Reach/polearms

[mister frau blucher]

Some of the earlier incarnations of LAW had some references to Reach. We assigned numerical values to weapons to define how far they could strike, as well as who would strike first. Using the rules we were developing a bit, they seemed a little too cumbersome and not really that intuitive. So they got dropped.

The houserule I am using now is simply a polearms rule. These may strike first at a non-polearmed attacking character, because of greater reach of the polearm, as a Reaction (ie you give up your upcoming turn). Also a Reaction may be against someone who moves adjacent to you but does not attack - see the Reaction rule and keep it in mind for the paragraph below:

In addition, you may attack characters two hexes away. This is similar to the old Jab rule in TFT, but it is not a separate rule - it is inherent in being a polearm. So you may strike from the second rank, behind your allies, or React to a figure who moves within two hexes of you - essentially, a character two hexes away from a pole-armed character is "virtually" adjacent, with regards to the pole-armed characters ability to React and Strike.

Charging - which i'll post my house rule on later - may only be used by/against truly adjacent figures, so polearmed figures may only meet charges at one hex range, not two hexes. This is to prevent polearms from being too powerful. An exception would be made for very long weapons like pikes.

So this is an attempt to reitroduce the tactics of polearms into the fight, without making them too powerful. I'll detail this a little more, but I have been using these houserules about two years now and it works pretty well.

[lkmjbc3]

I like this as well.... how about a shieldwall rule?

Joe Collins

[mister frau blucher]

One change that would need to be done to implement this polearm rule, would be to back off on base polearm damage. I hate to do this in one way, as the core rules should be totally compatible with advanced rules. But when the spear and the mace both do d6+2 damage, and now there are additional benefits for the spear, there is a disturbance in the Force.

So I think spear and halberd damage should be reduced by one, ie a one-handed spear does d6+1 rather than d6+2. Two-handed spear still would do d6+2.

The alternative would be to come up with a corresponding disadvantage for polearms, like a -1 to attack after the first Turn, but that is unsatisfying, I believe. It is like an artificial balance for the sake of the rules, rather than reality. I think backing off damage by one point in the advanced rules would be a good balance.

Joe - the shieldwall - we have a rule in Wolves on the Rhine that Chris Brandon came up with, and it made sense. I haven't played that scenario in a while, so I don't recall it right now, but I will go back and re-examine it here.

[klingor]

It seems to me that the main factor that a GM/FM would consider is the size of the parties in the combat. If you have up to eg max 4 characters on each side then complexity can be catered for. If the encounters are between parties (GM/FM vs players) of more than this, it could become too unwieldy.
Having said that, my idea would be this:-
A pole-weapon user (Spear, Halberd or Pike) could have an option of Prepare on his turn against an adjacent empty hex at his max range. If, in the next turn, the hex became occupied, the character could then have a free attack on the occupier, ie doesn't have to miss his action in his subsequent round. There is no extra damage, he simply has to roll his normal hit prob. If it is another pole-weapon user who is attacking him, then
i) Longer weapon hits first otherwise
ii) Higher Dx hits first
However, if he chooses this ranged option and is attacked from a different hex, then they've snuck in under your radar - you're toast for that round!
Cheers
Colin