Fight! Block and Strike vs Feint

Edit: SOLVED
Block and strike is a compound action.
Feint only negates the block part. By the book the defender is free to shift all or any dice to the strike half of the action.

A suggested houserule is, in the case of feint vs block and strike, the defenders weapon skill is forcibly split.

-k

Pretty much what it says on the tin. This has come up during play with no satisfactory ruling. I have applied some google-fu and only really come across this thread which didn’t give a final answer.

In short: What happens when a person Feints vs Block and Strike

  1. Feint only works against Block or Counterstrike. Feint fails.
  2. Feint only works against block portion. Block and striker laughs merrily and assigns all dice to strike.
  3. Feint cancels Block and strike. Feinter strikes vs ob1.

thanks,
Ken.

1 Like

#2 is correct. The shield is feinted out of the way, all skill dice on the B&S side are probably allocated to Strike, the shield dice are lost (since they can only be used on the Block half), and it resolves like a pair of strikes.

Cheers!

more google. http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?1384-Why-is-Block-and-Strike-necessary/page4

Wait.
Does block and strike not trigger unless your opponent makes a blockable action (eg, strike.)

-k

Thanks for the quick reply. Followup question: What is the natural counter to a heavy armored knight, constantly block and striking. Obviously bringing a friend, a quick spell, or firearm is the quick response, but in a fair duel? Being better at block and striking?

No such thing as a fair duel against a heavily armored knight. A Feint will at least let you bypass his shield and smash him. I’d house rule that a Feint forces you to divide dice for B/S evenly so you don’t get the cheating of putting all dice into the Strike half.

Other than that? Win advantage with a knife or your hands to minimize the blows you’re taking. Then push, throw and lock until the knight is either locked up or on his ass. Once he’s down, stay on him and use a physical action to tear the helmet off. Then ask him to yield, and then ransom him!

It’s best to trigger this strategy when the knight goes into super-strike mode. Those strikes become very low impact once you stack up a +2 Ob penalty or two. So while he’s still flailing, you can get down to business.

-L

Excellent, nice and unambiguous response. That houserule seems a good fit aswell.

As to the knight. Fair fight? Perish the thought. Though winning both Positioning and the potentially very tough Push test seems a risky gambit-- what better way to surprise him (or her).

cheers
Ken.

Close and lock is a good practice. If you have higher Reflexes, you can get in a few extra good strikes too. The BEST way to down that knight is with a heavy crossbow in R&C.

Tackle, Lock, Stab 'Em in the Face was how we did it in the BWR days. It should be easier now as long as you don’t do anything that cedes the advantage after positioning, the tackle, or the lock.

Our take is that any action that requires you to split your dice pool requires exactly that; you have to split it, but any way you like. That means, in our game, that you could place just 1D in defence with a Block & Strike when facing a Feint. You’d lose those shield dice too, of course.

The way to even a fight against an armored, shielded knight is to have armor and either a longer weapon for advantage vying for position or something with more VA so you can smash through the armor. Yes, what beats a knight best is another knight. But it’s not the shield; a knight not Blocking at all is still scary. Armor can soak a lot of hits if you’re not armed to deal with it.

To answer the question above, Block and Strike is two actions in one. The strike half always fires, the block half only works if there’s something to block. The fact that the strike happens even if you don’t have anything to block is one of the advantages over counterstrike: you’re not risking not striking at all.

I have edited the Op to reflect that the initial question has been answered.

Having just come from the fight battlegrounds, it bears mentioning that simply packing a decent VA weapon, like a footmans axe, and a combination of Strike-feint-strike-feint. Its possible to trust your armor to take care of any wayward blows, whilst hacking away at your opponents defenses.

Push, charge, and lock are still very circumstantial-- but moving in close, to await the perfect time to STRIKE with your main weapon, is still very worthwhile.

-k

I still mostly trust in superior speed and an elven spear…