Spoiler?

[Aaron]

Any chance or a spoiler on the pack animal rules?
I was almost embarresed when I set a couple of war dogs on my guys.  Looking at their stats they seemed pretty reasonable but when it cam down to the actual fight I found they had a base damage( by base I simply mean STR + weapon modifier) of 2.  It didnt matter what they did they couldnt hurt anybody.  Wolves are even worse.
Same sort of problem with war horses but the other way.  Their base STR is so high that every attack they might do starts with heaps of damage
I realise these rules will be covered in OBAM, which I am eagerly waiting for, but as its not to be released for a couple of months yet any help now would be good.

Thanks
Aaron.

[Brian Leybourne]

I don't know how much Jake wants me to say about the animal rules at this point, so I'm going to tread softly.

A single wolf or dog against an armored knight realistically is screwed. As you get more of them, of course, pack tactics start to come into play. Pack members can use special maneuvers to wear down opponents, exhausting their CP, dragging them to the ground, worrying limbs, and so on. None of that is going to help a clawed paw get through plate steel though - that's something that's just not terribly likely.

Of course, being pretty intelligent, wolves will bring down a foe, drain his CP, keep him spinning back and forth until he doesn't know which way is up, and then go for the throat, armpits, back of the knees, and any other areas of the armor they can see some flesh through (i.e. more lightly armored).

Does that help? That's parts of a 40 page chapter in 2 paragraphs :-)

Brian.

[Valamir]

No reasonably healthy prepared adult has much risk of being killed outright by a single dog as long as you keep your composure and don't panic.  Even canine police will pursue their dogs pretty closely because they don't want their dog getting hurt if the suspect decides to try and take it out.  A big cat like a puma would be far more deadly if it decided to attack than a wolf.  But in a pack.  Good night.  Even small terrier sized dogs could rip you apart in a large enough pack.  I've seen even three dogs take a man down before being called off.  One kept him occupied lungeing at his throughr.  A second went for the back of the knees bringing the guy down as he backed away from the lunge, and the third climbed on top once he went down.  Scary stuff in groups.

[Brian Leybourne]

I've seen even three dogs take a man down before being called off.  One kept him occupied lungeing at his throughr.  A second went for the back of the knees bringing the guy down as he backed away from the lunge, and the third climbed on top once he went down.  Scary stuff in groups.

And what's really cool (if I do say so myself) is that the animal rules in OBAM will easily model the exact situation you just described. The first dog is using the "Baiting" maneuver, the second is doing a "Take Down" and the third is taking advantage of the seriously depleted CP to go in for the kill.

Brian.

[Aaron]

I don't know how much Jake wants me to say about the animal rules at this point, so I'm going to tread softly.

A single wolf or dog against an armored knight realistically is screwed. As you get more of them, of course, pack tactics start to come into play. Pack members can use special maneuvers to wear down opponents, exhausting their CP, dragging them to the ground, worrying limbs, and so on. None of that is going to help a clawed paw get through plate steel though - that's something that's just not terribly likely.

Of course, being pretty intelligent, wolves will bring down a foe, drain his CP, keep him spinning back and forth until he doesn't know which way is up, and then go for the throat, armpits, back of the knees, and any other areas of the armor they can see some flesh through (i.e. more lightly armored).

Aaron

Does that help? That's parts of a 40 page chapter in 2 paragraphs :-)

Brian.

As this was pretty much what I knew already from previous hints it doesn't really help that much..But I do appreciate the thought..What I was looking for was details so it could be used in game..From what you've told me I get the general gist and with some research could probably come up with something I was fairly happy with.  But as someone has already done that and giving us a little taster of what is to come would be pretty cool (hey the book does say visit the website for spoilers!).  
I do appreciate the fact that you have your hands tied though Brian.