WFB3 Part Water Spell

Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition
MichaelStockin

MichaelStockin

Lord
With regards to the above, was there any official ruling on what happens when troops are caught in the water when Part Water is dispelled?
 
don't know if it was anything official but as it targets the water (to cast the spell) I would guess Dispelling it would put the water back as gently more then catching the troops in a wave of water.
 
I don't think anything official that I recall. If the water was impassable I would suggest that they drown or give them an inverse armour save (ie need to fail their armour save to survive). I guess something like a giant would be OK, or if something can fly, basically the attitude would have been let the GM decide.
 
Great question!

I don't find any official ruling about it, but what Jon says sounds good - a reverse Armour Save roll.

Anyway, as DM I was thinking a Resistance roll for each model caught in the returning waves, but then I read the reverse Armour roll and it make all the sense. Maybe a Resistance roll modified by -1 for each "Armour point" (shields doesn't count) - for example, light armour -1, heavy armour -2, so a model with R3 and light armour has to roll 1 or 2 in 1D6 to survive.
 
I think this is a classic example of why a GM is needed.
There are many variables.

Is the water flowing like a river and likely to carry you away, of still like a pond?
Is the water deep enough to cover your head?
Are the models close enough to the bank/shore to make a mad dash to get out just in time or are they in the middle.
Are the models ogres, halflings, men or undead.
Undead don't care about drowning, so unless carried away by flowing water they will be fine?

So many things to make a blanket ruling unfair/unrealistic.

I think my rough base for tests:

For a river that does not cover the heads.
Each model caught must roll under their STR on a d10 or be lost.
Ogres and trolls add +1, giants do not need to roll.
If you pass, move at 25% of normal. Must roll each turn though to keep beating the current.

For water that does cover the heads.
Tough poop, they are lost.
You should know better, you deserve it.


For a lake/pond that does not cover the heads.
Each model caught must roll under their STR on a d10 or be lost.
Ogres and trolls add +1, giants do not need to roll.
If you pass, move at 25% of normal.

*Undead treat all tests as not covering their heads.

I think this will be my starting ruling, I will ponder upon it more.
 
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We had this same situation come up the other night and arrived at a slightly different resolution (after about 5 mins mulling it at the time and then some post game tweaking) - D10 check per model against (higher of) S/T plus (higher of) M/I, minus armour pips. More than this, target takes that many wounds. Stuck a rule of 1 and 10 on it and seems to work okay, although it's arguably not great for cavalry due to the M element, although heavy cav are going to pay a penalty for all those armour pips.

Also put in a post-match option to run for the FAR bank with an additional distance in inches penalty if someone wanted to chance their luck :)
 
Never thought about the undead angle, but that's probably in the ball park of the old 'how do arrows kill skellymen' debate, and it's not like they have a 'no breathing' pass for rivers as terrain features normally, so this is a rare time I personally would not be inclined to overthink it, and stick them with the same check.
 
Actually posting this has me thinking now - whether to go 'higher of' or 'lower of' was a point of debate after the game. Thinking at the time was that lower is too punishing (unarmoured, Dwarf drops from 70% pass to 50%, Orc 80% to 50% etc), but maybe make it dispelling wizards choice to go high / low - thematically you'd hope a friendly wizard would leave it as late as possible / drop it more 'gently', whereas an opponent would cheerfully let it go smashing back full force..

Yeah, I'm adding that now :)
 
ugh.. don't talk about fantasy skeletons.. okay.. I was just typing a ramble but.. this isn't really the thread for that... I think I can do it better justice someplace else ^_^
 
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