WFB3: Characters vs units

[Dreamfish]

Recently played another game with some friends and with it some questions.

The 3rd edition combat rules are all about units and when single characters fights a unit, things become blury fast. Maybe the answers are simple and obvious, I'm still wondering how you guys handle the situations mentioned below:

We used the following house rule.

Excess Casualties
Because there is nothing mentioned about this in the rulebook, all excess casualties are considered lost. We refer to the “kill only what you can touch” rule. Follow the following rules when in combat:

• Declare which models strike at which enemy models. When having multiple attacks, make sure to declare how these are divided among the models it can attack.
• Multiple wounds on a single model only increase the chance of killing it. Failing to save both wounds only kills one model.

Situation #1
Officially rank bonus only counts when 4 or more troopers are in contact. When fighting single characters rank bonus often ends up being useless. Should rank bonus count when fighting characters?

Situation #2
An unit has to make a rout test when it has lost 25% of its original numerical strength and just lost a round of combat. Do characters have to make a rout test when losing a round of combat?

Situation #3
The above mentioned house rule prevents characters from wading through an unit. Characters have a higher change of killing his opponents, but is still faced with overwhelming odds when fighting an unit single-handedly. This usually results in the character losing every round of combat while still managing to survive. If characters make rout tests just like units do (situation #2), and the character eventually does rout (failing Ld test). Does it cause a panic test to surrounding units/characters within 12" just like when an unit routs?

Situation #4
Do characters have to make a panic test when a unit routs within 12"?

 

[Moe]

Regarding Excess Casualties, WD 131 had a FAQ that indicated a Hero can kill more models than he is in contact with(if in contact with 2 models and kills 3, he kills 3 models). With that being said I certainly would have no issues using your Excess casualties house rule.

Situation 1: I'm not a big fan of the rank rules as written, I think a unit should still get rank bonus even if it doesn't have 4 models in contact, against characters or just small units. Also the current rule means if units wind up "clipping" no rank bonus applies, which I don't like.

Situation 2: Based on what I see in the rules, no rout test, however maybe a good house rule would be if he has lost 25%+ of his starting wounds he must test? Otherwise single characters could be holding up units all game.

Situation 3 and 4: I don't think anything in the rules prevents single characters from causing panic tests, or taking them themselves if caused by other units. I did like some additions from later additions that had criteria that a unit had to be a certain size or outnumber to cause panic tests...but those are not present in 3rd.

As a side note regarding panic tests from units routing from combat, do you think units wiped out to a man in combat should also cause panic tests to friends within 12?

 

[Dreamfish]

Regarding Excess Casualties, WD 131 had a FAQ that indicated a Hero can kill more models than he is in contact with(if in contact with 2 models and kills 3, he kills 3 models). With that being said I certainly would have no issues using your Excess casualties house rule.

I'm aware of the FAQ, it's personal preference, hence the house rule.

Situation 1: I'm not a big fan of the rank rules as written, I think a unit should still get rank bonus even if it doesn't have 4 models in contact, against characters or just small units. Also the current rule means if units wind up "clipping" no rank bonus applies, which I don't like.

I agree, I usually only use the min. 4 models wide restriction to apply rank bonus.

Situation 2: Based on what I see in the rules, no rout test, however maybe a good house rule would be if he has lost 25%+ of his starting wounds he must test? Otherwise single characters could be holding up units all game.

Right, in that case I like to keep it simple and let them make the test, just like units.

Situation 3 and 4: I don't think anything in the rules prevents single characters from causing panic tests, or taking them themselves if caused by other units. I did like some additions from later additions that had criteria that a unit had to be a certain size or outnumber to cause panic tests...but those are not present in 3rd.

There's actually a rule for small panicking units. Although the bonus is almost practically never applied as it rarely happens for a unit to be four times bigger, unless you consider character models.

If a friendly unit within 12” routs from combat. Measurement is made before rout. If the testing unit has four times as many models as the routing unit, the test is made with a Cl bonus of +1.

As a side note regarding panic tests from units routing from combat, do you think units wiped out to a man in combat should also cause panic tests to friends within 12?

Well as I see it. The sudden realisation of the unit being destroyed could cause panic. The Cl bonus mentioned above could compensate the one man standing, although I find the bonus meager. Maybe a +1 bonus for each mutiple of four times? So, an unit of 4 models would get +1 Cl against 1 man standing and an unit of 8 would get +2 Cl against 1 man standing etc.

 

[jon_1066]

This thread reminds me why I play Dragon Rampant these days instead!