Basic - interpreting "critical hit" rules.

Hi all,

Played a recent round of games with some old friends - in honesty, last time we played we were basically kids, and many mistakes were made in our interpretation of the rules.  As a result; we have discovered a difference of interpretation over critical hits.

Interpretation 1:
When a critical hit is scored (natural 6 'to hit'), a second D6 is then rolled to determine the severity of the crit.  Whatever the case, these wounds are immediately applied, and the defending player must roll to save (if permitted) and/or for injury.

In short - critical hits automatically wound!!


Interpretation 2:
When a critical hit is scored (natural 6 'to hit'), a second D6 is then rolled to determine the severity of the crit.  The attacker then rolls once on the Strength VS Toughness chart 'to wound', and applies the result of their crit to the subsequent wound.  The defending player must then roll for armour saves (if permitted) and/or for injury.

In short - critical hits are decided in the 'to hit' phase, but only gain their effect after a successful 'to wound' roll.

By my logic it should be the second approach - otherwise (as we quickly discovered) critical hits are statistically overpowered, particularly against warbands that budget for toughness.

What is the thinking in the community??

Cheers,

Skaal.

Both wrong. It is called  a critical hit but it's actually a critical wound. You roll to hit. Then, every hit you made, you roll to wound. Whenever there is one or more 6s when you roll to wound, you've scored a "critical hit". If you scored a critical hit/wound, next you roll on a chart to see what happens. There are two charts in the book. The first, simple chart can be found under shooting, but counts for close combat too. Second, the "new critical hit charts" are at the end of the book under optional rules. The latter is more fun and takes into account what type of weapon you use.

Or to quote the book, pg16, underlining by me:

Quote :

"critical hits
If you roll a 6 when rolling to wound (for hand-to-hand and shooting only) you will cause a critical hit. Roll a D6 and consult the Critical Hit chart below..."

Wow.

Okay - looks like we had it all wrong.
Like I say, dumb kids : )
Coming back now we are still misled by our original memory of the rules.

Thanks for the input - that is a massive help.

Cheers,

Skaal.

Never mind, it feels like I find new stuff I played wrong for years every other week after joining a new gaming group...

(But not this rule )

Worth to note that you cant cause a critical if you needed to roll a 6 to to wound the opponent's warrior. Also Only one critical hit can be achived in one combat round.

In addition, if the attacker normally needs 6s to wound his target, he cannot cause a critical hit. His opponent is simply too tough to suffer a serious injury at the hands of such a puny creature!

Each warrior may only cause one critical hit in each hand-to-hand combat phase (see the Close Combat section), so if he has several attacks, the first 6 you roll to wound will cause a critical hit.

Living core rule book page 16.

Yes, yes on the point.
+Friendly advice: thrusting and bludgeoning (and when used flexible weapons) has the best crit table.

What's flexible weapons? Where can I find those?

FLEXABLE WEAPONS
(Whips, Ropes, Chains, Morningstars etc) <we do not used morningstars, and maybe whe stick in this case in the bludgeon table)
1-2 Entangle. The weapon has wrapped around the target's body or legs, allowing the wielder to pull the target off-balance. One wound is caused as normal, with armor saves, and the target also receives a Knocked Down result if it fails a Strength roll, which is not subject to armor saves, but may be affected by special saves or skills.
3-4 Whiplash! The weapon inflicts a stinging blow, causing two wounds instead of one. Armor saves as normal.
[5] Disarm. Your opponent's weapon is entangled and wrenched from his hand. If he is carrying two weapons, roll to see which one he loses. Roll to wound and take armor saves as normal.
[6] Choke! The weapon has wrapped around the target's neck. Roll two wounds, ignoring armor saves, with +2 to any Injury rolls.

< i will try and find the original source>

LOD (Letters of the Damned) page 19.