Basic Hand to Hand Combat - Here we'll demonstrate how the basic combat system works. (See Action Rules.) Modre (see Tutorials/Character Generation Tutorial) has a twin who is exactly like him in every way, by the name of Podre. One day they get into a fight. This is what happens, and how it works.
1. Establishing Initiative - It is also important to estabish which character has initiative. Because Modre and Podre have the same hit points, reach, etc., they roll against each other to establish who will have initiative when their hit points are equal. Modre rolls a 4 and Podre rolls a 1, so Modre has initiative.
2. First Round Begins - We begin the action round by determining how many Ready Hit Points each character starts the round with. Each brother has 4½ Strength and no damage, so we give them each 10 hit points. (10 Hit Point counters are put in each character's Ready hit point pile on each character sheet - See Characters/Character Sheet.)
3. First Turn - Because Modre has initiative, the first turn is his. He decides that the first turn is a good time to start maneuvering. Modre spends the maximum possible hit points to circle Podre, giving him a +4 maneuvering bonus. (4 hit point counters are moved from Ready to Now Maneuvering hit points around Modre's character sheet.) (see Action Rules/Maneuvering)
4. Second Turn - Now Podre has initiative because he has the most Ready hit points and the turn is his. He likes Modre's idea and spends the maximum possible hit points to circle Modre, giving him a +4 maneuvering bonus. (4 hit point counters are moved from Ready to Now Maneuvering hit points around Podre's character sheet.) The maneuvering done by Modre and Podre will be combined with their first attacks: (see Action Rules/Maneuvering)
5. Third Turn - Modre now has initiative because of the roll at the beginning and decides to throw a massive wild swing at Podre, using his maximum of 4 hit points to add to his attack power. (4 hit points are moved from Moder's Ready to Other Used.) Podre tries to counter (interrupt) by sidestepping for a better attack angle, and thrusting with his claws, thus using 2 hit points for increased attack power, and 2 hit points for maneuvering. (2 hit point counters are moved from Ready to Other Used and 2 are moved to Now Maneuvering on Podre's character sheet .) Either Modre or Podre could choose to do another, simultaneous attack with their other claw - each ready weapon can be used once per turn - but they have already used all their allowed hit points for this turn. (See Action Rules/Maneuvering and Action Rules/Attacking.)
6. Third Turn Conclusion - Both brothers have a combat bonus of 10, and both roll a 3, giving Podre a success level of 2 (19 vs. 17,) because of his manuevering, over Modre. Moder then is subject to an attack of -1 (-3 Attack Power and +2 hit points for increasing Attack Power,) and loses 2 hitpoints (-1 Attack Power minus Moder's -3 absorbtion.) At -3 sharpness, the 2 hit points are lost to Stun Damage (move the last 2 hit points from Modre's Ready pool to his Stun Damage pool.) All of the Now Maneuvering is put into Old Maneuvering because it was spent on attacks.
7. Fourth Turn - Podre has the most Ready hit points now and therefore initiative. He throws a follow up strike at Podre, using the last of his hit points to add to his Attack Power. (2 hit points are moved from Ready to Other Used on Podre's character sheet.) Modre has no more Ready hit points and therefore takes no further action to interfere. (See Action Rules/Maneuvering and Action Rules/Attacking.)
8. Fourth Turn Conclusion - Both brothers have a combat bonus of 10, and both roll a 3 again, giving Modre a success level of 4 (13 vs. 17,) because of he has a high Passive Defense Bonus from his Old Maneuvering. Therefore no damage is taken by either brother.
9. First Round Ends - The round is over because both characters have no more Ready hit points. (If any HP were still Ready, a character with ready HP could start another turn in this round by attempting some action, as in step 2.) Now all the Used (but not damaged) HP becomes ready. In this case, Modre puts all of his Hit Points in Ready. Podre recovers one Stun automatically, and that hit point is put into Other Used HP.
10. Repeat - The next step is to Start a new round as in step 1. This process repeats until the fight is over for some reason.