> > >
> > > I quite like this one. Especially the "must lead from the front"
> > > bit - Does he take the penalty immediately - that is nasty, as I
> > > suspect that loosing the banner will be a very bad thing!
> >
> > At the risk of sounding obvious... He's SUPPOSED to die!
>
> I know that, It's just that this seems to make it likely he'll die
> early on in the battle rather than later. (depending, I suppose on
> how many rounds of rolls the battle takes...)
KoDP left me with this image of the old chieftain of the Sun Thanes (Elmali, with a strong Humakti tradition) taking up the banner, when none of the weaponthanes stepped forward. The chieftain was 68 years old, but still a strong and crafty warrior.
I had this vision of him leading the forces into a furious melee (the Sunthanes were assoulted by the assembled might of the Colymar, and facin 4:1 odds). The battle raged and with horrible losses to both sides the Colymar were driven off, never to bother the Sun Thanes again.
In the heat of the battle, the banner could always be glimpsed. Proud and powerful, showing where the old chief was leading the fyrd, his best warriors by his side.
After the battle, nobody remembered how the chief had fallen, but when we found his body, he was still clutching the banner, and they say he didn't bear a single wound serious enough to have fellen him.
*the above based on an avent in my KoDP game, that became a part of the history of my Glorantha Campaign
-Adept
PS. The above means that I think the bearer of the banner leads the battle with great skill, but dies when the battle is decided. The bearer and the whole fyrd is somewhat posessed and fortified by the _strong_ daimon of the banner (which I call The Raven, IMG) and neither give no quarter or ask for any. Fighting a warband/fyrd lead under the banner, is like a fighting a fyrd of fanatical Humakti! No wonder the losses mount.
PPS. In the game, I always selected "Kill as many as possible" and sacrificed to Humakt before the battle if I used the banner. Appropriate, I think.
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