Saturday, 7 January 2017

Mass Battle Rules - Adapted from 'Dragon Pass' board game

Each Unit of 100 warriors has a Combat Rating (CR) and Move (MV). Move is calculated in 15 mile hexes per week, 8 mile hexes per 3 days, or 24 mile hexes per 10 days.
Units combine to form a Battlegroup. Maximum force ratio for determining attacks is 8:1 (8 attacking units per 1 defender).  In larger battles 3 Battlegroups can fight on Centre, Left Flank, and Right Flank, with additional forces held in Reserve Battlegroups.

Add up CRs in Battlegroup then roll d6 to determine enemy casualties as a ratio of attacking CR:

d6 Result
1:   1/6
2:   1/4
3:   1/3
4:   1/2
5:   3/4
6:   1/1

Casualties (lowest CRs first, select randomly amongst equal CRs) are removed (routed) - defeated units normally reform at base at half CR strength (rounding down) at least 1 week later. 2 defeated units can reform into 1 full unit. If all enemies in a Battlegroup are routed, the attacker Battlegroup may advance into their position to engage reserve battlegroups, excess damage is then immediately applied to any reserve units.

Each side must choose a Tactical Stance:
Attack - no benefit from terrain modifiers. Attacks first (or simultaneous if the other side also Attacks).
Defend - benefits from terrain defensive modifiers. Attacks last (or no battle if other side also Defends), doubling the CR of surviving units for the purpose of determining enemy losses.

Unit Stats
Peasant Levy Infantry CR 2 MV 3
Regular Infantry CR 3 MV 3
Heavy Foot CR 4 MV 3
Elite Pike Infantry CR 5 MV 3
Hobilars CR 2 MV 5
Light Cavalry CR 3 MV 5
Heavy Cavalry CR 4 MV 5
Knightly Cavalry CR 5 MV 5

Karameikos Unit Stats
Order of the Griffon Heavy Infantry CR 4 MV 3
Ducal Guard CR 5 MV 3
Elvenguard CR 7 MV 5
Black Eagle Guard CR 6 MV 5
Traldar Light Infantry CR 3 MV 4
Alphatian Navy Skyship CR 10 (immune to ground troops & level 1-4 spells) MV 40 (no terrain modifiers)
Heldannic Warbird CR 5 (immune to ground troops) MV 40 (no terrain modifiers)

Monster Unit Stats
Goblin Wolfriders CR 4 MV 5
Goblin Infantry CR 2 MV 3
Orc Infantry CR 3 MV 3
Hobgoblin Infantry CR 4 MV 3
Dwarf Infantry CR 4 MV 3
Gnolls CR 5 MV 3
Bugbears CR 6 MV 4
Ogres CR 7 MV 4
Trolls CR 9 MV 4, CR x 1.5 (14) for taking casualties
Hill Giants CR 10 MV 4
Stone Giants CR 12 MV 5
Frost Giants CR 13 MV 5
Fire Giants CR 14 MV 5

Combat Example: An army of 600 heavy foot CR 4x6=24 attacks an Army of 300 Regular Infantry plus 100 Knightly Cavalry, CR 3x3=9 + 5 = 14, on open ground. The defending commander opts to Defend. The attacking commander rolls first d6 and gets a 5: 3/4 of 24 = 18 enemy CR destroyed. The defenders are overrun and wiped out before they can prepare a defence.

Terrain Modifiers
Open Ground - 1 MV to enter.
Forest/Jungle - 2 MV to enter. Increases CR by 1/2 when selecting casualties.
Marsh/Swanp - 2 MV to enter. Increases CR by 1/2 when selecting casualties.
Hill - 1 MV to enter. Increases CR by 1/2 when selecting casualties.
Hill/Forest - 2 MV to enter. Doubles CR when selecting casualties.
Mountain - 3 MV to enter pass, otherwise impassable. Doubles CR when selecting casualties
River - Costs 1 MV to cross river. Halves CR of unit attacking across river.
Ford - as open ground.

Fortress/Town - 1 MV to enter. Doubles CR when selecting casualties. Fortification. Maximum 10 units may be inside a town. Maximum 3 units may be inside a fortress.
Stockade/Village/Temple - 1 MV to enter. Increases CR by 1/2 when selecting casualties. Fortification. Maximum 3 units may be inside a stockade or village. Maximum 2 units may be inside a temple.
Ridge - 1 MV to cross upslope. Halves CR of units attacking upslope.
Road - costs 0.5 MV to move along road.
Track - costs 1 MV to move along track. For each 2 hexes (30 miles) travelled along track the next hex can be entered at no cost.

Hero Modifier: A unit accompanied by a Hero (5e level 11-16, Classic Level 15-25) gains +1 to CR. A unit accompanied by a Legendary Hero (5e level 17-20, Classic Level 26-36) gains +2 to CR. One Hero or Legendary Hero may accompany & give bonus to any one unit. Thieves/Rogues do not count as Heroes for this purpose (but may be used for spying, assassination etc).

Hero Parties: Up to 10 Heroes may form an independent unit. Calculate CR as follows, rounding all fractions down.
Per Lesser Hero (5e level 5-10, Classic Level 7-14): 0.25
Per Hero: +0.5 CR
Per Legendary Hero: +1 CR

Hero Party Example: A party of 4 Legendary Heroes (1x4=4) and 6 Heroes (0.5x6=3) has a total CR of 7, making it stronger than 200 regular infantry (CR 6) or 100 veteran cavalry (CR 5).

Hero Survival
Heroes in a defeated unit roll d6 to see if they survive. Otherwise they are killed/captured.
Lesser Hero: Roll 4+ accompanying Unit, 5+ in Hero Party
Hero: Roll 3+ accompanying Unit, 4+ in Hero Party
Legendary Hero: Roll 2+ accompanying Unit, 3+ in Hero Party
PC Heroes who fail their Survival role are either captured or left for dead on the battlefield, normally with a permanent injury or other loss (exception - certain undead enemies will always kill Heroes).

Dragons as Heroes (Classic Rules)
HD 1-7: Lesser Hero
HD 8-14: Hero
HD 15+: Legendary Hero

Dragons as Heroes (5e Rules)
Young: Lesser Hero
Adult: Hero
Ancient: Legendary Hero

Dragons double their CR for attack purposes only. Eg a Legendary Hero Dragon accompanying a unit gives +4 CR to a unit attack, or adds +2 CR to a Hero Party's attack.

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