Once More (Grappling)...With Feeling

Why am I still going on about this?  Well, as the philosophical Scorpion Man, Sot Sojat, said, if weapons break one roll out of thirty-six, you gotta expect this to come up a lot.  At the same time,  David responded to my last attempt that if grappling is too attractive an option, you end up with the soldiers all tossing aside their swords to wrastle.  So this topic actually needs some careful consideration.

What follows are the proposed grappling rules for Under the Dying Sun, Mark II:

1. The grapple attempt is made as a Fist attack vs. AC1.  The Grappler must drop items held, such as weapons and shield.
2. If the attack misses, then the target gets free, return attack.  If the attack hits, then target gets STR Throw to escape.
3. If STR Throw fails, target subject to Small Weapon damage (2D, take the lowest) and can take no further action until he escapes.
4. Grappler can do one of the below on subsequent rounds:

• Squeeze for Small Weapon Damage
• Trip and throw down
• Exceptional STR (10+) to lift whole body and throw (within reasonable limits of relative size etc.)

Explanations: I don't want to go with the opposed DEX rolls idea.  Nothing else uses opposed rolls, plus this option favours Thieves in the long run if you construe their class-based modifier to DEX as applying.  I want this to be a straight-out combat maneuver, albeit one with unique aspects.

Could the target get a DEX Save instead of STR?  Yeah, sure; either could apply.  But I don't like like rules of the "take the higher of two stats" variety so I'm picking one and I'm going with the STR.

Unless I change my mind.