1) Is the MW in the armies ever relevant except in extended combat rounds?

2) Is the armour and shield only used in extended combat rounds, hence you never roll for damage in normal Battle Rounds?

3) If the knights face a ransomable enemy in a normal Battle Round, how do they assess if the enemy can be captured for ransom? Do they roll damage to see if the enemy is down and out and then go into Extended Combat Rounds to try to capture him?

1) Is the MW in the armies ever relevant except in extended combat rounds?

2) Is the armour and shield only used in extended combat rounds, hence you never roll for damage in normal Battle Rounds?


You are correct. It really only matters in extended melee. No reason to roll for damage except when the player-knights receive damage. I think it is also there just for "flavor". It lets you know whom you are fighting.

1) Is the MW in the armies ever relevant except in extended combat rounds?

Forgive this old memory
What is MW here?


2) Is the armour and shield only used in extended combat rounds, hence you never roll for damage in normal Battle Rounds?

Ah, damage against the enemy you mean
That is correct, as the rules stand there is no reason to figure damage to the foe


3) If the knights face a ransomable enemy in a normal Battle Round, how do they assess if the enemy can be captured for ransom? Do they roll damage to see if the enemy is down and out and then go into Extended Combat Rounds to try to capture him?
There is actually no good mechanic for taking prisoners
I have jury-rigged it to say that a Critical against the foe
I am tinkering with the Battle rules these days and have made Taking Prisoner its own command for a melee round
There are some other changes that will allow this that the published rules do not currently allow
It is a flaw in the existing published system

Forgive this old memory
What is MW here?

Major wound, Greg.

I have no problem in GM fiat. I wasn't sure about rolling damage or not. I can use the extended melee rounds if the players really want to capture someone for ransom.

I can use the extended melee rounds if the players really want to capture someone for ransom.

That's pretty much what I would do, when they target someone specifically.

I have been letting some 'captures of opportunity' on a critical melee roll, too. Which works better now than it did when the weapon skills were stacked with whatever. However, I might temper that ruling with another saying that whilst impassioned, you are not thinking of taking prisoners, but doing what that passion inspired you to do: save one of your teammates or your liege, or to kill all those smelly Saxons, and so forth. So no prisoners whilst you are Impassioned, which helps to keep those criticals low.

I've been using the MW stat to see if a Ransomable opponent is unhorsed/down and then I use Take a Prisoner subrules from page 78. Basically, I require the target for ransom be down/out of the fight to be captured. So, it usually requires an extended melee to put someone down and then grab the body off the ground. But if they do it in the initial engagement (hence using the MW), I let them.

I also track how many MW are dealt to specific groups of targets on the random table. If they ever suffer more MW to the group equal to the number of PK + 2, then the unit is considered "Shattered" and fight with 1/2 WS. If there are ever more MW to the group than 2x the number of PK + 2, then the unit is Destroyed and if rolled again is considered a round where no enemy attacks. This is similar to the rules on page 62, but is more fun for the players since they like rolling the damage.