to 4 x Move, and the bandit captain didn't move. Thus, he may expend this unspent 2 x Move to increase the number of shots from his short bow from 1 to 3. He decides to fire three arrows at the swordsman. This is a QC of Bow vs. Shield. The bandit captain rolls against Bow-8 (Bow 13 - 3 short range - 2 Defensive) and gets 10. The swordsman rolls against Shield 12 (Shield 14 + 2 DB - 4 tactics) and gets 8. The attack misses again.

        Melee Combat Phase: Nothing.

    Swordsman:

        Movement Phase: The swordsman moves 11 yards to assault the bandit in melee.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The swordsman attacks with his sword. This is a QC of Broadsword. The swordsman rolls against Broadsword 18 (Broadsword 14 + 4 tactic) and gets 11. The bandit rolls against Broadsword 16 (Broadsword 14 + 2 tactic) and gets 7. The bandit actually wins by 2, taking no hits.

    Morale Phase: Nothing.

    Fatigue Phase: I roll 1d and get a 3. No fatigue this round.

Round #3

Swordsman (HP 12/12, FP 11/11)

Bandit Captain (HP 13/13, FP 11/11)

Starting Distance: 1 yard

    Orders Phase: Swordsman - Offensive; Bandit Captain - Neutral.

    Initiative Phase: Swordsman - 4; Bandit Captain - 6.

    Bandit Captain:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The bandit attacks with his sword. He rolls against Broadsword-14 and gets 4 (wow). The swordsman rolls against Shield 14 (Shield 14 + 2 DB - 2 tactic) and gets 11. The bandit's margin of victory is 7. This means that two hits have been landed (almost three!). The bandit makes both of them thrusts and rolls 1d+2, getting 5. We subtract DR 4 and get 1 point of penetrating injury, multiply it by 2 for the impaling damage type, and by 2 for two hits. Thus, the swordsman loses 4 HP.

    Swordsman:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The swordsman attacks with his sword. This is a QC of Broadsword. The swordsman rolls against Broadsword 16 (Broadsword 14 + 2 tactic) and gets 14. The bandit rolls against Broadsword-14 and gets 10. The bandit is unharmed. (You might have noticed that there is no shock penalty. Perhaps, shock penalties should be here, but halved?)

    Morale Phase: The swordsman lost exactly 1/3 of his HP, which triggers a morale check. I roll 3d with no modifiers and get 11 - the swordsman does not flee.

    Fatigue Phase: I roll 1d and get a 6. No fatigue this round.

Round #4

Swordsman (HP 8/12, FP 11/11)

Bandit Captain (HP 13/13, FP 11/11)

Starting Distance: 1 yard

    Orders Phase: Swordsman - Defensive; Bandit Captain - Defensive.

    Initiative Phase: Swordsman - 2; Bandit Captain - 3.

    Bandit Captain:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The bandit attacks with his sword. He rolls against Broadsword 12 (Broadsword 14 - 2 tactic) and gets 10. The swordsman rolls against Shield 18 (Shield 14 + 2 DB + 2 tactic) and gets 10. The bandit fails to hit.

    Swordsman:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The swordsman attacks with his sword. This is a QC of Broadsword. The swordsman rolls against Broadsword 12 (Broadsword 14 - 2 tactic) and gets 7. The bandit rolls against Broadsword 16 (Broadsword 14 + 2 tactic) and gets 7. The bandit is unharmed.

    Morale Phase: Nothing.

    Fatigue Phase: I roll 1d and get a 3. No fatigue this round.

Round #5

Swordsman (HP 8/12, FP 11/11)

Bandit Captain (HP 13/13, FP 11/11)

Starting Distance: 1 yard

    Orders Phase: Swordsman - Neutral; Bandit Captain - Neutral.

    Initiative Phase: Swordsman - 6; Bandit Captain - 4.

    Swordsman:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: For once, the swordsman goes first. The swordsman attacks with his sword. He rolls against Broadsword 14 and gets 4. The bandit rolls against Broadsword-14 and gets 10. The swordsman's margin of victory is 6, which indicates two hits. He rolls 1d+2 swing damage and gets 7. Subtracting DR 3, we get 4 penetrating cutting damage. Multiply by 1.5 to get 6 injury per hit, and 12 total injury. The bandit captain is at HP 1/13.

    Bandit Captain:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The bandit attacks with his sword. He rolls against Broadsword-14 and gets 12. The swordsman rolls against Shield 16 (Shield 14 + 2 DB) and gets 10. The bandit fails to hit.

    Morale Phase: The bandit rolls 3d+5 due to losing more than 2/3 of his HP and gets 12. He refuses to flee!

    Fatigue Phase: I roll 1d and get a 6. No fatigue this round.

Round #6

Swordsman (HP 8/12, FP 11/11)

Bandit Captain (HP 1/13, FP 11/11)

Starting Distance: 1 yard

    Orders Phase: Swordsman - Neutral; Bandit Captain - All-Out Offensive.

    Initiative Phase: Swordsman - 2; Bandit Captain - 6.

    Bandit Captain:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The bandit attacks with his sword. He rolls against Broadsword 18 (Broadsword 14 + 4 tactic) and gets 12. The swordsman rolls against Shield 16 (Shield 14 + 2 DB) and gets 13. The bandit wins with margin of victory of 3 - that's a single hit. He rolls 1d+2 impaling and gets a 5. This means 2 HP of injury to the swordsman. He's at HP 6/12 now.

    Swordsman:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The swordsman attacks with his sword. He rolls against Broadsword 14 and gets 4 (yes, again). The bandit rolls against Broadsword 10 (Broadsword 14 - 4 tactic) and gets 7. The swordsman's margin of victory is 7, which indicates two hits. He rolls 1d+2 swing damage and gets 5. Subtracting DR 3, we get 2 penetrating cutting damage. Multiply by 1.5 to get 3 injury per hit, and 6 total injury. The bandit captain is at HP -5/13, incapacitated. Let's not forget the HT roll this time. The bandit rolls against HT 11 and gets 11. So, he is still conscious and able to operate for another turn at -4.

    Morale Phase: The injury triggers a morale check for the swordsman. He rolls 3d+2 due to having lost 1/2 of his HP. He gets 16 and flees.

    Fatigue Phase: I roll 1d and get a 6. No fatigue this round.

Round #7

Swordsman (HP 6/12, FP 11/11)

Bandit Captain (HP -5/13, FP 11/11)

Starting Distance: 1 yard

    Orders Phase: Swordsman - Retreat; Bandit Captain - All-Out Offensive.

    Initiative Phase: Swordsman - 1; Bandit Captain - 2.

    Bandit Captain:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The bandit attacks with his sword. He rolls against Broadsword 14 (Broadsword 14 + 4 tactic - 4 about to collapse) and gets 12. The swordsman rolls against Shield 12 (Shield 14 + 2 DB - 4 retreating) and gets 15. The bandit wins with margin of victory of 5 - that's two hits. He rolls 1d+2 impaling and gets a 5. This means 4 HP of injury to the swordsman. He's at HP 2/12 now.

    Swordsman:

        Movement Phase: Moves 10 yards away. He's slow as is, but now he's also reeling from the wounds, which brings him to Move 1. The retreat triggers a free attack from the bandit. The bandit attacks with his sword. He rolls against Broadsword 14 (Broadsword 14 + 4 tactic - 4 about to collapse) and gets 10. The swordsman rolls against Shield 12 (Shield 14 + 2 DB - 4 retreating) and gets 10. The bandit wins with margin of victory of 2 - that's one hit. He rolls 1d+2 impaling and gets a 3. He fails to penetrate DR.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: Nothing.

    Morale Phase: The bandit captain collapses from the wounds. Since he's the last combatant, we can assume that the swordsman stops fleeing, right?

    Fatigue Phase: I roll 1d and get a 2. Finally, fatigue is applied, but it doesn't matter now.

    Conclusion

    Wow, that took longer than before, but probably because of the dice and relatively high DR. Things could've moved faster if I elected to target unarmored body parts. Perhaps, if I rolled damage for individual hits instead of rolling once for all of them, it also could've gone faster. On the other hand, while these 7 rounds may seem like a long time, I basically rolled the same thing over and over again, so it would be quite quick in real time. Now, we also got to see both morale checks, retreating, free attacks that come from that, and HT rolls. Overall, I still like this. Also, I forgot to take an action to switch from the bow to the sword, but it really wouldn't have mattered.

SCENARIO #2 - TROGLODYTES VS OGRES

10 x Troglodyte Warrior

ST 12   HP 12    SM+0     Group HP 120

DX 12  BS 6     Dodge 10

HT 11  FP 11     

Move 6

DR 1*

Stone Axe (12): swing 2d-1(0.5) cutting, Reach 1.

Stone Javelin throw (14): thrust 1d(0.5) impaling, Acc 3, Range 18/30, Bulk -4.

8 x Ogre Tribesmen

ST 16   HP 16    SM+1     Group HP 128

DX 9    BS 5     Dodge 8

HT 11  FP 11     

Move 6

DR 2*

SM+1 Small Mace (10): swing 2d+2 crushing, Reach 1.

SM+1 Javelin throw (10): thrust 2d-1 impaling, Acc 3, Range 24/40, Bulk -4.

For this fight, let's assume that the starting encounter distance is 70 yards to show off scales that you rarely see in regular GURPS combat situations. Yes again, I will be choosing combat tactics randomly.

Round #1

10 x Troglodytes (HP Pool 120/120; HP 12 each, FP 11/11)

8 x Ogres (HP pool 128/128, HP 16 each, FP 11/11)

Starting Distance: 70 yards

    Orders Phase: Troglodytes - Offensive; Ogres - Offensive.

    Initiative Phase: Troglodytes - 2; Ogres - 3.

    Ogres:

        Movement Phase: Ogres move full 30 yards towards the troglodytes, shortening the distance to 40 yards.

       Ranged Combat Phase: There's basically no way they'd hit with their javelins, so they skip the attack.

        Melee Combat Phase: Nothing.

    Troglodytes:

        Movement Phase: Troglodytes move full 30 yards towards the ogres, shortening the distance to 10 yards.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Now, the troglodytes throw their javelins at the ogres. They roll against 10 (skill 14 - 3 range - 4 Bulk + 1 SM + 2 ratio) and get 9. The ogres roll against 8 (quasi-Dodge 10 - 2 tactic) and get a 8. One hit is scored. However, due to the x4 hit multiplier, the actual number of hits is 4. The troglodytes roll 1d(0.5) and get 5. This means that 1 point of impaling damage goes through, becomes 2 points of injury, and when multiplied by 4, it all becomes 8 points of injury total. The HP pool is 120/128, so no ogres fall.

        Melee Combat Phase: Nothing.

    Morale Phase: Nothing.

    Fatigue Phase: I roll 1d and get a 1. Everyone loses 1 FP.

Round #2

10 x Troglodytes (HP Pool 120/120; HP 12 each, FP 10/11)

8 x Ogres (HP pool 120/128, HP 16 each, FP 10/11)

Starting Distance: 10 yards

    Orders Phase: Troglodytes - Offensive; Ogres - Offensive.

    Initiative Phase: Troglodytes - 2; Ogres - 1.

    Troglodytes:

        Movement Phase: Troglodytes take a short action to take out their axes. This spends half of their allowed movement, but the rest is enough to get into melee.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: Troglodytes swing with their axes. They roll against 17 (skill 12 + 2 tactic + 1 SM + 2 ratio) and get 10. The ogres roll against 8 (skill 10 - 2 tactic) and get 6. The troglodytes win with a margin of victory of 5. This means 2 x 4 = 8 hits. I roll 2d-1(0.5) and get 9. This means that 5 damage penetrates, becoming 7 injury. 7 x 4 = 28. The HP pool is now 92/128). So, two ogres are potentially incapacitated. They roll against HT 11 and get a 10. This means that now there are 6 healty ogres (with one taking minor injuries) and 2 that are going to collapse next round and are at -4 to DX.

    Ogres:

        Movement Phase: None.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: Now, I will have to roll two attacks, treating the ogres as two groups. First, the group of healthy ogres swing for the troglodytes. They roll against 9 (skill 10 + 2 tactic - 1 SM) and get 14. The troglodytes roll against 10 (skill 12 - 2 tactic) and get 12. They are not hit. Then, the collapsing ogres attack, rolling against 6 (skill 12 - 2 tactic - 4 about to collapse) and get 5. The troglodytes roll against 10 again, and get 16. In a fluke of dice luck, the ogres win with a MoV 7, scoring 2 hits. I roll 2d+2 and get 10. 9 damage penetrates, and gets doubled to 18. One troglodyte is brought to 0 HP, another is wounded. Now, they have to make an HT roll...

No, stop! This sucks, doesn't it? The HT roll letting the "incapacitated" combatants act at a penalty makes things way too cumbersome, as you have to split the group, attack twice with different values, and for some reason the group's numbers advantage is decreased due to it now being two groups. Let's pretend that there is no "act at -4 to DX and IQ" part, rewind time, and redo the ogres' turn.

    Ogres:

        Movement Phase: None.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The ogres swing their clubs. They roll against 9 (skill 10 + 2 tactic - 1 SM) and get 8. The troglodytes roll against 10 (skill 12 - 2 tactic) and get 8. Thus, they remain intact.

    Morale Phase: Nothing, as ogres have to lose 3 ogres to trigger a morale check.

    Fatigue Phase: I roll 1d and get a 4. No fatigue this round.

Round #3

10 x Troglodytes (HP Pool 120/120; HP 12 each, FP 10/11)

8 x Ogres (HP pool 92/128 (5 full, one at 12/16, HP 16 each, FP 10/11)

Starting Distance: 1 yard

    Orders Phase: Troglodytes - Neutral; Ogres - All-Out Offensive.

    Initiative Phase: Troglodytes - 6; Ogres - 5.

    Troglodytes:

        Movement Phase: Nothing.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: Troglodytes swing with their axes. They roll against 15 (skill 12 + 1 SM + 2 ratio) and get 12. The ogres roll against 6 (skill 10 - 4 tactic) and get 11. The troglodytes win with a margin of victory of 8. This means 3 x 4 = 12 hits. I roll 2d-1(0.5) and get 9. This means that 5 damage penetrates, becoming 7 injury. 7 x 12 = 84. The HP pool is now 8/128). Only one ogre is "alive" now, with the rest being at 0 HP. They roll against HT 11 and get 15. Thus, now there's one ogre "alive", two who are going to collapse at the start of the Morale Phase, and five dead ones.

    Ogres:

        Movement Phase: None.

       Ranged Combat Phase: Nothing.

        Melee Combat Phase: The three ogres attack, rolling against 14 (skill 10 + 4 tactic) and get 10. The troglodytes roll against 12 and get 11. The ogres win with MoV 3, landing one hit. I roll 2d+2 and get 12. Thus, one troglodyte is put down to HP 0.

Then, we have to make another HT roll, a morale check that is very likely to cause the ogres to run, and it still sucks, doesn't it? This HT roll makes things much more complicated, and forces you to always keep in mind how many of the combatants are truly alive, how many are going to collapse, etc. This is not the way to go - I will have to think about what to do with HT. This attribute is very important in GURPS, and it would be a shame to simply ignore it here, whereas it plays a huge role in regular combat.