Mounted Combat

By Bugmaster, in WFRP Rules Questions

Hi all,

What exactly are the rules for mounted combat -- specifically, mounted combat while riding regular, non-flying, non-daemonic horses ? The rulebook doesn't seem to offer a clear answer, unless I'm missing something.

So far, we have been using a house rule for this (Riders get one additional free maneuver on their turn, and +1W vs. infantry), but it would be nice to know the official rules for this.

Bugmaster said:

Hi all,

What exactly are the rules for mounted combat specifically, mounted combat while riding regular, non-flying, non-daemonic horses ? The rulebook doesn't seem to offer a clear answer, unless I'm missing something.

So far, we have been using a house rule for this (Riders get one additional free maneuver on their turn, and +1W vs. infantry), but it would be nice to know the official rules for this.

I believe mounted combat will be described in more detail in a later expansion :)

Gallows said:

Bugmaster said:

Hi all,

What exactly are the rules for mounted combat specifically, mounted combat while riding regular, non-flying, non-daemonic horses ? The rulebook doesn't seem to offer a clear answer, unless I'm missing something.

So far, we have been using a house rule for this (Riders get one additional free maneuver on their turn, and +1W vs. infantry), but it would be nice to know the official rules for this.

I believe mounted combat will be described in more detail in a later expansion :)

Hopefully Omens of War! My group is likely going to be wanting to purchase mounts in the next month or so.

Right now I plan to give mounted individuals one additional "Move" maneuver, or two if all they do on the turn is move, and add +1 damage to all attacks on those not moving as swiftly as they are.

I'm pretty sure that Jay said that mounted combat rules were in the upcoming "Khorne" expansion, "Omens of War". Whether there is a lot more information on mount themselves, and how much, is unknown.

Thanks for your help, guys, your answers are disappointing but not unexpected... So, until the expansions come out, do you think the following is a reasonable house rule ?

* Mounted characters get +1 Move Maneuver on their turn

* Mounted characters get +1 Fortune Die to attack non-mounted characters in melee

Warhammer Fantasy Battle is often quite near from WFRP3... I adapted it and my Mounted Combat rules are quite close to yours. So the rider has got :

  • - Swift : horses and others mounts benefit an 1 additionnal free mouvement manoeuvre per turn.
  • - Charge : 1 fortune dice to do melee attacks when moving (you might think about a misfortune dice to do range attacks).
  • - Mounted combattant : defense +1, soak +1.

That's for my ideas. Since then, we had the Black Fire Pass demo with a goblin on a wolf : "while Datza remains on his wolf, he benefits from a couple of advantages :

  • - First, any manoeuvres made by the wolf in order to cross distances will not affect Datzda. He effectly gets to move the same distance without using any of his own maoeuvres (also note the wolf benefits from the Swift rules, and so may make a manoeuvre from free).
  • - Datzda will also be fighting from an elevated position against dwards and so will benefit a fortune dice to any rolls he makes to hit them in melee".

I'd probably also add a fortune die for anyone to hit someone that is mounted, representing the larger target.

dvang said:

I'd probably also add a fortune die for anyone to hit someone that is mounted, representing the larger target.

Perhaps if they are standing there and you are just generally shooting/swinging at them.

But in terms of melee it's really hard to hit a mounted rider from the ground. The rider's feet are at your head level, a horse is a **** imposing physical presence when they are charging or even just turning around and unless you are very careful or equipped correctly you are in much danger of getting hurt by moving in on a mounted rider then they are of you.

Now with ranged weapons it's generally just harder to hit a moving target if they are moving laterally from you. If they are charging you it's easier, but depending on the distance most people aren't going to stand and fire arrows at a horse charging right at them.

Once again, if you look at the Black Fire Pass Demo, they keep separate stats for the goblin and his wolf mount. Dvang's suggestion is not quite accurate with that... I might say... 2 banes = you hit the mount instead of the character.

I was assuming the case that the mount was not treated as a separate target, and that the attacker had no qualms about whether he hit the rider or the horse ... which, in general, is the case in combat when fighting on foot vs someone mounted. (oftentimes killing/hitting the mount is actually better, as the rider often is injured when the mount falls).

I agree that treating the mount as a separate target from the rider is the more accurate approach, but I'd like to avoid it in my games from purely practical reasons... combat takes long enough as it is.

Although, now that I think about it, perhaps it would make sense to treat the mount as a pet ? I seem to recall that there is a whole separate set of rules for pets...