Martial Arts: Facing multiple opponents

[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.

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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.