Con­tained herein is an attempt by me, cer­ti­fied Blade neo­phyte, at cob­bling together a sim­ple sam­ple com­bat between two very straight-​forward com­bat­ants, just to make sure I have at least a ball­park idea of the absolute, most basic of basics, fig­ured out with this sys­tem.

Best case sce­nario, this helps other future new­com­ers get a feel for things as well. Worst case sce­nario, I butcher the hell out of it, suf­fer the ridicule of my bet­ters, and learn some­thing in the process.

This will be a short series of posts in hopefully-​rapid suc­ces­sion, so please refrain from com­ment­ing until some­body is dead (don’t worry, it won’t take long).

One addi­tional pre­emp­tive dis­claimer: I orig­i­nally wrote this up on another web­site with non-​terrible post coding/​formatting tags. Between trans­fer­ring that over to these forums, and the way these forums han­dle cer­tain for­mat­ting in the first place, there may be some egre­giously bad for­mat­ting quirks and errors. For that, I apol­o­gize: I’m doing what I can with the tools avail­able, but I also don’t want to spend 30 min­utes try­ing to rejig­ger every post to pla­cate this forum’s bizarre for­mat­ting quirks.

So, with­out fur­ther ado:

A basic sam­ple com­bat between two char­ac­ters taken from the stat blocks in the appen­dix of Blade, in order to demon­strate and get a feel for Blade com­bat.

The com­bat­ants (and their rough stats) are:

• Aaron, a Pirate (pg. 350)
  • BN 4, DG 5, CG 5, HT 3, SY 3, TY 4
  • Ref 5, KD 5, KO 4, Move 5
  • Cut & Thrust Pro­fi­ciency: 4
  • Melee Pool: 9
  • Armor
    • Gambe­son (Pi 1 /​Bl 2 /​Cl 2)
    • Quilted Cloth Pants (Pi 1 /​Bl 2 /​Cl 2)
    • Leather Gloves (Pi 1 /​Bl 2 /​Cl 2)
    • Leather Boots (Pi 1 /​Bl 2 /​Cl 2)
  • Weaponry
    Side­sword (Medium /​Swing ATN 6, DR –1 /​Thrust ATN 7, DR +1 /​DTN 6 /​Blunt DR –2)
• Barry, a Rank-​and-​File Sol­dier (pg. 348)
  • BN 5, DG 4, CG 4, HT 4, SY 3, TY 4
  • Ref 4, KD 5, KO 5, Move 4
  • Sword & Shield Pro­fi­ciency: 5
  • Melee Pool: 9
  • Armor
    • Leather Coat (Pi 2 /​Bl 1 /​Cl 2)
    • Leather Pants (Pi 2 /​Bl 1 /​Cl 2)
    • Leather Gloves (Pi 2 /​Bl 1 /​Cl 2)
    • Leather Boots (Pi 2 /​Bl 1 /​Cl 2)
    • Plate Ket­tle Helm (Pi 6 /​Bl 4 /​Cl –)
  • Weaponry
    Arm­ing Sword (Medium /​Swing ATN 7, DR +1 /​Thrust ATN 7, DR +1 /​DTN 7 /​Blunt DR –1)

Prior to the First Com­bat Round

Aaron the Pirate is a mem­ber of a nau­ti­cal band of brig­ands who have put into port for some bloodily-​earned shore leave. Aaron got a bit car­ried away dur­ing an encounter with a par­tic­u­larly ine­bri­ated tav­ern patron, and Guard Barry has cor­nered him an alley. Aaron has responded to Barry’s order to sur­ren­der by draw­ing his side­sword, and now the two are about to come to blows.

Both com­bat­ants are aware of each other as they tran­si­tion into com­bat.

• Stances
  Aaron has taken an Aggres­sive stance (+2 MP for an attack, +2 Acti­va­tion Cost for Defen­sive maneu­vers), hop­ing to fight his way out of this sit­u­a­tion before any more guards arrive. Barry has taken a Defen­sive stance (+2 MP for a defense, +2 AC for Offen­sive maneu­vers).
  
  
• Ini­tia­tive
  Aaron declares his intent to Attack, while Barry declares his intent to Defend, giv­ing Aaron the initiative.

The First Com­bat Round

• First Exchange
  • Aaron wants to get out of here, but doesn’t want to lose his life. He declares 5 dice from his MP, +2 for his Aggres­sive stance, for a total of 7 dice, on a sim­ple Thrust maneu­ver to Tar­get Area 12 (upper torso).
    
    Barry responds by allo­cat­ing five dice from his own MP, +2 for his Defen­sive stance, for a total of 7 dice, on a basic Parry maneu­ver. (Barry’s acti­va­tion cost for this is 0 MP, since he is not using a shield.)
    
    Aaron rolls a mere three suc­cesses on his attack, while Barry gets four suc­cesses on his defense. Barry achieves a Qual­ity of Suc­cess of 1, allow­ing him to seize the initiative!
  
  
• Sec­ond Exchange
  • Both com­bat­ants now have 4 dice left in their respec­tive Melee Pools, but the roles have switched — Barry is now the aggres­sor, while Aaron is on the defense. In addi­tion, with the first blows traded, the effects of the com­bat­ants’ ini­tial stances are no longer in effect — every­one is treated as “neu­tral”.
    
    Barry allo­cates all four his dice to a left-​to-​right Swing attack to the pirate’s leg (Area 2).
    
    Aaron allo­cates his four remain­ing dice to a Parry defen­sive maneu­ver.
    
    Barry gets an impres­sive three suc­cesses on his four dice. Aaron gets only two suc­cesses on his four dice, giv­ing Barry a QoS 1.
    
    The roll indi­cates a suc­cess­ful hit to Aaron’s right thigh. The total impact rat­ing for this attack is:
    • Qual­ity of Suc­cess = 1
    • Arm­ing Sword Swing DR = 1
    • Barry’s Brawn/​2, rounded nor­mally = 3
    • Minus Aaron’s Brawn/​2 = –2
    • Total Impact Rat­ing: 3
    The Impact Rat­ing (3) is fur­ther reduced by the Armor Value on the struck loca­tion. Aaron is wear­ing quilted cloth trousers, which have AV 2 vs. Cleav­ing attacks. The final result is a Level 1 wound.
    
    A Level 1 cleav­ing wound to the thigh gives the fol­low­ing effects:
    • Blood Loss: 1
    • Shock: 1
    • Pain: 2 (reduced to zero by Aaron’s Tenac­ity attribute)
    Since this occurred on the sec­ond exchange of the com­bat round, Aaron will lose 1 dice from his MP for pur­poses of the next com­bat round.

Prior to the Sec­ond Com­bat Round

• Aaron
  • Melee Pool — Reduced to 8 dice for this round, due to suf­fer­ing Shock 1 dur­ing the last exchange.
  • Wounds
    • Level 1, cut, Thigh (2÷3), Right
• Barry
  • Melee Pool — Unchanged at 9 dice.
  • Wounds
    • None
• Stances
  Since com­bat has been joined and is ongo­ing, no stances may be declared. Both com­bat­ants are treated as in a Neu­tral stance.
• Ini­tia­tive
  Barry has the ini­tia­tive as the aggressor.

The Sec­ond Com­bat Round

• First Exchange
  • Barry has ini­tia­tive and has an advan­tage due to Aaron’s Shock, but not a large one. He opts to make another basic Cut maneu­ver, and since Aaron is using deadly force, Barry decides on a right-​to-​left swing at Area 4 (the neck area). Barry declares 6 dice for this attack.
    
    Aaron decides to go for broke, declar­ing a Rota maneu­ver as his defense and pay­ing 1 MP for its acti­va­tion cost, leav­ing him with seven dice, all of which he ded­i­cates to his defense.
    
    Barry rolls four suc­cesses on his attack, but Aaron achieves a per­fect seven suc­cesses on his defense! Aaron deflects the guard’s blade with the back of his own, then makes an imme­di­ate down­ward slash at Barry’s own neck!
• Sec­ond Exchange
  • Aaron has seized the ini­tia­tive with his suc­cess­ful Rota defense, and is once again the aggres­sor. He has 0 MP remain­ing, hav­ing spent all of his dice on his defense in the first exchange. How­ever, he gains 4 bonus dice for the coun­ter­at­tack due to his suc­cess­ful Rota.
    
    As a Rota requires the coun­ter­at­tack be iden­ti­cal to the attack it defended against, Aaron is mak­ing a Cut maneu­ver to Area 4 (neck). He is spend­ing all four of his bonus dice on this attack.
    
    Barry has only three dice left in his MP, and allo­cates all of them to a Parry maneu­ver for his defense.
    
    Aaron achieves three suc­cesses on his attack, while Barry achieves three suc­cesses on his defense! Barry suc­cess­fully defends, but since his Qual­ity of Suc­cess was zero, Aaron keeps the initiative.

Prior to the Third Com­bat Round

• Aaron
  • Melee Pool — Returned to 9 dice, as Aaron’s Shock has worn off.
  • Wounds
    • Level 1, cut, Thigh (2÷3), Right
• Barry
  • Melee Pool — Unchanged at 9 dice.
  • Wounds
    • None
• Stances
  Since com­bat has been joined and is ongo­ing, no stances may be declared. Both com­bat­ants are treated as in a Neu­tral stance.
• Ini­tia­tive
  Although Barry suc­cess­fully par­ried Aaron’s attack, a QoS of zero means Aaron retains the ini­tia­tive and is the aggressor.

The Third Com­bat Round

• First Exchange
  • Aaron decides to try to throw off his oppo­nent and get an open­ing, opt­ing for the Stop Short maneu­ver. Being a con­ser­v­a­tive fel­low, he doesn’t allo­cate any of his MP to reduce the Tar­get Num­ber for this roll.
    
    Aaron gets four suc­cesses rolling against his Cun­ning (5), while Barry gets only one suc­cess rolling against his Sagac­ity (3). With a QoS 3, Aaron’s vic­tory causes Barry to lose 3 dice from his MP in the next exchange!
• Sec­ond Exchange
  • Aaron still has the ini­tia­tive, and now has a 9 to 6 advan­tage in remain­ing MP. He assigns all nine dice to a Thrust maneu­ver against Area 11 (the belly).
    
    Since Barry is at a con­sid­er­able dis­ad­van­tage in his MP, he decides to assign all six dice to a Full Eva­sion in order to take advan­tage of the lower DTN (5 vs. 7).
    
    Aaron rolls very well, achiev­ing eight suc­cesses, but Barry botches his eva­sion and rolls only one suc­cess!
    
    The roll indi­cates that the blow strikes Barry in the lower abdomen.
    • Qual­ity of Suc­cess = 7
      Side­sword Thrust DR = 1
      Aaron’s Brawn/​2 = 2
      Barry’s Brawn/​2 = –3
      Total Impact Rat­ing = 7
    The impact is fur­ther reduced by the AV of Barry’s leather coat (2 vs. Pierc­ing), result­ing in a griev­ous Level 5 Wound:
    • Blood Loss: 6
    • Shock: 10
    • Pain: 12
    Since this occurred on the sec­ond exchange, Barry takes a –10 Shock penalty to his MP in the next com­bat round. This reduces Barry’s MP from 9 to 0, and adds +1 to Aaron’s MP, bring­ing it up to 10.
  At this point, it’s pretty much all over but the dying.

Prior to the Fourth Com­bat Round

• Aaron
  • Melee Pool — Increased to 10 dice, gain­ing +1 dice due to Barry’s excess Shock.
  • Wounds
    • Level 1, cut, Thigh (2÷3), Right
• Barry
  • Melee Pool — Reduced to 0 dice due to Shock.
  • Wounds
    • Level 5, pierce, lower abdomen (11÷2)
• Stances
  Since com­bat has been joined and is ongo­ing, no stances may be declared. Both com­bat­ants are treated as in a Neu­tral stance.
• Ini­tia­tive
  Aaron retains the initiative.

The Fourth Com­bat Round

• First Exchange
  • With no rea­son to hold back against a defense­less oppo­nent, Aaron throws all ten dice into a thrust to the head (Area 13), and achieves six suc­cesses. The roll indi­cates a strike to the face.
    • Qual­ity of Suc­cess = 6
      Side­sword Thrust DR = 1
      Aaron’s Brawn/​2 = 2
      Barry’s Bran/​2 = –3
      Total Impact Rat­ing = 6
    Barry has no armor on his face, and con­se­quently suf­fers a fatal Level 6 Wound as Aaron dri­ves his sword point through the guard’s eye and into his brain. Barry crum­ples to the ground in a rapidly-​bleeding mess, while Aaron wipes off his blade and makes him­self scarce as hastily as possible.

Fin.

And RIP Barry. You served your role well.

As a note: I rolled every­thing for this com­bat rather than fudg­ing any­thing to achieve a par­tic­u­lar result, sim­ply because I wanted to see what those results actu­ally were.

I also learned that against a relatively-​low-​MP, medium-​Brawn oppo­nent, even basic armor can be a huge help for a defender. Had Aaron not had the ben­e­fit of his quilted cloth breeches, that Level 1 thigh wound would have been a Level 3 thigh wound, and the extra +5 shock penalty might have spelled the end of him in the fol­low­ing round.

Looked good to me.
Did you have any ques­tions?
The sys­tem is so sim­ple in its basic form, it only slows down in com­bat when oppo­nents start play­ing with the manoeu­vres. But the trick with a multi player group is to make them do the research when its not there lime­light. So when its there turn and then they start flip­ping through the rules, if you want to be harsh, in that case, limit what the player can do to just the basic’s. Next time, maybe they will pay atten­tion and not talk to the other player.
Speak­ing of which, where would you put a lime­light fin­ish. With the level one wound or the later?
It needs to be some­thing sig­nif­i­cant on the bat­tle­field, so end of the third round the lime­light ends, or it could be ear­lier. Barry had yelled out to other guards in the area, that he saw some­thing or he just has a mate work­ing with him.
So now this next guard needs to make a Ter­rain Check to get to Barry before the fatal blow. He is going to come in with a reduced MP but could still parry the blow just in time.

Allan

Good ques­tion about the lime­light.

Given how triv­ial the Level 1 thigh wound suf­fered by Aaron was, I don’t think I would cut the lime­light there. In a multiple-​player sce­nario, I’d prob­a­bly end it after Com­bat Round 3 (when Barry eats that Level 5 wound), but (given that the out­come of Com­bat Round 4 is nearly a for­gone con­clu­sion) I might wait until after that to end the lime­light.

In this par­tic­u­lar case (where there’s only one ongo­ing encounter and no more than one the­o­ret­i­cal PC would be involved), of course, there’s no lime­light cut­off point. As you say, though, after Com­bat Round 3 would be a dra­mat­i­cally appro­pri­ate time for a sec­ond guard to show up with a Ter­rain Check.

I do have a vari­ety of ques­tions, but I wrote them all down at home, so won’t be able to post them for a while.

One very gen­eral ques­tion might be “Is there any­thing the com­bat­ants could have done that would have been an obvi­ously bet­ter deci­sion than what they actu­ally did, or is there any­thing they did that was bla­tantly bone-​headed?“

This is fan­tas­ti­cally help­ful. Thank you very much for mak­ing it!

I mucked up my writ­ing so went back and edited it to make sense.

The only thing I could see, and it was not a prob­lem as such, was the use of Stop Short, from mem­ory, that is more a maneu­ver used when you have few or no dice in the pool.

One thing that I find my self hav­ing to remem­ber, and its sort of a big one;
Blade is firmly cemented in the S&S genre, as we know, but it has this amaz­ing com­bat sys­tem.
On the one hand we are talk­ing Cin­e­matic play style and the other, Stim­u­la­tion com­bat res­o­lu­tion.
The trick is to make sure the Cina­matic style over rules the Sim­u­la­tion. You can’t escape this con­cept with the basic use of Lime­lights. But play­ers need to reminded what they are actu­ally play­ing. The com­bat sys­tem, should play sec­ond fid­dle to the Daring-​Do.
As I men­tioned in another thread, about learn­ing the com­bat sys­tem in easy stages, it maynot be real­is­tic but so long as play­ers are hav­ing fun, it does not mat­ter.

Face­plant, have you seen the Com­bat Walk­through on another thread, its very help­ful to get the sequence in order?

Allan