Grappling

“Grappling” is an attempt to grab
your foe’s body. You must have at least
one empty hand. On a game board,
you must also move into your foe’s hex
(“close combat”).
Each attempt requires an Attack,
All-Out Attack, or Move and Attack
maneuver. Roll against basic DX or a
grappling skill to hit. Your foe may
defend normally – he can parry,
dodge, or block. You may Evaluate or
Feint beforehand to improve your
odds of success.
Grappling does no damage, but if
you successfully hit, the foe has -4 to
DX as long as you’re holding on. He
may not move away until he breaks
free (see Actions After Being Grappled,
p. 371) or you let go. Exception: If you
grapple a foe of more than twice your
ST, you do not prevent him from mov-
ing away – you’re just extra encum-
brance for him!
You may grapple with any or all of
your arms. If you grapple with more
than two arms, each arm beyond the
first two gives a bonus of +2 to hit. An
arm committed to grappling cannot
make unarmed parries until you let
go. Letting go is a free action on your
turn.
If you are holding onto your foe
with all your arms, the only further
attacks you can make are those listed
under Actions After a Grapple, below.
Posture: To grapple a prone, kneel-
ing, or sitting opponent, you must
kneel or lie down yourself, unless his
Size Modifier is two or more greater
than yours. You may do this as part of
the “step” component of an Attack
maneuver.
Hit Location: The rules above
assume that you are grappling the
torso. To grab another body part,
apply half the penalty given under Hit
Location (p. 398) to your roll; see
Grappling and Hit Location, p. 400. If
you hit, your foe has -4 to DX only
when using that body part. You could
grab a weapon arm or hand (to disarm
your victim), a leg (to trip him), or the
neck (to strangle him). If you grab an
arm or hand, you cannot snatch a
weapon away, but you can force your
foe to drop it by winning a Regular
Contest of ST – roll once per turn, as
explained under Grabbing (above).
For a related technique, see Arm Lock
(p. 230).