Movement vs combat option

[Steve Plambeck]

I've sometimes wondered just how the rules intended us to view reloading a bow, starting with regular bows. Does it start immediately after firing, in which case the Movement Phase was spent aiming? Or does one spend the Movement Phase reloading, to be ready to fire later in the same turn? Does it even make any difference how that is interpreted?

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by Steve Plambeck

I've sometimes wondered just how the rules intended us to view reloading a bow, starting with regular bows. Does it start immediately after firing, in which case the Movement Phase was spent aiming? Or does one spend the Movement Phase reloading, to be ready to fire later in the same turn? Does it even make any difference how that is interpreted?

The last part of the action is the firing. Hence the inability to reload while engaged during movement.

[Bill_in_IN]

Originally Posted by hcobb

The last part of the action is the firing. Hence the inability to reload while engaged during movement.

Hence, allowing the archer to get one last shot off if they were engaged during movement. If the engagement continues, the archer must use one turn to disengage or change weapons. Hopefully, they have the higher DX which would allow them to disengage before getting hit. The archer can then fire again the next turn when the foe re-engages them.

It's a sticky situation for an archer that has just been engaged. Hopefully, the archer is a more serious one with an above average DX.

[Drakenbow]

Yep. Most games need to use a set of steps to simulate things. Computer games get to be more real time. I'm not sure since I only played it a few times and many years ago, but didn't the Star Trek game break all down by Impulses? The fastest movement, recharging weapons, and all happened while counting through the impulse steps.

A melee&wizards like variant using the impulses would be to step through a count. Movement speed, spell casting speed, and weapon speed would be used to step throught the chart. When the count hits a certain number, a character can act with that action. It might mean a character with a dagger (fast weapon speed) might be able to stab a couple of times before another could swing a Great Sword. A person charging towards an archerer would have movement count versus bow reloading speed. etc