Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Mark Stone]

Quoting WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com:

> the wording would have to be something like 4.52"the march must take the
> shortest possible path towards that enemy. This move must include dropping
> elements to pass a gap if necessary. An approach move of at least 40p
> directly towards some enemy body also qualifies as an advance."

This way madness lies.

If you change the rule -- and Jon, you would be changing it -- to say "shortest
path" you are going to (a) open up a can of worms that took years to close when
we sought for similar language about scythed chariots, and (b) plunge us into
one of the ugliest and most awkward aspects of DBM, namely figuring out what
counts as "shortest path" or "directly towards".

I can think of no reason, in terms of either realism or game mechanics, why a
body should be required to move directly towards, rather than generally towards,
an enemy body.

Clear rules often have minor unintended consequences. Trying to anticipate or
eliminate all of those is what made TOG unclear. It's a _game_, guys. A certain
amount of gamesmanship is going to happen. Let it be.


-Mark

[joncleaves]

In a message dated Wed, 6 Nov 2002 15:56:54 +0000, mark@...
writes:

> If you change the rule -- and Jon, you would be changing it -- to say
"shortest
> path" you are going to (a) open up a can of worms that took years to close
when
> we sought for similar language about scythed chariots, and (b) plunge us into
> one of the ugliest and most awkward aspects of DBM, namely
> figuring out what
> counts as "shortest path" or "directly towards".>>

No worries, Mark. I am perfectly satisfied that the rule says exactly what it
needs to say. Certainly there is language in the Warrior rulebook I am not
proud of. But 4.52 isn't one of those situations. If I do anything at all in
the clarifications with 4.52, and no decision has been made yet, it will be to
ensure the reader knows what is meant by 'maximum' and 'entirely'. The issue
is, I don't yet see other words that express those concepts better than what is
there already.