Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > The Fantasy Trip

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-14-2021, 07:52 AM   #11
JohnPaulB
 
JohnPaulB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portland, Maine
Default Re: Mounted combat and two-handed weapons

Quote:
Originally Posted by phiwum View Post
Still, sure seems to me that a Centaur ought to be able to fire a bow after a half-move (maybe because it sounds cool).
OOOhhhh.
Centaur cavalry unit. Made up of three centaur troopers.

Centaur gunner (arquebus) with a rider that has a second loaded gun.

Centaurs ride up, keeping at least 3 megahexes away from targets. They shoot.

Next turn they ride a bit away and exchange weapons with their rider/loader.

Third turn, Centaurs ride closer and shoot while the rider starts reloading previously shot gun.

Fourth turn, they ride away and while centaur starts reloading and rider continues to reload.

Centaur has Quick Draw - Sword Talent and a sheethed 2 handed sword for those times it gets jumped.

----------

Variation on above.

Give them all blunderbus.

Have Centaurs ride up close to enemy, but not in contact. Centaurs fire and rider fires.

Next turn, Centaurs rides away while giving their weapon to riders, who holsters both blunderbusses.

Third turn, Centaurs brings out sword while riders brings out crossbow.

Fourth turn, centaurs engage in combat while riders choose targets.

-------

Take it away, Henry.....
__________________
- Hail Melee

Fantasy Chess: A chess game with combat.
Don't just take the square, Fight for it!
https://www.shadowhex.com
JohnPaulB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2021, 07:59 AM   #12
amenditman
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Florida Peninsula, Earth, Sol Sytem
Default Re: Mounted combat and two-handed weapons

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPaulB View Post
OOOhhhh.
Third turn, Centaurs ride closer and shoot while the rider starts reloading previously shot gun.

Fourth turn, they ride away and while centaur starts reloading and rider continues to reload.
I would not allow reloading while riding a moving Centaur in combat. The centaur would need to gallop away out of range and stop for either to take a reload action.

Other than that, this would be great.
__________________
The first rule of GMing
"If you make it, players will break it"
amenditman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2021, 09:48 AM   #13
hcobb
 
hcobb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
Default Re: Mounted combat and two-handed weapons

Who's doing the Hexagram article on centaurs?
__________________
-HJC
hcobb is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2021, 12:16 PM   #14
phiwum
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
Default Re: Mounted combat and two-handed weapons

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Plambeck View Post
Seems like a very happy compromise to me. Only allowing 1 hex movement while firing does seem too restrictive -- as a 4-legged high speed creature it's very different than a humanoid archer. But letting it move full MA in the same turn as making a melee attack is overly generous -- perhaps not unrealistic, but far too powerful in terms of play balance. I'd go with firing the bow or making a hand weapon attack while moving up to half MA.

There's lots of homemade Centaur counters in my aging collection, but I can't recall any instance of when they actually got used.
I'm planning a minor Centaur encounter for color soon. I don't anticipate combat, but it got me thinking about Centaurs.

They're kinda weird. (John Finnemore has a good skit on this.) I want them to be civilized, with a heirarchy, but they won't have any permanent structures, except perhaps for religious needs. And they have immense carrying capacity, but I don't see how they could set a saddlebag on their own backs nor easily access it! I'm having trouble imagining what motivates them. What do they do?

They're stuck in the wild outdoors (but not rocky areas). I don't guess they graze, which is a shame because they should have a lot of time on their hands out in the middle of nowhere...

So, what is it that Centaurs want, aside from all the filthy non-elves to keep out of the pristine forest?

Last edited by phiwum; 10-14-2021 at 12:24 PM.
phiwum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2021, 01:02 PM   #15
hcobb
 
hcobb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
Default Re: Mounted combat and two-handed weapons

If you agree with the classical Greeks then Centaurs consume bread, meat, and wine. So they most likely farm and produce all of that.
__________________
-HJC
hcobb is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2021, 02:51 PM   #16
phiwum
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
Default Re: Mounted combat and two-handed weapons

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
If you agree with the classical Greeks then Centaurs consume bread, meat, and wine. So they most likely farm and produce all of that.
I suppose you know your pecking order by checking whether you're in front of or behind the plow.
phiwum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2021, 04:23 PM   #17
Axly Suregrip
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Durham, NC
Default Re: Mounted combat and two-handed weapons

Forget reloading. If the centaurs can afford it, carry lots of loaded arquebus guns. Having anyone (rider, etc) bothering with the reload makes no sense since most fights are over long before a reload would be completed.

All this assumes you not feel culturally that they are woodland beasts that would not deal with technology like guns and gun powder.
Axly Suregrip is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2021, 08:40 PM   #18
JohnPaulB
 
JohnPaulB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portland, Maine
Default Re: Mounted combat and two-handed weapons

Quote:
Originally Posted by phiwum View Post
I want them to be civilized, with a heirarchy, but they won't have any permanent structures, except perhaps for religious needs. And they have immense carrying capacity, but I don't see how they could set a saddlebag on their own backs nor easily access it!
I would guess that Centaur culture probably is family oriented, whether 'civilized' or not. And I think that it would be intergenerational, like a herd. Perhaps it is Matriarchal or Patriarchal or more likely the 'it takes a village to raise a pony."

So to answer your question, I think that part of the expectation of the individuals and on the individual is that they help one another with 'dressing' (putting on armor, shirts, saddlebags, etc.)

There may be loners, but I think they are the antisocial ones or perhaps the ones on a religious quest or 'see the world before I settle down' types.

As far as being alone and setting saddlebags on their own backs, they probably have saddle-bag frames that can be flipped down, then jacked up so that the bag raises of the body and stays in that upright position all night. Ready in the morning for a quick slip on.

Anything they need quick access to would be on a belt or satchel around their human waist.



A comment on penalties for Centaurs. I believe horses have a hard time going down stairs (and perhaps going up narrow ones) and have trouble traversing slippery surfaces (polished marble floors or icy conditions), so I would give them a racial penalty for this type of thing.
__________________
- Hail Melee

Fantasy Chess: A chess game with combat.
Don't just take the square, Fight for it!
https://www.shadowhex.com

Last edited by JohnPaulB; 10-14-2021 at 09:02 PM. Reason: Added comment about possible penalties
JohnPaulB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-14-2021, 09:08 PM   #19
JohnPaulB
 
JohnPaulB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portland, Maine
Default Re: Mounted combat and two-handed weapons

Quote:
Originally Posted by Axly Suregrip View Post
Forget reloading. If the centaurs can afford it, carry lots of loaded arquebus guns. Having anyone (rider, etc) bothering with the reload makes no sense since most fights are over long before a reload would be completed.
Yea, I think you are right.

I would have them have two loaded arquebus and light crossbow.
No rider.
First turn, shoot arquebus.
Second turn, change to Xbow
Third turn load xbow
Fourth Turn, with missile talent, shoot crossbow everyturn if DX = 14+.
If enemy gets close, run away, then turn to shoot.
__________________
- Hail Melee

Fantasy Chess: A chess game with combat.
Don't just take the square, Fight for it!
https://www.shadowhex.com
JohnPaulB is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:27 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.