Tuesday, October 23, 2012

A Combat Round You're Damn Proud Of

Sometimes in the middle of big fights in games our characters pull off some really cool things. I don't necessarily mean the clutch nat 20s or other critical strikes, but more a use of the combat mechanics and seldom used maneuvers that just works out well or great for your group. Today I figured would be a good day to get folks to share some combat rounds they're particularly proud of. Bonus points if you set someone up to be awesome rather than be awesome yourself.

My Round
My round actually happened just this past Saturday in a mini-Deathwatch adventure that a friend was running. I was playing an offensively minded Imperial Fists tactical marine (yes, I know the Imp Fists are not as a whole offensively minded) and my kill team had been engaged in melee by a group of raveners. Not, melee wasn't working out too well for us. We were all only rank 1 so the fact that the Raveners had 2 attacks to our 1 reaction a round wasn't all that keen for us. Especially once the Assault marine got dropped by a particularly nasty series of attacks. Ranged combat though...that was a whole different story. After all, we'd come prepared for tyranids. All of us had at least 2 mags of Hellfire ammunition. My only problem was my hellfire ammo wasn't loaded in my gun yet.

So, what did I do?

First, I used my characters "Strike Team Leader" deed to call for the White Scars attack pattern for the round. The ability gives everyone an extra half action provided they take some movement action that round. Calling the formation is a free action so no costs there. Next, I did a full round disengage which safely moves you out of melee and gives you a Half Move action away from your opponent. Then, with the spare half action from squad mode I quick drew my bolter and rapid-reloaded in a mag of hellfire round.

All in all, nothing too special right? Except, the very next action was the psyker who had managed to disengage from melee earlier and was keeping the ravener at bay with a pole arm. Seeing me free, he unloaded with a storm bolter (also loaded with hellfire) into the ravener that had been attacking me. It died.

The next round with me out of melee and two bolters with hell fire ready to go we made short work of the remaining raveners and finished the mission. I really liked that one round because of two things. 1) I got to perform an action that was incredibly useful to the fight that involved no rolling of dice on my part, and 2) that little maneuver in a lot of ways made the difference between a lost fight and failed mission and the victory that we managed to achieve.

So, how about you? Any particularly fun combat rounds to share?

2 comments:

  1. This actually happened about a month back in a play by forum game, and I managed to not only set up an NPC for a cool action that won the fight, but almost certainly saved his life. A bit of back story first.

    My char is an ex-legionary fighter turned con-man in thieves guild. Due to my combat training I'm still considered a front rank fighter, but I would always be happier talking my way through things, or just tricking people. A totally non combat NPc and I found ourselves in a room trying to rescue someone, but there was a guard who was just as proficient as myself. With all advantage gone, and a fight more down to chance, I knew I had to be a bit clever.

    Especially because NPC - Magg - was about to throw a chair at the guard, and I'd just been slashed across the face. The guard could easily have finished Magg off after deflecting the chair, and then it would be back to a one-to-one fight again. So, I lurched backwards, and clutched at my face with my left hand, meaning I was blocking my own line of sight. the guard was a good enough soldier to see his opportunity and went in for the kill, meaning he was totally unprepared for the chair that struck him on his back. He turned quickly to see what had come at him from behind, and left himself wide open for a solid thrust under his breastplate that did enough damage to take him out of the fight.

    And being the gentleman that I am, I never Told Magg that it was a feint, instead praising him for saving the day by his timely action.

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  2. Playing an Illusionist surprised at close quarters, melee range, I was able to use a nearby tent to envelope several enemies and delay them long enough for the group fighters to get the upper hand. Heh, " controller" in deed.

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