Tactical movement to avoid opportunity attacks

[UnknownAtThisTime]

On the grid it may seem silly or cheesy, but from what I know of historical combat, it wasn't all that far-fetched. I will try to dig up the link to support it, but for now a description will suffice.

Basically the gist of it was, two combatants would close rapidly (i.e. charge) and fight furiously for a short span (less than a minute), then if neither opponent were killed, when one or both were tired, they would disengage for a moment, circling each other, getting their wind back, until they came charging back in to fight again.

No amount of history or sensible explanations will make me change my mind!

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Haha, as you will then. Here is the link, in case you want to know what your players might throw at you as excuses for cheesy tactical behaviour

Hurstwic: Viking Sword and Shield Combat Techniques

 

[UnknownAtThisTime]

 

[DNH]

Rules Compendium says the end of a charge has to be at least 2 squares from the 'starting position'.

The RC also states that every square of movement in a charge action has to bring the character closer to its target ... My players stretch that a little too.

Just been re-reading this thread and I have revised my attitude a bit. Thanks to Nemesis Destiny for that interesting Viking combat link and thanks to everyone for your comments. I am now fine with this kind of behaviour, looking on it as both a sort of abstract and also a very basic avoidance tactic.

That just leaves me with stopping them from planning everything together in detail every turn. *sigh*

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Just been re-reading this thread and I have revised my attitude a bit. Thanks to Nemesis Destiny for that interesting Viking combat link and thanks to everyone for your comments. I am now fine with this kind of behaviour, looking on it as both a sort of abstract and also a very basic avoidance tactic.

You're most welcome

Hurstwic has a ton of interesting reading available on the topic of authentic medieval combat techniques. They focus on Vikings, but they are clearly well versed in other European cultures' fighting styles as well.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I have seen it happen where a character skirts around the battlefield in a preposterously wide arc in order to avoid the enemy’s threat range. Or there’s the whole shift-out-of-threat-range-then-move-around tactic.
I can argue this whole thing both ways, come to think about it, so I am wondering what anyone else thinks.

I don't know how preposterously wide you could get with the usual 5-7 squares of movment a PC gets. 'Circling' eachother is certainly something that seems to happen on the big screen, in boxing matches, at SCA demos and the like. Seems reasonable for an RPG to try to capture that.

 

[SSquirrel]

My Halfling Rogue will circle around for an optimal attack or charge, but if I'm in combat and surrounded and I want to move out, nothing stops me from doing it anyway. I get a +6 vs OAs heh

 

[wlmartin]

I dont see the problem avoiding OAs, its quite natural and in a FPS you would do the same (ie move around the area to get behind the opponent instead of straffing right by them)

OAs work, some people hate them but they work plain simple.