Melee Combat

Melee combat refers to any attack using a swinging or thrusting weapon. It is resolved using the compound action rules, with one character having the initiative and declaring his maneuver before the other. A melee weapon is defined by the following attributes: range, force, maximum maneuvers, edge, maximum damage, and number of hands.

Melee Weapon Attributes
Range: The approximate reach of a weapon in yards. A weapon can only be used at this range.

Force: A skill modifier reflecting how accurate and difficult to block the weapon. It is added to your card value when performing the skill check to attack.

Maximum Maneuvers: The maximum number of maneuvers that can be taken with the weapon.

Edge: A skill modifier reflecting how penetrative ability of the weapon. This amount is added to the card value when determining the amount of damage delivered by the attack.

Maximum Damage: The limit to the amount of damage the weapon can deliver. Any damage total generated over the maximum damage is ignored, although certain maneuvers may allow you to supercede this rating.

Number of Hands: How many hands needed to fire the weapon.

Turn Sequence
During one on one melee combat follow this sequence of events:
1. Determine initiative
2. Draw hands
3. Attacker declares first maneuver
4. Defender declares first maneuver
5. Attacker declares second maneuver
6. Defender declares second maneuver
(and so on until all maneuvers are declared)
7. Resolve first register
8. Resolve second register
(and so on until all registers are resolved)

Note that a number of maneuvers can cause the initiative to change during the course of a turn. The characters may have an uneven number of maneuvers available to them. If the attacker has more maneuvers available than the defender he may take unopposed attacks (see below). If the defender has more maneuvers available than the attacker, those additional maneuvers are lost. An attacker may also elect not to use all of his available maneuvers, though he must use at least one or yield the initiative (see below).

Determine Initiative
When combat is initiated both participants make a combat training check modified by willpower. If a character doesn’t have the combat training skill he defaults to a willpower check. Who ever has the highest MT begins combat with the initiative. The character with the initiative is called the attacker for the rest of these rules, and the character without the initiative is called the defender. On subsequent turns of combat whoever ended the turn with the initiative begins the next round with the initiative.

At the start of a round, the attacker may yield the initiative to the other character. If the new attacker also wishes to yield, combat immediately ends and the characters take no actions that turn. The next turn they may act normally or reenter combat.

Draw Hands
All players involved in the combat draw their hands, but unlike most checks, the players should keep their hands secret. In this way, combat serves as a type of mini-game between the participants.

Hands are usually drawn based on the character’s skill in the weapon he is using. There are some instances where the player will draw from the lower of two skills or gain additional cards. Each of these situations is discussed below.

Declare Maneuvers
The attacker chooses his first maneuver, announces it, and plays a card face down in the first register. The defender then does likewise. Each player in turn announces and plays cards until either the attacker has used all the maneuvers available to him, or a maneuver is declared that needs to be resolved immediately. A player thus may be required to declare a maneuver without knowing the outcome of the previous one. This is to simulate the speed at which actual combatants must make their decisions.

A player can not declare more maneuvers than his weapon’s maximum maneuvers (except when using shields or multiple weapons, see below). Nor can a player declare more maneuvers than he has cards in his hand.

Resolve Maneuvers
Resolve all maneuvers for each register at the same time, i.e. resolve both the attacker’s and the defender’s first register, then resolve the attacker’s and the defender’s second register. If a combatant is killed or incapacitated before all the registers are resolved the combat ends and the remaining registers go unused.

Ending Combat
Combat must continue until all but one combatant is incapacitated, all combatants have yielded the initiative or a maneuver that ends combat is successful. If characters end their turn in melee combat they must continue it next turn, although they do have the option of changing skills if appropriate (see below).