Combat in Steel Age

A worked exampleA Fight in Three Rounds ◇

Who takes control of the exchange, and what it costs the other man to take it back.

A fight in Steel Age turns on control of the exchange. Two rolls decide it. The Engagement Clash is a contest for control: both fighters roll, and the winner holds Momentum over the other. The Momentum Press is what control is for, and only its holder may make one. It is an attempt to turn the advantage into a landed blow, which the defender resists.

When a press lands, the damage comes out of the same dice that landed it. There is no damage roll in this game; the margin is the wound. Control persists. End a round holding Momentum and you do not fight for it again; you go straight to the press, and your opponent cannot press until your Momentum breaks.

Every round runs the same three parts in the same order. Who may act in each depends on the combatant’s state when their turn comes up. An Unengaged fighter acts twice, once in the Opening and once in the Closing. An Engaged fighter acts only in the melee, and takes no turn in the other two parts.

The other half of the system is what a fight costs. Armor does not make a man harder to hit; it decides whether a hit wounds him or only tires him, which is why a man in mail can be beaten without ever being cut. Every blow that lands leaves Fatigue, and so does every blow the armor turns aside. Each point is a point off everything that fighter does for the rest of the fight, and it does not lift between rounds.

How it works ◇ The Combat Round · Melee Resolution · Ranged Combat