3.3.3 Ranged combat example

Target practice/aimed fire

Rakheem the Red Archer is taking part in an archery competition.

Rakheem has a ST of +2, CO of +1, PE of +2 and WP of +0. He has a Combat skill of 4 (with +2 specialism in combat speed) and a Shooting skill of 5 (with +2 specialism in bows and an extra +1 specialism with the Longbow). He is unencumbered (+2 bonus to CO), unwounded and fresh.

For the first round of the competition, the target is set at 20 metres range (difficulty 6). The target is stationery (+0 difficulty). The conditions are slightly windy (+1 difficulty) and good visibility (+0 difficulty). The bullseye on the target is about 15 centimetres across (+7 difficulty). The total difficulty of this target for the ranged attack dice roll is, therefore, 14.

Rakheem decides Aimed fire with his Longbow provides him the best opportunity. He carefully loads an arrow onto his Longbow. He sets and aims. His dice roll for setting uses Shooting + WP, i.e. 8 (Shooting including specialisms) +0 (WP) = 8. He automatically succeeds on his first five Set and Aim actions as he focuses on the target, giving him an accumulated bonus of +5 for his eventual shot. He decides this will be enough for this shot. He then carries out an Aimed Fire action. His basic value for the ranged attack dice roll (which uses Shooting + PE) is 8 (Shooting including specialisms) +2 (PE) +5 (bonus for setting) -2 (Longbow) = 13. He cannot guarantee hitting the target, so must take a risk. He risks four dice and rolls 4D+1, rolling a 6, 4, 3 and 1, making a dice roll result of 15. His shot drills into the bullseye and he passes into the second round of the competition.

For the second round of the competition, the target is moved back to 40 metres range (difficulty 8). This time the target is a swinging pendulum (+3 difficulty). The conditions are still slightly windy (+1 difficulty) with good visibility (+0 difficulty). The bullseye on the target is about 15 centimetres across (+7 difficulty). The total difficulty of this target for the ranged attack dice roll is therefore 19.

Rakheem again tries to Set and aim to get the maximum bonus on the shot. He sets and aims five times (with guaranteed success), but then tries a sixth time. He rolls 2D+2 and gets a 4 and a 3, making a dice roll less than the required 10. The crowd gasps as he lowers his bow without taking a shot as his concentration on the target is broken. He tries again. This time on the sixth set and aim action, he rolls a 4 and a 6, giving a dice roll result of 12 and succeeds in increasing his bonus on the ranged attack dice roll to +6. Working out that if he goes for the seventh bonus, he could be there all day, he decides to go for the shot then and there. His basic value for the ranged attack dice roll (which uses Shooting + PE) is 8 (Shooting including specialisms) +2 (PE) +6 (bonus for setting) -2 (Longbow) = 14. He decides to risk four dice, rolling 4D+2, gets a 4, 5, 3 and 4, making a dice roll result of 18. Since this is less than the 19 difficulty, it's not enough to hit the bullseye, but it's so close that the referee rules his arrow just clips the outside of the bullseye.

The real thing/snapshot fire

As Rakheem is taking the applause of the crowd, some masked raiders burst onto the fields where the combat is taking place. Combat ensues.

On his phase, Rakheem has 10 action points. He loads an arrow into his Longbow (3 action points) and then takes a Snaphot at one of the raiders (3 action points). The raider is 10 metres away (difficulty 4) a man-sized target (+1 difficulty), moving normally (+3 difficulty) and the conditions are windy (+1 difficulty) with good visibility (+0 difficulty), making him a difficulty 9 target. Rakheem's basic value for the attack dice roll is 8 (Shooting including specialisms) +3 (CO including encumbrance) -2 (Longbow) = 9. Because Rakheem wants to minimise the chance of the Raider blocking the arrow with his shield, Rakheem decides to risk two dice, rolls 2D+3 and gets a 3 and a 5, making a dice roll result of 11 - his arrow on target.

The raider now reacts to the incoming arrow with a shield parry. His Shield score is 4 (including specialism) and his CO is +1 (including encumbrance), so his basic value for the defence dice roll is 4 +1 +4 (medium shield) +3 (parry) = 12. The arrow is deflected off the raider's shield. Rakheem loads another arrow, but now runs out of action points for the combat turn.

On the next turn, Rakheem looses his prepared arrow at the raider, who has now closed to only a few metres away (2 difficulty). At this range, Rakheem is pretty confident of hitting the target, so he decides to aim for the raider's unprotected throat (+7 difficulty). The raider is still moving (+3 difficulty) and it is still windy (+1 difficulty) and normal visbility (+0 difficulty), making a total difficulty of 13. This time Rakheem risks three dice, rolling 3D, and gets a 2, 5 and 6, giving a dice roll result of 13. Unless the raider evades the arrow, he's going to be skewered in the throat. The raider attempts to parry again with his shield but his basic value of 12 (see earlier) is not enough to guarantee blocking the arrow, so he and risks four dice, rolling 4D and getting a 6, 3, 2 and 1, making a dice roll result of 12. Before he can raise his shield, the arrow has got him.

For the damage dice roll, the basic value is 12 (Longbow) +2 (ST) +1/2 (because attack hit by 1 point) +3 (Throat) = 17 1/2. Rakheem decides to risk four dice, rolls 4D+5 1/2, gets a 4, 3, 2 and 3, making a dice roll result i.e. basic damage of 17 1/2. The raider's damage resistance on his throat is 3, so, unless the raider soaks the damage, he will take a Critical wound to his throat (which is pretty bad news). Not surprisingly, the raider attempts to soak. His Combat score is 3 and his ST is +3, so his basic value for the soak dice roll is 6. This is enough to guarantee two levels of soaking, so the raider decides not to risk anything. Twisting round at the last minute, the arrow rakes the side of his neck causing a Medium wound (two levels down from Critical), but avoiding his windwipe or arteries. The arrow is lodged in his flesh, so he will have to be careful when removing it to avoid causing further damage. The raider has to make a dice roll to avoid knockback; his Athletics is 3 and his ST is +3 and he gets a +2 bonus because the damage type was impaling, giving him a basic value of 8 versus a difficulty of 17 1/2 (the basic damage of the attack). He rolls 2D+2, gets a 3 and 5, making a dice roll result of 10 (a failure by 7 1/2 points), which means he ends up being knocked over by the force of the impact of the arrow. He also needs to check what the pain of the wound has done to him; his WP is -1 and his Combat is 3, but he gets a +2 bonus for the fact that the wound was impaling, giving a basic value of 4; the raider decides not to risk being stunned, and so ends up staggered by the wound. Finally, because of his Medium wound, the raider will now have an ongoing impairment of -2 on all dice rolls.

So, while Rakheem's shot didn't kill the raider outright, it has pretty much taken him out. Being shot has cost the raider six action points (2 for the shield parry, 1 for the soak, 2 for being knocked over and 1 for being staggered), has moved him back two hexes (1 for the parry and 1 for the knock over), knocked him prone, caused him a Medium wound (which gives him a penalty of -2 on all dice rolls until healed) and in addition he has an extra -1 penalty on dice rolls for the rest of this combat turn (for being staggered), and has an arrow stuck in his neck (which causes him a penalty of -2 to his CO until removed, and may make his Medium wound increase to Serious when it is removed).