Gord, one of the team members at IronOak Games, has posted an update to the For the King website explaining some of the combat mechanics in the game:

Combat in FTK has evolved much since it’s humble beginnings as dice rolling vs. stat points in our boardgame prototype. The dice have been replaced by a slot system that fills up with either hits or misses. A weapon can have anywhere from 1 to 6 slots, scoring a hit in all slots will do full damage, whereas missing a slot will reduce the damage output proportionally.

These slots represent a players ability to effectively use a weapon, so certain players will have higher chances of scoring hits when using certain weapons. But with a little luck (OK a lot of luck in some cases), every character is capable of doing the same amount of damage as any other player, using any weapon. This last bit is important because whiffing on all slots will instantly break your weapon and force you to use whatever you can get your hands on.

In addition to standard attacks, players can attempt focused shots and special attacks. These are handled slightly differently. When attempting these special attacks, all slots must roll as hits, else the attack fails. Basically all or nothing, high risk high reward shots. The special attacks are heavily dependent on the weapon being used. Fire, stun, bleed, heal, cure, evade, even death are just some of the specials currently in game.

The guiding philosophy of combat in the game appears to be “high energy, fast paced, brutal and at times hilarious”, which certainly sounds appealing. There are a few screenshots and animated GIFs to be found in the article proper, which further illustrate the combat system in action; I’d suggest checking those out.