Necromunda Style Close Combat

I have been condensing the Mordheim Rulebook (and all of my groups house rules) into a single document, and I came across an interesting idea - a note I scribbled down on the edge of my OneNote file some three or four years ago. What if one substituted the Mordheim combat system for the Necromunda one. I am not talking about changing the way knock downs and stuns work, just the way hits and wounds are resolved.

I will assume you are familiar with Mordheim's combat system. I don't know if I am allowed to copy the entire mechanic over from Necromunda, for fear of violating copyright laws, but they can be found inthis document on the GW website.

Has anyone tried such a conversion? I feel like this would make close combat much more brutal and short lived, while boosting the usefulness of armor. This would require some changes in how the weapon special rules work as well, but it could be interesting.

The issue with the NM combat skills is that it makes combat far more random, differences in WS become less of an issue.

NM is much more shooting orientated and takes the place of combat in MH. Cover and Pinning are much more important. Without them fights would be short and tactics would be less interesting. Combat is quick, brutal and dangerous to both sides unless there's a big difference in stats and gear.

As combat is MH's mainstay, quickening it and making it more random would (I think) detract from the style of the game. Most of the time fights do take time to conclude, as they would. Having nearly all combats being resolved in a single round would detract from the way game plays.

Not to mention that multiple combats can get very complicated very fast (anyone remember combat in 2nd Ed. 40k?). They slow the game to a crawl and can be quite frustrating.

God in heaven, the combat & stunned systems were the WORST in necro. When I played necro for the first time, it was the one thing that had me blinking with disbelief. It may reduce a step or two from the Mord system, but what it loses in rolling time, or more than gains back in figuring out "okay, HOW many dice do I roll again?"

The shooting, however- there were a few nuggets with the Necro shooting that I found interesting.

Honestly, I think quicker, more brutal combat might be more realistic. Watching duels between HEMA experts, they tend to end in only four or five attacks back and forth.

I don't really see Necromunda's combat system as trickier. Attack dice couldn't be simpler: 1 attack, 1 die, +1 for an offhand weapon. I would just resolve multiple combats as individual combats in a series, with a +1 bonus to each attacker. However, I do agree that it would change the pace of the game significantly, and I am trying to decide whether that would be for the better or for the worst.

Note that I would not be including the stunning system. Injuries and wounds would work just as they do normally. Close combat would just tend to deliver more of them.

Looking back at the rules more closely, I think my favorite part is the change to parry. Do you think being able to force your opponent to reroll his attack could work in Mordheim?

Horatio wrote:

tend to end in only four or five attacks back and forth.

Probably personal preference, but this is what I like about the MH system, 'duels' between fighters rather than one person suddenly getting five hits on the other and taking them out without any fighting.

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I don't really see Necromunda's combat system as trickier. Attack dice couldn't be simpler: 1 attack, 1 die, +1 for an offhand weapon.

It's not so much the number of dice as the bonuses.

'OK, I'm WS3, but you're WS 4, but I charged, and you're behind and obstacle, but I've got a heavy weapon, and you've got Skill 'XXXX'.'

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I would just resolve multiple combats as individual combats in a series, with a +1 bonus to each attacker.

True enough.

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Looking back at the rules more closely, I think my favorite part is the change to parry. Do you think being able to force your opponent to reroll his attack could work in Mordheim?

It's a whole lot better than the current MH system, which it's rarely worth paying the price for, especially with the other weapons out there.

I think its funny my groups did the exact opposite during our last Necro Campaign and used the Mordheim close combat system instead of the published rules. We also used the Mordheim injury tables as the flesh wound system always seemed to slow our games down horribly as you wind up with characters crawling around the board waitng to either recover or go out of action. I really think that in those two aspects Mordheim has a better system. I do however wish I could pull some of the special rules from Necromunda over to Mordheim (I'm looking at you overwatch).