Latest revision as of 01:15, 6 April 2010

Realm Legion Stats & Deployment

These are my precalculated stats for Realm troops of typical quality and training. The discussion of Dragon-Blooded officers and their deployment is strongly influence by not only the mechanics of Mail and Steel (i.e. a unit of well-equipped Dragon-Blooded kicks the ass of much larger mortal units) but also the pre-chapter fiction in Exalted: the Dragon-Blooded describing the battle between Avaku's legion and Sleeves of War.

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Imperial Heavy Foot

4 Dragons per legion (4 x 500 = 2000 troops) [see E:DB, p. 57.]

Equipped w/ Articulated Plate, Tower Shields, & Poleaxes

HTH Attack / Damage: 3/3
Armor: 3 (plus shield effects)
Drill: 4
Valor: 4
Fatigue Value of Armor: 2

Imperial Medium Foot

6 Dragons per legion (6 x 500 = 3000 troops) [see E:DB, p. 57.]

Equipped w/ Reinforced Buff Jackets, Tower Shields, & Spears or Chopping Swords)

HTH Attack / Damage: 2/3
Armor: 2 (plus shield effects)
Drill: 3
Valor: 3
Fatigue Value of Armor: 2

Dragon-Blooded Infantry

Field deployment depends on circumstances (see below)

Equipped w/ Jade Reinforced Breastplates, Daiklaives, & Target Shields

HTH Attack / Damage: 4/4
Armor: 4 (plus shield effects)
Might: 6 (DBs, + Artifact Gear, + mutual assistance charms)
Drill: 5
Valor: 4-5 (varies by unit)
Fatigue Value of Armor: 0

The Question of Dragon-Blooded Officers

If we assume that every officer who is a Talonlord or of greater rank is Dragon-Blooded, that gives us a minimum of (40 Talons) + (20 Wings) + (10 Dragons) = 70 Dragon-Blooded officers per legion, excluding lower-ranking officers, and any Terrestrials attached to the command staff. If we assume that a few Talonlords are extras or heroic mortals, that gives us about 70 Dragon-Blooded per Realm legion.

Now, if the Legion deploys as 10 Magnitude 5 Dragons, that's 7 Dragon-Blooded per Dragon, which means if the Legions want to keep order (and they do) at least 1 Dragon-Blooded officer in each Dragon will have to act as a relay, unable to directly affect the course of the battle. This is a waste of their power.

I suggest the following alternate deployment:

3 Dragon-Blooded officers per Dragon (the Dragonlord and 2 Winglords). The Dragonlord is the unit's leader, the first Winglord is a hero, and the second Winglord acts as either a hero or a sorceror, depending on their capabilities. The 8 remaining special characters are relays, to ensure unit cohesion if one or more of them is killed or the Dragon absorbs troops from a dispersed unit. And if the unit's leader is particularly uncharismatic, one of the Winglords could also be assigned duty as a relay.

The 40-odd remaining Dragon-Blooded (Talon commanders and command staff) form a separate unit or set of units, depending on what they face.

If facing a powerful Anathema commander or other major threat, the Dragon-Blooded form a single unit of effective Magnitude 3, preferably w/ its leader and heroes powered up with charms and wearing Warstriders or Armor of the Immaculate Dragons.

Otherwise, they can split into 5 units of effective Magnitude 2 (4-5 line soldiers, 2-3 heros/sorcerers/relays, 1 leader), as their high Might more than compensates for their small unit size. (See E:PG, p. 216, for the cap on Magnitude-related successes.)

I think it's also safe to assume that a unit of 4 DB soldiers (actual Magnitude 1) wouldn't need 2 relays to stay in order, even though its effective Magnitude is 2, by virtue of its soldiers' health levels.

Comments

I like the Mail and Steel rules, but boy do they ever seem to involve a lot of separate people taking actions (at least potentially). Every last leader, hero, and sorcerer needs stats (as do relays, for command functions) though generic character templates would probably be a huge help for anyone planning to take on or command a Legion in Mail and Steel. -AlecAustin