Mounted Combat Questions

[TimP]

I have a couple of questions about mounted combat.

The way I understand the issuing of commands to a mount, the rider takes an action to give a command (something like strike with hooves) and then on the mount's next action it attempts to follow the command.

I'm curious if it's right to require the rider to use an action to issue the command. It seems that in a situation where the rider has Mounted Combat and the mount has Combat Training (or whatever it's called) that these commands are going to be a click of the tongue, a quick spurring, a certain pressure of the knees, etcetera. These sorts of 'actions' seem more equivalent to the free ability to speak two syllables than to a strike, block, or somesuch. The most classic example of this would be a simple 'Yah!' or 'Giddyup!' to get a horse to gallop. I realize Giddyup is three syllables, but I'm sure you get my point.

My second question is a bit more complicated. We played BW tonight and the local friendly knight waded into a gob of Orc infantry. He was only scripting the occasional Bite or Kick attack for his warhorse. The pair were quickly surrounded, and when the Orcs had trouble penetrating the knight's armor and couldn't pull him off the horse they began scripting Strike against the mount.

Obviously the knight should have backed or charged out of the situation to save himself and his mount (The warhorse soon went down, leading to much scripting of get inside/lock/lock by the Orcs and the capture of the flat-on-his-ass knight).

I kept wanting to give the horse some sort of natural defense roll against the Orc attacks: some sort of instinctive reaction. It doesn't seem particularly 'realistic' that the horse would just stand there and let sharp pointy things be swung at him without reacting, no matter how well he's trained. I suppose this sort of panic/reaction thing is reflected with Steel tests for injury, but by the time you're rolling Steel tests it's usually too late for the mount anyway. Besides, I'm envisioning more of a 'charge into melee and give the horse it's head' scenario.

I'm having trouble coming up with a good way to model this. Natural Defenses with typical horse Speed is way too effective. The sort of abrupt and violent movement this would involve would surely pile on obstacles for the rider as well. I guess what I'm really looking for is a way for the horse to seem like a living breathing creature rather than a do exactly what I say when I say it and absolutely nothing more robot, while still retaining the rider/horse relationship.

Any help or thoughts? I'm fully aware it may be psychological help I need for even worrying about this :)


Thanks,

Tim

[luke]

Hi Tim,

Giving the horse its head is a viable action. Wade in, tell the horse to Brawl while the knight in turn lays the smack down. Remember, the mount will continue performing the last order given until he fails a Steel test or is given another order.

As for horsie ND against Strikes, I'm afraid not. From what I've read in many, many sources, horses died in combat. In fact, it was unsportsmanlike to kill your opponent's horse in a tourney, it was damn near foolish not to kill his horse in life and death combat.

What happened to your friend's knight is the fate of many, many a knight. He should have be spurring his horse in and out, charging with the beast and getting in an odd Strike or two himself. Had he a lance, he'd have ruled the day!

Chalk one up for the Orcs, it's rare that they win a day.

-L

[Kublai]

As for taking an action to tell the horse what to do, I think I agree with Tim that it should be a tandem action such as speech or movement. Maneuvering the horse with your legs replaces maneuvering you with your legs. Knight with Mounted Combat should get this bonus as part of the training. It reflects the intuitive relationship between horse and rider.

Those without MC should be the ones that have to spend an action getting the horse to obey.

[luke]

As for taking an action to tell the horse what to do, I think I agree with Tim that it should be a tandem action such as speech or movement. Maneuvering the horse with your legs replaces maneuvering you with your legs. Knight with Mounted Combat should get this bonus as part of the training. It reflects the intuitive relationship between horse and rider.

Those without MC should be the ones that have to spend an action getting the horse to obey.

I know that feels like what it should be, but this just hasn't been borne out by my research.

-L

[TimP]

Giving the horse its head is a viable action. Wade in, tell the horse to Brawl while the knight in turn lays the smack down. Remember, the mount will continue performing the last order given until he fails a Steel test or is given another order.

That's cool, I've read the 'continue performing the last order' bit before, but had forgotten in the hubbub of actually playing. :oops: I think I'll eliminate Block, Throw, and Lock from the list of available Brawl options for the horse though :)

I suppose if you wanted to try and keep your horse relatively safe in melee you could script Avoid in the same manner. Typical horse speed would lead to some hellaciously effective Avoid actions. Does the +2 Ob to avoid in mounted combat apply to the mount as well?


As for horsie ND against Strikes, I'm afraid not. From what I've read in many, many sources, horses died in combat. In fact, it was unsportsmanlike to kill your opponent's horse in a tourney, it was damn near foolish not to kill his horse in life and death combat.

I get what you're saying, it just seemed a shame that the horse had to pay for poor tactics on the part of the player. I guess he'd better acquire some barding with his next warhorse if he wants to slug it out in that manner.