Rob
CJ asked on the Glorantha list:
> My two questions regard the Defensive Doubling Rule, by which the CF
> of surviving units in a melee apparently double when calculating
> attackers losses...
> 1. Does this apply to Heroes/Superheroes?
I always played that it did, and sometimes even played that leadership factors counted. I figured the idea amounted to the counterattack of the defenders once the initial attack has been beaten off (although of course the defenders can't lose anyone else so it's not entirely principled) hence heroes et al are as good as they would be in any normal attack.
It certainly played havoc when you fail to kill a superhero! IMHO I think the way I and other have interpreted the rules, which are definitely not universally canonical even though they probably are in one particular city :-), make this much more fun too. For example, if there's a superhero with 3-4 other "normal" units being attacked by a couple of stacks, the defender can order the superhero stack and they *must* be eliminated by the attacked from the top down - no other way possible (we play the same for magic). This means the defender must decide whether to put the superduper on top, say stopping any loss for 4-6 roll but losing the superhero on a 1-3, or put them a couple of unit further down losing them on a 1 only, say, but almost certainly losing the grunt units. The latter means the counterattack will almost certainly (1 in 6) be devastating but some irreplaceable grunts are lost, while in the former it's equally like that noone is lost *and* the counterattack is horrendous, but also quite likely that the superhero dies (perhaps temporarily).
I understand, from past talks on the list and playing with others, that other people play that the melee casualties (and from magic) can be taken from anywhere in the stack rather than from the top down. Apologies if I'm wrong about the melee (I know the magic part is right) - it's been a long time since I've played :-)
I still have this secret desire to create a Java-based version of DP...every couple of years without having a person to play with/against I get all ready to do it then let it slide. Lots of thoughts about it, bits of code, never got around to doing anything about it. I'd much prefer to sit down at a table with a friend...
> 2. Does this mean the Sun Dome Templars quadruple in defence when
> working out combat factor for determing attackers losses?
Not in my game. They're explicitly formed to double in defence (unlike anyone else). I treat their counterattack like anyone elses - double their written CF. Whether or not it's the rules, I find this works well in practice as they're a nasty group anyway to go against. Of course only Sartar ever gets them...
> Also, how did Cragspider come to posssess her great Fire based power?
> is that still part of Glorantha?
[Peter Metcalfe answered:]
Yes. Her fire power is mentioned in KoS p187 when she "sears all the
Vindori tribal lands with fire which fell from the sky". She is
probably the firewitch slain by Ustanosson in KoS p162.
[me]
Which doesn't answer the question *where* she got them. Good question
which I can't answer :-( Perhaps she controls Amastan (sp?)?
Regards
Robert
Powered by hypermail