(TFT) Melee and Heroscape - House Rules --> Rick's comments

[Rick Smith <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>]

Hi David, Dan, everyone.
   My apologies for not commenting earlier on this.
I've been just too busy.  I am feeling sick today 
and have stayed home, and thus had a chance to catch
up on your posts.

  Over all, very nice rules!

  I will comment on individual sections below:


> Determining who can Attack who: ... 
> Prone Figures: ... 
> Height Advantage (Disadvantage): ... 

  I like Dan's comments about measuring from 
shoulder height to find who can reach whom to hit.

> Jumping or Falling Down: ...
> If you jump, fall or are knocked down more than your Height (up to and  
> including double your Height) then you must....

  These rules make large (or at least tall) creatures
better able to fall long distances.  This generally
is wrong.  Tiny creatures can survive great falls, (a
mouse's terminal velocity is so low it can survive a
fall of in infinite distance for example) where as an
elephant would have broken bones if it fell a half 
meter.

  I certainly would not expect a giraffe to be able
to fall 7 meters (or 14 meters if it makes a 3vsDX) 
with out harm.

> Side View Example:
> Here are some examples of movement and attack eligibility. The boxes  
> represent hex tiles as seen from the side.

  This section would make more sense if it was located
with the rules it uses rather than at the end of the
section.

> 
> Stumble Rule: ...
  I would argue that creatures with more limbs are much
less likely to stumble.  A dog or cat is more sure 
footed than a human (especially if the human's hands are
full).  A dragon (which can shift its balance with a 
long tail or beat its wings is more surefooted than a
dog or cat).  I generally make critters with 4 or more
legs immune to ordinary stumbles and the like.
  

> Multi Hex Figures and Hex Tiles:
  Of course a 7 (or 14 or 30) hex dragon can be put on
a variety of different heights.  Let us say that a 30
hex dragon is attacking a company of mercenaries.  Its
head is above them, its shoulders are above its head.
Its belly is on the other side of the small hill.  Its
legs are at the bottom of the hill.  Its rearmost part
of its body and tail are going up a steep slope into
a tunnel (its lair).  This does not sound at all 
unlikely to me.

  I have created a 30 hex Dragon counter and run a
battle where the rear part of the dragon could not be
fired at because of such a hill.

  Now you have to compromise because you want your 
miniatures to remain level.  But I do not think that 
this should be put into the rules.  Perhaps some of us 
are using paper maps.  Or some of us have bought a copy 
of Heroscape but don't mind a miniature being tilted
because one leg is higher than another.

  The optional rule for this is much better.



> Missile Fire:
> I gave up Mega Hexes a long time ago. Since a Mega Hex is 3 hexes  
> across I simply measure missile weapon range in increments of 6 hexes
> ... Range String ...

  Very elegant solution to the trigonometry and line of
sight.

  I rather like Megahexes.  Let us say that the enemy is 
a long ways away.  I put my thumb and fore finger 2 Mhex
apart and move them over the map counting 0, 1, 2, 3, 4.  
"Ok, you're -4 DX to hit the Harpy."  You would have to
count up to 33 then subtract 6 and divide by 6 (round 
down) to do this using single hexes.  (Likely why you 
invented your string measurement system.)

  On a minor note, the statement that a megahex is only
6 hexes wide is only approximate as the hexes are 
skewed and packed.  I measured the center from one Mhex 
to another center 2 Mhex away.  When straightened and 
placed along a hex grain it was pretty close to 5.33
hexes long.  Of course, the rule that -1 DX on missile
weapons is caused by 6 hexes distance is perfectly
usable, especially for short distances.


  There have been discussions on Mhex vs. No Mhex before.
I suspect that those who like the Mega hexes tend to do
large battles with long ranges (which saves much counting).  
Those that prefer not to use them have short ranged battles
where the Mhex grid will some times mean that a person 6
hexes away is at -1 DX and sometimes someone at 7 hexes 
away is at -0 DX.

  I like speed, and the times the range strangeness helps 
the players is balanced by the times it hurts them so I am 
less bothered by this problem than having to count long 
sequences of hexagons.

> Additional Thoughts: ...
Shield Rushes.  Shoving a guy off his feet (or at least
off balance) was a very important tactic in real fights
but not handled that well by TFT.  I would give a 
significant advantage to the person doing a shield rush
that has a height advantage do to size or terrain. (+4
ST to taller figure perhaps?)

  Warm regards,
  Rick
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