Riposting a mounted charge

[Sigurth]

This came up in game tonight:

Knight (pc) charges down a footman with lance at the front. I declare that the footman performs a riposte. The footman wins and steals the knight's attack dice giving him a nasty gash to the thigh (thank goodness for armor!)

Is this possible in the games-mechanics sense? Visually, does  the "riposte" in this case represent more of a side-step and hack, using mostly the horse's momentum to nearly hack off the knight's thigh.

Thanks in advance,

Sigurth

[Ingenious]

You could view this as many things, either a counter, an evasive attack, etc. It could mean a side-step and hack.. with or without using the horses momentum in the equation..

Actually in the book it describes counters, 'sometimes called a riposte'..
So yea it makes sense in game terms, but I do not know if the horse should be considered.. moreover if the character doing the riposte/counter/whatever swung.... that is even more realistic.
The counter table on page 64 might not be exactly what might have happened as the guy WAS on horseback so a thrust to the face or a pommel strike would not be possible... or a grapple, or a disarm... etc.

-Ingenious

[Overdrive]

I'm sure Brian has thought of this alot, since he wrote the rules on mounted combat in OBAM (IIRC). My thoughts:

The round lasts one or two exchanges, depending on the speed, skill, etc. Then the horseman is out of reach of the footman. Resolve normally. Both throw red/white. If the horseman thinks the footman's lance is intimidating, he might throw white; if the footman thinks he should dive for cover instead of getting runned through, he might throw white.

A question arises if both throw red. Should the footman with a much longer weapon get the initiative? Depends. The horseman could concievably use 'beat' maneuver and strike his weapon out of the way, and kill him on the second exchange. But if the footman aims at the horse... then I guess he should get the initiative. What could the rider do in such a situation, other than plead on the 'nobody should harm the horses' -rule?

Another point I was thinking is that a huge trained warhorse could just bash through men, strinking them aside (perhaps with broken limbs or whatever). How would this be handled? The rider gets a swing at one opponent, and the horse gets to attack the others? Should there be a CP bonus of some sort, since the horse's attack comes out of the riders combat pool? (I was figuring that a group of cavalry charging some peasants or mercenaries might inflict the most casualties by knocking the men down with their horses, and the following riders trample the downed men..? This requires trained horses, somewhere I read that horses are quite sensitive of their footing.)

[Sigurth]

oops! I see that there is a miscommunication. my bad!

The knight has the lance and the footman has a falchion.

[Brian Leybourne]

If the knight is riding down his opponent, then he can make the round a single exchange if he chooses to (as overdrive said). Therefore, since a riposte requires a block and then the counter-attack (2 exchanges), by the time the counter-attack is coming the horseman has already gone by. That's the advantage of being on a horse at charge.

So basically, to try and hurt someone charging you down, you have to be prepared to attack while being attacked, and hope for the best. I suggest Sim B/S or Evasive Attack, and I highly recommend going for the horses legs to bring the knight down. Just go heavy on the defense portion - a charging lanceman will most likely kill you if he hits you.

edit: Timing? For the sake of ease I would use the standard initiative rules, but if you wanted to be more realistic, then in a charging attack like this I would probably rule that the guy with the longer reach attacks first, since it's more a matter of whose weapon is longer than who can swing it faster when both targets are moving relative to the other.

Brian.

[Sigurth]

What's "Sim B/S"?

Making a charge a single exchange? Maybe a terrain roll incorporating a Ride skill or the horses' ability to manuever?

[Lxndr]

Simultaneous Block/Strike.

[Brian Leybourne]

Sigurth, it's in OBAM, the first TROS suppliment.

But essentially, yeah, it's a Ride skill roll.

Brian.

[Sigurth]

Sigurth, it's in OBAM, the first TROS suppliment.

But essentially, yeah, it's a Ride skill roll.

Brian.

Yup! used it in our first session. Mounted combat blows enemies up!

[Brian Leybourne]

Yup! used it in our first session. Mounted combat blows enemies up!

Only honorable ones who wont attack the horse. I allow an Evasive Strike to mean that you're ducking away from the riders attack and attacking the horses legs. Given that the horses TO is shitty to his legs, and the best horse leg armor is AV3, they usually lose a leg with one good swing. That leaves the rider in some serious trouble (not to mention the horse).

Brian.

[Ingenious]

Yup, mounted combat did happen in the TROS session I particpated in on Saturday.. sadly my old character with all of his godly horsemanship and talent was out of my hands by the time it came time to use him. It was brutal.. even with someone whose riding ability was DEFAULT(13)... it was easy for him to trample people and stop mud-holes in them...

But my new character is much more fun.. so I don't mind. Plus it was amusing to see all of the guys reactions to how awesome mounted combat is.. something I realized since the first time I looked at the book.
But then charging and such might be more limited to lances, some might say... rather than allowing a completely unskilled rider to charge in on exchange.. use his full combat pool in his attack.. and then ride off so not to be attacked..
But the issue of attacking the horse solves that problem if it becomes too common.. also a spear or weapon longer than the rider's might hit the rider before the rider hits the guy on the ground...

*shrug*
-Ingenious
Everyone seems to ignore e-mail these days....

[Bob Richter]

You think mounted combat is scary?

Try ranged combat.

Good Longbow'll have 'em dead to rights in seconds.