Combat Rules

Although most of the time the rules are quite freeform, in combat they become more detailed.

Actions and Manouevres

During each of their turns, a character can do one of the following:

Take a single Action and a single Manouevre.

Take two Manouevres.

Spend 2 Strain to allow them to take a single Action and two Manouevres.

Actions

Perform an attack with their currently equipped Weapon.

Consume refreshments to recover Strain. Must have suitable refreshment available, and must not be engaged with any enemy.

Manouevres

Move up to 30 feet in a direction.

Manouevre around an opponent for some advantage. This may involve an opposed roll of some kind, especially if they are the only ally fighting their opponent.

Disengage from a single enemy they are engaged with. This requires an opposed check, and if successful the character may move away without provoking attacks.

Take advantage of a previously established piece of Cover to gain some protection against an attack.

Change Weapon.

Activate a defensive skill - this is the difference between the base protection of a Shield and the character's Shield skill, for example, or other defensive skills such as Dodge, Parry, etc etc.

Intimidate the opponent to attempt to inflict Strain.

Call upon an ally for support, adding b if applicable.

Call upon an ally to make an Action of some kind. This is generally the only way to have an NPC act 'above the abstraction layer'.

Gain some insight on their opponent through a Skill check.

If they are not currently engaged, interact with a Squire or similar ally to attempt to recover Strain.

Strain

Any character may:

Suffer 4 Strain when targeted by an Attack to add a Defensive skill to that attack roll.

Suffer 1 Strain to add a b or b to any roll they make/an opponent makes against them.

Spend aa from their own Attack roll or hh from an opponent's attack roll to inflict 1 Strain on that opponent (once per attack).

A character who passes above half their Strain threshold adds b to all checks.
A character who reaches their Strain threshold falls unconscious or otherwise becomes helpless.

Recovering Strain

Each time a character has the opportunity to recover Strain they roll their Willpower and a relevant skill. The difficulty of this check is determined by the Critical Injuries they have (if any), with the addition of b if they are above half their Strain value. For each s and every aa they remove 1 Strain. A character may recover Strain:

At the end of a combat encounter

As a Manouevre by interacting with a Squire or other suitable ally.

As an Action by consuming refreshments.