Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter von Kleinsmid
Many figures in a large-scale battle would also be unable to act because they are not yet in reach of a foe, either because allies are in front of them, or because they are not choosing to move to the front that turn. While players are often quite eager to get an action immediately, as you say, actual soldiers may prefer to delay to wait for the most survivable-looking situation. So in addition to Defending a lot, they may be Waiting For an Opening, or just plain choosing to hold back rather than charging full-speed into melee.
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I was thinking of mass battles where you have formations and a line. No escape then, no waiting to engage when it looks good. You are at the front, you are in the battle line.
The Romans had practice in how to exchange the first line of men for fresh soldiers from the second line, so their legionnaires could fall back and rest, and then get back into it when it was their turn to have a go again. And even if you have ranks eight or ten men deep, and even if everyone is just attacking every third turn because they are waiting for an opening, the fight would last less than a couple of minutes once you have contact between two formations. Since most units broke after taking 10 to 20% casualties. And most of those casualties would come from being ridden down from behind by cavalry after they broke.
In short Melee fights are extremely lethal compared to reality. The same goes for two fencers that will most likely kill each other in less than 15 seconds. No "I am not left-handed either"- kind of fights. The last example not being realistic either of course, but still one type of fantasy.
I am not sure if it would make Melee fights more fun, if they lasted longer. But the option should be there.
My personal house rule is that you can counter attack when Defending, but you do it at -6DX. And Expertise and other ways of getting more dice while defending, lower that negative modifier instead. This means, that you never have more than 4 vs. DX to hit someone. But they will counterattack better and better if they are skilled. So two master Fencers attacking each other while they both defend do so at 4 vs. DX-2. The fight will come to an end fairly quickly, but not be over in 1 or 2 turns or last "forever" if one of them wants to prolong the fight.