Combat oddities: Tactical situation vs. Combat i.e. segments vs. phases vs. rounds

Combat oddities: Tactical situation vs. Combat i.e. segments vs. phases vs. rounds - Printable Version

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+---- Thread: Combat oddities: Tactical situation vs. Combat i.e. segments vs. phases vs. rounds (/showthread.php?tid=3110)

Combat oddities: Tactical situation vs. Combat i.e. segments vs. phases vs. rounds - NeonNecromancer - 06-16-2023

So, I finally reread the Outdoor Encounters section (while procrastinating at work) and the section Tactical & Strategic Movement in the Game (pg. 36) appears to contradict how combat works in the section called The Combat Matrix in the Basic Game (pg. 47).

Perhaps this is an oversight, a series of vague typos, or alternate rules.

Here's the relevant "Tactical situation" text with my line breaks:

Quote:When an encounter occurs and a melee fight (hand-to-hand combat) begins, the following guidelines should be used:

Each melee round is divided into three sigments.{sic}

All movements are considered to be at a "run," so each player may move up to 1/2 their normal movement in a melee segment.

Each round consists of an exchange of blows with the players' weapons. All creatures may also attack once per melee segment (unless otherwise noted or restricted).

Players can be attacked by more than one opponent at a time; the referee should be guided by the actual placement of the figures on a paper drawing or as set up using miniatures on a table top for deciding how many opponents can engage each figure as the hand-to-hand fighting starts. (The referee should keep in mind the actual dimensions of the area where the encounter is taking place, i.e., a 20' wide tunnel is only some 2" wide on the sketch or table top).

After each hand-to-hand round, the players may move any characters that are not engaged in fighting hand-to-hand; those engages may not move.

Whenever the figures move within 1/2" of each other on the sketch or table top, they are considered to be engaged in hand-to-hand combat until someone wins. Any archery, missile fire, magic spells, etc. that are directed into a melee will have the chance of striking all characters and creatures in that fight. Thus both friend and foe can be laid low by an ill-directed cast or arrow shoot.

This says melee is a round with three segments where the character can either move or engage in melee.

Now, in The Combat Matrix section:

Quote:Combat Segment Sequence:
A) Magic Point Allocation
B) Elf/Split Move Option
C) Normal Movement
D) Missile Fire
E) Magic Effect
F) Normal Combat

So, here we have a list of segments that are nothing similar to the Tactical section.

Quote:Phases are done sequentially from A to F.

First reference to the things just labeled as segments as phases.

The follow up text has some bad formatting, but here's my transcription with my comments:

Quote:A) The Magic Point allocation phase {snip...}. The magic user may not move until the spell goes into effect.
For split move & fire
B) May fire and then...may move the playing piece as per!!!

Formatting doesn't help, but appears to mean simply elves can missile fire and then move as normal

Quote:C) Move playing piece (see movement section)

Fun fact: there is no movement section! Unless they mean Tactical & Strategic Movement in the Game, which contradicts with this section.

Quote:D) All normal missile fire takes place. Units that fired during step 'B' will normally not be allowed to fire during this phase of the turn.
E) Magic spells may take effect (see also Phase 'A')

More usage of phase.

Quote:F) Normal combat is resolved (see Combat Section)

There is no "Combat Section", or rather we are currently in it. Perhaps means the start / How It Works.

There is one additional reference to segments vs. rounds:

Quote:Stamina (Constitution)
This number / 5 equals the number of segments or melee rounds that he character can engage in without becoming fatigued.

This seems to imply that segments and melee rounds are the same. But then again, we talking Combat or Tactical segments?

So, our options from the text:

A melee round has 3 segments of movement and/or melee
A "turn" (no term technically used) is a series of segments which are the same as phases
A segment is a melee round

Only way I can think to fix all this is to get a Ouija board and contact Arneson or Snider and see what they say.

RE: Combat oddities: Tactical situation vs. Combat i.e. segments vs. phases vs. rounds - aldarron - 06-28-2025

I'm not seeing any contradiction. Maybe you can point to it specifically?

Are you referring to the split fire rule? That's just providing an exception to the usual rule of movement/engagement.

The combat section (A-F) just gives a more detailed breakdown of the exchange of blows.

Also, why are you overthinking the segments/rounds terms? Its pretty clear the terms are interchangeable. There's even that one line where the rule is repeated using each term. Think of it this way; each turn is segmented into three rounds, roughly giving the player 10 seconds to act and the opponent 10 seconds to act, or 20 seconds if you think of it as simultaneous.