Newbie Melee Question & Possible Hombrew

[harlokin 0]

We are due to start a new DW campaign in a few weeks, and have spent a few sessions playing through scenarios/skirmishes to familiarise ourselves with the rules.

One minor issue we've encountered is that melee appears to be a little static due to the disadvantage of moving and attacking as opposed to just standing still and counterattacking with multiple attacks. We're not sure if this is something we are doing wrong, or a quirk with the system.

We were thinking of adding the following to the Charge Action:

CHARGE
If the charge hits make an opposed Strength Test. If the attacker wins, the target is moved back one metre. If desired, the attacker can advance one metre as well.

And possibly adding the following home brew Action to the list:

LUNGE
Type: Half Action
Subtype: Attack, Movement
This action allows the active character to move one metre and make one attack at -10 WS.

Any feedback, tips or experiences on the subject would be much appreciated.

[Charmander2 6]

harlokin said:

One minor issue we've encountered is that melee appears to be a little static due to the disadvantage of moving and attacking as opposed to just standing still and counterattacking with multiple attacks. We're not sure if this is something we are doing wrong, or a quirk with the system.

There are other threads on multiple attacks and charging somewhere on the forums here (though I can't find them atm).  You're right, there is a bit of an issue here.  I haven't found it to be too much of a problem in my games though- essentially the player has to choose if they want to strike first or wait for the enemy and strike with a flurry of blows.  The other thing is there are some talents and such that the melee specialist can pick up that give them bonuses to charging.

Some people have modified charge or added talents to allow potentially more than one attack on the action.

harlokin said:

CHARGE
If the charge hits make an opposed Strength Test. If the attacker wins, the target is moved back one metre. If desired, the attacker can advance one metre as well.

It's an interesting idea, I'm curious to see what your goal here is, what your motivation to making the alteration would be.  My next comments are based on integration with the existing rules: does the additional move count as part of your base move or is it an extra move that just kind of happens?  What happens if you have things like a jump pack?  Also, at what range are they considered engaged in hand to hand combat when using this action, and does this potentially knock people out of hand to hand engagements? 

harlokin said:

LUNGE
Type: Half Action
Subtype: Attack, Movement
This action allows the active character to move one metre and make one attack at -10 WS.

Not sure this will get you what your looking for (what are you looking for?)  In the RAW, you can already take a half move and attack in the same turn.  The problem I see with this and the integration with RAW is that the Attack action would likely count as your standard attack, meaning on your other half action you'd get no attacks.  It seems like you'd be better off making a standard move and attacking, then you'd not be at -10 to hit and you'd get to move more than 1m.

If you're looking for ways to get into melee and get the advantage of attacks in that same turn (so as not to die when charging a genestealer or the like), maybe come up with a stun action or the like that combines with a charget- so you make your charge and try to push the target back with opposed strength or what not, and this puts them off balance in such a way that you've interrupted their multiple attacks for that round, reducing their attacks to one for the turn.

[harlokin 0]

Thanks very much for the response Charmander.

What we were trying to do with the Charge modification is to avoid the scenario of the charger immediately facing multiple attacks from his target. The idea was that the extra metre would be part of the base move, but if the attacker chose not to follow up the target would have to move on its turn to be in melee range. We presumed that’s pretty much how the Manoeuvre Action works (unless we have that horribly wrong).

With the Lunge thing, we were looking for a short Move plus Attack as a Half action, that could then be used in combination with other Actions such as Manoeuvre, to inject a bit of variety in melee exchanges. The fact that it would need to be of the Attack Action subtype would seem to restrict those options though.
 

 

 

[Charmander2 6]

Found it, AK's 'what is broken in deathwatch' thread:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=179&efcid=3&efidt=429203&efpag=0#429465

I wouldn't call it broken under most circumstances, but charge definitely looks bad when facing some of the tyranid baddies with their scything talons.  Some of the ideas in the thread might make some sense to add

[harlokin 0]

Thanks for that, I'll have a read of the thread.

[Siranui 2]

 Combat is only static if the GM wants it to be.

There is no reason that characters can't full attack and be moving around each other, swatting aside furniture, and generally brawling. It's just down to the flavour. You don't need to put in special moves or talents to liven things up... you just need to actually liven things up!

[BrotharTearer 21]

Furious Charge can be used to great effect to counter the dangers with charging and multiple attacks. But you need Oath of Glory for that, so it's a little restrictive. There's other tips and tricks in that thread posted before if I remember correctly.

[HappyDaze 10,108]

The simple solution to the Charge issue might be to have the target of the Charge losing a Half Action on his next Round.  This effect is not cumulative no matter how many people charge the same target.