Mounted Combat

The accepted way of fighting a battle in Iceland is on foot. Norse warriors may ride to battle, but always dismount from their horses before engaging the enemy. Nevertheless, an adventure can choose to fight while on horseback. Foreign combatants that heroes encounter may also choose to fight this way.

A hero’s effectiveness in mounted combat is equal to the lesser of their Ride skill or their skill with the weapon being used. Horses bred in Iceland are not usually trained for combat and will not fight. See the description of the Ride skill (page 81) for more information.

A mount carrying a hero engaged in melee moves at its normal movement rate unless the mount itself directly engages in combat (such as a war horse making a Kick attack).

It is not possible to use a two-handed swinging weapon (such as a long axe) while mounted.

Mounted Archery

This technique is not common in Iceland but may be learned abroad. There is no extra penalty for shooting from a moving animal, although a hero’s skill is still capped at their Ride skill. A moving target at the same speed and direction will also be treated as being a standard target. All other modifiers to archery still apply to the mounted archer.

Controlling a Mount During Battle

When a hero is riding a mount untrained for battle, the player must succeed with the hero’s Ride skill every combat round and at any time the mount is injured. If the roll is unsuccessful, the hero must spend the next combat round calming the mount, to the exclusion of all else, with a Ride roll. If they do not attend to their mount, or they fail the roll, the mount will flee from the excitement

Special Hit Locations for Mounted Combat

In mounted combat, hit location rolls may change because of relative height:

Foot Soldier Targets	A mounted combatant striking downward with a one-handed weapon effectively hits only the top half of the target. Use the Hit Location table on page 66, but roll D10+10 to determine the hit location in this situation.
Mounted Target	For a combatant on foot striking upwards with a one-handed weapon at a mounted target, roll on the Hit Location table. If attacking from the side, a result indicating a hit location on the opposite side means the riding animal, not the rider, took the blow—either in the forequarters or hindquarters, whichever is closer to the attacker’s weapon.