I've been using Items/Long_Axe_of_Retribution and I've noticed that Reaching Swing never gets a penalty when hitting armor. I used it consistently against the troglodytes and, unless I'm misinterpreting the card text, it should add 3 to the enemies' defense rolls. I didn't see this happening, in fact, they consistently rolled between 1 and 3 (when this should be impossible). Perhaps I'm missing something. I can't test it further right now (mission is exhausted). Has anyone else run into this?
That's because the text refers to Block rolls, not Armor rolls. Thus, Parry would ruin your Reaching Swing, but Crude Plates is irrelevant.