Apologies for using lyrics from a song as a subject line, but I figured it may gain some attention.
I am having difficulty finding a rule that determines how many paces combatants may move in a round of combat.
Projectile weapons and spells have ranges, but the question that was posed (for which I could not find the answer) is how many times may a grog using a long bow (range: 30 paces) shoot an incoming melee opponent (in this case, another grog with a cudgeol) before having to engage in melee.
I found one mention in the discussions that made a passing reference to humans moving 44 paces per round, per a suggested ruling in Lords of Men (of which I do not possess a copy, sadly). Using this, however, it would seem that a long bow would only get one shot against an incoming target before becoming useless, which is historically incorrect.
How far can you personally run / walk in 6 seconds? Then consider how slothful you are (or are not) in comparison to the characters (and consider terrain, loading, etc).
If you use that as your basis you won't go too far wrong.
44 paces in 6 seconds works out as about 15 seconds to run 100 m, which does sound a bit optimistic to me.
By comparison, at the 2008 Olympics the 100 m sprint heat times ranged from 11.2-14.8 seconds for women, and 10.1-12.6 seconds for men.
I'd caution that sprinting is not advancing in combat, however, especially not with rough terrain or so on. As Richard Love said - just use your judgment.
If you prefer a hard and set rule, the official Ars Magica FAQ entry suggests using the old Fourth Edition rules (which would translate to about 30 paces or so; see the link).
The ruling in LoM (p. 120) states that “Hurry” is the usual pace on the battefield. Hurry = 2 x (10 + Quickness – Encumbrance) paces per round. I have tried this in my combats and worked well in standard terrain.
I guess the “44 paces per round” comes from sprinting (which is Hurry x2), but causes fatigue and requires being quick and reasonably encumbrance-free…
Note that 30 yards is the range increment of the longbow, not the total range. DC goes up by 3 per so a good bowman would hitting a man size target at up to 90 yards more often than not and large groups at considerably further.
Well i was going to find and link the Mythbusters part where Adam fails to get off more than a single arrow when charged by the guy that swats the first arrow aside then runs up and "kills" Adam, but just cant find that clip.
Anyway, its not range 30 paces, its range INCREMENT 30 paces.
And yes, at 30 paces a single shot may very well be the limit if the target charges at you. Depends on the terrain and how fast the target is.
Oh, BTW i think your choice of subject name was amusing.
