Hords Ganging Up

By TechVoid, in Deathwatch Rules Questions

Posted at

Hello,

in the errata is written that Space Marines cannot Gang Up on hords. But on the other hand I asked myself if a horde should not gain such a bonus if attacking someone? I mean I agree that a horde gains the ability that its attacks cannot be dodged or parried and can attack everybody in reach in melee.

But on the other hand I must confess that I think it is strange. Two Marines gain each a +10 bonus if they attack together but if plenty of enemies attack together they do not gain a bonus?

What do you think?

Cheers,

TechVoid.

Posted at

TechVoid said:

Hello,

in the errata is written that Space Marines cannot Gang Up on hords. But on the other hand I asked myself if a horde should not gain such a bonus if attacking someone? I mean I agree that a horde gains the ability that its attacks cannot be dodged or parried and can attack everybody in reach in melee.

But on the other hand I must confess that I think it is strange. Two Marines gain each a +10 bonus if they attack together but if plenty of enemies attack together they do not gain a bonus?

What do you think?

Cheers,

TechVoid.

I believe all of this is abstracted into the increased damage that hordes do. Btw, I would only let hordes that represent a low number of beings "gang-up" on a single space marine anyway. A normal horde probably can surround a Space Marine anyway.

Alex

Posted at

Maybe you are right.

But besides the abstraction for me it is a matter of consistency: If two Space Marines gang up an enemy they get a better chance to hit. If a horde gangs up on Space Marines they do more damage. Well...

Another example would be to say: If two Space Marines gang up an enemy they get a better chance to hit. If a horde gangs up on Space Marines the attacks cannot be dodged. What?

I do not talk about realism or something like 'these-are-just-rules' but to see the intention of a rule whenever the according situation arises. That you have rules for distinctive situations but they work different depending on having a horde or not.

Why not just say that a horde gains a bonus to WS equal to its Magnitude but with a maximum of +20 or +30.

Cheers,

TechVoid.

Posted at

TechVoid said:

Maybe you are right.

But besides the abstraction for me it is a matter of consistency: If two Space Marines gang up an enemy they get a better chance to hit. If a horde gangs up on Space Marines they do more damage. Well.

I do not talk about realism or something like 'these-are-just-rules' but to see the intention of a rule whenever the according situation arises.

So to be abstract: Deathwatch has the ruling that you hit a foe better if you outnumber him (for whatever sake and reason). But it just works for single PCs and NPCs outnumbering each other ... not for hords.

Cheers,

TechVoid.

They do hit the PC better. The horde rules seem to assume that many blows will hit the PC and glance off ineffectively much of the time. If the horde hits and its damage surpasses TB + AP, then it is assumed that one or more hits did not get parried and penetrated.

Therefore if a horde has a higher magnitude and thus does more damage, you can conclude that more attacks pour down on the pour PC without him being able to parry them because he might be surrounded, etc.

However since everything is an abstraction you can always (well, if it fits the situation) surprise your players and say "These two hordes here count at as outnumbering you, you best get rid of one of them quickly."

Alex