(TFT) Rick's HTH Rules

[Pasha and or Rick Smith <pnrsmith@istar.ca>]

Hi Everyone,
	These are my rules for HTH.


HAND TO HAND COMBAT
There are 5 situations where you are allowed to move into an enemies' hex:
A figure may move ONTO an enemy figure's hex, initiating HTH combat, if (a) the enemy has his back to the wall, or is prone, kneeling, or knocked down;  OR (b) the enemy has a lower MA;  OR (c) the attacker comes from the enemies' side or rear hexes;  OR (d) the enemy agrees to HTH combat,  OR (e) you are making a wild dive for the enemies' legs (you may not dive for the enemies' legs if the enemies' MA is twice your MA or higher).  Initiating HTH is considered an attack (thus, you may not enter HTH and then disengage from HTH in the same turn).

Attempting to Enter HTH Combat. 
To enter HTH, you move adjacent to the figure you wish to go into HTH with and stop, (or if engaged) shift or stand still.  When movement is over, you wait until it is your turn to attack.  
Note that a figure may disengage from other figures by going into HTH. (If you are surrounded by foes, often the best thing to do is jump one of them.) The foes that you disengage from, will get a chance to strike at you as you disengage and enter HTH, just as if you had disengaged normally (see DISENGAGING page 19). If a figure you are disengaging from hits and knocks you down, you will fall down in the defender's hex, but the defender will also fall (you're in HTH so he has dropped his weapons and fallen, but as you entered HTH you were cut down by his friends.)
EXCEPTION:  If you are allowed to enter HTH because you are diving at the enemies' legs, you do not enter HTH during the normal attack phase. Instead HTH is joined at the end of the Movement phase (after all last minute twists) and no figures may try to hit you as you disengage from them.  The enemy rolls 1 die to see if entering HTH is successful at the time HTH occurs (this is described at the top of the next page) and 1 is added to this roll.

If the attacker had a knife ready, he may use it in HTH combat. Otherwise he drops his weapons (and shields) in the adjacent hex that he entered HTH from.
One Die HTH Roll. The defender will roll 1 die to see if the attacker successfully enters HTH.

If the defender rolls a 1 or 2,  the attacker enters HTH and the defender drops all weapons & shields (but not his knife if one is ready) and falls down. 
If the defender rolls a 3 or 4,  the attacker enters HTH and the defender drops all weapons and shields (unless his ready weapon was a knife), but has time to ready his knife if he has one.
If the defender rolls a 5,  the defender does not drop his weapons and the attacker immediately backs up to the hex from which he entered the defender's hex. HTH does not take place. The attacker has lost his option.
If the defender rolls a 6 or higher,  the defender does not drop his weapon and AUTOMATICALLY gets a hit on the attacker (even if the defender has already attacked this turn!) The attacker must retreat one hex as above. HTH combat does not take place.  If the attacker jumped the defender from the side or rear hexes, ignore a 6 result and roll again. 

If the attacker is trying to enter HTH by diving at the defender's legs, use the above system, but the defender ADDS ONE to the roll. Also if a 5, 6 or 7 is rolled, the attacker is knocked back into the hex adjacent to the defender that he moved thru, and falls prone in that hex (as well as being automatically hit if a 6 or 7 was rolled).

If the attacker successfully enters HTH, he may then attack with his bare hands or with his knife if he had one ready. This attack is at -4 DX. The attacker may not try to disengage from HTH or try to draw his knife, that turn. The strongest figure in HTH is at a significant advantage: he or she has +2 DX for all actions in HTH (ties for strongest figure get no bonus).
Note that it is very difficult to get a good hit on someone you are grappling with, so figures in HTH never get the +4 "on the ground, rear hex" DX adjustment when striking at each other. 


Readying a Knife in HTH. A figure in HTH combat may try to draw & ready his knife (if he has one) by picking option (t). The figure must roll 3 dice and get equal to or under his DX. Some very large knives (dirks and poniards) give negative DX adjustments in HTH. These modifiers make it harder to draw a dirk or poniard in HTH (as well as making them harder to use once drawn). Note that knives have two damages, regular combat (used when throwing them or striking at adjacent figures) and their HTH damage (used when attacking in HTH). 


Disengaging From HTH Combat. A figure in HTH may not automatically disengage, but must pick option (u). During the movement phase it does not move (since it is in HTH). During the attack phase, it does not attack but rolls 4 dice verses its adjDX. If this roll is successful he disengages from HTH.  Since the enemies have been trying to hold him down in HTH (this is why the 4 die roll was so tough), they do not get to strike at the disengaging figure if they have not taken their action yet. If the enemy wishes to release the figure, no roll is required, the figure just stands up in an adjacent hex.


UNARMED COMBAT
A figure with no weapon ready may attack with his bare hands.  This does damage according to the figure's ST:

Figure's ST	Unarmed Damage    (Fist or Kicking)
  0 to   3		  1d-5
  4 to   7		  1d-4
  8 to 11		  1d-3
12 to 15		  1d-2
16 to 19		  1d-1
20 to 26		  1die		(After 20 ST, the damage rises more slowly.)
27 to 32		  1d+1	  	
33 to 39		  1d+2
40 to 46		  2d		
47 to 52		  2d+1	   	etc. (Follow the pattern from 20 ST to 40 ST.)

In HTH combat all fighters do +1 damage. So a 11 ST fighter would do 1d-2 in HTH. Note that some weapons do damage based on the fist damage:
    A one handed club does Fist damage +2
    A two handed club does Fist damage +4
    A thrown rock does Fist damage if it hits.


New Talents for HTH:

IQ 7
DIVE BLOCK (0.5) When someone tries to engage you in HTH by diving at your legs, you add one to the 1 die roll to see if they get into HTH. (Remember you already have a +1 modifier to this roll.)


IQ 9
DIVE BLOCK 2 (0.5) coreq. Dive Block and a DX of 13+. When someone tries to engage you in HTH by diving at your legs, you add two to the 1 die roll to see if they get into HTH. (You add a total of four including the bonus from Dive Block & the bonus for the figure diving at your legs.) 


IQ 12
JUDO (2) coreq UC1.  Any time you try to engage someone in HTH that person must subtract 1 from his HTH roll ( the one die roll to  see if you get into HTH or not, and whether he draws a dagger or not ). Anytime someone tries to jump you in HTH you may add +1 to  your HTH roll.  If the modified result is a 6+ you get an automatic attack. If it is a 7+ and you are unarmed you may throw who ever tried to jump you into an adjacent hex and do +3 damage. Exception: If the figure that is trying to jump you in HTH is so large that you can not engage it  unassisted, then you may not throw the figure. 
  If an enemy figure is stronger than you he or she does not get the +1 DX bonus for being the strongest figure in HTH, because of this talent.
  You get a 1 die bonus in contests for any and all Pins and Take Downs. 


IQ 14
JUDO 2  (2) coreq Judo,  DX 14+ and UC2.  This gives you a 1 die bonus for any take down contest.  You get a 1 die bonus on all pins.  You may add or subtract one point (your choice) when entering HTH or seeing if someone gets you in HTH, and if you throw them you do +5 instead of +3 fist damage.  Your enemy gets no bonus for ST in pins in HTH.  
    Lastly when prone people with this talent can crawl 3 hexes.  They may defend against unarmed attacks while on the ground, and may attack unarmed at -3 DX while prone if they move 0 hexes.

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