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= Mail and Steel Sample Combat =
 
== Our Armies == 
 
=== Army #1 ===
 
Led by the Solar Resplendent Lotus 
 
Strength 3 
Dexterity 4 
Charisma 5 
 
Melee 3 
Archery 2 
Dodge 4 
Presence 4 

Essence 3 
Valor 4 
 
Soak 10B/6L 
 
Eight health levels 
 
Orichalcum Daiklave Spd +7 Acc +4 Dam +6L Def +3 Rate 6 
Composite Bow Acc +0 Rate 4 
 
Commanding four Dragons of Tiger Warriors 
Magnitude 7 
Melee +4/+3 dmg 
Ranged +2/ +1 dmg 
Armor +4 
Drill 5 
Might 0 
Valor 5 
 
7 relays
a Terrestrial sorcerer
a Terrestrial archer (sorcerer)
five heroic mortal heroes 
 
=== Army #2 ===
  
Led by the Lunar Killing-Tusks 
 
Strength 9 
Dexterity 6 
Charisma 2 
 
Melee 4 
Archery 1 
Dodge 3 
Presence 5 
 
Essence 3 
Valor 4 
 
Soak 16B/12L 
 
Ten health levels 
 
Savage Moonsilver Talons Spd +2 Acc +3 Dmg +7L Def +2 Rate 7 
 
Commanding a Horde of Elephant Beastmen 
Magnitude 4 (2 for numbers, +2 for health levels) 
Melee +3/+4 dmg 
Ranged +1/ +0 dmg 
Armor +5 
Drill 2 
Might 1 
Valor 4
 
6 relays 
2 heroes (various mortal barbarians) 
 
== The Combat ==

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: <i>Resplendent Lotus stood, the bloody sun setting to her back, and gazed across the open plain at the brutal beasts who had terrorized this land. Yesterday, an entire village had been trampled to dust. But no more villages would suffer the fate of that one. "I will stand for your reign of terror no longer, beast-man," she thought aloud. "This land is under my protection." With that, she raised her sword and directed her men forward. At a word from their anointed leader, the Tiger Warriors of the First Reborn Legion of the Triumphantly Unconquered Sun sprung to life and began to charge forward.  </i>

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The armies of Resplendent Lotus (a Zenith general) and Killing-Tusks (a Full-Moon with a tribe of beastmen) are facing off against one another in the open fields of the Southeast, where Killing-Tusks' barbarians have been raiding and slaughtering. The two armies are facing each other over open terrain providing 0% cover. Both armies are in Relaxed Order. The armies begin 700 yards away from one another.  
 
=== Long Turn #1 ===
 
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: <i>Killing-Tusks had not prepared for this day. As a noble barbarian, he knew that these lands and their bountiful riches were his birthright -- not to be taken or spoiled by any thin, sickly veneer of civilization. As one of Luna's Chosen, he knew the power to take it was his -- and so, he and his beautiful, ivory-tusked children had begun to take what was theirs. But he had not known that such a creature as this -- just as the Elders spoke of -- had come to these lands. He knew, suddenly, the true difficulty of his chosen task.</i> 
 
: <i>Ah well, he thought. This will be a challenge worthy of my skills. </i>
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The opposing armies roll initiative. Resplendent Lotus' base is 9, and she rolls 8, then subtracts 2 -- the difference between her Magnitude and Drill -- for a total of 15. Killing-Tusks's base is 7, and he rolls a 4, then subtracts his (Magnitude - Drill) of 2, giving him a total of 9. As the slowest, Killing-Tusks gets to move first, and Resplendent Lotus does not interrupt. Killing-Tusks moves his army the full movement towards Resplendent Lotus -- 360 yards. Normally Killing-Tusks's army would lose one fatigue point for moving, but since neither the army nor Killing-Tusks is wearing armor with a fatigue rating, the base difficulty of Killing-Tusks's reflexive Charisma + Presence roll to avoid it is 0 -- he succeeds automatically.  
 
Resplendent Lotus then takes her movement. She chooses to move her army a total of 140 yards. This leaves 200 yards between the two -- within the range of Resplendent Lotus' long bows. Resplendent Lotus and her army are both wearing armor with fatigue value 1; however, since her army has an effective Valor of 3+, she recieves -1 difficulty to the roll; she also succeeds automatically. Resplendent Lotus will not be required to make a roll to avoid fatigue until her army is in contact with the enemy, bringing her difficulty up to 1. 
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: <i>As the massive tuskmen barrelled down the field, towards Resplendent Lotus' front line, she calmly rode amongst her men. "Legionnaires, ready bows!" "Bows ready, SIR!" was the instant, unison reply. " "Ready arrows!" "Arrows ready, SIR!"  </i>
 
: <i>She gazed into the face of the enemy -- and saw the bloodstained tusks that awaited her. </i>
 
: <i>"Fire!"  </i>
 
: <i>The Tiger Warriors loosed their arrows, and in a black cloud they descended upon the beastmen. With a sinking feeling, Resplendent Lotus watched as the arrows fell amongst them with little effect. She raised her hand steadily nonetheless, and ordered another volley. Now, as the elephantine horrors closed upon them, her men began to find their mark -- and in the front row, several beastmen stumbled and fell.  </i>
 
: <i>"They're getting closer, men! Draw swords and prepare to close with the enemy!"  </i>
 
: <i>She then signalled to Peleps Trelind, the Dragon-Blooded she had swayed to her banner some months ago. She had need of his services now. </i>
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During the first combat sequence, Resplendent Lotus makes an archery attack. Her base pool for this is her Dexterity + Archery pool of 6. To this, she can add her army's ranged attack bonus of +2 successes. In addition, because her army is larger, she can add automatic successes equal to the difference in magnitude -- an additional +3 successes. Resplendent Lotus' Might is 0, so it doesn't modify this attack. 
 
Rolling her attack, Resplendent Lotus gets two successes. Adding her automatic successes, she has a total of seven. Seeing this, Killing-Tusks decides to dodge the attack. With a Dexterity of 6, a Dodge of 3, and an Essence of 3, he has 12 dice to defend with. He rolls eight successes -- enough to completely blunt the attack. 
Nevertheless, being subject to a ranged attack, Killing-Tusks must make a Valor check at difficulty 1 to avoid hesitation. He rolls 1 success -- enough to keep his warriors from blanching. 
 
During the second combat sequence, she attacks again. This time, she gets only one success on her die roll, for a total of 6 attack successes. Killing-Tusks chooses to dodge again, this time getting only 4 successes -- not enough to keep from taking damage!  
 
RL's raw damage is equal to her Strength of 3, plus 2 for broadhead arrows, plus 1 for Ranged Damage rating, plus 3 for Magnitude bonus, plus her two remaining successes -- a total of 11. However, Killing-Tusks has a total of 17 lethal soak once his army's Armor rating is factored in, more than enough to reduce the attack's damage to minimum. Minimum damage is equal to a unit's Magnitude, so Resplendent Lotus rolls 7 dice for damage. She gets 4 successes, which are marked down against Killing-Tusks's health levels. 
 
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: <i>The humans' pitiful arrows bounced off the rugged hides of Killing-Tusks' beastmen and fell between their ranks. He laughed, a deep, malevolent laugh, to see his kind unthreatened by what this Solar could bring to bear. Perhaps they were not as mighty as the Elders claimed, after all. He looked forward to taking her head as a trophy.  </i>
 
: <i>"They hold no threat to us! Crush them underfoot, leave none alive!" he bellowed, and his warriors pressed on with vigor.  </i>
 
: <i>But as they charged, however, a flash of brilliant light shot up amongst the ranks of his enemy. Moments later,  Killing-Tusks saw something entirely unexpected, that put pause to even his brave elephant warriors: the sight of jet black wings, silhouetted on the setting sun.  </i>
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During the third and final combat sequence, Resplendent Lotus chooses to let her Terrestrial sorcerer attack in her stead. He chooses to unleash the Death of Obsidian Butterflies. He rolls as normal, rolling his Perception of 3 plus his Occult of 5 for a total of 5 successes. He adds his Permanent Essence of 3, getting a total of 8 successes. Killing-Tusks attempts one more dodge, but scores only 5 successes -- not nearly enough. The total damage is 11L -- which is soaked by Killing-Tusks's soak and Armor. The sorcerer rolls his three dice of minimum damage, scoring two successes.  
 
Since Killing-Tusks's army was the subject of a Terrestrial sorcery spell, they must make a Valor roll at +1 difficulty. Killing-Tusks rolls only 1 success -- not enough. This means that Killing-Tusks's army hesitates -- losing any remaining actions this long turn. In addition, Killing-Tusks has to make a Charisma + Presence roll to keep his army from routing. On this roll, Killing-Tusks subtracts dice equal to (Magnitude - Drill) -- in this case, two. On his remaining five dice, Killing-Tusks rolls two successes, enough to keep any of his troops from routing. 
 
At this point, long turn 1 is concluded.

=== Long Turn #2 ===

New initiative is rolled for the next long turn. Resplendent Lotus gets a total of 14, while Killing-Tusks gets his maximum possible initiative of 15.  
 
As such, Resplendent Lotus may move first. Seeing no other particular option, she uses her movement action to advance her army the rest of the way to close in Hand-to-Hand combat with Killing-Tusks's army.  
 
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: <i>Resplendent Lotus saw the beastmen falter for a moment when the Butterflies cut through their ranks, and she hoped that they might fail. But then she saw their leader stand before them, and trumpet out a call that filled the air -- and suddenly there was no more hesitation, just the bloodlust she had seen moments before. She knew that her men were growing uneasy at the sight of this belligerent, inhuman foe, and she worried their resolve might fail at the last moment. So she gathered herself up, drew her sword, and rode out before the front line. "These brutes shall feel the wrath of the Unconquered Sun!" she shouted, and her men cheered behind her.  </i>
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At this point, each army must make a Valor check due to entering Hand-to-Hand combat with another unit. This is at difficulty +1 for Killing-Tusks, since his unit is entering combat with a unit led by a supernatural being; for Resplendent Lotus, it is at +2, because they are entering combat with a unit composed entirely of supernatural beings. Killing-Tusks manages to roll two successes -- exactly as many as needed. Resplendent Lotus spends a temporary willpower point, which, added to her two successes, is enough to prevent hesitation on her part as well. 
 
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: <i>As his beastmen crashed into the Solar's front lines, Killing-Tusks trumpeted louder and louder, whipping his head about to gaze upon the glory of his warriors crushing the opposition before them. He watched his own front line -- the greatest, largest, cruelest warriors he had selected himself -- as they raised up their great feet to smash down upon the thin skulls of the pitiful human warriors.  </i>
 
: <i>But at that moment, the Solar bitch rode up to the front, and raised her weapon aloft -- and like one, each of her men did the same. And the hooves of his great warriors came down, not upon thin fragile skulls, but upon cold, deadly steel. </i>
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Now Killing-Tusks gets to act. He elects to split his dicepool three ways, attacking once and saving two parries. His attack is at a base of 14 dice -- Dexterity 6 + Melee 4 + Accuracy 3 + Might 1. He rolls an uncanny eight successes, to which he adds the three successes granted by his unit's Hand-to-Hand, then subtracts a Magnitude Difference of 3.  
 
Resplendent Lotus activates Heavenly Guardian Defense. Oh well. 
 
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: <i>For a moment, their great enemy, so fearsome and determined, seemed just the slightest bit surprised -- as her men's wall of swords held off their initial charge. Resplendent Lotus immediately took advantage of the situation. </i>
 
: <i>"Rank two, charge! Rank three, charge! Don't let them get back on their guard! Go!" </i>
 
: <i>Her warriors made no hesitation in leaping to the opening the defense had provided them. As the sun slipped over the horizon, the bloody sky was replaced with the bloody ground, as the swords of her men lay the beastmen low.  </i>
 
: <i>It took only seconds for her men to lay into the first tuskmen, but their work was thorough nonetheless -- the entire front line died in those few seconds. A few seconds later, and the beastmen seemed to have lost their fire -- the flanks of their formation began to break and scatter.  </i>
 
: Oh good, <i> thought Resplendent Lotus.</i> This won't be quite so hard after all. 
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Now it's Resplendent Lotus' action. She splits her action three ways. She has a base dicepool of 8 for the first attack, with a Dexterity of 4, a Melee of 3, and an Accuracy of 4, minus multiple action penalty. She also receives +3 successes from her unit's Magnitude, and +4 from her unit's Melee skill. On her roll, she snags 4 successes -- bringing her to a total of 11. Killing-Tusks rolls a parry at 9 dice, scoring 5 successes. That still leaves Resplendent Lotus with 6, however. Her base damage is 18L, which is once again reduced to a minimum by soak -- leaving her to roll 7 dice. She gets four successes -- just enough to reduce Killing-Tusks to Incapacitated, causing his warriors to rout and reduce his unit's Magnitude by 1.   
 
Having lost a Magnitude due to combat, Killing-Tusks now has to make another Valor roll, at difficulty 1. He rolls his four dice -- but he produces no successes. Now it's his army's turn to hesitate -- losing all actions for the remainder of the long turn. Killing-Tusks makes his Charisma + Presence roll to prevent routing, subtracting one die for (Magnitude - Drill). Unfortunately, his bad luck streak continues, and Killing-Tusks doesn't score a single success. The result is the loss of an additional Magnitude -- leaving him at only 2. With Resplendent Lotus' army as yet undamaged, things don't look good for Killing-Tusks and his band of ravaging beastmen....