It sounds like you're mixing up means and ends. Both sides have the same goal: "Kill 'em all," it's just the means that's different. Personally I'd do it as one contest, either extended or simple, take yer pick.
If you do it as extended then the size of the bids is determined by what the players say on a round by round basis.
If the horsemen say: "That's it, we start rolling and we don't stop 'til we flatten them" that's everything they've got. If they say "We skirt about, feinting to test their maneuverability and firepower" that's 3 points.
If the archers say: "We stand our ground, not giving an inch" that's all in. "As soon as they move, we fire a volley and run further up the hill" is a 3 pointer.
The abilities you use can vary on a round to round basis as well. If the horsemen say "We'll run away then come back around from the right flank" this might be time to bid the horseman leader's "I studied under Fazzur" against the archers leader's "Nothing in war surprises me anymore." The full out charge might use something as mundane as "weapon and shield" augmented by the horse's "gallop" or it could be just a straight roll of "We're the biggest band of nutters ever to sit on horseback" against "I stare into the face of wyrms and tell them to clean their teeth."
I've run something similar - a bunch of Trolls trying to close down a bunch of adventurers on foot. For the first three of four rounds both sides were making small bids trying to work out what each other's target number was and using unrelated actions to enhance their own.
Interestingly, when the Trolls had done everything they could at the end of it all the main ability used was "We kill for Cragspider" against "I know the Tula like the back of my hand."
Cheers,
Ash
> Hi all,
>
> I've been reading around on this list and wondering
> how everyone has
> been handling multiple actions within an Extended
> Contest - there
> seems to be a fair degree of personal choice in how
> you do this.
>
> The example I'm thinking of comes from Dear Old
> Archery: you have 2
> sides, one with bows and one with swords and on
> horses. The goals
> work out as follows:
>
> Side A: wants to keep its distance and defeat the
> horsemen with arrows
> Side B: wants to charge the archers to close the
> distance and defeat
> them with melee weapons at close quarters
>
> How many contests is this? I can reasonably argue
> at least 2, maybe
> 3 cases, as follows:
>
> Case 1: It's two contests
> First, you have an extended contest where Side A is
> trying to shoot
> arrows at the horsemen from a distance, and Side B
> is trying to close
> that distance. Side A acts with Archery, resisted
> by Side B's Ride /
> Dodge on Horseback / etc; then Side B acts with
> Ride, resisted by
> Side A's Keep Distance / Know Local Terrain / Run
> /etc. If Side A
> wins the contest, Side B are peppered with arrows
> and still at a
> distance; if Side B wins, the distance has been
> closed, and a new,
> second contest can begin, where Side B gets to use
> melee weapons and
> the archers have to start a new defense.
>
> Case 2: It's one contest
> To begin with, Side A is shooting arrows, Side B is
> trying to close.
> In the first round of an Extended Contest, Side A
> acts with Archery,
> Side B resists with Ride / etc; then Side B acts
> with Ride / Close
> Distance / etc, and Side A resists with Keep
> Distance / Know Local
> Terrain / etc.
> Now, here's the difference: if Side B wins that
> first round, reducing
> Side A's APs even just a little bit, that means that
> the Close
> Distance attempt has succeeded, and the contest must
> now switch to a
> close combat contest, with Side B able to use their
> melee weapons and
> do physical damage to Side A. Side A are therefore
> forced to switch
> their active and resistance abilities appropriately.
>
> So, two separate approaches to the same situation,
> with two very
> different results: in the first contest, if Side B
> wins then the
> distance has been closed and close combat can now
> begin; in the
> second, if Side B wins then the distance has been
> closed AND Side A
> has been defeated in close combat.
>
> I guess it's a matter of preference. I'm starting
> to incline towards
> Case 2 as it provides a much more dynamic narrative,
> and the
> individual rounds of the Extended Contest "mean"
> something very
> concrete in both game and narrative terms, and may
> be less inclined
> to bog down into a succession of die-rolling
> contests. It does seem
> to me however that the two cases represent very
> different views of
> what an Extended Contest actually is - in some ways
> Case 2 might tend
> to become essentially a series of Simple Contests
> monitored by AP
> exchange.
>
> Just wondered what everyone thought...
>
> Sarah
>
>
>
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