I wonder why they didn’t make a 6 = 1 kill and 1 shock. After all that’s what the game does from which they ...ahem...borrowed this concept.
Not sure which rules you are alluding to, but this approach is carried over from the original Sharp Practice rules published in 2008 and is common in other TFL rules.
The author has commented on this before and confirmed that in his view applying both a kill and shock on a ‘6’ in normal play made units too brittle. The more subtle approach which others have mentioned worked better, except in the case of Fisticuffs were a ‘6’ does cause both a Kill and a Shock.
In Sharp Practice the main mechanism by which fighting occurs is musketry, in which 6s only kill. Fisticuffs is much less common and is much more dangerous, so 6s kill and shock.
In Infamy, the main mechanism by which fighting occurs is hand-to-hand, with shooting mostly being an irritant. So, in hand-to-hand, 6s only kill.
It's mostly a game mechanism, to stop units being too fragile, but you can also interpret it as ancient troops being more hardened to fighting up close, since they have to be.
In Sharp Practice the main mechanism by which fighting occurs is musketry, in which 6s only kill. Fisticuffs is much less common and is much more dangerous, so 6s kill and shock.
In Infamy, the main mechanism by which fighting occurs is hand-to-hand, with shooting mostly being an irritant. So, in hand-to-hand, 6s only kill.
It's mostly a game mechanism, to stop units being too fragile, but you can also interpret it as ancient troops being more hardened to fighting up close, since they have to be.
Actually Jim that’s not correct about Infamy. In Infamy, as you correctly say, the main mechanism for combat is hand to hand fighting. In that case a ‘6’ causes both a Kill and a Shock just as in Sharp Practice. (Attack dice p59)
Rich is consistent in treating Close Combat as more brutal in its effect than ranged missile fire which only Kills on a ‘6’ in Infamy, no Shock. (p 52)
