So, who bought the RQ6 rules?

[danskmacabre]

A good historical example is the "Verlorener Haufen" (= approximately
"lost bunch") of the Renaissance, the unit with the task to charge for-
mations in order to break them up for the attack of the main force. Its
members earned double pay, but this was usually not enough to recruit
a sufficient unit, so soldiers sentenced to death were added, with a pro-
mise to be set free if they survived the battle - which they only rarely
did, because in most cases the charging "Verlorener Haufen" was indeed
lost. Being a "charger" and serving under the red "Blutfahne" (= "blood
flag") of the army's "Verlorener Haufen" was by far the most dangerous,
almost suicidal job a soldier could get.

That's quite a specific example and specific to mass battle and by the looks of it, they were used against Pike blocks..
Charging a pike block with small weapons is pretty suicidal.
The same goes for "The forlorn hope" units put together in the the napoleonic wars to assault walls that have just been breached. Again suicidal as they're facing cannons and musket fire.

However RQ6 and many other RPGs are portraying much earlier periods and smaller battles anyway.

Of course you need to use tactics and apply a charge intelligently it's not some perfect attack and a tactical panacea.

When running an RPG, for the most part battles are very quick, small battles, where there's no large formations of troops and so on. It would make sense to get into battle as quick as possible and try to charge someone down if you're quicker than them. That extra momentum makes a big difference.

 

[danskmacabre]

Just on the subject of charging - and this will be the last I say on it on this forum, certainly - there are a few things worth pointing out.

Hi I'll just post a quick reply as you have stated you've posted your last word on the subject so it seems pointless to formulate a long detailed answer as I can see the discussion is over as far as you're concerned.

I will say as my final words however almost all of what you typed is referring to mass battles.
Certainly in RQ games (and other RPGs) the vast majority of the battles are small affairs. No huge battles, large shield walls, fully armored opponents (of which an army is unlikely to have 100% heavily armored opponents anyway).
Charging in mass battles of course has to be applied tactically.
If wouldn't charge an heavily armored unit, and certainly not as an individual unless there was some good reason to do so (suicidal charge to allow others to follow through knowing it was suicidal) but I might would probably want to put a heavy unit together to attack a more lightly armored part of a formation or one that was in trouble already or whatever.
I wouldn't send say a charging unit against a pikeblock, but I would rain missile fire down on them (for example)...

Charging someone in a small skirmish makes a lot of sense, you can knock someone prone just using your momentum, which can be very considerable if you ARE wearing heavy armor.
That and I don't think making a charge harder to perform (according to RQ6 rules you're at a penalty when charging). If anything I believe that initial charge should give you a bonus.

Anyway, like I said we can just agree to disagree. I really like RQ6 and I can easily use my own houserules for charging and just leave it at that.

 

[Lemnoc]

Ordered the book/PDF package. Trawled the PDF with plans for an in-depth read later.

Looks excellent, high quality. Almost makes me giddy it is so complete. Writing is clear and competent, and several prickly matters of combat and movement seem cleaner and clearer.

 

[Prime_Evil]

Ordered the book/PDF package. Trawled the PDF with plans for an in-depth read later.

Looks excellent, high quality. Almost makes me giddy it is so complete. Writing is clear and competent, and several prickly matters of combat and movement seem cleaner and clearer.

There are definitely some areas where the rules have been clarified. I'm happy that the two games are still fairly compatible with each other. However, this means that I'll need to buy the books released for both systems...