Questions arise as I learn Fight!

[Valannor]

Hello everyone:

I'm in the process of trying to grokk Fight!, so I want to ask for help as questions arise.

For the purposes of this exercise, I'm having a Knight and a Squire face off in a duel. Both wield Swords and shields.

First I test for position. Knight wins, sets optimal distance to start.

Actions are scripted.

Knight V1: Maintain, Block and Strike
Squire V1: Close, Charge

Now, Charge is a positioning test, so I resolve it first. Squire wins that test, knocking Knight off balance (S. only won by 1 success)

So: Knight has block and strike scripted. Question is: is the action simoultaneous to the Charge, thus he attacks at optimal distance, and without the knocked off balance penalty, or does it go after the charge (which is a position test, so should go first),? In that case, then that means Knight is attacking with the knocked off balance penalty, and with the Ob penalty for attacking with a sword in an Inside arms reach position (as a result of the charge) or is the result position of a charge still optimal distance, as per p. 156 (this is essentially question #2, below)

Question #2: When someone charges, p. 156 says attacker ends in optimal distance. In the above example, opponents started in optimal distance, but charge necessitates a Close maneuver... I presume this means the charging squire charged in, knocked the knight off balance, and returned to optimal distance, no?

Another different situation, with a similar question.

Starting position: Optimal
Knight V1: Maintain, Strike
Squire V2: Close, Avoid.

Question #3: If Squire wins positioning test, they are now at Inside arms reach distance for the sword armored Knight (and Squire too). Knight had originally thought to strike with sword. Given the position change, that means he'd take a heavy Ob penalty, cause squire won position ( though both took their position tests assuming they both had swords). Given the position change, can the Knight choose to take the strike action with the pommel or with the shield, to take advantage of the shorter weapons?)

Question #4: If one wields a slow weapon like a sword, can I script:
V1: Strike (using sword blade)
V2: Strike (using hilt)
V3: Strike (using blade again?)

Sorry if this has been covered before, but I tried reading the Wiki's excellent Multiple combatants example, but I'm still in the process of understanding and internalizing these rules (which are freaking awesome, by the way. They look incredibly more complex than they actually are, once you read through them)

[luke]

#1 The actions are simultaneous, thus the penalty is applied to the following action.

#2 You can choose be on the Inside or Optimal. I'm too tired to cite a page reference, but it's in there.

#3 You can strike with the weapon you positioned with.

[noclue]

#4 yup.

[Jimbozig]

#1 The actions are simultaneous, thus the penalty is applied to the following action.
This I did not realize. When it says "Charge is a positioning test in all respects" I took that to mean that it was resolved completely along with the positioning test. But what you're saying is that the positioning part (giving the knight the penalty for attacking from the inside) of the charge would be resolved first and apply to the knight's Block and Strike while the pushing part (the +1ob for knocking him off-balance) would be resolved at the same time as the B&S and only apply to the following action?

I'm surprised because I was confused by the timing on charge for a while and read it multiple times. I concluded that "in all respects" really meant ALL, including the timing.

-Jim

[Yagathai]

I'm surprised because I was confused by the timing on charge for a while and read it multiple times. I concluded that "in all respects" really meant ALL, including the timing.


I'm sure that by now Luke regrets using "all" in that sentence. It's caused more grief than any other single word in the rulebook.

[luke]

I regret many things. That's one of them.
Charge is a positioning test AND an action. It works very well in practice, but it doesn't have good verbal skills.

[Valannor]

I regret many things. That's one of them.
Charge is a positioning test AND an action. It works very well in practice, but it doesn't have good verbal skills.

Interesting... Then I guess that means I resolve the positioning first, with the squire closing to inside distance. Then the Knight can attack without the Charge Ob penalty (which technically hasn't happened yet), but DOES incur the Ob penalty for using a sword at close quarters... Nice.

Another couple of questions, if I may:
1) does feint negate the block and strike action (when using a shield)?
2) Great Strike cannot be blocked, except if one uses a shield, correct? So a person with a shield who has scripted block or b+s can block a great strike?

Oh, and thanks everyone for the previously given help...

[Yagathai]

1) It negates the Block part, not the Strike part. So basically it turns into a pair of simultaneous Strikes.

2) Yes.

As a rule of thumb, Block & Strike can be resolve as if it was a separate Strike and a separate Block.