River/canal rules

I seem to remember reading a rule (think it might have been in a town cryer ) about rules if a mini falls in a river or other water body.

Does any body happen to know what they are? or what do you use as a house rule.

I have never played with water rules, but there are some river rules in the Empire in Flames setting, maby you should have a look at them.

-Skavenslayer

We have a bunch of House rules:


Models may jump in voluntary, or fall into the water (knocked down/stunned near the edge, fail a jump, etc.)

if wearing armor, a strength check is in order for every turn the model is in the water, or it sinks down automatically.

in case of being knocked down/stunned, take an initiative test - you fail, you sink.

Models may spend one turn underwater (due to failing strength or initiative tests) but when they fail to resurface the following turn, they drown... and even though seeing lots of hallucinations while drowning, its not a good thing to do on a daily basis...
When drowned... place a memorial around the riverside or canal (he's DEAD! not out of action, DEAD!)

When a model falls into water, it's dragged along with the current, (agree on this before hand - direction and speed - our canals usually run at about 3" per turn) he may swim half his movement in any direction untill he gets out. (NO marching!)

A model can only climb out on locations which are no higher than 1" from the water, or have ladders, steps, or sloping sites.

Obviously, random encounters make the whole swimming part a lot cooler! - You've encountered a lot of piranha's/sharks/deamonfish/ turtles? -work out rules for these yourself, as we haven't really playtested any of these.

we've tried some things where models loose their weaponry and shields when they fall into the water, but that becomes a lot of work to keep track of.... so we decided not to use it.

thanks Ezekiel, they sound familiar, and a lot like what i remember

I guess if the river happens to go off the playing board, and they dont get out by then they are taken OOA

We use a "reverse armour save" for swimming models rather than a strength test. If a model in the water passes it armour save it is taken out-of-action (and a 6 always drowns). The more armour a model wears the harder it is to swim!

Reverse armour save sounds like a very clever solution to the problem.
Thanks WBK!

it does indeed! stays more true to the actual armour being heavy... I'll try this next time!

However, I think a S4 orc might find it easier to swim with light armour than a S3 human. Thus, a strenth modifier could be nice...

For example, you could do an unmodified strength test for light armour, add a -1 modifier for heavy armour/shield etc.

Just some thoughts, though.

Eliazar wrote:

However, I think a S4 orc might find it easier to swim with light armour than a S3 human. Thus, a strenth modifier could be nice...

For example, you could do an unmodified strength test for light armour, add a -1 modifier for heavy armour/shield etc.

Just some thoughts, though.

Or, using the reversed armour save, modify the save as though it was struck with the strength of the would-be swimmer!

maybe an option to drop your shield while swimming so it's easier to roll, but you won't get it back (5gc is always cheaper then a whole model )

the whole dropping items part just took too long in keeping track of it though... (see what Items he dropped (swords are rather cumbersome as well, as are big ass hammers and such... whereas a flail made of wood floats! as does a shield...

and a leather armour suit works a bit like a wetsuit! nice and warm! haha

just too much to keep track of, specially seeing as it doesn't happen that often...

Ezekiel wrote:

just too much to keep track of, specially seeing as it doesn't happen that often...

just make more canals , and maybe remove some bridges so more guys will try to jump

Ezekiel wrote:

whereas a flail made of wood floats!

lol, the handle is wood, but I can guarantee it doesn't float. The ball of steel on the end will definitely drag it down : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Klassischer-Flegel.jpg

... not that it matters =]

Well, I'd say it depends whether you buy the beautiful "all-wood-and-leather-peasant's-flail" edition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dreschflegel.jpg) or rather the "I'll-smash-your-face-with-a-spiky-ball-warrior's-flail" edition as you have shown.

I was referring to the one Eliazar posted indeed...

it may not support your full weight, but it floats a little bit... specially when made of balsa! though that would seriously not get the +2 strenght bonus... as it's more likely to dent like a cushion or snap off..

Hahaha, I stand (partially) corrected. I didn't think that actually existed, or would count as a weapon. And I really don't think you'll get +2 strength on a weapon that probably weighs less than a club lol

As far as I know, peasants actually used their flails in combat, as they used forks and all their farming stuff. I've got an old GDR poster of Thomas Müntzer holding a speech at some peasants uprising, I will check there if the artist also portrayed wooden flails;)