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ClivetheCelt
23 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Mar 2012 : 11:20:46
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| Anyone have an improvised rule for using a shield of any sort? How would they count against missile fire, i.e. as what sort of cover with regard to Avoiding Harm - and different for firearms vs bows vs thrown objects? For fisticuffs - as an extra defence die roll? Any thoughts? Thanks! |
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Black Sheep
United Kingdom
263 Posts |
Posted - 01 Mar 2012 : 21:54:57
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| Welcome to the forum ClivetheCelt. Work on the first Witchfinder supplement is slowly but surely in progress. The supplement will contain rules for using 'Highlanders' and the option for some of them to use bucklers. The new rules are still in development and need thorough play testing. We are experimenting with the following: a figure with a buckler gets a +1 to their defend score in fisticuffs and receives a 5+ avoid harm roll against enemy rocks and arrows (unless the figure with the buckler is ‘hit’ in the back/shot from behind?). A buckler does not give a figure an avoid harm roll against a shot from a pistol or a musket. I think an extra defend dice for using a buckler might make a figure that is behind sturdy terrain and ‘on guard’ a bit too difficult to budge. What do you think? I would really welcome other players’ thoughts on this too. |
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ClivetheCelt
23 Posts |
Posted - 01 Mar 2012 : 22:56:13
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Thanks, Black Sheep! (not from Masham, are you ...?  )
We'll give that a whirl, and, thinking about it, that extra dice would make the defender unassailable. Highlander supplement - most definitely like the sound of that.  |
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Black Sheep
United Kingdom
263 Posts |
Posted - 01 Mar 2012 : 23:53:18
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[quote]Originally posted by ClivetheCelt
Thanks, Black Sheep! (not from Masham, are you ...? )
Sadly not. But I am very partial to what they brew there. |
Edited by - Black Sheep on 03 Mar 2012 08:08:34 |
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ClivetheCelt
23 Posts |
Posted - 02 Mar 2012 : 07:32:31
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| Just a further thought on shield use: maybe a larger shield behind sturdy cover (a solid wall, say) would make the defender nigh-on impregnable, but limit their ability to attack (i.e. cowering behind it, so difficult to hit, but very limited ability to strike back). The other benefit of a larger shield might be in defending against the witches' grenado attack, though the shield could be destroyed in the process. Or is that a bit over-complicated? |
Edited by - ClivetheCelt on 02 Mar 2012 11:00:02 |
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Black Sheep
United Kingdom
263 Posts |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 08:25:04
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| I don't think the idea is over-complicated. It could form a new rule/ command to add to the game as an alternative choice to 'on guard'? Definitely worth looking at and play testing. |
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Morsleib
United Kingdom
21 Posts |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 09:04:52
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I don't dislike the idea of a shield in the game as such however i don't think they saw any use in the 17th century. Apart from Scottish bucklers do you know of any examples?
Terry |
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ClivetheCelt
23 Posts |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 11:13:19
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| It was actually the late Elizabethan/early Stuart period I had in mind, thinking especially about the Borders regions (I have a collection of reivers was intending to use!). Bucklers were in use, as well as small targes. You can understand why talk of a Highland supplement is music to my ears ... |
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Morsleib
United Kingdom
21 Posts |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 14:39:15
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Mention of Border Rievers has my ears pricked up! Certainly bucklers and targes were in use then but not the medieval man-at-arms' shield.
Terry
Has tae the riding gane |
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ClivetheCelt
23 Posts |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 17:36:43
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Fiend's Fell, the Devil's Beef tub ... gloomy bastles overlooking dark lakes ... vast tracts of forest ... ancient stone circles on wild moors ... what's not to like?
OK, the time of the reivers was bloody and horrible if you lived in the borders, and I'm not romanticising it, but it's ripe for Witchfinder games, I feel. Not to mention that the period is crying out for some decent skirmish rules, though there are many decent ones on the 'net.
BTW, this year is the 400th anniversary of the Lancashire Witch Trials. Mist Over Pendle, anyone? |
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drusty
78 Posts |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 18:47:38
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"..vast tracts of forest..."
I think the forests came later, courtesy of the Forestry Commission. |
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Morsleib
United Kingdom
21 Posts |
Posted - 04 Mar 2012 : 09:49:47
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I think that Drusty is right about the forests. Even what we think of as wild nature is so often at least in part man made.
I have been looking for a suitable rule set for a while. I had been messing about adapting the Warhammer Historical Legends of xxx series but never got round to finishing it.
Terry |
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Morsleib
United Kingdom
21 Posts |
Posted - 04 Mar 2012 : 09:52:42
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Clive,
As soon as I saw these rules I dusted off my wife's ancient copy of Mist over Pendle. I must have last read it about 30-35 years ago! I hadn't twigged the significance of the anniversary though. Maybe we should try and do something through the medium of the game. Sorry Eric we are talking about Lancashire ;-0
Terry |
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Black Sheep
United Kingdom
263 Posts |
Posted - 04 Mar 2012 : 11:19:14
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Ee By Gum Terry - Between you and me I do suspect some of those grand Lancashire folk do get a little bit jealous of our Yorkshire sporting ability, fine food and modern transportation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VLYpKGVBUg
Grand idea though.
Edit - what edit? |
Edited by - Black Sheep on 04 Mar 2012 22:11:43 |
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Morsleib
United Kingdom
21 Posts |
Posted - 04 Mar 2012 : 13:57:45
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No problem. I'm from Derby originally but made my home in Nottingham. It's my wife who's the Lancashire lass. Anyway the discussion really was about trying these ladies for witchcraft not their cricketing ability.
Terry |
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ClivetheCelt
23 Posts |
Posted - 04 Mar 2012 : 16:34:59
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Ah, forgot God's Own County ... don't think we have the monopoly on witches, though - I've been to Leeds on a Saturday night! And ... don't go on the moors, etc, etc ...
Yes, you're right about the forests, trees on parade at Kielder and Redesdale; I was thinking more burneal forest, the wild wood, the dark behind the trees - though some parts of the FC managed woodland on Longridge Fell near us are very old.
It'd be great to get a "north Pennines" witch scenario together, Terry. I'm in Burnley, my gaming opponent lives nearby, and he'd be up for it, too, I suspect. Are any of you going to Salute? I can't get the time off, but he's going; I'll mention it next week.
Ey up, must go an' feed t'whippet - wheers mi flat cap ... ? |
Edited by - ClivetheCelt on 04 Mar 2012 20:20:22 |
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Topic |
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Shield use in Witchfinder
