geke wrote:
I've been reading through the Hobbit An Unexpected Journey rules, and I have another question on this topic. As far as I can see, once a rider dismounts, or is separated from his mount, there is no way for him to ever mount again. Is that right, or are there some rules for "remounting" somewhere? If so, where are they? I've only read up to the "cavalry" section so far.
It doesn't make much sense to me that a rider could never remount (as long as the horse doesn't run away).
See page 50 of the Hobbit An Unexpected Journey rulebook. Indeed - once separated from a mount, a rider can never remount. A mount is required to take a courage test to remain on the battlefield, as JHK2005 notes, so that's an actual rule - no house rule is needed. However, models with a Courage score of 0 (which includes horses), are automatically considered to fail that roll, and are immediately removed from the battlefield in the same way as troops which fail courage tests for a force being broken. I suppose for a house rule you could allow horses to remain if they were able to pass the courage test.
But allowing horses to remain on the table, while adding realism, I think would sacrifice game playability. You'd have to have an "unmounted" horse model, and if you didn't, I'd expect confusion "wait - is that a 'real rider' or just a stray mount?" Would one courage test be enough? Or would they have to test each turn? I'd expect so with battle swirling all around them. Could horses "make way" for otherwise trapped models? It just feels like it would add confusion and lost time over situations that would have very little bearing on game outcomes, and as such, would detract from overall playability.
So, while sacrificing some realism, I find the existing rules simple and playable.