Had a massive playtest on the weekend for the final form of the combat rules. 4 people with 13 heros each ranging from 0 to 2nd rank veterans. Combat rules worked out great, added a couple endurance points to the base endurance and cut armour by a third.
One interesting feature was that 2 different players in two different games decided to turtle up and hide in a single room and in both cases the rank 0's were able to force them out.
Everything played out as I thought it would overall though, The higher rank heroes did indeed cut swathes through the level 0's but were also severely injured in the process.
If the scenario had not been one long pitched battle they surely would have retreated to rest and recover.
High ranking Heroes did show themselves to be capable of getting in and causing a lot of damage but a long drawn out battle with no chance to rest indeed leads to dead heroes.
Rules for playing your own version of the Skirmish game will be included in the Combat issue and it was indeed the best way to teach the Combat system of Lair of Sword and sorcery to new players. In a single 1 hour session you get to learn all the basics, how well your starting heroes will fare against more powerful foes, how many common peasonts they can wipe out, and how far they can push things before they need to pull back.
Strategy and tactics in Lair involve mostly not getting surrounded while trying to gang up as many heroes on a single enemy as possible.
A high ranking enemy will of course send out his minions first saving his own strength for after they have worn down the heroes. A sure way to kill you big bad boss is to send him in early to take out the heroes minions. Those 0 rank guys can be brutal.
All in all lots of fun, and a combat system that works perfectly for the genre as well as being fast. We found the action clipped along alot faster than in most table top wargames.
Find out all about the combat rules in the upcoming "Combat issue".
~Ripley
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