My local gaming group has been fiddling around with our house Close combat rules recently, and I thought I would bring our musings on here to get some feedback from the wider Inquisitor community. Some of these rules are taken from other 'house rules' that have been seen on this site and on others. (So if you see some of your own ideas in here, take it as a compliment that our gaming group thinks that your rule is excellent and has chosen to use it!
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Essentially, when a player‘s character wishes to initiate close combat, it takes a single action point to do so. When close combat is initiated, both the player initiating close combat and the player he is attacking roll a D100, and add their weapon skill to the result. Whoever has the highest overall total gets 'the initiative', which represents finding an opening in their opponent's defences, and deciding to capitalise on it. Note that the player who wins 'the initiative' is not necessarily the player who initiated combat. (Imagine a grot with a kife running headlong at a swordmaster. The swordmaster sees him coming, and beheads the grot before the diminutive greenskin gets a chance to do anything. The idea of 'the initiative' is that an experienced and skilled combateer is more likely to get the first blow, regardless of who charges at who. It also elimintates the “I hit you, then you hit me” mechanics of normal Inquisitor combat.)
The character who has taken ‘the initative’ can choose to make a close combat attack (and if he is the one who initiated combat, his attack action is free), but before dice are rolled, the player who is being attacked must choose a 'defensive action' (Parry, block, dodge, sidestep, etc.) with which to defend themselves. Both making close combat attacks and making certain defensive actions uses up action points, which the player will require to have left over from the previous turn. (So, for instance, a speed four character who used two action points last turn will have two actions remaining, with which to fight in close combat if anyone chooses to initiate combat with them.)
To clarify, this is treated in a similar way to a ‘pause for breath’ action. Unused action dice are simply put aside (Or, as has become the norm in our gaming group - put on the base of a character) to represent them being in a state of readiness to fight. It is worth noting that these dice are never rolled. Reacting to someone initiating combat with you is always automatic - you don’t need to roll the normal D6 roll of 4+ to get your actions.
Action dice which are set aside in this way can never be used to do anything other than fight in combat, and are lost at the beginning of the player’s next turn. (Because they get a handful of new action dice to spend… and putting action dice aside is never cumulative.)
Once it has been decided who has won the initiative, both players choose their actions. The attacking player chooses his attacking action, and the defending player chooses his defensive action, each of which are dealt with in a different way.
Defensive actions:
Block - requires no action points.
When a player attempts to block an incoming attack, he is basically sticking his weapon in between the incoming weapon and himself, to protect against the incoming attack. He rolls a D100. If his score is equal to or less than his WS, minus twice his weapon’s parry penalty, minus however much the attacking player passed his WS test to attack by, then he successfully blocks the incoming attack and no further action is taken. If he fails to block it, resolve the injury as normal.
Parry - Requires one action point.
When a player attempts to parry an incoming attack, he is deflecting or redirecting the blade to ensure that it misses his body. An exceptionally well performed parry can also open up an opponent’s defences, allowing for a follow-up attack to be made. Roll a D100. If the score is less than or equal to your WS, minus the weapon’s parry penalty, minus half the number that the attacking player passed his WS test to attack by, then the attack is successfully parried. If the test to parry succeeds by less than half the required number, then the player may choose to make a free follow-up attack as if he had just won a dice roll to take the initiative. This ‘free’ attack does not use up any action points. If the weapon skill test is failed, then resolve the injury as normal.
Sidestep - requires no action points.
When a player attempts to sidestep, he is essentially attempting to get out of the way of an incoming attack. Take a weapon skill test. If the test is passed, then half of however much the test is passed by is taken as a negative modifier for the attacking player’s attack. If the test is failed, then however much the test is failed by is added as a positive modifier to the attacking player’s attack. (Imagine someone misjudging the direction of an incoming blow, and ending up sidestepping right into it.)
Dodge - requires one action point.
When a player attempts to dodge, he is carefully and skilfully avoiding an incoming attack, making it very difficult for an enemy to hit them. Take a weapon skill test. Whatever the test is passed by is taken as a negative modifier to the attacking player’s attack. If the test is failed, then there is no additional consequences (unlike sidestepping).
Attacking (offensive) actions. All attacking actions require one action point, unless performed as a free action for a particularly good parry, as described above, or unless the person who won the initiative is also the person who initiated combat. (Since he has already paid one action point to start the combat).
Attack: Pretty self-explanatory. The attacking player is attempting to whack the defending player with whatever is in his hand. Roll a D100. If the result is less than or equal to your Weapon Skill (minus any other modifiers, such as a successful dodge or sidestep action performed by your opponent) then you successfully hit the opposing player. Resolve any defensive actions as normal, and then resolve injuries.
Disarm: The attacking player attempts to take away the weapon of the defender. Roll a D100. If the result is less than or equal to your Weapon Skill, and your opponent fails to defend the disarm action, then your opponent must pass a strength test with a negative modifier equal to how much you passed your Weapon Skill test by, or drop their weapon. If your weapon skill test result is lower than their strength test result, the defending player’s weapon ends up in the disarming player’s hands.
Punt: The attacking player gives the defending player a punt with his weapon, in an attempt to move them back. This is resolved as a normal attack, but damage is halved for the purposes of injury, but doubled for the purposes of knockback.
Feint (Note that this is a special skill which should be on your character sheet, and the following replaces the normal ‘feint‘ rule in the LRB): The attacking player makes it appear as if he is doing something, to mislead his opponent into giving an opening with which an attack can be made. This is resolved as a normal attack, but no damage or injuries are caused. Instead, if the attacking player scores a ‘hit’, an opening in the defender’s defences is created. If the attacking player attacks the defending player in the next immediate action, the defending player halves his weapon skill for the purposes of defensive actions.
Summary of close combat modifiers:
Positive:
Your weapon’s reach is greater than your opponent’s: +10 to WS for all tests (regardless of how much longer your weapon is)
Your opponent is prone: +10 to WS for all tests
You are on higher ground than your opponent: +10 for all tests.
Your opponent failed a sidestep: + however much he failed by
Negative:
Your weapon’s reach is lower than your opponent’s: -10 for all tests (regardless of how much shorter your weapon is)
Your opponent successfully sidestepped: - half of however much he passed by.
Your opponent successfully dodged: - however much he passed by.
You are attempting to parry: - half of however much the WS test for the incoming attack was passed by
You are attempting to block: -however much the WS test for the incoming attack was passed by. (and parry penalty is doubled)
Parry penalty: -varies (and only applies to blocking and parrying)
NEW CLOSE COMBAT SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Swift footwork: The character has exceptionally fast footwork in close combat, and can move at a run whilst maintaining a stance. Additionally, they gain a +10 modifier to their weapon skill when sidestepping or dodging.
Always alert: The character is always alert, and has grown to expect someone to jump out at them at any moment. Whether this is through paranoia or experience depends on the character in question. If the character has not set aside any dice for in the event that someone initiates combat with them, then they count as having a single dice set aside. This only applies for the first turn of combat, and does not apply if this character initiates combat - only if someone initiates combat with them.
Stances: The character is well versed in a particular martial art or form of combat, and can utilise one or more of the stances described below:
A character who has a close combat weapon in his hand may choose to adopt a combat stance. This takes a single action point, but may be performed as a combined action with any other action which does not require the hand which is holding the weapon. Two handed weapons require both hands to make a stance. If the character uses his hands or moves at faster than a walk whilst in a stance, the stance is lost.
Aggressive stance:
The character draws their weapon back, ready to make an attack at a heartbeat’s notice. However, this leaves them very vulnerable and open to attack. This stance relies on being the first to land a blow, hopefully killing your opponent before they can strike back. (Real world equivalent: Kendo Jodan Kamae.)
This stance confers a +20 modifier to a character’s weapon skill for the purposes of rolling for the initiative, but -20 to their weapon skill for all defensive actions.
Defensive stance:
The character puts their blade between them and their attacker, making it very difficult for their attacker to get any blows in without being countered. (Real world equivalent: Kendo Chudan Kamae.)
This stance confers a -20 to a character’s weapon skill for the purposes of rolling for the initiative, but +20 to their weapon skill for all defensive actions.
Rooted stance:
The character bends their knees to lower their centre of gravity, and centres their mass to make them very difficult indeed to knock down or move. (Real world equivalent: Aikido “ki” (Not quite a ‘stance’, but the principle still stands.)
The character halves all knockback distance. (Moving causes a character to lose this stance)
Soft stance:
The character relaxes his body and prepares to crumple, effectively allowing themselves to fall or be pushed around rather than resisting incoming blows. The principle behind this is similar to how a willow tree bends in the storm, but the rigid oak is uprooted.
The character doubles all knockback distance, and falls prone if he ever suffers a knockback distance greater than one tenth of his strength. This stance allows a character to ignore the strength bonus of an opponent’s attack. (Since they’re just folding and going with the attack, rather than standing steadfast and being pummeled)
Deceptive stance:
(Real world equivalent: Kendo Waki Kamae)
The character stands in a manner that makes it very unclear what he is attempting to do, or even if he is armed. This makes planning a fight against them very difficult at a glance. (He’s armed with an… I don’t know… And he’s going to try to… I don’t know either. Hmm. How do I counter that if I don’t even know what it is?)
This stance cancels the effects of any of the above stances.
[EDIT: Fixed a fairly bad mistake. I accidentally said that initiating combat did not cost any action points. In truth, it takes one action point to initiate combat, but if you initiate combat and then go on to win the initiative, your attack is free, since the action to 'initiate combat' will be the attack itself. The way I had written it down implied that you could just sit there, infinitely 'initiating combat' a theoretically infinite number of times, since it did not take up action points. This means that if your opponent has no dice set aside, you could just keep initiating combat with them, and since they have no dice set aside with which to attack you, and since this means that they cannot do anything if they win the initiative, you could just keep initiating combat until you win the initiative, effectively guaranteeing that you get the initiative, regardless of what happens. This was not my intention, and I have now corrected this relatively noobie mistake]
