Running around negating melee defenses

[willfreedo]

As per B390, you can't use a shield to Block attacks from your back or right hexes, and you can't use a weapon to Parry attacks from your left hex while having a -2 from the back one (this assuming a shield in left hand, weapon in right hand).

So let's see if I get this: we have an average Guy with move 5 is right in the front hex of a Dude. Dude has a shield on his left arm. Guy does an All-out Attack and moves his 3 hexes to get to Dude's back/right hex. Now Dude can't defend himself using Block no matter what? What if he uses Retreat, with the small change of facing it allows (B391)? Would the new facing count when it comes to seeing what his available defenses are? That step is a little confusing for me

Conversely, Guy is now in front of a Man who happens to prefer parrying to blocking. Guy moves to Man's left hex and attacks him. Is Man not entitled to the Parry of his brow?

If so, I find it surprising that the defenders would allow an average speed Guy to get behind their backs even if they're on full defense (if they had been concentrated doing an AoA then it's understandable) and not try to turn around.


P.S.: I could swear I had hit "submit thread" with this a couple hours ago, but searching my posts doesn't show anything so it seems I lost it :<

[Kromm]

The crucial thing to note here is that when you move, forward movement requires you to turn to face the hex you're entering. All-Out Attack demands forward movement. Ergo, in your example, the chap doing the All-Out Attack is moving in such a way that his target is always in his own side hex. This means he's forced to do a Wild Swing to hit; see p. B388-389 for the ramifications. The short version is that he'll likely miss, which ends up hosing him far more than his opponent even accounting for his target's reduced defenses for being hit from the side/via runaround.

Another vital point is that the defender is allowed to retreat. This gives +1 or +3 to defend, which offsets the -2. Moreover, the retreater is allowed to turn as he backs up, which means that he ends up in an ideal position to strike his now-defenseless attacker.

Neither of which changes the fact that, yes, running around the far side of someone from a shield or a weapon means that shield or weapon isn't useful for defense. But it's important to realize that this just about always hurts the person doing the All-Out Attack a lot, so it's only fair to allow a bit of a tradeoff – that being the ability to avoid a specific defense.

[trooper6]

That's why you don't do the All-Out Attack. Rather, do a Giant Step. It costs 1 fp, but will allow you to maneuver to the correct side to deny your opponent the block/DB. Can they retreat? Yes, but they only get on hex side change when they do it.

I remember this one epic Arena battle. My character was a fencer and my whole schtick was to sideslip to my opponent's side and then step behind them or to their side to attack. This one opponent was just as mobile. We circled each other, moving rapidly about trying to get the upper hand over each other. And we got ourselves really, really tired through fp loss.

It was a great battle!

[willfreedo]

Thanks. I hadn't noticed that the 3 move of the attacker would limit his own facing as well, forcing him to turn that AoA into basically a Move and Attack as far as that 9 cap goes.