Mass Combat

[Danos]

Example

Sir Miguel Eduardo Castillano de Vera Cruz has raised an army of mercenaries and disaffected freemen, and together with his retinue (the rest of the player characters) deems the time ripe to retake his ancestral holdings. The usurper, his cousin Baron Javier Kinsey Eduardo de Castillo Keep de Vera Cruz, will be seeking to repulse the attackers and retain the fief he stole from the rightful heir.

The gamemaster decides that the usurper, Baron Javier, is cowardly and fears a duel with the rightful heir to the estate. Baron Javier has fortified the keep extensively, so he will try to lead the attackers into a minefield, and then settle down to a siege, defending his walls and waiting for house leaders to arrive so he can use his superior political connections to punish the attackers socially instead of militarily.

The player for Sir Miguel makes an opposed Warfare: Military Tactics roll to figure out the order of battle. Sir Miguel is a veteran with past experience fighting the Muster on Sutek and the Kurgans on Hira. His goal number is 16. Baron Javier is an usurper who does not deserve the fief he stole, but he is still a Hazat, with a goal number of 12. The player needs only 1 victory point to realize that the plowed fields that the Baron's troops avoid crossing are minefields. He needs 3 net victory points to realize that the Baron will retreat on his fortifications for a siege, and he needs 5 net successes to realize that the Baron will not be attacking at all, merely trying to hold the player character's army off long enough to bring political pressure to bear against them.

[Danos]

So there are my current notes. I'm a bit dissatisfied with the d6 choices for tactics, and I think it could be improved in other ways, but thus far I have run two skirmishes using these rules; a husk attack on a fief (they shamble forward. They shamble forward. The necromancer in the back uses his elite troops to kill the party), and a mercenary attack on the fief (they set up a skirmish line, advanced to get into range with their heavy weapons, and targeted the leaders, meaning the PCs) and the rules held up ok.

Please let me know what you think. This is very much a work in progress for me.