Geoff wrote:The big deal, and possibly the biggest error of rules, of the night was the riposte action - my unit of Ax-Drunes indirectly engaging his Tarvax after they'd beaten Brugg. The Ax-Drunes activated immediatley afterwards and I wanted to get in a rear attack on at least one of them. We were mainly unsure whether I could actually target a single warrior or had to fight the unit as a whole.
It's kind of moot, in many ways... (see below regarding what you call "splash damage" but I call "remaining wounds" - you should get into the habit of that because splash damage is to do with the
Throw action) but mostly advantageous to get as many of your warriors into combat as possible. What I mean by that is, you don't want to miss out on your warriors'
Attacks, simply because you need to cause as much damage as possible.
These rules were purposely designed to make things brutal; war is brutal, as I'm sure you're aware, and I can't stand rules that allow people to hang back or stand off a combat. In short, the best course of action - pretty much at any time in Darklands - is to get stuck in. That's why, if you're under
ATTACK orders, you
must Run towards an enemy unit - there's no fannying about!
Again though, contacting one warrior matters not, because your remaining wounds will extend into the other Tarvax.
Geoff wrote: This highlighted the BIG ??? we had at many points - units vs individual warriors - who could attacked/be attacked, had we understood that a unit bound with a Commander who had the fearless trait was not fearless themselves, but COULD use the leaders FORT when making various tests instead of their own. We felt we got it OK in the main but it is a simple though fundamental principle (the delineation of a unit and a warrior within said unit), that affects loads of stuff, which caused us the most pauses umming and arring.
Once you get used to the golden rule regarding unit majority (see p31, 2.3.1.4) and Traits/Abilities (p45 "Mixed units" and p47 "Mixed units) it will become very natural. Simply put, whoever has the highest strength in the unit (noble or warriors) will dominate the proceedings in many ways.
Geoff wrote:Anyway, was this a legal move? I hope the diagram provides enough info for one to see what's happening...
The unit makes an indirect engage move to surround the nearest enemy warrior (as opposed to unit, but belonging to the nearest unit). Though they are on ATTACK ORDERS, because this is my General's unit they can perform this as if under a MOVE order.
That's fine.
Geoff wrote:My guys rolled and passed their VALOUR TEST using the Commanders FORTitude.
Cool.
Geoff wrote:Maybe the Tarvax could have counter-engaged us but we were trying to keep to the simplest rules and they just Held and Braced.
There's no could - they
must.
Counter-Engaging is
compulsory for frenzied warriors, as long as they're not tied down already of course ;o)
Geoff wrote:We brought him down but any 'splash' damage was NOT applied to the remaining Tarvax as it was obvious we were just beating on one of them and any further damage was forfeit.
Incorrect. Unless this Tarvax was a noble, or had a different profile, the rest of the Tarvax would be affected by the "splash" damage (call this remaining wounds, you'll see why when you get to the
Throw action) regardless of which one the Ax-Drunes attacked (see p204, 6.20.6.3 - APPLY ATTACK DAMAGE). As long as there's enough remaining wounds, of course, if you kill the first Tarvax. Also see p61, 2.7.3.6 - The Wounded Warrior.
This effectively signifies the combat being a melee, and stops the conga line "tactic" employed by scumbags and cheats. An old Warhammer pet peeve of mine...! However, it's also natural to think of the Ax-Drunes powering forward, cutting other Tarvax down in their way.
Geoff wrote:The Tarvax then Reflexed Attack back, didn't kill anyone, we added/removed blood tokens etc, and resolved the Attack Action to its conclusion. THEN our heads exploded with the built-up pressure of the preceding hours' concentration!
Haha yes I can believe that ;o) Joanna's head exploded after our first hour of the full rules!
Geoff wrote:The evening was really enjoyable and the more we play, the more amazing the game is. Neither of us can wait until we can unlock the whole crazy thing. I better not lose any of my notes from next week!
I'm very glad to hear that... I know Darklands is complicated, but the depth is worth the effort, believe me. I wouldn't have wrote it like this if I didn't believe in depth, and Darklands has it in spades!
Geoff wrote:PS - The game received a great deal of interest from other folks at the club. People are becoming very curious. Hopefully its due to the miniatures and the size of the rulebook than the sighs and cries of 'I don't know, what friggin page is THAT on?!' I think it is.
Ooooh....
Cheers