Action Resolution

ACTION RESOLUTION

The actions of all combatants are now resolved, with all members of the Company going first. When all Player-heroes have resolved their actions, the Loremaster will resolve the actions of all the adversaries involved in the fight.

PLAYER-HERO ACTIONS

When it is the Company’s turn to act, all players resolve their actions in stance order, with Player heroes in Forward stance going first, and progressing through the stances until those in a Rearward have acted (if two or more Player-heroes are fighting in the same stance the order of action is up to the players).

LOREMASTER ACTIONS

When it is the enemies’ turn to act, the Loremaster chooses their actions, again in stance order (using the stance of the Player hero they are attacking). The actions of enemies who stood back unengaged to attack with ranged weapons are resolved last.

Resolving Attacks

Player-heroes attack their enemies as a main action. They attack in close combat by fighting in Forward, Open, or Defensive stance, or from a distance using ranged weapons from a Rearward stance. Adversaries make close combat attacks if they are engaged in a Close Combat stance, and can use ranged weapons only if they stand back and remain unengaged.

ATTACK ROLL

An Attack roll is made using the Combat Proficiency corresponding to the weapon used.

♦ The difficulty of all attack rolls is based on a Player-hero’s STRENGTH TN, modified by the Parry rating of the targeted enemy.

♦ The difficulty of all attack rolls made by adversaries against Player-heroes are equal to the target hero’s PARRY score instead

A successful attack roll inflicts damage on its target in the form of an Endurance Loss based on the weapon used, and may inflict additional Special Damage types based on the Quality of Success of the roll. Finally, attacks may cause more longlasting injuries if a Piercing Blow is scored.

When a melee or ranged attack roll succeeds, the target suffers an immediate loss of Endurance equal to the Damage rating of the weapon used.

As seen previously, Player-heroes seeing their Endurance decrease to match or go below their total Load score become Weary; if their Endurance is reduced to zero, they drop unconscious instead. Adversaries do not normally become Weary due to Endurance loss, but are normally eliminated upon reaching zero Endurance.

KNOCKBACK

Sometimes, an attack is so powerful that a fighter prefers to ‘roll with the punches’ and reduce the force of the blow by giving ground.

Once each round, Player-heroes (not adversaries!!) can halve the Endurance loss caused by a successful attack (rounding fractions up) by choosing to be knocked back: they will spend their next main action recovering their fighting position.

SPECIAL DAMAGE
They say that the combatant that strikes the first blow, if they strike it hard enough, may need to strike no more. If a successful attack roll produces one or more Success icons, they can be used to trigger one or more special results, based on the war gear of the attacker.
HEAVY BLOW — ANY WEAPON: You have hit your opponent with great force and precision — Spend 1 Success icon to inflict to your adversary an additional loss of Endurance equal to your STRENGTH rating. Raise the loss of Endurance by an additional +1 if you are using a 2-handed weapon.
FEND OFF — ANY CLOSE COMBAT WEAPON: You exploit your successful attack to place yourself in an advantageous position — Spend 1 Success icon to modify your Parry rating for the round by +1 using Axes and all Brawling weapons, +2 using Swords, and by +3 using Spears.
PIERCE — BOWS, SPEARS AND SWORDS: You have hit a less protected part of the adversary’s body — Spend 1 Success icon to modify the Feat die numerical result of your attack by +1 if using Swords, +2 if using Bows, and by +3 if using Spears — thus possibly triggering a Piercing Blow.
SHIELD THRUST — SHIELD: You bash your opponents with your shield, pushing them back — If your STRENGTH is greater than the target’s Attribute Level, spend 1 Success icon to push back your target. The adversary is inflicted a penalty, losing (1d) for the length of the round (in the rare case this special damage is triggered multiple times, it must be employed to push back different opponents).

PIERCING BLOWS

During combat, fighters can see their stamina being slowly whittled away, as exhaustion and blows suffered take their toll, or they can be suddenly and unexpectedly cut down by a vicious stroke that penetrates through their protective equipment and draws blood.
In addition to causing the loss of Endurance points, any successful attack may inflict a Piercing Blow.
An attack roll produces a Piercing Blow on a 10 or Gandalf result on the Feat Die.
Characters hit by a Piercing Blow must immediately roll a Feat Die, plus a number of Success Dice equal to the PROTECTION value of the armour worn (if the attack made the character Weary, the PROTECTION Test is made before the Weariness sets in).
The Target Number for the roll is equal to the Injury rating of the weapon used by the attacker.
If the roll fails, then the target of the attack has received a life-threatening blow.