A "BasementHammer" approach to rules fixes, core scenario options and expanding the game, both for Warhammer Fantasy and Mordheim.
The Objective: enrich the Core Rules with more narrative and story, and add more options for even richer games.

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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Rules patch: Cannons v8.1

What better thing to start the "rules patches" section than with trying to fix the rules for cannons.
I am well aware than I am not by far the first, nor will I be the last, to try and do this. Nevertheless, I think it should be done.


PROBLEM: Cannon shots are 100% accurate in terms of lateral accuracy (i.e. they only scatter longitudinally), which is unrealistic and in some situations (like shooting at lone infantry characters) game-breaking.
SOLUTION: When determining where a cannonball will land, after picking the spot you wish to shoot, you must scatter it with a scatter dice and a d3 if your shot is within short range, or a d6 if your shot is at long range. Only then do you roll for range with the artillery dice. All effects (benefits or penalties) that normally affect the artillery dice roll do not affect the first scatter roll.
This keeps the cannon pretty good when shooting at large things, because the scatter is not too much, but it curbs its ability to shoot at small targets. Additionally, it grants advantage to it when the cannon is shooting at point blank.

PROBLEM: When cannon shots hit ridden monsters/chariots, it always affects the rider as well.
SOLUTION: the rider only is affected by a cannonball hit on a 5+, just as for a shooting attack or a template-based attack.
This keeps the monster/chariot mount good for its points, because its death by cannon-shot does not immediately mean the death of the character (it is essentially like a 3+ Look Out Sir save). However, the cannon-shot still successfully eliminated the mount (which is worth a lot of points), fulfilling its purpose, and now the character has to scurry to safety.

Overview
Cannons are generally quite cheap for what they can perform in a game. This includes eliminating high-points monsters, but also characters as well. This has led to a metagame optimization arms-race, which disfavours monsters and characters riding them, as well as characters running outside units. As such, units which are otherwise gorgeous to collect/paint and a pride to field, become a liability in terms of list optimization.
This patch tries to address both the realism issues, as well as balance issues, by giving targets a slight advantage against the predictability of where the shot will land, as well as keeping monster mounts a reasonable choice for characters. However, it does not hamper the utility of the cannon, because the probability to hit a monster with it still remains good.
Not-too-nerfed, I hope.

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