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So, now that Fencer Blades give the bearer WS10 the whole time(see most recent rulebook FAQ), what happens when an Empire Character with the them uses the Speculum?

A: WS is swapped and person speculumed is now WS10 while the Empire Character gets the(probably worse) WS of the speculumed?
B: WS is swapped and person speculumed is now WS10, but the Empire Character still holds the Fencer's Blades. WS10 for everyone!
C: Something else?
D: Shut up, stupid. You don't(or can choose not to) swap WS with the Speculum.

I thought you swap base stats with speculum.
If I'm WS2 with 1 attack (goblin shaman) with fencers blades (WS10, extra attack for A2), and you used the speculum, You'd get my WS2 and my A1. You don't have my magic weapon.

I'll have to dig out the empire book and double check, but I think it is base stats.

-Matt

I'm pretty sure. It would make much less sense the other way, unless we also traded weapons.

This sort of thing has come up a lot (Miasma of Pestilence comes to mind). I'm going to bet that all of these situations resolve similarly- as above, or the order of operations they made in 8th: the player who's turn it is gets to decide in which order the items/spells/abilities have effect.

Your only going to take the base stat. Since the weapon itself is causing the owner to be WS10, and your not exactly taking the weapons, you would only get what their normal WS would be (i suppose the goblin example is pretty good).

the Speculum doesn't take bonues from Magic items.


you would only swap your base weapon skill and your Empire character would go up to WS10 from whatever his opponent's WS is.


Magic items are a nice way of reducing the impact of the speculum if you face it alot.

So a Dark Insanity bloodthirster gets 2D6+2 while the speculum guy gets 7?
Really, I only see 2 options.
1) swap base stats.
2) Sequence of events determined by player's turn.
#1 is pretty strait forward.
#2 results in some oddness; You get WS10 and +1 attack, then I take it from you, give you my WS4 and A2, then you lose an attack from my shield.
Should you survive, on your turn, You get -1 attack, then we swap stats(giving me the -1A), then you get WS10 and +1 attack.
And before you jump on it, I'm not sure you pass the +1A for frenzy/addition weapon ether, I'd need to double check the wording on that.
While I like #1 more, I'm not sure that #2 isn't correct.


-Matt

the wording of the Speculum is Stats, not special rules or bonuses from equipment.

As others have said, the speculum swaps BASE stats. It doesn't take into account magic or mundane items, augment or hex spells, or any other special rule such as frenzy that would add to attacks.

Consider: Arch Lector is fighting Templar Grand Master.

Arch Lector: Ws4 s4 I4 a2 s4
Templar GM: Ws6 S4 I6 a4 s4

Let's say, for fun, that the arch lector has the fencer's blades and the templar GM has the sword of bloodshed.

Now, if the arch lector has got the fencer's blades and he chooses to swap stats, what happens is that the arch lector's WS will go up to 6, which won't matter at all because his weapon is making it 10 anyway. However, the templar GM will go down to weapon skill 4, meaning he'll need 5's to hit the WS10 pope.

Conversely, the pope's attacks will go up to 4. He will get an extra one from the fencer's blades for a total of 5. The templar GM attacks will go down to 2, but his magic weapon will buff him back up to 5 attacks as well.

In short, when stat-swapped with a speculum, follow these steps.

1) Take your opponent's statline (WS, S, A, T, I)
2) Add any bonuses from items, special rules, or spells that YOU are carrying.
3) Use the results in resolving attacks.

edit: as you may be able to tell, I play empire in a club full of warriors of chaos. Speculum is mandatory kit.