Are Bashers misunderstood? Well, The Consortium Family certainly thinks so; therefore, let's examine some facts and a few opinions. (Note: so does Hammer, so you may wish to go back to Noblish Isle DM93 newsletter, turn 581: "Another Look At Bashers", and reread his comments.)
First, what, typically, is said about bashers? Sadly, I have heard these statements all within the past month. "Don't make bashers." "Bashers are the worst style." "Bashers are a no no, since they have a lousy weapon selection," "Anyone who makes a basher ought to be shot!" "Bashers are worthless; they can't TC." "Bashers don't win much." Enough of those discriminatory words, I say! Let's get to some facts.
Can bashers TC? Well, certainly; and they do. Bashers have TC'd 26 times. (Yes, 26 and not zero as some imply.)
Once in the 1980's. Fourteen times in the 1990's. Four times in the 2000's. Six times in the 2010's. Once already in the 2020's.Only two bashers (Piledriver and Baffle) have TC'd twice, hence twenty-four different bashers have TC'd. Six of those TC's were as immortal warriors (One in Primus) and twenty were as mortals in classes Rookie through Champions.
The Consortium knows first-hand that bashers can TC, as:
.Daniel Webster -- October 1998 Mailer Skulk -- October 2003 Mailer Bismuth Bender -- July 2011 Face-To-Face (Milwaukee)They have all done it. The Consortium is believed to be the first and only three-time basher TCer. What did those three particular Consortium warriors have in common? None were significantly blessed; all were godlingish designs; all had 17 Will (WT/WL = 21/17, 17/17, 21/17); and all were run by The Consortium Conglomerate.
Well, then, sure, those three TCs were sort-of godlings, but "normal" bashers cannot win, can they?. Do they? Listen to this! The Consortium is running 22 non-sandbagger bashers in current arenas and their overall arena record is 121-57-8, w/l = .680. (They also have an overall tournament record of 46-33-1 = .582, with 3 TVs.)
Let's randomly select half of those and examine the facts. (Note: data as of June 1, 2021.) The roll of the die selected the following 11, which had a total arena record of 56-23-6 = .709. These are the designs:
13-5-15-15-15-14-7 21-6-14-5-9-12-7 17-8-11-15-9-9-11 13-10-14-15-17-4-11 13-8-12-7-21-16-7 12-10-11-15-17-12-7 13-4-11-21-15-9-11 15-5-13-11-21-12-7 15-4-9-15-21-9-11 18-4-9-17-17-12-7 14-4-11-13-21-8-13What do these arena warriors have in common? All have high ST. (12+) Most have high WL (although 9 works). None are small (all 9+ SZ). Most have low CN (ranging from 4 to 10). The "average" of these warriors would make an approximate 14-6-12-15-17-11-9 fighter. So, bashers CAN fight and bashers CAN win!
A lot is said about "lousy basher weapon selection". And, in a way, that might be so.
One reason for that feeling may be that bashers are not suited for the scimitar (SC), the weapon many (or most) consider the best weapon in the game. After all, bashers don't slice and dice, they whack! And bashers are suited for the two weapons most feel are the worst in the game -- the war flail (WF), commonly called the "whiffle", and the morning star (MS). Here are the basher weapons: GA, GS, HL, MA, ML, MS, QS, WF, WH, and the 3 shields. Some are hard to "qualify" for, as they require 15+ ST. (GS, HL, ML) But when they hit, they hit hard! That strength need can be a disadvantage for many designs, taking away points more desirable elsewhere in design.
Two, as mentioned above, are considered the worst in the game. (WF, MS) That leaves few to choose from, and all but one "require" 13 ST to use suitably. But, The Consortium is a big user of the quarterstaff (QS), war hammer (WH), and great axe (GA), and not at all adverse to the mace (MA). He has also been known to often use, and win with, those three regularly on styles other than bashers:
QS on strikers (ST) WH on strikers (ST), total parries (TP), and pikers (PS) GA on walls-of-steel (WS) and slashers (SL)So, maybe those weapons are not quite so bad as some managers think.
Which brings us back to the title of this spotlight "Bashing Bashers". Bashers do get bashed and discriminated against. And perhaps, as was outlined above, that is one large pile of bashed cow patties.
Enjoy bashers -- they get it done.
-- FDR a Consortium affiliated Manager (March 2023)