SFR, Inc.

[deputyfife]

I thought about titling this "Why I hate routing; or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the ID icon."

I'm not really a pot-stirrer, but I am looking for a bare-knuckles, knock-down, drag-out fight here. (I have no idea what "drag-out" means, so maybe I've always heard it wrong.)

I just don't like routing. Not the idea of it; it's a good concept. But the way it is represented in the game makes no sense to me.

I like to imagine that rolling an ID icon is a unit's "Indiana Jones moment." You know when you're watching an Indy movie(only commies don't!) and he's in a situation that you can't see any way out of, but he pulls out some great move? That's an IJ moment. I'm not talking about out-running the boulder to the cave exit. More like figuring out the optical illusion to the Holy Grail cave, going UNDER the truck to eventually beat Paul Hogan's doppleganger senseless, etc...anyway, the ID icon represents to me, a unit using its heroism and ingenuity to succeed in a situation.

So the very idea that the one face on any die that overall is the best result you can get, can lead to an army routing, is backwards to me. (And by best result, yes I understand that a Smite will be better in Melee than an ID face, along with hundreds of other examples, but overall, applying every single face of a die to dozens of possible rolls, you would be better off rolling an ID icon in a dozen different kinds of rolls than a Smite icon.)

I could understand that routing would occur, say, if something particular happened, such as less than a particular fraction(1/4, 1/5, 1/6?) of the dice in an army rolling a relevant result. Or if there was some decision that when rolling to save, if an army rolled more faces of a particular result, say missile, or magic, or melee, than saves *results*, that this would represent an army getting in the wrong formation and being routed. (For example, if a captain gives an order too late to get into missile formation when the enemy is approaching, and the army would be in a spread-out formation with their missile weapons in hand, versus being in close formation, forming a shield-wall, with melee weapons ready to counter the initial melee attack from the enemy.)

But to say that because (in my mind, which is the way the world works, right? ) a greater number of units perform heroically than units who line up and block part of the attack, the army routs, doesn't correlate to a "real-world" sense of battle. If any of you have seen the Lord of the Rings movies, this would be like saying that the characters Legolas and Gimli did a disservice to the armies they fought with by not fighting in formation, as opposed to using their unique skills.

As a counter example, Charging felt right from a "real-world" sense, but in game terms, was too imbalancing, so had to go.

Seriously, I'm asking for any players to explain their thoughts on routing. As belligerently or nicely as they want.

[ddicerc]

I never really thought of the ID as the "heroic" face on a die. It's more like the generic face to me-it represents the routine reactions of trained troops to various situations. Even though they are specialists, all soldiers can do everything to a certain extent due to their training. So in a save situation, the "ID" guy is just applying his routine training, while the "save icon" guy is using his own specialized knowledge of defense to help the army. So you rout when your specialists are unable to provide more than a routine defense.

This isn't really an argument against your position per se. I just don't see ID icons the same way.
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[deputyfife]

That's a fair way of thinking of it, too. And it makes sense, I'll admit, more than my thinking. After all, a "heavy" uncommon might roll 3 melee icons on a face, versus the ID counting as 2, so it makes sense that it is using its own special skills when rolling the 3 melee vs. "fallback training" in rolling an ID.

That said, I still don't see how it would result in a rout. Traditionally, armies have routed in warfare when: their best units have retreated, their middle has been broken due to overwhelming force/firepower, a flank has been broken and turned, not enough units are doing anything of use, when faced with overwhelming odds(outmanned, outgunned, outskilled), when surprised, or when an army isn't seasoned enough. I'm sure I left a couple other reasons out.
I just don't see the routing rules, the way they are played, representing any of those things.

By the way, I'm not trying to argue with you or anyone else. I guess it bothers me most because the concept of routing on the battlefield is a good one, especially in light of special races that are far different, creepy, wondrous to behold, and have powerful monsters as allies. Who wouldn't rout sometimes when faced with those kinds of enemies? But I'm the type who feels a game mechanism should make sense, and keep gameplay balanced.
Yes, I can just play at home without it, and have my own house rules, but I'm planning on going to Gencon, and maybe Origins; if there are tournaments/organized play there, while I can gladly accept that I'll have my lunch handed to me, it will have a slightly bitter taste if it happens because of some routing.

Hey, DDiceRC has already changed my mind on what the ID icon represents. Does anyone else agree/disagree on the routing rules?