The Emperor Protects!

So in this installment of MorbidDon's mess we'll go over some TACTICA!

SUBJECT: Running Lots of "Mooks" Quickly / Efficiently

So for me running the game's combat in a quick visceral satisfying way is paramount to the experience of 40k! Now with any PNP RPG combat can become a cumbersome affair depending on many factors. In our case lets focus in on what a GM can do to both offer challenge and alacrity...

Skullroller (Software)

So this is some software I found on Darkreign - but saw a post to it here in our Forums.

USE: Generally speaking lets say I got a SQUAD of Foes (say some sort of Serf "Scum") - said Squad should have a "boss" who orchestrates the whole. Boss tells Squad members fire there - fire here - in essence concentrated fire. With Skullroller you can set the "soak" value of your target on the fly then set it to shoot X-amount of times in one round using Y-weapon type.

Our Squad (who we are counting as a "demi-Horde" in that all 10-men go on the same initiative and are subject to the same rules for area attacks against them - like with flamers and grenades) then shoots x9 Shots (Long Las d10+3) and 1 Shot (Las Pistol d10+2); whomever is the target of this salvo is automatically calculated by the "soak" value entered - in ONE CLICK, pesto (LOL) = hits, location, and any damage over soak is given, a very elegant solution to 10-man fire or any number in that case!

Foil / Tactics: If your players aren't savvy or alert - they may not realize to kill the "boss" of the squad - effectively breaking it up into 9 individual men - with no concentrated (directed) fire. In this way the Squad could be handled sort of like a Horde - magnitude A "a Mob" albeit without all the specifics that go along with Horde based specifics.

This tactic has served me well against players who play Explorators - as their total soak values are so high (last session - two 20 shot salvos (in 2 rounds) were fired against one of our group Explorator, resulting in 3-total points of damage for the whole (40 shots - via Long Las)...

This tactic is frowned upon by some GMs - many guides to GMing will tell you not to concentrate attacks vs single PCs (as its not fair - in gist); fair has no place in WAR (read the art of war and get back to me lol). On top of that this game system was designed to facilitate soaking damage and in a lot of cases not suffering any wounds - this is opposed to games that give things a high Hit Point count.

Clever players can and should use Flamers / Grenades / or whatever else is available to dealing with such tactics set again them - its is a flaw for a 10-man group to be all bunched up together - so that's this tactic's foil - for those looking for fair play - that right there in itself is the facet that allows for fairness. (our group went to town on the 2-squads using Flamer mostly to cull the numbers - I believe once they were down to about 4 men, that's when they started to fail their Morale Tests - I was checking for Morale a couple of times during that encounter as it unfolded)...

Anyways there you have it - now those mooks have something "more" to offer

Have Fun & Stay GAMING!

Morbid

SUBJECT: Cover & You

In this section I'll go over COVER and how it can be used by a GM in order to get their players "thinking"

Stick & Carrot

Firstly unless I'm doing combat using a Battlegrid (with Tokens or Minis) I like to opt to give my players cover if/when they win Initiative as an automatic benefit of play. Now lets say that cover offers total protection (i..e they cant see you - you cant see them - very think, etc etc) ok, the first thing I like to do if offer new options for "other" areas of cover...

Soft Cover - so I might tell the players there is some cover you can make a HALF Move to get to but its not very durable

- Far from the front-line action (thus why its easy to get to); maybe this cover gives a penalty due to RANGE (benefit vs. drawback)

Hard Cover - here I might tell players you see some good cover but it will require you to perform two FULL Moves to get to

- Close to the front-line; maybe this cover gives a bonus to RANGE

Special Cover - and finally the third option for cover will only take you a FULL Move to get to

- Mid RANGE, no bonus or penalties to attack, the rest is left up to your imagination (consider this COVER the wildcard option of the 3); so I might say that cover is a fuel tank (yes its thick enough to take a few shots, but do you really want to stay there and find out LOL), or as another though provoking idea (remember RPGs are games that are meant to get players "thinking") maybe this COVER option is in the dark - so that "if" a enemy sneaks up close the character is at disadvantage due to "Melee in the Dark" - again the possibilities are endless with the Wildcard...

That's the gist of using cover tactically in a Narrative "mode" (albeit minus all the numbers and such); SEE Narrative Time vs. Structured Time CORE BOOK - 234...

Note: these options can be used on a grid (Tokens / Minis) - but you'll have to do more planing to account for the distances each type of cover option presents - thus why this is better suited to Narrative - or "in your head" action so to speak!

Stay GAMING

Morbid

SUBJECT: Speedy Play ( Making things work faster around the table come Combat Time! )

SPEEDY PLAY – We started to do much of these things herein…

So these are the keys to speeding our combat challenges, brevity-style:

1. The Starbucks – Players figure out their next move ahead of time.

Timed turns to put pressure on the player to make an illusion of "fast-paced"

Encourage the time limit or, depending on your players, enforce a rule along the lines of
"When your turn starts, you have 30 seconds to begin doing something or you delay your turn". SEE INITIAVIVE ORDER BELOW

1. The Roller Derby – Roll everything at once. Use Skullroller Dice SOFTWARE for this (darkreign.com)

When dealing with multiple attacks, roll them all at once! SEE ABOVE

1. Group NPC Initiative – Similar NPCs go at the same time – 10-man squad becomes 3x3-man teams with 1-leader… (four initiatives)

Roll initiative only once at the beginning of the encounter – maintain Initiative order till end…

1. Kill the Tactics – NPCs shouldn’t use masterful tactics unless Commanded by a superior tactician or they are a solo mob…

NPCs with low INT or WP (Wisdom) who are in superior numbers - will take opportunity attacks (i.e. attacks that offer the PCs advantage) on their foes all the time, in order to to put them in advantageous positions to stomp on the PCs.

1. Kill the Lawyers – Argue rules outside of game time. Play during game time.

'Rulings, not Rules'. Rather than putting the combat on pause while someone looks up an obscure rule, the GM makes a ruling on the spot and things move on…

1. End Clause - Structure some encounters such that the end condition of the encounter isn't the death of one side. NPCs can flee or the objective could be something besides killing each other.

Morale Test: There are a wide range of factors to try and distill down into something that is easy to monitor. Plus you need to have nice clear conditions in which a morale check is made.

Group Tests
- Leader Gives Up
- Leader is Slain
- Extraordinary Attacks or Action (land slide, explosion from setting dressing, etc.)
- When every participating foes is injured

Individual Tests
- When an opponent falls - any other opponents that can perceive the fallen comrade must Test for Morale

SUBJECT: Robin's Law to Game Mastering

This book is a must read for any and all GMs (new or veteran)

This book outlines FAIR Game Mastering in a structured way - and was given to me by a fellow player who knew I aim for harmony (i.e 100% fairness)

BOOK LINE HERE

Stay GAMING

Morbid

I don't usually go with minis and a grid. It's just too much detail and never quite satifies me the way my imagination can. That said, I just give cover a difficulty to acquire (routine, hellish, whatever) for the terrain type and let the player looking for said cover to make a Search check as a half action (or free action at even more penalty). DoS give points of cover...easy and done.

Mooks are simply eliminated. They might be dead. They might be playing dead. They might be writhing on the ground and whining about their gaping chest wound. But, they're hors d'combat. Only chief villains and monstrous creatures get actual wounds and critical hits. That's sometimes how my players figure out who the Boss is. If I gnote the hit location and ask for a damage roll they know it's something special, even if they do dress like Ulysses Grant.

NPCs shouldn't use masterful tactics

I'm not sure about this one. Are you familiar with Tucker's Kobolds?

I am. I still have the first 6 issues of Dragon, and 2 copies of Chainmail, one 2nd ed. and one 3rd ed. I'm even familiar with Tucker. Yes, I'm kinda old.

Wow to x2 copies of Chainmail... lol

It was printed in my hometown when I was just a kid. I even remember the printing press that turned them out and the attic it was printed in.

Wow.

Am I the only one who requires a map and grid for combat?

No. Most people seem to prefer it. It's a fad born of D&D 3.x I'm old school. We used to use figures but had no need for grids and scales. It's easy enough math for the head. It's helpful in some situations, even necessary. In many situations, though, it just unnecessarily slows things down. It's a matter of preference.

NPCs shouldn't use masterful tactics

I'm not sure about this one. Are you familiar with Tucker's Kobolds?

Tucker's Kobolds.. the Samuel L. Jackson as Kobolds

Love them fear them

Am I the only one who requires a map and grid for combat?

It can certainly help for stuff, in my opinion, and I like them more, when available, then drawing stuff on a piece of paper, or just trying to describe stuff, when players say "so now, how close is stuff to me?", or are trying to figure out how effective their AoE might now be. That said, I got into that when D&D minis was new, and I didn't care for that game, so I never invested in them. Having a nice, stable visual can certainly be advantageous, but I'd say it certainly isn't necessary. If 40k was your game, I don't think buying THEIR minis, to use in this way, is as likely, because Games Workshop is often seemingly criminally expensive, with some of their armies. I like it, but it isn't available to me, as GM, unless someone else playing had them.