Heroic Moment Card Use

PK House Rules

by Eric Burgess

From Eric Burgess

When I was at Historicon I had a very good conversation with Brent Oman about Piquet. One of the topics that came up was the Heroic Moment card, In the rules, I don't have it in front of me so I may be wrong, it states that the next card drawn you may do double the action (movement) or go UP1 in combat for one impetus point.

Being the anal-retentive type that I am, I only thought this would apply to movement cards and melee resolution cards.

The rule also says to "use your imagination". Obviously, I had not been doing that. Brent described some other situations where this card could be used.

    1. Any one unit may fire UP1 die type at the cost of one impetus before turning another card.

    2. If an officer check card is the next card that comes up you can attempt to rally a unit that has "routed unralliable". I really liked this one.

    3. If a reload card is the next card then a unit can reload twice for the cost of one impetus.

    4. Officer check card can allow two actions by the commander for one impetus.

Has anybody else used the heroic moment differently?

From Brent Oman

Dug this one up from just after Historicon. I was discussing different ways to use the Heroic moment card. Be creative, is the suggestion. Would you allow me to heroically charge and go into melee with a cavalry unit? At the cost of two impetus. One for the move and one for the melee! I guess it would be up to the referee, but I would probably allow it.

Thoughts?

Eric,

I tried this argument on Brent and Ed in our last Piquet game. It was, of course, GREATLY to my benefit at the moment. They hooted me down! Actually threw musketry puff balls at me to accent their displeasure! As luck would have it, I accepted their disallowal, but my next card was Melee Resolution. My Cuirassiers thundered home and swept them from the field. It was delicious! However, now that my self-interest is removed, I still think that it is a great rule interpretation, and I too would allow it.

Heroic is heroic after all! BJ

Just another thought for the use of the Heroic Moment card:

The side drawing the Heroic Moment card can also call it as a "wild card" and define it as any card in their deck. However, this is only valid for 1 unit, and that unit must pass a difficulty check using their modified morale die (modified as per the morale modifier table) vs. the opponents difficulty die. This costs one impetus point, regardless of success.

Reasoning: A truly "Heroic" moment of inspiration at the junior command level could result in a specific unit commander seizing the moment and performing an action on his own judgement (good or bad!). The difficulty check is just a method to insure that there is some element of risk for the attempting player (if you fail, you've just wasted a potentially valuable impetus point!).

Example: My cavalry is in contact with Mr. X's infantry. I've been trying to get to the "Melee Resolution" card. The next card I turn is a "Heroic Moment". I decide to attempt to use the "Heroic Moment" card as a "Melee Resolution" card (valid for one unit only). I modify my base morale die vs. Mr. X's difficulty die. The attempt costs one impetus point (I either succeed and pay 1 IP for the melee resolution, or fail and still pay the 1 IP). Note that as you are closer to the enemy, it becomes harder to pass the difficulty check (negative modifiers for proximity to enemy). This gives a flavor for junior commanders not wanting to take too much on their own shoulders the closer they get to the enemy (its the old "it wasn't MY fault - I was ordered to do it!").

Remember that any unit acting alone and independently from the rest of its command group would then be out of command.

Any comments?

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