There is a lot of material on this thread and the forum in general around
push back and exchanging squares, much of it originating from a need to address the door-blocking issue so I wanted to examine this in detail.
For each proposed rule I want keep a clear decomposition so for example (and I’ve used Daedalus’s text from earlier in this thread as the sample text).
When a figure loses one or more Body Points during a melee fight, an attacker may choose to use the momentum of the attack to push that opponent back or to the side one square. If there's a wall or other immovable object behind or next to the opponent, pushing back in that direction is not possible. Figures also count as immovable objects if their number, including the defending opponent, exceeds the Body Points lost from the attack. If instead the total number of figures is less than or equal to the Body Points lost, then they may all be pushed in the same direction. Push Back isn't possible if the defending opponent is killed.
Conditions in which the rule is invoked: When a figure loses one or more Body Points during a melee fight,
Is it mandatory or optional (I don’t mean do you have to use the rule or not I am referring to whether the interaction happens automatically or whether the attack gets a choice): attacker may choose to use the momentum of the attack to
Effects when invoked:
push that opponent
back or to the side one square
Any exceptions: If there's a wall or other immovable object behind or next to the opponent, pushing
back in that direction is not possible.
Figures also count as immovable objects if their number, including the defending opponent, exceeds the Body Points lost from the attack. If instead the total number of figures is less than or equal to the Body Points lost, then they may all be pushed in the same direction.
Push Back isn't possible if the defending opponent is killed.
So let me comment on each bit separately
1. Conditions
We are clearly concerned with close combat, more specifically an attack and there are four possible categories of outcome; no skulls rolled (a miss), some skulls rolled that are all cancelled by shields (a hit without wounding), some skulls rolled that are not all cancelled i.e., BP loss for the defender (a wounding hit), defender killed (a killing hit).
For me the nature of a
push back relates more to the force of the hit than any other factors, for example a powerful blow from a battle axe may well cause a
push back even if the victim, perhaps a Dread Warrior, is sufficiently protected by its heavy armour that a good defend roll results in no BP being lost, so I would suggest that the result of the attack roll is used rather than the number of BP lost as that latter figure is partially based on the defend dice of the opponent and I don't think that is significant in a
push back situation. As our
push back rule is universally applicable for both Heroes and Monsters but is intended to mitigate the door blocking situation where the monster is the attacker then it makes sense that all Monsters should have a chance of pushing
back Heroes, even a low one, so the minimum threshold for a
push back should be low so that even a Goblin or Skeleton can do that if luck is with them so..
When a close combat attack roll shows at least one then,2. Mandatory or Optional
If the condition is met does the attacker get the choice as to whether to
push back or is it automatic? And if so, does the attacker get the choice of which square- or does the defender or is it automatic
As this rule comes into play when the initiative is with the attacker and a strong blow has been landed, I will start with the assumption that
the attacker chooses whether and where (out of the available options) to push his opponent back or chooses not to3. Effects
The attacker moves the defender how far and in what direction…
Chain Gang Challenge – at some point during these deliberations it will begin to occur to you, if it hasn’t already, that if you allow a model to be pushed
back into a square that is already occupied then it turn you will need to
push back that figure in turn into an unoccupied square, or an occupied square in which case that occupant will need to be pushed
back … etc. This gets complex fast so I would prefer to try and set the rules to avoid this kind of cascade effect so I will limit the pushback to a maximum of 1 square of movement. This also excludes diagonals due to the existing “no diagonal movement” rule (you can’t reach a diagonal if you can only move one square) and only if that square is empty (i.e., not blocked by a wall or closed door or occupied by a figure, piece of furniture or a blocked square marker)
The attacker moves the defender onto an empty/unoccupied square that is adjacent to the square that the defender is on (i.e., a square that the defender could validly move onto with a single point of movement) 4. Exceptions
What if there aren’t any valid squares? One option would be to just state that if no valid squares are available then you cannot
push back however bearing in mind the original problem that we are trying to mitigate this would make it very easy for the Heroes to ensure that the ‘meat’ in the sandwich would not be able to be pushed
back so … if there are no valid squares then the attacker may exchange the squares occupied by the attacking and defending figures.
Diagonal attack weapons – my assumption here is that attacking a figure in a diagonal square means that you are already stretching/reaching to hit them so momentum is less of a factor, so I would restrict these new rules to apply to attacks on targets in adjacent squares (which also neatly rules out ranged weapons before that becomes a point of confusion) and I’ll specify that in the conditions.
Are all monsters affected? I would suggest that larger monsters would be harder to
push back so I would allow a special exception for any monster that fall into this category that the attacker needs at least
for the
push back rules to take effect
Also, if the conditions are met but the defender dies, obviously there is little point in working out
push back for the corpse, but I don’t see any reason why the attacker cannot opt to step forward into the now vacant square.
Larger monsters: Troll/Fimir, Mummy, Dread Warrior, Gargoyle (and perhaps some types of “named” monsters/bosses, but I’ll leave that up to the Quest Builder/Designer to note accordingly)
So, in conclusion
When attacking an enemy on an adjacent square and the attack roll shows at least one
then the attacker may choose to
push the defender
back one square onto any square that the defender could validly move to with a single point of movement, if there are no valid squares then the attacker may exchange the squares occupied by the attacking and defending figures. If the attacker chooses to
push back, then they must move into the now unoccupied square. If the attack kills the enemy, then the pushback isn’t relevant but the option to follow up into the now unoccupied square remains.
Notes:
• Larger monsters with the "Rock Solid" attribute require at least
to be rolled to
push them
back• You cannot
push back an opponent that is in a pit
• You cannot
push back an opponent if you are in a pit
Add "Rock Solid" attribute to Chaos Warrior, Gargoyle, Ogres, possibly even Mummy and Fimir