/SoS/ Song of Swords General

Is... Is this the beginning of a SoS original pasta?

Should the G11 have some bonus to burst fire?

Also, can you do the MP5 or UMP? And the Calico?

I think the Jimmy Rome anus is pasta enough.

Damage isn't the primary thing in SoS, the TNs are. The quarterstaff is already one of the highest potential weapons in the game because of its ridiculous TNs.

I want to give whoever wrote that a medal..
I don't have the words to accurately describe how hard it made me laugh.

So, frankly I'm new to tRoS, SoS, and all of its related content.

I'm looking to get involved in it, and will download the above content and read.

But I'm seeing talk of firearms. I'm a huge firearms enthusiast and I'm very interested in seeing that content as well. Is that part of the Laser Whales stuff?

Yup, Sos has some gun rules of it's own, but Ballad's rules are much, much better.

Yeah, it's part of CotV:BotLW.

Sweet, thanks for the information.

Two anons did a list of how the Laser Whales ammo/guns match to their real world versions.

Last thread also had a list of more modern ammo/guns meant for mercenary shenanigans in 70s Africa.

paste2.org/Hp7eDsa7

You've pretty much come to the right place. Laser Whales is a pretty great game for modern guns, and SoS is probably the best of the TROS-Like games.

All you'd need to do for the g11 burst fire is have all the rounds hit the same limb. I'll get to the other stuff you asked about when I get home. At this point I'm just trying to stat out "iconic" 70's and 80's guns, so requests like yours help me figure out what I missed.

6/10 bait

How can it be a good enough pasta if I don't know what you're talking about?

Uzis of all sizes, automatic Glocks with oversized clips, P90s, Walther PPK, Mac-10, .475 Wildey Magnum.

That's it. I'm sick of all this "Half Pike of Satan" bullshit that's going on in the Song of Swords system right now. My anus deserves much better than that. Much, much better than that.
I should know what I'm talking about. I myself loosened my anus in Santa Cruz for 2,400,000 denarii profit from prostitution (that's about $30) and have been practicing with it for almost 2 years now. I can even take in slabs of solid steel with my anus.

Strong older Serbian and Black Men spend years working on a single anus and pound it up to a million times to produce the finest sphincters known to mankind.

My anus is thrice as loose as Turkish boypussy and thrice as child-like for that matter too. Anything a Turkish boypussy can envelop, my anus can envelop better. I'm pretty sure my anus could easily take in a knight wearing full plate with a simple bit of squatting.

Ever wonder why medieval Europe never bothered conquering Rome? That's right, they were too scared to fight me (as I am a time traveller) and my loose anus of destruction. Even in World War II, American soldiers targeted me first because the sheer looseness of my anus made them both confused and disgusted.

So what am I saying? My anus is simply the loosest sphincter that the world has ever seen, and thus, require better stats in the Song of Swords system. Here is the stat block I propose for my anus:

Jimmy Rome's Anus
2H Bodily Orifice, Hand Range, Strike TN 8 (+1s)*, Thrust TN 6 (+4s)* DTN 10, Hook, 0wt, 1cp

Now that seems a lot more representative of the enveloping powers of my anus in real life, don't you think?

tl;dr = My anus needs to do more damage in SoS, see my new stat block.

*Note that this weapon inflicts wounds on the sodomy hit location, which is then directly applied to the wielder rather than the target hit.

The real quality of this new form of pasta is that it amends. It is the bowtie pasta to the katana copy/paste's spaghetti.

Looks more like Tortelloni.

Has anybody run a solid campaign using SoS? And if so, how long on average do smart players' characters live?

I have.
Smart players will usually survive long. I've been running one deadly campaign with a group for a year now and two of them, out of three, have never died.
The other solo campaign I'm running i let death slide in exchange for in character sexual favors
it's a wonderful system

Not the same gun user, but I'm dropping my own conversions Also dropping my Ballad-ified descriptions for campaign.

Pedersen Device/Crozier's Handgun
Rifle
Range 50m
TN6
7.5mm
40 (Box)
RoF 5
Weight 4
"A magnificent design by a Rahoo gunsmith made for the First War of Containment. Despite the war ending by the time the devices rolled off the assembly line, thousands of them were sold off to small void nations. Due to it's caliber, some have said the device has gained popularity among those who consume indulge in patchouli oil."

FAMAS F1/Herstal "Bugle" Compact Rifle
Rifle
Range 100m
TN7
5.56mm
25 (Box)
RoF 30
Brace [1]
Weight 3.5
"A revolutionary design loved by Arloni expats and hated by many others, this bullpup rifle was designed on contract to a foreign mercenary group after dissatisfaction with the Chironite Volksverteidiger. Fitted with a bayonet lug, 40mm rifle grenade capability, built in bipod and disposable magazines, it has been declared by some overzealous fans as 'the weapon of the future'. Some would also say a serviceman's rifle with this rate of fire would be absurd. Those people are dead."

FAMAS G2/Herstal "Trumpet" Compact Rifle
Rifle
Range 100m
TN7
5.56mm
30(box)
RoF 35
Brace [1]
Weight 3.5
"With some quality of life upgrades, this rifle also comes with an even more absurd fire rate to murder the descendants of it's detractors."

I already posted these, but whatever.
BM 59/Abitante VB/77 “Serpente Furioso”
Rifle
Range 150m
TN 8
7.62x63mm
20 (Box)
RoF 25
Brace [1], Longshot
Weight 4
20 GP

BM 59 IV/Abitante VB/78 “Serpente Volgare”
Rifle/MG
Range 150m
TN 8
7.62x51mm
20/75 (Box)
RoF 30
Brace [1]
WT 6
30 GP
"The Abitante Valiant Arms series Models 77 and 78, named the 'Furious Serpent' and 'Vulgar Serpent' after Rahoo troops encountered in the Second War of Containment. While the Furious Serpent captures the spirit of the Rahoo infantryman, the Vulgar captures the spirit of the oft heard and seen officers irking them forward."

Please share the tales of their exploits.

>Due to it's caliber, some have said the device has gained popularity among those who consume indulge in patchouli oil
I dun get it.

7.5mm is favorite caliber of the UC. I also fucked up the fire rate, should be RoF 3.

So I presume from context that patchouli oil is one of those hippy fad foods?

no

That'd be correct.

>grim and bloody almost-death sets the tone for a blowjob
I don't even

>FAMAS made by Herstal, the FN equivalent

With Arlon under Chironite control, do you think they'd let them continue with their domestic arms business? And it is noted it is a foreign contract weapon.

I'm having to work with several countries not existing.

I'm sorry, you're right, you're working with what you got, and I shouldn't shit on you for that.

I should shit on you for having such shit taste in ouiaboo firearms

More guns.
MAT-49|Doorn 49/54
SMG
Range 30m
TN 7
9x19mm
32 (Box)
RoF 20
Conceal [1]
Weight 2
15 GP
"A Deventer made SMG also contracted out to Herstal. Designed for use by paratroopers and the untested Stoottroepen."

MAS-49/56|HAG-A3
Rifle
Range 150m
TN 8
7.5x54mm
10 (Box)
RoF 3
Longshot, Reliable
Weight 3.5
8 GP
"A semi-automatic rifle commonly seen among Doornish and Arloni expat mercenary forces, capable of firing 22mm rifle grenades and mounting a bayonet, it is nonetheless held back by the fact it is chambered for a dead nation's standard cartridge."

7.5x54mm Arloni
8 Damage
17 Armor Pierce
Round/3cp

AA-52|La Nana
MG
Range 350m
TN 10
7.5x54mm/7.62 NATO
Beltfed
RoF 30
Brace [1], Longshot
WT 10
18 GP
"An Arloni machinegun design later adopted by the Lucani due to it's incredibly cheap production costs rather than actual merits: The thing looks like a steel pipe."

PM-63 Rak/???
SMG
30m
TN 7
9x18mm[?]/9x19mm/9x17mm
15 or 25 (Box)
RoF 20
Conceal 2
Weight 1.5

I'm running an online SoS game using people I randomly found through the gamefinder thread here on Veeky Forums. They're great; I won the gamefinder fucking lottery.

I'm using luck from Ballad so my party is fairly resilient-- but after a few sessions of heavier combat (and a broken jaw) they started shying away from unnecessary bloodshed and the last few sessions have been a bit more heavily political. They got a fair amount of arc by resolving some stuff and actually choosing a motivation for the campaign, so now they're feeling a little less vulnerable and may begin to fight a bit more.

We're having fun.

tell us EVERYTHING

You lucky bastard.

>7.62x51mm
>5.56mm

What stats do you use for these?

Game finder lottery winners are few and far apart.

Oh, for NATO I use 8/17 with 2cp/round, and the mentioned previous thread 6 Dam/14 AP for 5.56. Still haven't figured out cost because no one's found or made a 5.56 weapon needing ammo in a game I have ran as of late.

Yes, for a while now. It can be pretty survivable, with decent armour and a bit of grit, but the wounds can be a drag. Assuming you do not use the more magical medicines, having a skilled medic around is invaluable to get everyone back in fighting shape as soon as possible.

Do keep in mind though that pain and shock can swing a fight around really fast, so looking out for eachother will massively increase survivability.

You can't just leave us hanging without a storytime.

the people demand to know how you could make such an obtuse system work

What's the equivalent of the Blue Division in Ballad? youtube.com/watch?v=yqXgMuVxgvM

We know that Space Spain exists, but I'm not sure what happened to them, or if they had their Nationalist revolution as in real history.

>Spanish civil ear
>"Nationalist revolution"
I mean, you could call it that, but you're so drastically understating the chaos and factionalism that characterized the period.

I'm still thinking in HoI III terms, sorry.

It's a fetish.

>civil ear

I wonder if the Karthacks listen to Bocanadessia through a civil ear.

Nothing about the Karthacks is civil.

They seem pretty civilized, they're just run by witches.

Feed me stories of their miseries

Only barbarians are run by witches. This is known.

I have heard your demands. I'll try to get some story timing done later tonight/early tomorrow.

I think void spain is still fucking with that overturned colony.

Alright that's enough. Falling damage is broken and needs to be fixed. The game is wishy-washy back and forth with whether or not armor or TOU reduces falling damage, and no combination used so far has been satisfactory. But it has to change from what it is now. The current setup in v1.9.9 is dogshit.

The weakest man (1 STR) succeeding at a Throw by the barest possible margin (1 BS) will always inflict a level 5 bludgeoning wound and two level 3 bludgeoning wounds on Hard ground. That includes stone and hardwood floors like in most houses or castles.

If that same man succeeds with 1 BS again on carpet like you probably have in your own home, or even just regular old dirt outside, he will still inflict a level 3 wound and two level 1s. Level 3 bludgeoning wounds are most frequently described as bruised and fractured bones. They typically inflict 6 or 7 pain.

Only on Soft ground do you see results even remotely similar to reality. But that's only for the weakest man. If you take a man with 6 STR, something many PCs expecting to be involved in armed & armored combat would have, even with the barest margin of success he still inflicts terrible damage with a Throw on Soft ground.

I don't know what Jimmy and his cronies think a "Throw" is. This mechanic is not at all reflective of reality. Additionally, it is so powerful that you would be a fool to use a grappling maneuver other than Throw if you are on Solid or Hard ground. Now consider that almost all ground in a medieval world qualifies as Solid or Hard. Even on sand or mud, a strong man or one who achieves more than a mere 1 BS is going to inflict great damage by Throwing their enemy. This is a laughably bad mechanic and needs to be changed first to be realistic and balanced with other options.

I appreciate all of the information provided, and am excited for story time!
I'm just trying to get a feel for the things that can be useful for survival. I am looking forward to running a realistic fantasy campaign for my friends, who are in to the more visceral stuff.

I aim to make it fun, yet challenging and dangerous.

Maximum excite!

I'd just like to chime in here. As a casual fag who does judo, throws on anything other than a padded mat, knowing how to to take a fall, would be extremely painful. It wouldn't surprise me to learn about people breaking on ribs getting thrown on concrete. I don't know how the actual mechanic works, but throwing a man to the ground when you've got control of his bodyweight should fucking *hurt*, especially if the one being thrown doesn't know how to take a fall properly.

See, for a high strength that makes sense. But at 1 STR and BS 1? This is functionally like if you trip. If nothing else, TOU should reduce the damage.

But if TOU is added most falls become laughable affairs that can barely hurt an average man. I don't have the numbers on me, and I can't be assed to run them for another solid half hour or so until I've had my coffee

Look at the "grappling ver october 2015" with the "grappling: toss" which targets the upper back. On a hard surface with 1 str and 1 Bs the most a person will take is a level 1 wound and that's only if they are tough 1 weaklings.

Maybe throws shouldn't just translate to a number of feet then, and should be mechanically similar to falling only in the wound table they use.

>If nothing else, TOU should reduce the damage.
That won't fix anything. Adding in AV won't fix it either. The core system itself is broken. Because there are set increments to the wound levels inflicted with these falling damage equations, being Thrown on Hard ground is vastly more dangerous than Solid ground. The relationship between falling distance and wound level appears to be arbitrary. (The relationship between Throw and falling distance is too.) Below is some math adding TOU and 2*TOU into the equation.

If TOU reduces the 2*(5+STR+BS) number, then total damage is reduced by:
(5+STR+BS)x2
=2*(STR+BS)+10
->2*(STR+BS)+(10-TOU)

With a typical TOU of 4, a 1 STR, 1 BS Throw on Hard ground will steal deal a level 5 primary, and level 2 secondaries instead of level 3.
2 BS will make the secondaries level 3, and then every 2 BS will raise those wound levels by one until it hits 5.

2*(1+1)+(10-4)
= 4 + 6 = 10
10 / 2 = 5; Level 5 to the primary area
5 / 2 = 2; Level 2 to the adjacent areas

On Solid ground:
10 / 4 = 2; Level 2 to the primary
2 / 2 = 1; Level 1 to the adjacent areas

+++++++++++++++++++

If TOU is also multiplied by 2, then Grappling on Hard ground would still be extremely dangerous regardless of armor.
2*(5+STR+BS-TOU)

With 1 STR, 1 BS, and 4 TOU (i.e. TOU = STR + 3):
2*(5+1+1-4) = 6

This results in a level 3 primary on Hard ground and a level 1 primary on Solid. This means on Hard ground even the weakest possible humanoid is a great danger when they Throw you.

With extreme human values of 1 STR and 10 TOU:
2*(1+BS+5-10) = 2*BS - 8
5 BS would be required before a single Level 1 Wound is inflicted on Hard ground

With TOU = STR:
2*(5+BS)
= 10+2*BS damage
Minimum of 12, which is a level 5 primary on Hard ground and a level 3 primary on Solid.

With TOU = STR + 1
2*(5+BS-1) = 2*(4+BS) = 8+2*BS
Minimum of 10, still a level 5 primary on Hard ground and a level 2 primary on Solid. 3 BS is required before the Solid primary becomes a level 3.

see me \/
The Equation in the "new" grapple rules has toughness and armor subtracting from effective feat of fall with body parts having Tou caps.

so the equation is now (Str+Bs-Tou(upto cap)-1/2AVB)/Groundhardness

Toss adds to this by letting you increase the amount of feet fallen by spending Cp
All Bs assumed to be 1 hard ground only
Str 1 vs Tou 1
(1+1-1)/2= 1/2 or level 0 Not very effective

Str 6 vs Tou 1
(6+1-1)/2= 3 level to the upper back which is the opposite of Chest. Pretty nasty but about what you'd except when a Wrestler slams a weak sickly old man

Str 8 vs Tou 4 Guy with AVB 6[3]
(8+1-4-3)/2=level 1

Toss lets you spend 2cp to increase the distance fallen up to a modifier up to 1/2str. if they had done that this becomes wound level 4.

The superior version of Toss lets you go Prone with them to add you Tough and 1/2 Weight to the Distance fallen which will let you cancel out some of the Mitigation

This is what Band of Bastards does for throws in grappling.

In SoS terms, what this does is make the target Prone. If you get 3+ BS, you also get -1 TN to your attacks and defenses for the next Action after you threw them. Targets thrown against a "hard object", whatever that may be, take STR+BS damage, but this is presumably reduced as normal by AV and TOU. (DR is the same as damage and "going down with the victim" is not defined.)

Does this count as a Throw?

>fechtbuchs
The plural is Fechtbücher.
duden.de/rechtschreibung/Buch

>lindybeige
In general, he makes some decent points and some pleb-level points in his vids.

Try Easton instead (pretty much a set of response videos):
youtube.com/watch?v=gQv_mCNkAbo

Pardon my abject faggotry, my work schedule this week is really swingy because I'm garbage and my life is dogshit.

So, the setting is a mundane world of my own creation with mention that not all folklore is made up and that there may be cryptids and boogins out in the wilds. I wanted to run a historical game at first but I convinced myself that it would devolve into neckbearding and arguing over scraps of factoid and accuracy so I pitched it and decided to make shit up.

The party is comprised of 3 players
>Jon Sue
An impossibly pretty bastard who tends to get a lot of spotlight and really drives the party forward. His dice are always hot. His brother/stepmother killed his noble father and now he's on the run.
>Racist Ranger
Jon Sue's loyal servant and master of tracking, hunting, archery, and for some reason surgery. The Racist Ranger is also a devout follower of the imperial religion to the point that any nonimperial followers are doing it wrong. He's also on the run for helping Jon escape and is also very pretty. These two argue like an old married couple.
>Landsknecht
A fantastically dressed doppelsoldner who also spent a lot of time aboard a merchant ship and knows boats. He's the only one in the party who isn't pretty but you bet your gambeson that he's wanted in his homeland.

The game begins with the party joined up with a merchant vessel off to explore the frontier for the purpose of finding trade and getting rich. Their captain is a foreign merchant with a lot of imperial ties whom they take turns trusting and hating. I'll greentext from here on out.
>Jon Sue and RR only at first
>Minor storm blows them off course
>captain wants divert to his hometown
>party determines that storm wasn't very bad and this is a flimsy excuse
>confront captain, he tells them he has an errand to run and then vaguely mentions that it isn't nice to press on people's secrets
>party backs off and they arrive
>small village with imperial colonial garrison
>party is confused for imperial engineers come to fix the aqueduct
>town uses a cavern underneath as a cistern which has gone dry-- aqueduct must not be feeding it correctly
>they go to the local church so RR can pray and tell the priest he's a dirty nonimperial cunt.
>Jon tries to force RR to be nice, they argue and Jon gets his fortune told
>"Fire and Water, Water and Fire. If you tell the truth, you will walk through the flames unscathed"
>they strut around and learn that shepherds are disappearing and that the local garrison is encouraging people to stay within the walls of the town
>go to the commander and demand to go investigate
>Their captain gets involved and asks them not to go-- says he'll delay the trip if they stay overnight and eat with him so he can explain everything
>nah, they go out with the understanding that when the sun sets they're locked out.
>Find a dead shepherd and joke about necromancer sheep or some shit. Get attacked by dogs.
>Two dogs gnaw on Jon's codpiece unsuccessfully while the other chases RR who is on horseback aiming forever. Fight ends without major incident
>muck about some more
>find two foreign soldiers hiding near a road with horses
>try to set them on fire with fire arrows and fail
>one bolts and the other charges with his lance

>full dice committed, red/red
>fails the ride check miserably
>Jon delivers level 4 or 5 wound to his thigh
>he falls off the horse and begins to bleed to death
>Jon tries to question him but only really gets sputtering and a few key phrases
>RR chases the other guy, finds an entire war camp and they run back to town.

I have to go to work, but that was session one. Landsknecht joins in session 2 and things get more interesting. I'll post more later today.

Thanks, look forward to hearing more.

Tell me of Pikemen in SoS, are there landsknechts? Pikes are cool.

>use a pike
>a child with a hatchet breaks it because threshold 10 lol
>die

>use a pike
>thrust with all dice
>enemy masterstrikes and bests you because TN 8 lol
>die

>use a pike
>enemy intimidates you so you can't throw red
>die

Yes

>>full dice committed, red/red
>>fails the ride check miserably
Oh, so it was you

Are you looking at the falling damage table at the bottom of the grapple doc, or the one in the book? The one at the bottom of grapple is the new one.

Does anyone know how that one person statted up trolls and I think a griffon in the past? I kinda want to make a monster for some folks to fight.

I'm pretty sure one or two people came up with concept/initial stats, presented them to the thread/Roll20 for input, then changed them with what input they thought was good. What type of monsters were you going for?

Bipedal 8' monster that breaths fire

Strong, tough, and scaly? Thin, wiry, acrobatic? Magma elemental? Cosmic nightmare? Crazy jumping guy with four arms?

Start thinking of what you want it to be, get some more details.

Basically the first. 8' tall wall of muscle. Capable of lifting rocks as tall as a man and tossing them as a weapon. Tough hide, at least at a level that makes sense. Something STRONG worth hunting.
Basically Goliath I wanna throw him at probably six or so 25PCP people in the R20, maybe use those monster hunter rules Jimmy cocked up a while back

So Str should be over 13, Het will be at least 8-10, End maybe 6-8, Agi might be lower, and the mental stats will be up to how smart you want him.

Probably 3/3/3 or 4/4/4 for armor.

Wait
>six PCs
If it's just one they're going after, he's gonna need a ton of CP to catch up.

They're apparently getting buffed along with the rest of the polearms.

Landsknecht do exist in the default setting, if that's what you mean. They're a mercenary force from the Kaselreich.

how to be a landsknecht
>have fancy clothes
>have big swords or big poky things
>be really arrogant

sources: i'm a guy playing a fancy, arrogant landsknecht.

I posted a few rules questions in previous threads, yeah. I hope you aren't disappointed user.

Wrestler here. with hip throws and the like you will almost never be doing serious damage unless the opponent ends up getting scorpioned while he tries to resist the throw.

Not all throws are created equal, ones that slame you on your pelvis/legs wont deal much damage but getting dropped on your back, face, or neck could definitely do something.

A few things I forgot to mention: RR is also craven and very cowardly and when they were tooling around town they saw some guards busting up a house with people who seemed to be worshipping fire, the dead shepherd had arrows in his back, and the dogs that they fought were obviously war dogs and not feral pups running amok.

As requested, the story continues:
>party runs back to town to tell garrison commander about war camp
>captain of their ship, his merc (Landsknect player), and commander are having a discussion
>Captain presumes that war camp is from a local fire cult that has become popular and started uniting smaller tribes
>imperial law lists the religion as outlawed, hence guards busting heads earlier
>asks if the party was seen
>they admit that they were and the group starts to plan the city's defense
>meanwhile the war camp has begun to mobilize and siege the town
>jokes on you, imperial walls are impregnable
>turns out the walls have deep foundation pillars built into cistern cavern
>party realizes that the enemy was camped near the source of the aqueduct and that the cistern is likely empty because of them
>party enlists some imperial crossbowmen and enter the now empty cavern via a well
>sappers are setting black powder charges on the wall's foundation
>Jon Sue and Landy fuck up the sappers while a group of arquebusiers and the imperial crossbowmen wipe each other out
>one arquebusier left, who is reloading forever while Landy and Jon fight 3 shield and mace fighters.
>RR is reluctant to enter the well, eventually does and then slinks around aiming forever
>Landy and Jon are having trouble breaking through total blocks, keep throwing all their dice into ineffective attacks and then getting maced in the noggin
>luck (both dice and points) eventually exhausted
>they put one shield-bearer into overshock but he'll be back up shortly.
>Landy gets maced in the mouth, has his jaw broken and is knocked unconscious

>Jon realizes he's proper fucked and grabs a torch
>holds it over the barrels of powder to intimidate them
>enemies are fanatical and would happily die to accomplish their goal
>But the fucker got like 10 or 12 successes on his check
>their faith is shaken
>Arquebusier is finally done reloading and goes to shoot
>RR is finally done aiming and shoots the arquebusier in the arm
>massive blood loss
>enemies surrender, RR tends to Landy
>one of the enemies starts to psych himself up and rushes Jon to try to push him and the torch into the powder
>gets rekt
>party runs the rest off and then dumps most of the powder into small pools of water
>uses the rest to blow the cavern shut
>finds wagon and note telling sapper crew to return to the camp and defend it after they complete their mission
>party apparently has no interest in investigating the undefended camp and uses secret backdoor cliff entrance back into town
>siege is ongoing but the threat of the cavern is solved
>they load up all the refugees and make for giant port city
>RR discovers that captain of the ship is also a member of fire cult
>confrontation, he admits it but says he isn't a crazy militant like the army guys
>RR wants to kill him but Landsknecht won't have it so RR backs down

Not at all. I thought it was one of your PCs commiting suicide by red/red.

Jon Sue firmly believes that he should throw all of his dice into red/reds all the time and doesn't wear a helmet. He is sustained entirely by Mary Sue dice magic. That's why he was so easy to total block troll in the cistern fight. He'd throw all his dice against a total block and then take a retaliatory mace blow. Fortunately the scatter on hit locations coupled with his talent that lets him nudge them turned a significant amount of downward head strikes into blows against his well armored shoulders.