The traditional response to a boarding using grappling hooks is to cut the lines attached to the grappling hooks, as most ships didn't exactly carry hundreds of the things.<br/><br/>The traditional response didn't have to deal with standing up in front of an army of dark elves with poisonous repeating crossbows, too. :6<br/><br/>In a non-fantasy scenario I'd say unhinge some doors and fit them up as tower shields/mantlets to protect the folks dealing with the grappling hooks. Unfortunately, in a fantasy setting, the correct term for a mantlet is 'fireball magnet.'<br/><br/>Since they'll be coming at us from 8 points, I think we're going to be best served not by trying to come up with some nifty neato keen MacGyver tricks, but instead by figuring out who can hold a position solo, and making effective 2-person teams for the other positions. We have 12 characters, I think? So we could put 2 people on half the positions and 1 person on the others.<br/><br/>I'm inclined to suggest putting single people at the corners, as they'll be harder for a 2-person team to fight shoulder to shoulder.<br/><br/>What do you all think?