Re: (TFT) New TFT Talent: Shield Wall.

[raito@raito.com]

Hi Rick,

You have a good concern about the hex grain, but I don't think it makes a
difference in this case. You may want to define overlapping better. 'front
hex of the man beside you' probably isn't specific enough. I probably
didn't write as good a description of my version as I could have.

The figure receiving the bonus has to be adjacent to the figures giving
the bonus, and a front hex of the figure getting the bonus must be a front
hex of the figure giving the bonus. A maximum of 2 figures can give a
bonus to any figure.

If you don't make the figures be adjacent, then you can end up with
figures spaced apart getting bonuses.

Note that I don't require the figures to face the same direction. You can
form a defensive circle using my version. But if you have 2 figures back
to back, they won't get a bonus (their front hexes don't overlap).

As far as maximum bonus goes, I used the value of the shield. In a more
complex world, I'd have the figures giving the bonus only get their
shield's value, and let them spread it out over however many figures they
wished. But essentially otherwise unarmoured lines of battle with large
shields gave each figure 6 points of shield each. It also made it
practically mandatory for attackers to take someone out, whereupon the
bonuses start to shrink, and the line can be exploited (much like my SCA
experiences, and what seems to happen in such battles from the historical
accounts). Break the line ad you win. Don't, and the other guy wins.

In any case, it's nice to see that you liked it.

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com

> Hi guys,
>   I am adapting a new talent by Neil Gilmore for possible use in my
> campaign
> that I saw on the TFT mailing list and would like your thoughts.
>
>
> IQ 8		Shield Wall (1) 	co-requisite shield.
> If two figures with this talent have 'overlapping' front hexes, each may
> share
> one point of their shield's damage protection.  If you have a man on
> each
> side of you, (each with this talent), you may get a point of protection
> from each.
> 'Overlapping' in this context means if the attack comes thru a shared
> front
> hex OR if you are standing in the front hex of the man beside you who is
>
> part of the shield wall.
>
>
> Some thoughts of my own.
> -- Currently this protects only one hit per shield.  A more powerful
> (realistic?)
> version would protect you the amount of the size of the shield (everyone
> must
> carry the same shield size).   So if your shield wall had everyone
> carrying
> large shields, the man in the middle would get –4 damage from attacks
> thru
> the front.
>
> -- I think that most traditional shield walls (Roman, Greek, English
> around 1044),
> etc. all used large shields.  This would suggest that either the shield
> has to be
> at least that large to work, or the bonus is equal to the size of the
> shield (so there
> is a strong incentive to got to larger shields.)
>
> -- The careful definition of overlapping is so shield walls can be built
> along
> alternate hex grains and so we don't have some people in the wall having
>
> more protection than others in the same wall.  Basically this is so
> shield walls
> are not dominated by the hex grid.  This rule does mean that the wall
> can
> curve gently.  However, everyone ends up having to face the same way,
> you
> can't make a shield wall out of six figures radiating out from a central
> hex. (Or
> rather you can, but the wall is only half as effective and a everyone
> has one
> side hex exposed.)
>
> -- In my campaign prerequisites are like spells, which grant you the
> lower level
> spell at no memory cost.  Co-requisites are like talents where you have
> to pay
> memory for the lower level talent.
>
> -- I have agis shields in my campaign (which stop 3 hits) and tower
> shields
> (which stop more, depending on size).  This is why I am nervous about
> Neil's
> original rule that adds the full value of the shield to both sides.  Do
> we want to
> put a maximum of –2 hits taken in these rules to prevent shield walls
> from being
> dominated by huge shields?
>
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>


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