The Warhorse Revisited

 

by Sam Wallace

A Modest Proposal

As can be seen by the various proposals taken from the
Talisman 2nd Edition FAQ page, the Warhorse is somewhat
of a contraversial card. Either it does too much or not
enough and it's somewhat doubtful that any two players
can agree on when the card may be used.

I, like many players before me, have a solution to the
dilema. I tried to base my new Warhorse on the logic of
the game. It seems fair to me that if you are to "charge
into Combat," then you should have to actually move for
you to have charged. Characters sitting still or
teleporting can scarcely be said to have much momentum,
so I have linked the movement of the Character and
Warhorse to the damage it helps to impart. Also, the
Warhorse will only give you an initial bonus during your
turn. If you have to fight an additional Combat after you
have used the Warhorse, you will not be moving again. The
Warhorse only imparts additional damage immediately after
movement.

But my, what damage it does! With a good roll for
movement, a character should easily be able to smash even
the toughest of Enemies.

My feeling is that nothing that affects movement, unless
it is specifically applicable to the Warhorse, should be
allowed to influence the roll for movement and the actual
spaces moved. Thus, the Winged Boots wouldn't apply.
Neither would the Amazon's special ability. Nor would the
Horse and Cart. The only exception to this is the
Sentinal. Yes, the revised Warhorse may be used against
the Sentinal. Why not? It is, after all, an opponent that
already (and always) occupies that space.

I thought that some of the suggestions made by my fellow
Talismaniacs in the FAQ are pretty cool. How about the
Lance card? Where is it? Well it was just a suggestion
until now. It can be used from Horse or Camel, but is
especially effective on a Warhorse. I also updated the
Holy Lance to make it more in line with my newer Lance.
Finally, what's the use of having a Horse, a Lance, and
all that Armor if you can't get a little jousting in? I
hope you enjoy the King's Tourney card. In fact, please
enjoy all of these new and revised cards and let me know
what you think about them.

I suggest that you print out several of the Warhorse
card, one with an Adventure back and several with a
Purchase back. Likewise with the Lance. Only one of the
other two cards, both with an Adventure back, should be
necessary.

One last note: for purposes of being mounted (as per the
Lance card), the Centaur may not use the Warhorse for
Combat, nor the Horse or Horse and Card for movement.
However, it is always considered to be mounted when using
the Lance or revised Holy Lance.

Happy Gaming!

Notes and References
*****************
Revised Captions:

WARHORSE - OBJECT 5 OBJECT
The Warhorse allows you to charge into Combat, adding 1

to your roll for each space moved. You may only use it

against opponents already on the space you move to

through normal movement. If victorious, you may only take

a Life. If you lose by more than 2, the Warhorse dies,

too.

LANCE - OBJECT 5 OBJECT
This light spear adds 2 to your rolls in Combat if you

are mounted.

KING'S TOURNEY - EVENT 1 EVENT
You must choose another character to face you in mounted

Combat. The winner gets 2 Bags of Gold. Both get a

Warhorse, Lance, and Shield.

HOLY LANCE MAGIC OBJECT 5 MAGGIC OBJECT
No Evil player may take the Holy Lance. While it is in

your possession: 1: Add 2 to your Strength for the

duration of any Combat in which you use it and are

mounted; 2: Add an additional 2 if you are facing a

Dragon in that Combat.


***********************

Extracted from the Talisman 2nd Edition FAQ page compiled

by David Alex Lamb

Subject: The Warhorse and charging into combat

Date: 11 March 1993
From: wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu (Rick Russell)

The Talisman Rules and Q&A state that the Warhorse

allows you to add your Craft to your Strength for *any* combat in which you would normally use Strength. Hence, the Warhorse is exactly equivalent to the Monk's special ability and the spell Psionic Blast. For a measly price of 5G in the City, or for free if you pick it out of the Adventure Deck, the Warhorse seems like an inordinately powerful object. The Warhorse will allow most Strength 2 and 3 characters to take on Dragons and Giants with ease, given a sword and a spot of good luck. Later in the game, characters fortunate enough to have a Warhorse become extremely powerful. In a 2 player

game, this is practically a ticket to the Crown of Command.

1. Note the rules and Q&A sheet for some standard

limitations: If the owner of the Warhorse loses a life in combat, the Warhorse is lost instead. The Warhorse may not be used more than once per combat round; this is important when the character using the Warhorse is fighting the Pit Fiends, Zombies or characters who have the ability to fight or re-fight a second round of combat.

2. The Warhorse *only* allows you to add your Craft

to your Strength when you land on/encounter a face-up Adventure Card or Character. When you are attacked, the Warhorse is useless (i.e. you don't have the opportunity to charge). Comment: This rule is good on the face of it, but has some problems. In the center of the board, the *second* character to enter the Crown of Command space will get to charge, and on their attack they can steal their opponent's Warhorse. The first character is dead meat. If the

character at the center gets the Belt of Hercules, then they

can do the same thing by teleporting on top of another character.

3. The Warhorse works as originally specified, but

you may *only* take Life away from your opponent, not Gold or Objects. Comment: Makes a certain amount of sense, since it would be difficult to use a Warhorse for subdual combat. It still allows low-strength high-craft characters to kick the rear out of dragons and such, which doesn't seem sensible. Instant strength for weak characters.


4. The Warhorse adds a random Charge Bonus (1d6) to your Strength in every standard Combat, whether you attack or are attacked. Instead of rolling one die and adding to your Strength, you roll two dice. Comment: Easy to implement, simple to understand. On average, the Warhorse will provide a Strength bonus of 3 or 4 at a cost of 5G, slightly better than two-handed weapons at a cost of 4G. About the same as the Mercenary. Provides no guarantee of easy success in a given situation.

5. Same as (4), and in addition the Warhorse will not necessarily be killed by attacks which would normally take a Life. The player has the option of allowing the Warhorse to be killed instead of losing a Life in Combat. Comment: My personal favorite. Since the Warhorse no longer provides a constant Strength bonus in combat, it seems unfair to kill it anytime the Character loses a combat while using the Warhorse.

6. Same as (4) or (5), but the Warhorse only provides a bonus if the Character encounters/lands on a face up Adventure Card or character. Comment: Another sensible variation of (3) and (4).

7. By itself, the Warhorse provides adds 1 to your Strength in Combat, and it may be combined with any normal weapons (Axe, Sword, etc) and Armor. A new weapon is introduced into the game: The Lance. The Lance may be purchased at the City Armoury for 3 gold. It is a one-handed weapon which adds 1 to your Strength while in Combat. When the Lance is used with a Warhorse in Combat, both items used together provide a net bonus of +4 to your Strength. When used *against* a Character with a Warhorse, the Lance provides a +2 bonus to your Strength in Combat (then you might call it a Polearm). The Holy Lance works just like a normal lance, except that it is adds 3 to your Strength in Combat with Enemy-Dragons and when combined with the Warhorse provides a net bonus of +6 to your Strength in Combat against Enemy-Dragons. Comment: It would require printing up some new Purchase cards, but otherwise it's a really neat idea. I haven't playtested anything, so I don't know if it's a well-balanced solution.

8. [jjohnson@ccscola.Columbia.NCR.COM (Jeffrey H. Johnson)] Tone it down by:
1. It adds your craft or 6, whichever is less.
2. You may only use it against face-up cards and characters you land upon.
3. You may not use it against foes that you land upon via teleport, etc. This addresses most of the problems save the Crown of Command. We play that you can only take items which you can use, and since you can't use two warhorses, you can't charge someone already on the center space AND take his warhorse. You only get the charge when you enter the space.