The Book of Casual Rule: Knockback

[IAmBatman]

So basically, it can be done, it just takes a LOT of KB points ...

[Taeblewalker]

KB is a pretty efficient way to wound or kill Iron Man and such.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Taeblewalker

KB is a pretty efficient way to wound or kill Iron Man and such.

Out of curiosity, have you played with it or are you just theoryscaping? In my experience with it, it's not a very efficient way to do any damage unless you put your unit it a pretty exploitable situation adjacent to an enemy figure with superstrength and a big attack. The only place it's particularly nasty is on a lava map, but so is Jotun's throw.

[Drewman-chu]

I agree Bats. I have played with knockback on lots of lava maps and it really changes your strategy, because one wrong move and your dead.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Out of curiosity, have you played with it or are you just theoryscaping? In my experience with it, it's not a very efficient way to do any damage unless you put your unit it a pretty exploitable situation adjacent to an enemy figure with superstrength and a big attack. The only place it's particularly nasty is on a lava map, but so is Jotun's throw.

I've only played with it once, so I am theoryscaping. It seems in close quarters or in a crowd, it gives the attacker another way to wound a figure it couldn't wound for want of skulls exceeding shields. I was just picturing having a 4 Life hero roll all shields vs. 2 skulls, when the figure is two spaces from an ally, and the defending player say, "Oh no!"

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, I find that most of the time when you have an attack roll strong enough to knock someone back a significant amount the attack roll actually out and out kills that unit instead. But there are the rare instances of some significant KB. I think the most I've seen is four spaces. So if you happen to have a strong defensive figure that's subject to one of those attacks and blocks it, that defensive figure might move a few spaces back in a straight line. And then if that straight line happens to hold another of your figures on it close enough to be affected by the move, you've got a 50% chance on each of them to receive a wound.
So it has the potential to affect the game, but I really find it to be about as light a touch as engagement rules - you have to be careful about how you position your figures during engagement to avoid leaving engagement attacks and passing swipes and sometimes you can get burned by carelessness or bad luck, but most of the time your wounds still come from the attack itself and the rule only affects your movement strategy.

[Taeblewalker]

Fair enough.

[IAmBatman]

It can definitely be a nice bonus for super strong heroes, though. I've just never seen it used to kill a squad member, for instance, because any time a squad member would be knocked back when I was playing with these rules, he died instead.

[Taeblewalker]

One kill is as good as another.

[Griffin]

On page 2, I would like an addition to be made. The line in the KNOCKBACK MOVEMENT: section says "If you are unable to move the defending figure due to another figure, a special power, a glyph, a destructible object, an obstacle, or change in elevation, roll for Knockback Damage (KD)." I would like the highlighted addition to be added to that line so that when a figure cannot finish its Knockback Movement due to Stuck, Cyberclaw, Psionic Grip, future trapping Glyphs, etc., the figure must still roll for Knockback Damage.

[IAmBatman]

Works for me!

[GreyOwl]

I'll make the change as soon as I'm feeling better. I've been at home fighting strep throat for 3 days now...