The Stable ยท Chapter 4

Mounted Combat

The Turn

The mount acts on its rider's turn.

  1. The rider's maneuver moves the mount up to its Speed.
  2. The rider takes an action as usual.
  3. The mount may attack, if it is Battle-Trained and the rider directs it. See The Mount's Attack, below.

A rider fighting from the saddle against someone on foot at Engaged range adds 1 Boon Die to melee attacks. This does not apply against another rider, against anything of the mount's Scale or larger, or where there is no room to use the height.

The Charge

A rider charges when the mount moves at least two range bands in a straight line and the rider then makes a melee attack.

  • Add 1 Boon Die to the attack.
  • Add 2 damage, and 3 on a mount with Shock Mount.
  • A weapon with Momentum adds its Momentum damage as well: the mount's move counts as the wielder's.

Only a Battle-Trained mount charges. Any other shies at the last moment: the rider makes the attack with no bonus and adds 1 Bane Die.

A mount cannot charge in two turns running. It needs a round to turn and gather.

One charge bonus. A mount's own trait, a Universe's charging rule, and this rule are the same bonus and do not stack. A talent that improves a charge adds to it.

The Lance

A lance is couched under the arm and aimed with the horse. It attacks at Short range, at the end of a charge, as the rider passes.

  • A lance needs a war saddle and stirrups to couch.
  • It cannot attack at Engaged range. After the charge, most riders drop it.
  • On 2 Bane from a lance attack that hits, the lance breaks.

Receiving a Charge

A weapon with Brace adds its Brace damage against a charging rider or the mount, at the defender's choice, and the defender attacks first if the weapon has Reach.

A mount will not charge home against a line of braced spears or pikes without a Hard Riding check, Battle-Trained or not.

Shooting from the Saddle

A rider who shoots while the mount stands adds no penalty.

A rider who shoots in a turn the mount moved adds 1 Bane Die. A weapon made for the saddle ignores this: the Horse Bow of The Ranged Armory, and any pistol or carbine.

Reloading a weapon with Prepare takes 1 more maneuver in the saddle. A rider who is also steering with the knees, without a hand on the reins, makes an Easy Riding check to do anything that needs both hands.

The Mount's Attack

A Battle-Trained mount with a listed attack may use it once on its rider's turn, against a target Engaged with it. Directing the attack is a maneuver. The rider rolls it, using the mount's characteristics and the skill named in the attack at rank 2.

A mount that is not Battle-Trained attacks only when it is cornered or ridden down onto something, at the GM's choice.

Trample. A mount that charges through a target on foot, of smaller Scale, may make its Trample or hoof attack as it passes in place of its rider's attack.

Who Gets Hit

An attacker chooses the rider or the mount.

  • A rider gets no cover from an ordinary mount.
  • An attacker on foot, Engaged with a mount of Scale 3 or more, cannot reach its rider with a weapon that lacks Reach.
  • Blast and other area effects hit both.
  • An attack on the mount that deals Wounds forces a control check at Hard difficulty.

Vehicle-scale weapons. A mount is a creature. A weapon at vehicle scale multiplies its damage by ten against it, as against a person.

Unseating a Rider

An attacker may spend 2 Boons from a melee hit on a rider to try to unseat him or her. The rider makes a Riding check against a difficulty equal to the attacker's net Successes, to a maximum of Severe. On a failure the rider falls.

A weapon with Ensnare or Knockdown that triggers against a rider forces the same check at Average difficulty in place of its usual effect.

A war saddle adds 2 Boon Dice. A flight harness or water saddle makes the rider impossible to unseat, and impossible to throw clear.

Falling Off

The rider falls from Result
A standing or walking mount Prone
A moving mount of Scale 2 Prone, and an Average Reflexes check or 3 Wounds
A charging mount, or a mount of Scale 3 or more Prone, and a Hard Reflexes check or 5 Wounds
A flying mount See Chapter 5

A rider in armour of Encumbrance 4 or more adds 1 Bane Die to the Reflexes check.

When the Mount Goes Down

A mount whose Wounds reach its Wound Points collapses. Its rider falls as from a moving mount.

Pinned. On a Calamity from the Reflexes check, or 2 Bane, the rider is under the animal: Immobilized until an action and an Average Athletics check by the rider, or anyone helping, gets the rider clear. Under a mount of Scale 3 the check is Hard.

The mount is not dead. It is incapacitated, as any Elite is. After the fight a Hard Survival or Medicine check, or any healing magic, gets it on its feet at one Wound below its Wound Points. On a failure it cannot be saved. A mount that took a Critical Injury carries it, and a horse with a broken leg is finished whatever the dice say elsewhere.

Critical Injuries to Mounts

A mount suffers Critical Injuries as an Elite does, rolled on the core table. Read results for a rider's limbs as legs, and a result that would make a person drop what is held as the mount stumbling: its rider makes an Average Riding check or falls.

Fighting from a Platform

The crew of a howdah or a deck fight as if they were on foot on a small, moving floor. They make no Riding checks. Only the driver does.

  • They add 1 Bane Die to melee attacks against anyone on the ground, and cannot be reached from the ground without Reach.
  • They have light cover from an open howdah and heavy cover from Howdah Shields.
  • When the mount panics, charges, or falls, each of them makes an Average Reflexes check or is thrown out.

An Example

Marta rides a Light Warhorse (Speed 2, Battle-Trained) at Long range from a spearman. She spends her maneuver: Long to Medium counts as two bands, so she moves to Medium. She spends a second maneuver for 2 Strain: Medium to Short to Engaged, two bands in a straight line. It is a charge.

She attacks with a Sabre, which has Momentum 2. She adds 1 Boon Die, 2 damage for the charge, and 2 for Momentum. The spearman's Short Spear has Reach and Brace 2: he attacks first as she closes, and adds 2 damage.