Vanaxis is a Devotee of Yanafal Tarnils, and was the main actor on the Lunar side, he was fighting a Hellborn (troll) mercenary captain and his guard unit. The fight kicked off when the Hellborn invoked a Shade and Vanaxis used Charge of the Ram to try and prevent him from invoking his spell. I ran this as a Simple Contest, and Vanaxis got a Minor Victory, preventing the troll from invoking the shade.
With that contest completed, we moved on to combat. I don't remember exactly what happened every round, but this is the general flow of things.
I ran this as essentialy an extended contest, with other characters contributing augments. In each exchange we calculated the relative target numbers, applied relevent augments, and rolled off on the Simple Contest table. Each level of victory contributes 1 Victory point to the winner, 4 VPs is the same as a Complete Victory and ends the contest.
The troll spent the first round doing an unrelated action, using his Dark Shield for an Augment. Vanaxis attacked and got a Marginal victory: +1 VP for Vanaxis.
Next round Vanaxis decided to use his Tactics skill to co-ordinate his allies and try to disrupt the troll formation (only 3 men abreast in the tunnel, but trolls in the 2nd rank could get at him with their spears). However the troll had a higher CC than either Vanaxis' Tactics or his CC, so he went first. Troll CC 16W2 vs. Vanaxis CC of about 10w2 (I forget exactly) - the troll won for a Minor Victory for 2 VPs - this wiped out Vanaxis VP and gave the Troll 1 VP. Vanaxis countered with his Tactics skill of 16 against the Troll's Command Militia ability of 15, modified down to 9 due to two Irrippi Ontor initiates Mindblansting him for a -6 headache (effectively a negative augment).Vanaxis, despite his superior ability, suffered a minor defeat, due to the troll's better use of the cramped tunnel terrain. This gave the Troll 3 VPs, putting him only a Marginal Success away from Complete Victory.
Without dragging this out, eventualy Vanaxis managed to turn the tide against the Hellborn and his minions. Simply replacing APs with VPs took a lot of the complexity of an extended contest away (edges, handicaps, bid calculations, etc) without seeming to lose anything. Everyone got a chance to contribute, and what augments were relevent depended on how the two lead characetrs were trying to win.
Eventualy Vanaxis' use of his tactics skill give him the advantage, but he actualy won when it was the Troll's turn on the initiative. The troll attached with Close Combat but blew it, and Vanaxis skewered him.
The whole thing didn't run exactly perfectly, but I think everyone felt it was fairly resolved, and everything everyone did was taken into account.
I have found that theoretical knowledge of the HW game system is one thing, but being able to apply it effectively in-game is another. We're coming to a group consensus that seems to work for us
Simon
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