TonyC/MockMassCombat

Placeholder. I intend on running a mock combat between two armies to familiarize myself with Mass Combat system. This will let me assist my GM later. And if it means knowing what to do and what to avoid in order to win the wars and achieve World Domination, all the better.

The Forces

Let us take the stats from JesseLowe/SWFcrew and use it as the basis for the Mass Combat stats. Kaizoku, with his penchant for big words and long titles, calls them Solar Wind Fleet Tigershark Warriors. But they are really Our Pirates. Arrrr!

Our Pirates
Drill 5. Endurance 9. Might 0. Morale 4.
Close Combat Attack 4, Ranged Combat Attack 3.
Close Combat Damage 3, Ranged Damage 2.
Armor 1. Mobility Penalty -1.

Hmmm, just looking at this I can suggest some improvements. Our Pirates should use short swords instead of chopping swords. Given the Dex, Str, Melee, and the way things are rounded, short swords will increase Close Combat Attack to 5 without any loss in damage. Not to mention that they are cheaper than chopping swords and needs less room to use, which is a plus in a ship's cramped conditions.

Curiously, shields do nothing in Mass Combat, which seems to be odd given their prevalence in actual historical armies. My suggestion is to give an army equipped with shields the DV bonus regardless of whether the commander wears one. In fact, if the commander wears a shield but the army doesn't, do not give the commander the shield dv bonus unless the commander is being specifically targeted.

Hmmm, cheapest armor is Buff Jacket. Best light armor is Breastplate. Best Medium Armor is Lamellar (least Fatigue) although if Resources is an issue, Reinforced Buff Jacket is good. Best Heavy armor is Reinforced Breast plate. Superheavy are equally good or equally bad. It's just a trade off between Resources vs. Fatigue and Mobility. Note that this is for Mass Combat, where Mobility and Fatigue is important, and Armor ratings are divide by 3, round up. And when you are equipping several thousand people, Cost is important.

Anyway, let's assume Our Pirates will be using short swords instead.

Our Pirates
Drill 5. Endurance 9. Might 0. Morale 4.
Close Combat Attack 5, Ranged Combat Attack 3.
Close Combat Damage 3, Ranged Damage 2.
Armor 1. Mobility Penalty -1.

Let's have our PCs don a talon of them. That's Magnitude 3. Admiral Kaizoku is the Commander. Monkey is a Hero. We need Relays, but they don't really come into play unless someone deliberately targets them. But I shall name Saji Hisato , Snarling Wolf , and Dancing Razor Leaf as Relays.

Now we need enemies. For starter, let's start with a heroic mortal and some average warriors. For the heroic mortal, we'll use the stats from page 280 of the 2e corebook (switching Ride for Sail). For his troops, we use the stats for Levied Troops from the 2e STC (page 128). We shall call them Them and say they have approximate the same number of people. Magnitude 3. We shall assume they have Relays, and if it's ever important to have their stats, we shall use the Mortal Hero stats again.

Them
Drill 2. Endurance 6. Might 0. Morale 2.
Close Combat Attack 2, Ranged Combat Attack -.
Close Combat Damage 3, Ranged Damage -.
Armor 1. Mobility Penalty -1.

The Set-Up

Our Pirates, Arrr!, after an exciting chase followed by a brief exchange of fire, boards a fat merchant ship. Monkey jumps to the the merchantship's mast and, caste-mark glinting, announces, "Put down your arms! I am Monkey. What hope do you have for winning now that I'm here?" We'll skip the Charisma + Presence roll etc., because although any sane mortal would immediately surrender, we need a fight for this page. So the Merchant Captain answers back, "Never! You Anathema can't be allowed to act as you please!" Monkey looks back at Kaizoku. Kaizoku grimly nods. Monkey shrugs and goes to work.

The Action

Rolling Join War Kaizoku rolls his pool of Wits + War - Magnitude = 4 -> 2
Meanwhile Merchant Captain rolls his pool of Join War pool of 4 and gets 2 successes too.

Which means they both go at the same time. Tick 0.

Hmmm, this does means that in theory, if you are incompetent enough and your units large enough, then you can't even lead them.

Tick 0