Melee Combat

Attack
An Attack roll is a Skill Test against your weapon Skill (often a Default of DX-5 or so)

After succeeding on an Attack roll, check if the target succeeded on an Active Defense, if they failed, roll the damage of your weapon (based off of your swinging or thrusting strength +/- whatever the weapon adds [see your character sheet]).

This is up close and personal.

Hitting the Wrong Target
On a miss with a Melee weapon when attacking into Close Combat.
Roll against the worse number of either a 9 or the number to hit the target on purpose.
Keep going until you hit or run out of targets (unless blocked or parried).

Close Combat
In close combat you can only attack with weapons with a reach of "C" or ranged weapons which apply the Bulk stat as a penalty to hit.

Readying in Close Combat

You must make a DX roll to ready a weapon this close to an enemy

Defense in Close Combat

You can Dodge normally
You can parry with an empty hand or weapon with reach of "C"
You cannot block at all.
Shields in Close Combat
Still provides Defense Bonus, but hampers you
Any attack you make has a penalty equal to the Defense Bonus of your shield.
- Also any DX check you make after the first round of combat has the same penalty.
It takes a Ready maneuver and a DX roll to get rid of your shield (just a DX for a buckler).

Garrotes
Only works on unaware or helpless victims, and must target the neck (-5 to hit). Target may try to parry at -3 with an unarmed skill or ready close weapon.
On a successful hit, you gain +3 ST for the Quick Contest to break free: your Garrote skill vs ST-5, Judo-3, or Wrestling-3.

The damage is crushing (x1.5 to the neck) if rope, and cutting (x2 to the neck) for wire.
The victim also starts to suffocate
An improvised Garrote is -2 to hit.

Stuck Weapons
Melee Weapons that do Swinging Impaling Damage can get stuck.
After hitting and getting through DR, you may leave the weapon behind or make a Ready maneuver (STR roll to free it).
When the weapon comes free it does half as much damage as it did going in.
If the target tries to leave it comes down to a Quick Contest of ST, if the target wins it pulls the weapon from your grasp, if you win, the target cannot move - on a tie the weapon is pulled out and does damage.

Knockback
Only crushing and cutting attacks can cause knockback. A crushing attack can cause knockback regardless of whether it penetrates DR. A cutting attack can cause knockback only if it fails to penetrate DR.

Knockback depends on basic damage rolled before subtracting DR. For every full multiple of the target’s ST-2 rolled, move the target one yard away from the attacker. For instance, a man with ST 10 would be knocked back one yard per full 8 points of basic damage. If the target has ST 3 or less, knockback is one yard per point of basic damage! If the target has no ST score at all (like a wall), or is not resisting, use its HP instead.

Anyone who suffers knockback must attempt a roll against the highest of DX, Acrobatics, or Judo. If he is knocked back more than one yard, he rolls at -1 per yard after the first. Perfect Balance (p. 74) gives +4 to this roll. On a failure, he falls down.

If you knock your foe into something solid, the result – including damage to him and whatever he hit – is as if he had collided with it at a speed equal to the yards of knockback. See Collisions and Falls (p. 430).

Common Melee Combat Modifiers
Bad footing: -2 or more (GM’s option)
Grappled: -4
Holding a large shield: -2
Major distraction (e.g., all clothes on fire): -3 or more (GM’s option)
Minor distraction (e.g., part of clothes on fire): -2
Mounted, and mount attacked on its last turn: -2
Mounted, and mount’s velocity relative to target is 7+: -1
ST below that required for weapon: -1 per point of deficit
Wearing a shield in close combat: -DB of shield
Height Advantage
3 feet of height advantage: lower has -1 to defend, upper has +1 to defend.
4 feet of height advantage: lower has -2 to defend, upper has +2 to defend and cannot aim at legs.
5 feet of height advantage: lower has -3 to defend and cannot aim at head, upper has +3 to defend and cannot aim at legs.
6 feet of height advantage: lower has -3 to defend and can only aim at legs, upper has +3 to defend and can only aim at head.
6+ feet of height advantage: combat is impossible without serious effort.

Who Draws First?

One fighter has knows Fast-Draw, but the other does not:
- The fighter who knows Fast-Draw attacks first if they succeed on their Fast-Draw roll.
Both or Neither know Fast-Draw:
- Roll a Quick Contest with both using either Fast-Draw or Weapon Skills depending.
  - In a tie, they both strike simultaneously! They may dodge or block, but not parry!
One fighter has a Ready weapon, the other has Fast-Draw:
- Roll a Quick Contest: Weapon Skill vs Fast-Draw-10
  In the 2nd and 3rd situations apply the following special modifiers:
  Greased: +1 to draw quicker, but -1 to weapon skills on later rolls
  Hand on Weapon: +4, both fighters may claim this bonus!
  Length: longer weapon has -1
  Weight: heavier weapon has -1, unless wielder has 1.5x the ST required for that weapon.
  Crawling or Lying: -4
  Crouching, Kneeling, or Sitting: -2
  Grappled: -4
  Hanging upside down: -2
  Move or Move and Attack -2 during or after the maneuver
  Off-hand: -4

Wild Swings
A Wild Swing is a melee attack against a foe to your side (left or right) or back, or against a foe you can’t see. It’s unlikely to hit, but sometimes it’s better than nothing. A Wild Swing is at -5 to hit or the current visibility penalty, whichever is worse, and your effective skill cannot exceed 9 after all modifiers.
You cannot target a particular part of the foe’s body; if using hit locations, roll randomly. A Wild Swing need not be a swing – it could be a thrust only up to a distance of one yard however.
You can combine a Wild Swing with an All-Out Attack, but you may not choose the “Determined” option to get +4 to hit to offset the Wild Swing penalty.
You can also make a Wild Swing during a Move and Attack; use the more severe penalties of the two.
If you have Peripheral Vision (p. 74), two-handed melee attacks into your right and left hexes, and onehanded attacks to the same side (e.g., right hand to right hex), are not Wild Swings. However, one-handed attacks to the opposite side (e.g., right hand to left hex), and attacks on foes behind you, are still Wild Swings. If you have 360° Vision (p. 34), no attack to your sides or back is a Wild Swing – but attacks to the back and opposite side at -2 due to the clumsy angle of attack.
Note that some martial-arts techniques (e.g., Back Kick, p. 230) allow you to attack foes behind you without making a Wild Swing.