You're dead. But you get to choose HOW.

[Lance D. Allen]

I was playing with the Combat simulator today on lunch because I could not get online, and I was doing my damnedest to defeat a Gol Captain one on one, and I realized that it's just about hopeless. So it came to my mind... What if this weren't just a simulation?

So you're going to die. Somehow or other, circumstances have pitted you one on one against a Gol Captain. Running isn't an option because if you do, the Gol will simply cut you down. There is no terrain to take advantage of. There will be no reinforcements.. And you're a beginning level character.

You're going to die. But you can, if you play it right, hurt than sonofabitch before you do. You might even take him with you. You might, if you're damned lucky and smart, kill him first. So how would you do it?

[Stephen]

Taking a page from the combat example in the book:

I would throw down white, taunting the Gol until I could provoke him to attack.  Then I would use Full Evasion each time with my full combat pool, breaking off each Round before it could go to the second exchange and gaining a yard or two distance as the Combat Pools refresh.  Repeat as necessary until one of two things happen:

1)  I get to someplace where I can make the terrain work for me, or another opportunity opens up.

2)  The Gol overcommits his CP dice on attack.  I then throw in as many SAs as I can justify to boost my CP ("It's not my Destiny to die alone in this pass!", "My Drive to save my land will guard me!", "My Faith in Xanar will protect me!", whatever the Seneschal lets me get away with).  Using the boosted CP, I Duck and Weave and use the dice I've got left to get home whatever wounds I can in whatever unarmoured areas I can.  Ideally hamstring the bastard.

Since no one blow is probably going to hurt a Gol Captain all that much, I then throw white in the following Round and go Full Evasion again to get clear, then repeat the whole sequence as necessary.  If there's one thing TROS combat teaches you, it's that all you need is one hit to shift the odds drastically.

[Brian Leybourne]

Sounds like a challenge to me. Which character were you using to fight the Gol Captain? First person who posts a battle report (exported from the combat sim) where that character beats an unmodified Gol Captain who was fighting intelligently gets... I don't know... a pat on the back or something :-)

And for the record, I would drop my weapon and pull a dagger and evade until he undercommitted in an attack, then throw almost everything into a duck & weave to get in close. Given that he has a long spear, that gives him a 5 die penalty to all attacks and defenses. I don't have to hurt him, as long as I can keep doing zero level wounds I keep initiative, and eventually I may get in some wounding strikes. Best possibility for success I can come up with. :-)

Brian.

[Jake Norwood]

I'd throw my weapon at him, then bum-rush him.

Heh-heh...

Jake

[Mokkurkalfe]

How about this one.

Geralt has 11 dice, a lot of luck, chain on the chest, leather on the arms and legs, a bastard sword and not much else.
The gol captain really doesn't have time to act intelligently here.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Geralt opts for a Defensive stance

Gol Captain opts for an Aggressive stance

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Gol Captain rushes in to attack, while Geralt tries to hold him off...

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At the start of the round, we refresh both combat pools


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First engagement...

Gol Captain gains +2CP for his aggressive stance
Gol Captain thrusts at Geralt's belly with 12 dice...

Geralt gains +2CP for his defensive stance
Geralt attempts to counter Gol Captain's attack with 11 dice...
(TN 7) 5, 1, 2, 6, 4, 8, 7, 15, 8, 9, 3, 7  - Result: 6
(TN 6) 13, 1, 9, 5, 7, 5, 6, 8, 2, 7, 9  - Result: 7

Gol Captain rolls and gets 6 successes.
Geralt rolls and gets 7 successes.

Geralt successfully counters the attack, and gains 6 dice on his next attack.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Second engagement...
Geralt gains 6 dice for his counter attack...
Geralt must pay an additional 2 dice to attack because he's out of range.
It's a slash at Gol Captain's body (downward vertical). How many dice do you wish to assign?
Geralt assigns 6 dice to the counter attack.
Gol Captain tries to do a partial evasion with 6 dice...
(TN 6) 6, 6, 6, 1, 2, 17  - Result: 4
(TN 7) 3, 5, 5, 4, 3, 5  - Result: 0

Geralt rolls and gets 4 successes.
Gol Captain rolls and gets 0 successes.

---------------------------------------
Attack successes: 4
Strength: 6
Weapon Damage: 1
---------------------------------------
Toughness: 7
Armor: 0
---------------------------------------

Geralt hits Gol Captain with a total damage rating of 4... (Skull is shattered)

Gol Captain loses the rest of his combat pool due to shock!
(TN 7)  - Result: 0

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Combat over!

I got the battle report file, but how do I post it here?

[Brian Leybourne]

That *is* the battle report file :-)

Nicely done, although I notice that Geralt's strength mysteriously increased :-) Just goes to show how vastly powerful Counters can be. Most other maneuvers give you the difference between attack and defense successes (which would have been 1 - useless- in this case) but Counter is great the more successes the attacker gets, as long as you can beat that number in defense.

Brian.

[Mokkurkalfe]

That *is* the battle report file :-)

Nicely done, although I notice that Geralt's strength mysteriously increased :-) Just goes to show how vastly powerful Counters can be. Most other maneuvers give you the difference between attack and defense successes (which would have been 1 - useless- in this case) but Counter is great the more successes the attacker gets, as long as you can beat that number in defense.

Brian.

Indeed, I raised the strength and the CP with 1(his normal CP is 10). OTOH, it's nothing impossibly for a new character, if combat oriented. And who would face a gol Captain if *not* combat oriented?

[Lance D. Allen]

Good show..

I was screwing around with Max Steele, and it just goes to show that while armor is good, it drastically slows a guy.

Hey Jake, is it feasible to have a defensive stance which holds all through combat for shieldmen where they lose CP, but they can use the shield's armor factor to defend their head as well? That's something I noted is that in most cases the only way the Gol was able to injure Max was a thrust to the head, yet when I try this in melee (where shieldmen are on total defensive) It's nearly impossible because they're not trying to attack, only to defend. Not generally a good tactic for one on one, but effective in melees, where you can count on your spearmen to kill your opponents for you.

[Mike Holmes]

Indeed, I raised the strength and the CP with 1(his normal CP is 10). OTOH, it's nothing impossibly for a new character, if combat oriented. And how would face a gol Captain if *not* combat oriented?

Dude, you're like Kirk with the Kobayashi Maru!!

Mike

[Psychopompous]

I was playing with the Combat simulator today on lunch because I could not get online, and I was doing my damnedest to defeat a Gol Captain one on one, and I realized that it's just about hopeless. So it came to my mind... What if this weren't just a simulation?

So you're going to die. Somehow or other, circumstances have pitted you one on one against a Gol Captain. Running isn't an option because if you do, the Gol will simply cut you down. There is no terrain to take advantage of. There will be no reinforcements.. And you're a beginning level character.

You're going to die. But you can, if you play it right, hurt than sonofabitch before you do. You might even take him with you. You might, if you're damned lucky and smart, kill him first. So how would you do it?

Well, I start by making my character...
This character is human (duh!)
And a high freeman (I need gear, don't I?)
I get B on attributes and lay them out like so:
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Toughness: 7
Endurance: 4
Health: 4
Willpower: 3
Wit: 6
Mental Aptitude: 2
Social: 2
Perception: 3
I get E in skills because they're not that important for a combat monster, choosing Knight and Soldier packets (which really doesn't matter)
My A goes into proficiencies so that I can get:
Greatsword: 8
Lance: 6
Then my D lands in Gifts/flaws, so I can get Accuracy (minor) at the expense of Ugly (minor)
Now I choose a Region: Stahl (who could've guessed?), giving me +1 toughness (for a total of 8), -1 social (for a total of 1), and an extra point for proficies (jake can I drop that into Greatsword for a total of 9, or not?) which I drop into Lance.
Then I buy the following important pieces of gear:
Horse, Charger
Chainmail (fine *5, to reduce CP loss by 1)
Lance, Heavy (fine *5, for -1 ATN)
Chainmail Coif
Pot Helm
Bastard Sword
plus assorted miscelanious useful items, such as a travel pack and clothes

I start by making a lance charge with 17 dice... Hehe :)
What happens from there depends on what weapon the Gol Captain is using, notably if it's a pike I don't bother with the lance charge.
 
Oh, and just for fun... I could make up some SAs that particularly apply to Gol-slaying >:)

Now normally I wouldn't make a combat monster like this, but... I thought it suited the scenario...

[spunky]

In a situation where your character is completely outclassed in combat, you can always burn one permanent Luck to survive.  No doubt, this will take some humiliating form (falling off a castle wall to land in a gong pit), amusing for the GM and your fellow players, and will result in the cruellest of nicknames, especially if the rest of your troupe are Vikings.

But considering how lethal combat is in TROS, it's something to keep in mind, especially for non-combat oriented characters.