Martial Arts: Facing multiple opponents

[TheOneRonin]

Recent gaming experience has shown me just how difficult it is, under GURPS rules, to deal with multiple opponents in unarmed melee combat.

I understand the core strategies (movement to keep them out of your side/rear arcs, throws and sweeps to knock them prone, TA to vitals/neck/skull, etc.), but even with those approaches, it's still a struggle to defeat a small number of low-skilled opponents even with very high skills and improved techniques.

So I come to the forums to tap the wealth of knowledge and experience of this community. How do YOU overcome the odds when confronted with multiple opponents in melee combat?

Here are some basics that I'm working in:

-Modern Campaign...TL8 here on Earth (circa 2016)
-No cinematic rules
-VERY skilled and capable character (ST 14, DX 13, HT 13, Judo/Karate @ 18, Very Fit, combat reflexes, etc.)
-Opponents are human, no body armor, and run the gamut from untrained gangbangers to Chinese Special Forces.
-I have GURPS MA and Tech Grappling, and all of the non-cinematic options in those books are available.
-Let's assume I can re-build my character and, staying within my current point totals, adjust my skills (20 is the cap for this campaign), techniques, and advantages (nothing cinematic or supernatural).

Also, here are some things I would like to remove from the discussion:

-Use a weapon: I totally understand that adding a weapon to the mix can be a game changer, but that's actually irrelevnt for this particular discussion.
-Have buddies helping out: Again, this changes the scenario significantly, but not relevant.
-Extra Attack: Even 1 level of this is not approved by the GM in the current campaign. So can we be effective against multiple opponents without it?
-Running away: always a good choice when you are outnumbered, but sometimes you can't. For this scenario, assume you can't.


So given the above, how do you approach dealing with multiple, unarmed opponents? What maneuvers, skills, techniques do you use, and how do you use them?

[Cyrilin]

My personal favourite is highly dependent on what your GM is like. But there is always trying to use your surroundings to your advantage.

If you have good acrobatics or perfect balance you can fight on narrow rooftops and the like, which will give your opponents a huge disadvantage. Try to lead your enemies into places that make their numerical advantage meaningless. Alleyways, narrow corridors.

Use objects in your surroundings to your advantage (i.e. pushing over boxes, etc). Throwing a lamp to the ground or just spilling its oil can also help secure one of your sides since people who step into flaming/slippery areas are in for bad times.

In the end I've always found versatility and good tactics more important than having very high skill levels and stats.

As for actual combat maneuvers, try arm locks and the likes if you have high Judo skill. Arm locks in particular can be devastating and easily break an enemy's arm without taking much effort to set up.

Also remember you can use Judo throw after you parry an attack to throw that enemy into another, possibly taking them both out for a few turns.

[Gigermann]

I've been doing a lot of experimenting with this sort of thing lately.

What works tactically in game is what my martial arts instructors had always told me in real-life: the secret to fighting multiple opponents is to get them one-on-one. You want to use position and terrain, and even themselves, to manipulate the battlefield such that you're engaged with as few of them as possible. Pay attention to their Move, and keep them at a distance that forces them to use Move and Attack or All Out Attack to reach you. If they're in a line, get to the end of the line, so they have to move around each other to get to you.

Also, if you can't drop them outright, putting them on their backs is very helpful, however you can do it. Even a live enemy on his back is an obstacle to the others, and gives you a few extra seconds with his buddies, at least. Don't be afraid of going for a random hit location—crippling a hand or foot won't kill them, but it will seriously degrade their ability to hurt you.

[TheOneRonin]

Originally Posted by Cyrilin

My personal favourite is highly dependent on what your GM is like. But there is always trying to use your surroundings to your advantage.

<snip>

I 100% agree, with Kiss the wall being one of my favorites. Positioning is certainly key, especially protecting your side and rear arcs, like I said above. But sometimes the terrain is not in your favor. Can you still win if the fight takes place in an empty parking lot? If so HOW?

Originally Posted by Cyrilin

As for actual combat maneuvers, try arm locks and the likes if you have high Judo skill. Arm locks in particular can be devastating and easily break an enemy's arm without taking much effort to set up.

Also remember you can use Judo throw after you parry an attack to throw that enemy into another, possibly taking them both out for a few turns.

Joint locks are my favorite technique, but they aren't always the best option. I love Throwing from locks, but it takes a few turns to get there, and spending those turns focusing on one target can give the other bad guys an opportunity to ruin your day.


Post-parry Judo throws are certainly key, but you can only throw a single opponent that way each turn. If they fail the HT check and are stunned, fantastic! You get at least two rounds of them being out of the fight. But you can't count on that. A HT 10 thug is going to succeed on that test 50% of the time. It's better than nothing, especially since the guy ends up prone. But what happens when it's 3 on one, or 4 on one. You can only dump 1 guy at a time that way, and the 1st guy will be back in your face right after you dump the last guy.

Originally Posted by Gigermann

I've been doing a lot of experimenting with this sort of thing lately.

What works tactically in game is what my martial arts instructors had always told me in real-life: the secret to fighting multiple opponents is to get them one-on-one. You want to use position and terrain, and even themselves, to manipulate the battlefield such that you're engaged with as few of them as possible. Pay attention to their Move, and keep them at a distance that forces them to use Move and Attack or All Out Attack to reach you. If they're in a line, get to the end of the line, so they have to move around each other to get to you.

Agreed. My instructors have advocated the very same thing. Again, this protects your side and rear arcs, and reduces the # of times you have to use an active defense between your turns. But it doesn't help you with taking those opponents out of the fight. THAT is the piece I seem to be missing.

Originally Posted by Gigermann

Also, if you can't drop them outright, putting them on their backs is very helpful, however you can do it. Even a live enemy on his back is an obstacle to the others, and gives you a few extra seconds with his buddies, at least. Don't be afraid of going for a random hit location—crippling a hand or foot won't kill them, but it will seriously degrade their ability to hurt you.

Knocking people off their feet is probably the most effective approach for buying yourself some time. Judo throws for damage work well there, and I've been experimenting with Stamp Kick/TA Foot for a quick way to cripple a limb, cause a major wound AND drop a target prone. But it costs A LOT of points to be able to do that consistently well.

[Gigermann]

Originally Posted by TheOneRonin

Again, this protects your side and rear arcs, and reduces the # of times you have to use an active defense between your turns. But it doesn't help you with taking those opponents out of the fight. THAT is the piece I seem to be missing.

What it does is free you to concentrate on the guy in front of you.

Using random hit location frees up the TA penalties so you can instead take penalties for Deceptive Attacks—the sooner they fail their defense rolls, the sooner they go down.

[Mathulhu]

I am going to ask a few questions,
What do you consider your win condition? Do they need to be dead or just down or somewhere in between?
How skilled is your defender?

My basics for dealing with being out numbered is to back peddle quickly either judo parry then throw or attacks to feet and legs. Once you have someone on the ground get as far away from them as possible so they won't be back on you immediately. When you have got someone on their own then you can go on the offensive at them with whatever form of violence you favour.

[Dalillama]

While the advice given by others will help reduce how bad you lose, and might even give you some wins, realistically your choices are Get Armed or Use Cinematic Rules. This is really your problem here: 1 person who can reliably beat down 3-4 other people while unarmed isn't that realistic. Even the tactics that come from RL martial arts are usually considered a prelude to one of Run Away or Get Armed, because that's how you deal with being outnumbered.
EDIT: Within the criteria you specified, though, TA (Kick/Leg, Foot or Joint if you're using that location) is a good one for putting someone on the ground and at least temporarily out of the fight. It's not that big a hit penalty to buy off, and a crippled leg will really impede someone's efforts to hurt you.

[DouglasCole]

Im on my phone so this will be short. How about Grabbing Parry followed by either wrench arm or a strike to that arm, using any control points to increase damage?

A crippled arm should be pretty distracting.

Also Judo throw from a parry requires a few turns to get up from, and the fallen body presents challenging terrain. Or it should.

But one on many with no cinema, no weapons is bad juju. Expect to lose unless you can intimidate them into hesitation.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

But one on many with no cinema, no weapons is bad juju. Expect to lose unless you can intimidate them into hesitation.

Even without active use of the Intimidation skill, seriously wounding one might cause the others to hesitate, if the realism in the game extends to NPCs as well.

Realistically, one against many fights are usually won, if they are won at all, because the many don't fight like emotionless robots that take advantage of every opening, but instead have a few less courageous people who hang back and may be dismayed when the bolder among their number are put down.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

But one on many with no cinema, no weapons is bad juju. Expect to lose unless you can intimidate them into hesitation.

Yeah, this. I'm not bad in a fight, but I've only ever been able to deal with two or three opponents at a time with minimal damage to myself (cuts, bruises, etc.) - and I learned the hard way, by getting my butt beat. I was in a fight at high school once that was seven on one (guess who the one was?) and one of them had a knife. I went after that guy first and ended up getting a 4-inch gash on my left forearm for my trouble. All the while, I got pounded by the other guys as I wailed on their pal with the blade so he'd drop it. In the end, I "won" after biting off a chunk of one of the other guys' ears, making the thug-lite's stop long enough for a cop to show up. But I was barely standing and ended up in the hospital by the end. I was a giant walking bruise with a couple of cracked ribs, 44 stitches (yay for jagged cuts), and a concussion that wouldn't quit.

So my advice is this: don't. If you can help it, just don't. If you can't, fight with everything you got and make every hit count. Go for high-value targets (knees are a personal favorite), spit, bite, throw things, and keep moving if you can. That last one is important, unless you are in an easily defensible area (doorways, higher-ground on a set of stairs, etc.) or know the area well, just keep moving. The last thing you want is to get cornered. Especially with a small mob of people out for your blood. That's one of the first things you learn when working a parking lot as a bouncer. Do not get cornered - you will regret it. Try to separate your targets too so they can't rush you. Again, going for the legs, foot, knees, are going to be your best bet - testicles too. There is no such thing as a fair fight - it's the winner and the loser.