New to game, question about breaking weapons

[deadlydavy]

Hello all,

I just got LNOE and the Growing Hunger expansion for Christmas. I've been playing it every day and haven't really had too many issues with the rules or game mechanics. The one exception is that I'm still not very clear on the rules governing breaking weapons and firearms running out of ammo. I've found several references to it in the FAQs, but am still not clear despite the information provided in the FAQs.

1. Basically, I need to know if, when using a firearm, if the initial role to see if you hit a target determines if the weapon kills/hits/misses/ or runs out of ammo? If the gun kills, hits, or misses the target, do I still need to role another dice to see if it runs out of ammo or does the initial role determine that?

2. Likewise for weapons, such as pitchforks and bats: When using either (but more so for the bat), does each role for the weapon require an additional (a second or follow-on) role to check for breakage, or is the potential for breakage determined with the initial role (or subsequent roles for the bat)?

I'm sure this has been covered ad nauseum, but I'm new here and just looking for a quick answer. Thanks.

Dave

[mqstout]

Welcome to the forums. I'm always happy to see a new player. These are both quite common questions!

The best answer to your question is, "Read the cards slowly and carefully."

1: The two different guns are each different. The revolver is just one roll. If that roll comes up a 1, it's broken and discarded. The shotgun, however, has separate rolls. It gets one roll for each zombie in the space it's firing upon. Then, after that, you get a roll just to see if it breaks.

2: With hand weapons that can break, you usually check for the break after you use the combat bonus. Remember: the combat bonus is optional; you do not have to use it if you do not want it. And, in the case of the Baseball Bat, you can use it more than once. Some others (eg, the chainsaw) only break under a certain circumstance, ("when you lose a combat" I believe).

Example:
Zombie rolls a 5 and player rolls a 2 and a 3, but has a baseball bat. Seeing that he hasn't won yet, he opts to use the baseball bat's combat bonus for an extra Fight Dice (which rolls a 6). Having used the baseball bat, he now rolls a break die and succeeds -- the bat isn't broken. Now, he's defeated the zombie in combat with the 6, but he still doesn't have doubles to kill it. Since the Baseball Bat says it can be used repeatedly, he chances using it again and rolls a 5 on his new dice; no doubles yet. He checks for breakage, since he used it again, and again succeeds. Having already taken a risk and having four different fight dice out that he could possibly tie with, he uses the baseball bat again. Success, he rolls a 3. He rolls one more time for breaking and, sadly, rolls low and breaks the bat. It was worth it. End result: zombie has a 5, and player has 2,3,3,5,6; player wins for the highest individual die, and also kills the zombie because he has doubles.

[deadlydavy]

Thanks. That helped resolve my concern on the firearms, but the bat is still an enigma to me. I guess i'm just really dense or trying to make it more difficult than it is. Basically, it seems to me that each use of the bat necessitates two roles: one to see if the die roll beats the zombie roll or kills the zombie (with doubles) followed by a breakage role.

It seems really convoluted to me and my family and I have just been playing where each successive die roll counts for both: the additional attack and the breakage role. If it turns out to be a 1 or 2, it breaks and the bat is discarded. It may be wrong, but that's the way I'm running it.

[xraine69]

(01-09-2011 07:14 PM)deadlydavy Wrote:  Basically, it seems to me that each use of the bat necessitates two roles: one to see if the die roll beats the zombie roll or kills the zombie (with doubles) followed by a breakage role.

Correct way to use the bat.

[vikinglad]

xraine is right about the bat. The way DeadlyDavy plays may not work well for Becky, who gets +1 when rolling for breaks, but not for fight rolls. Also, cards forcing you to re-roll will re-roll your fight/break roll, causing two break rolls for a single swing. Finally cards taking -1 away from a dice roll could make a 3 into a 2, causing your bat to break. I think the point I am trying to make is that it seems like there are too many factors that can change the fight dice roll for it to be used as the break roll as well.

Also, DeadlyDavy's way will affect the outcome in certain scenarios. If you roll a two for your fight roll with the bat, you normally get to re-roll to see if it breaks, yielding the chance for another swing. As you play, low fight dice rolls not only don't help win the fight, but break the bat as well. That is the beauty of the bat, keep swinging until it breaks regardless of the fight roll.

[sci teacher]

So is Stout correct about the multiple attempts? It feels like you could keep rolling and rolling (and never losing a fight) provided it doesn't break... My friend and I didn't understand the part about "use more than once"

[vikinglad]

(01-09-2011 11:52 PM)sci teacher Wrote:  So is Stout correct about the multiple attempts? It feels like you could keep rolling and rolling (and never losing a fight) provided it doesn't break... My friend and I didn't understand the part about "use more than once"

Stout is always correct!

Our group didn't understand the "use multiple times per fight" text before I was reading around on this site either.

[zombie67]

Let me explain about the Baseball Bat

Not for the young or weak of heart:

[vikinglad]

Thanks Zombie67. This vid shows we have been playing it exactly as intended!

[munkymuddface]

With regards to weapons, I find that it helps to visualize the weapon and how it would be used in real life when interpreting the card text.

Baseball Bat: You are going to swing away until victorious or the bat breaks (each additional swing represented by an additional die roll)
Revolver: You are going to keep sqeezing the trigger until you hear the empty click (each shot, hit or miss is a die roll, the empty click being a 1)
Pump Shotgun: Each time you shoot, you have the chance to hit multiple targets due to spray. After shooting, you will pump the shotgun to clear the used shell and load the next (the pump being the roll to see if it is out of ammo)