That wounds remaining column is something new I added in for the second matchup of our experiment (which was that razor close one between the White Lions and the Hammers). The reasoning was to keep track of fractions of wounds, which is something that is especially important in the case of big monsters with few but expensive wounds.
For instance let's say that the K'daai Destroyer was fighting in some fictional matchup. Let's assume that the opponent didn't do very well and only did 0.4 wounds to it mathematically. The Destroyer has 6 wounds minus 0.4 wound which equals 5.6 wounds. If I didn't keep track of decimal places, this would be rounded up to 6. Next round would be the same. All the damage would be lost to rounding errors (and the opposite can also occur).
The chart has definitely become significantly more complicated to accommodate this experiment, let me see if I can clarify it. The "Wounds remaining" column (second column from the left) represents the total number of wounds that the unit has
at the start of that round of combat. So in round one, the Skullcrushers start with 15 wounds (5 models x 3 wounds per model). Since the Black Guard have the ASF special rule, they get to attack before the Skullcrushers do. In our matchup, the Black Guard were able to do 2.6 unsaved wounds to the Skullcrushers. You'll see the effect of this in the "Wounds remaining" column in the second round combat where the Skullcrushers are listed as having 12.4 wounds remaining (15 - 2.6 = 12.4).
View attachment 80724
So that is how the wound tracking from round to round works. However, still in the first round, after the Black Guard have inflicted 2.6 wounds to the Skullcrushers, the Skullcrushers still have to perform their attacks. For the purposes of figuring out how many attacks they have, I need to know how many models are alive to attack. In this case, I can't use fractions of a wound. So the 2.6 wounds the Black Guard inflicted is rounded up to 3 wounds. 3 wounds equals one dead Skullcrusher, so only 4 of them get to make their attacks, which is why you see "
4 remaining) next to the their name. Technically I should have wrote it next to the stomp as well (that is my blunder
). So when ever you see "
x remaining" next to an attack entry, that means that models have died during this combat phase
before they could strike, resulting in few attacks generated. I usually only list it if the casualties changed the number of models that get to attack back. So if casualties are taken from a rank that wouldn't have gotten to attack anyways, I wouldn't list how many models are left, because all the active ranks (front rank plus supporting ranks) get their full attacks anyways.
Unfortunately this will get even more complicated in cases where models have multiple sets of attacks at different points in the close combat phase (for instance normal attacks which are struck at initiative order and a stomp/thunderstomp which is performed at the end of the round). The K'daai Destroyer for example has
three sets of attacks, each at different points in the combat:
- blazing body (start of the round, even before ASF)
- regular attacks (at initiative 5)
- thunderstomp (at the end of the close combat round)
It could theoretically be killed at some point between these rounds, which would mean that it couldn't attempt the subsequent set(s) of attacks.
Let me know if my long-winded explanation has cleared things up (sorry for the poor penmanship, it's hard for me to write on the image using the mouse) . I really want the chart to be easily readable for everyone. It's obviously hard for me to judge it, because in the processing of designing it I know how precisely how it works, but not necessarily how it comes off to others reading it. It is very much a work in progress and has been greatly expanded for this experiment compared to the plain old one I designed for personal use. I could very easily hide the "Wounds remaining" column when posting the charts on this thread (and even replace it with a models remaining column), but then every once in a while a wound or model would appear to magically disappear due to rounding that is occurring behind the scenes. So it is a case of making things look simpler, but not displaying all the information, or having it a bit more complicated, but everyone gets to see exactly what I see. If you have any suggestions for improving the chart for clarity, let me know. Your feedback is appreciated.
There are a few more complicated things that I have to account for in some of the future matchups. I'll try to explain beforehand how incorporated those special rules into the calculations. I've never tackled these issues before, but I think I have an accurate solution for them. Don't hesitate to ask for clarification or provide feedback when we come to them!
(I'll get you for that GW...)
I use LO to stave off pining for Warhammer games and having constant discussions and the like is therapeutic.
