|
Post by Zulgyan on Nov 17, 2008 1:31:59 GMT -6
Ok, so there's nothing in the rules about horseback combat. How do you do it in your games? I've had a good amount of horse combat in the wilderness and even in the city! So far I've been ruling as follows:- Your movement rate is the one of your horse. You both move on your turn.
- You fight at +1 attack and damage against opponents on foot
- +2 damage and attacks in a round in which you charge. If you hit with a lance in a charge you deal double damage! Pretty nasty in OD&D!
- You can't use a lance once engaged in melee. So you must drop it to draw a new weapon.
- a small weapon is not that effective when fighting footed opponents.
- is you get hit for 6 damage or more, roll vs. stone or you are dismounted and tossed to the ground for 1d6 extra damage!
I wanted to make mounted combat the big avantage it used to be. There are other situations that can sure come up that I don't have really a hard and fast rule for. Soooo, ok! How have you been doing it?
|
|
|
Post by snorri on Nov 17, 2008 5:42:13 GMT -6
I Epées & Sorcellerie, my french retroclone of Od&d, I keep close to chainmail :
* A charge allow you to pass trough opponent line and finish your ful move (at hrose speed
* you get +1 to hit against an humanoid opponet on foot and your opponent, -1 to hit you (no 'alternative fighting system, so it's +1 on your 2d6)
* I should probably add a 'set spear against charge" rule.
|
|
|
Post by Zulgyan on Nov 17, 2008 6:18:43 GMT -6
O sure, that -1 to hit you and spear against charge stuff are good!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2012 11:58:50 GMT -6
I intend to use quite similar rules but with extra rules covering chariots. General rules: - Charging allows you to pass through enemies.
- A small weapon is not effective when fighting footed opponents.
- Damage is distributed randomly to riders and horses. However rider may decide that horse will take damage instead.
- If any horse dies roll 3d6 under dex or take 1d6 dmg.(or save vs stone if you prefer it that way).
- You deal double damage while charging.
- Polearms which are set vs charge deal double damage.
Horseback: - You may shoot in middle of full move at -4 to hit.
- Riding trough rough terrain allows only for half move and no charge.
Chariots: - You may shoot in middle of full move without penalty.
- Rough terrain is impassable.
Light Chariots have move of 18 and carries two persons - one driving, one fighting. Heavy Chariots have move of 12 and carries four persons - one driving, three fighting. Scythed chariots are Heavy Chariots which automatically attack nearby opponents for normal damage. If you are playing in bronze or earlier age you might want to consider disallowing armors other than leather for riders.
|
|
|
Post by waysoftheearth on Dec 11, 2012 6:25:25 GMT -6
OD&D says spears set to receive a charge cause 2-12 hit points of damage, or even 3-18 if the force is sufficient (M&T p31). We might presume that set spears deal 2-12 versus charging foot and 3-18 versus charging mounted, seeing that the medieval world rarely experience anything more "forceful" than the impact of an armoured charging warhorse. GH (p15) partially supports this notion, stating that spears normally deal 1-6 versus Man-sized opponents. However, when set against a charge, spears deal 1-10 or 2-16 damage versus man-sized or larger opponents, respectively. I.e., 1-10 versus Men is almost double 1-6, and 2-16 versus horses is almost triple 1-6. I agree that mounted men charging with spears/lances should deal 2-12 damage on the impact round, and would also add that the warhorse itself would deal additional impact/trampling damage. OD&D says monsters should throw one attack per HD they have and a heavy warhorse has 3 HD. So it should roll three attacks of its own against the rank and file, possibly dealing an additional 3-18 damage. Interestingly, GH also grants heavy warhorses 3 attacks. So the equation at the pointy end of a mounted charge might be: Each attacker with spear/lance deals 2-12 damage, and his horse possibly deals another 3-18. Meanwhile, each defender with a set spear deals 3-18 damage. The ref might rule that a number of defenders could hit each attacker, especially if they are arrayed tightly and several ranks deep. OD&D tells us that no more than 8 man-types can attack a single large monster (a dragon) in a round (M&T p13), but isn't clear whether this is by surrounding, or all from one side. The FAQ (and later the DMG p69) tells us that 6 man-types can attack a single man-sized creature in a round, however. So it's not unreasonable to think that at least 4 set spearmen could attack each oncoming horse. This means it would be madness for mounted men to charge a body of spearmen who are set to receive them. Historically, this was the case. However, catching them unprepared in the flank... well that would be a whole different story
|
|
|
Post by cooper on Dec 11, 2012 15:30:58 GMT -6
CHAINMAIL also states that mounted men gain a +1 vs foot and foot attack at -1 (since this was a 2d6 attack, an argument can be made to make these +2/-2 on the d20). Furthermore, foot may elect to attempt to unhorse the mounted man at no penalty. If the attack is successful the mounted man is uhorsed roll 1d6
1-2 = not stunned 3-4 = stunned 1 combat turn (1 round for some of you...) 5-6 = stunned 3 combat turns.
Furthermore, foot must always make a morale check whenever attacked by a charging horseman as long as the horsemen equal 1:4 numbers.
|
|