Teflonshugenja/KolanWarPlan

Rules Set

The campaign will be using Second Edition Mass Combat rules. House Rules in effect can be found atTeflonshugenja/HouseRules under the Mass Combat section.

Sizes and Magnitudes

I'll be using Realm standard unit sizes for all of this.

One legion = 5000 men (Mag 8, General)
One dragon = 500 men (Mag 5, Colonel)
One wing = 250 men (Mag 4, Major)
One talon = 125 men (Mag 3, Captain)
One scale = 25 men (Mag 2, Leftenant)
One fang = 5 men (Mag 1, Sergeant)

In general, all officers above the rank of Major are assumed to have one competent Subaltern attached to him/her as a second, as well as an adjutant and a small command staff of their own.

Troop Quality, Type, and Outfit

I'll be referring to troops according to basic divisions below. For the sake of brevity, assume that any listing of soldiers adheres to the basic quality and outfit listed here. Individual units that vary from the basic divisions listed here will be noted in their respective descriptions.

Quality
Regular - All troops are assumed to be of regular quality unless otherwise noted. Regular troops use the template on page 279 of the 2E Core. They default to Drill 3 and Might 0 unless otherwise noted.
Elite - Troops listed as Elite use the template on page 280 of the 2E Core. They default to Drill 4 and Might 0 unless otherwise noted.
Superior - Very, very rare. Superior troops use the Elite template on page 280 of the 2E Core. They default to Drill 5 and Might 0. Superior quality troops always have improved Attributes and Abilities noted in their descriptions and are often outfitted with exceptional gear.

Type
Infantry - Infantry troops use the standard templates given.
Cavalry - Cavalry troops have a Ride score equal to their highest combat Ability.

Outfit
Heavy Infantry - Reinforced breastplate, target shield, chopping sword.
Medium Infantry - Buff jacket, target shield, chopping sword.
Light Infantry - Buff jacket, buckler, short sword.
Heavy Cavalry - Reinforced buff jacket, target shield, lance, mace.
Light Cavalry - Buff jacket, brace of javelins, slashing sword.
Archers - Buff jacket, short sword, self bow, quiver of 12 broadhead arrows.

Complementary Unit Stats

Teflonshugenja/UnitBlocks - a quick resource for the Mass Combat numbers of all units listed below. Located on a separate page so that this one doesn't get too overcrowded.

Troop Count

First things first: what we have at our disposal, organized by the city-state that's contributing it.

Serrania: 11,000 men
2 legions of Heavy Infantry (weapons = chopping sword, spear)
2 dragons of Heavy Cavalry (armor = reinforced breastplate, target shield; weapons = lance, mace, straight sword)

Headwater: 6,500 men
1 legion Medium Infantry
2 dragons Doreneal and Order of the Mirrored Hawk Knights (ELITE; armor = plate and chain, target shield; weapons = lance, mace, straight sword). Typically commanded by either Aleric or Talaren.
1 dragon Archers

Fornost: 7,500 men
1 legion Medium Infantry
1 dragon Heavy Cavalry
4 dragons Archers

Hearthfire: 13,500 men
2 legions Medium Infantry
6 dragons Light Infantry
1 dragon Light Cavalry

Shroud Hill: 5,500 men
1 legion Medium Infantry
1 dragon Shock Troops (ELITE; armor = lamellar; weapons = poleaxe, short sword, buckler). Led by Atahn.

Greenwatch: 4,500 men
8 dragons Archers
1 dragon Longbowmen (ELITE; armor = reinforced buff jacket, buckler; weapons = longbow, straight sword). Led by Prince Hallen.

Oakbond: 6,500 men
1 legion Medium Infantry
1 dragon Rangers (ELITE; +1 Stealth and Survival; armor = chain shirt, buckler; weapons = axe, short sword)
2 dragons Light Cavalry

Talon Valley: 11,000 men
1 legion Heavy Infantry
1 legion Light Infantry
2 dragons Archers

Felmorne: 11,000 men
2 legions Felmorne Medium Infantry (+1 each to Stamina, Resistance, Valor, Conviction; armor = chain hauberk, tower shield; weapons = spear, axe)
1 dragon Felmorne Outriders (dragoons; armor = articulated plate, target shield; weapons = greatsword, short sword)
1 dragon Medium Infantry "Reapers of the Full Earth" (ELITE; MIGHT 1; no shields; weapons = scythe, short sword)

Aquila: 500 men
1 dragon Medium Infantry

Palelily: 2,500 men
4 dragons Medium Infantry
1 dragon Archers

Clearspring: 2,000 men
4 dragons Light Infantry

Lata'an Tribes: 5,000 men
10 dragons Light Cavalry

Reaver and Icewalker Tribes: 10,000 men
14 dragons Reaver Irregulars (Drill 1; armor = chain shirt, buckler; weapons = short sword, straight sword, greataxe)
6 dragons Icewalker Regulars (Drill 2; armor = buff jacket, buckler; weapons = short spear, straight sword)

Cult of the Illuminated: 6,000 men
10 dragons Medium Infantry Fanatics (Drill 2; no shields; weapons = greatsword)
2 dragons Kether Rock Tiger Warriors (SUPERIOR; +1 Strength, Dexterity, Thrown; armor = perfect breastplate, target shield; weapons = straight sword, short sword, dagger, brace of 6 javelins). Commanded by Crimson Banner Executioner and Zephyr.

Unique Units:
1 legion Queensmen Heavy Infantry (ELITE; MIGHT 1; armor = plate and chain, tower shields; weapons = chopping sword, shortspear, mace, knife, self bow)
1 wing Dolman's Heavy Infantry (as Queensmen; SUPERIOR; +1 Valor, Stamina, Resistance; +1 Melee vs. the Dead; incl. in above troop numbers). Led personally by Dolman.
8 dragons Refugee Volunteers Light Infantry (Drill 1)

TOTAL TROOP COMPLEMENT: 112,500 men

Technological Resources

Flying Citadel Armament
1 Strategic Geomantic Cannon
9/12 Heavy Implosion Bows
20/24 Very Heavy Essence Cannons
42/56 Heavy Essence Cannons

Aerial Forces

6 Thunderbird-class Skycruisers
3 Medium Implosion Bows (2 paired at the fore, 1 aft)
2 Lightning Ballistae (one top-mounted, one bottom, both have a 360 degree arc of fire)
Crew: 20 Marines, 15 Sailors, 5 Engineers

10 Nimbus-class Transports
1 Light Implosion Bow (fore-mounted, angled down, for clearing a LZ)
2 Flame Lances (1 aft mounted, 1 top-mounted with a 260 degree arc of fire)
Lots of places to fire personal weapons from
Crew: 25 Sailors, 500 troops, 2 Technicians
Cargo Hold: Up to 3 tons additional material can be raided or transported
Marines deploy vertically along zip lines or storm other skyships on boarding planks, ascend on rope ladders

24 Dragonfly-class light assault craft
Repair: 3
Speed: 60/120 mph
Maneuverability: +4R (Lore 1, Ride 3)
Endurance: Powered by an Essence battery that can hold a full charge of 40m. Each hour of flight costs 10m, allowing for up to 4 hours of uninterrupted flight before requiring docking to recharge. The pilot can feed Essence from his own pool into the battery in emergencies. While in dock, the battery charges slowly, at just 2m every hour.
Crew: 1/1
Cargo: Pilot's personal possessions only. Large or bulky armor or items cannot be worn or carried in the pilot's compartment.
Armor: 14L/18B (6m will engage a deflector essence shield for 1 hour which provides +2 DV against ranged attacks)
Health Levels: U x 10 / M x 5 / C x 4 / I x 2 / D
Weapons: One small lightning ballista array housed in the forward body of the aircraft. Each shot drains 1m from the Dragonfly's internal battery, meaning that for all practical purposes the Dragonfly can operate in combat for just one hour or eight volleys before depleting its power supply, whichever comes first. The integrated Lightning Ballista assembly is smaller and lighter than normally seen, and sacrifices significant range and power for improved efficiency. It has a damage rating of 20L(P) but an effective range of only 200 yards.
Notes: Should the craft reach the "Destroyed" level on its Health track, the internal battery is ruptured and explodes violently, dealing 1 die of lethal damage per mote of essence remaining to everything within a 15' radius. Dragonflies are notoriously finicky and need to have regular maintainance performed after every flight; a full overhaul is required for every 20 hours of cumulative use, with combat hours counting double.
Stationed out of the Flying Citadel

Ground Armor

3 Common Jade Warstriders
- Crimson Victory (tetsubo): stationed with Rain's troops, piloted by Zeprin the Red
- Incandescent Resolution (greatsword): stationed with Mari's troops, piloted by Ledaal Catala Rumen
- Indomitable Blade (paired straight swords): stationed with Slate's engineers, piloted by Prince Azyn Pendrelle of Oakbond
1 Noble Warstrider
- Blazing Azure Champion (AERIAL; paired Flame Spears): stationed out of the Flying Citadel, piloted by King Soren of Serrania

Artillery

28 lightning ballistae
40 medium essence cannons
12 fire pearl mortars

Infantry Outfit

1,000 Shock Pikes: assigned to Rain and Mari's units
1,000 suits of Perfect Reinforced Breastplate: assigned to Rain and Mari's units
250 suits of Ashigaru powered armor: assigned to Bec's unit
100 light essence cannons: half assigned to Citadel Defense force, half to Caeleiagh's marines

Timeline

Approximately eight months pass between the end of the previous arc and the beginning of play for the final leg of the campaign. A rough timeline of sorts is offered here, organized by month.

Month 1
- Basic organization and recruitment begins; troops from all over Kolan begin preparations to be brought under umbrella leadership
- Rain begins preliminary training for the savant-engineer corps; approximately 500 individuals in the unit (two concurrent classes of 250)
- Aleric deploys sorcerous measures including Shadow Theft, Voice of Distant Regard network, and begins Imbuing process on the military command staff
- Galian and Bec begin final training leg of Ebon Shadow, also begins War training

Month 2
- Rain completes preliminary savant-engineer training; Aleric assumes second leg of training for the savant-engineer corps
- Rain begins Tiger-Warrior Training in earnest; maintains four concurrent classes of 300 soldiers each from this point forward
- Bec claims Blackfen Anchor, wood manse near Clearspring

Month 3
- Aleric completes second leg of savant-engineer training; Rain assumes final leg of training for the savant-engineer corps; corps is completed at the end of the second week
- Aleric begins instruction of Citadel gunnery units
- Week 4: visit to Vanileth and acquisition of aerial armament

Month 4
- Process aerial armament, adjusting infrastructure and training plans to accomodate
- Aleric treats with the Lata'an for assistance and troop contribution
- Ina leaves to liason with Whitewall
- Plague breaks out in Palelily; Dolman quarantines the city
- Bec begins first long-term spying sortie

Month 5
- Aleric trains talisman and charm crafters
- Slate organizes excavation team and leaves for the ruins of Athol in search of First Age armament
- Week 4: Bec returns from sortie with information on enemy skyship movement and troop camps

Month 6
- Rose Caronnen born; war preparations in Serrania halt for one week in celebration
- Ardal arrives in Serannia
- Evacuation of Clearspring ordered
- Bec travels to Clearspring to organize evacuation, remains behind for second spying sortie
- Word reaches Kolan of the assassination of Mnemon and civil war in the Realm; two hostile Realm legions on march to Kolan turn back
- News reaches Kolan of the death of the Bull of the North

Month 7
- Week 1: Bec returns from second spying sortie with the likely location and current state of Karn and his guard
- Bec meets with and begins training with his ashigaru commandos
- Troop dispatches begin
- Skyships sighted near Talon Valley and Felmorne bearing the sign of the thunderbolt
- Plague in Palelily abates
- Aleric coordinates his thaumaturges to geomantically ward the cities of Kolan against the dead

Month 8
- Nian and Rumen arrive in Kolan via Stormwind Rider to answer Mari's call for family aid
- Slate's excavations at the ruins of Athol bear fruit; the Citadel is dispatched and recovers First Age armament incl. four operational Warstriders
- First skirmishes break out east of Aquila; Western Kolan mobilizes for war
- Galian and Aleric travel to Yu-Shan and Aleric meets with Nara-O; Aleric undergoes savant distillation and learns Solar Circle Sorcery
- Letter arrives from Aria detailing prophecies of the coming conflict
- Bec and Ardal travel east into the shadowlands to attempt to free Karn

Named PC/NPC Resources

Celestials and Gods
Rain Caronnen*
Aleric Doreneal*
Bec Spearkinder*
Ardal*
Tenkaze Ina
Galian
Crimson Banner Executioner
Hai Jie, Lesser Elemental Dragon of Water
Ironbark, god of the Duskwood
Black Bog Anchorite (defensive)

Terrestrials
Slate
Kestrel Doreneal*
Catala Mari
Catala Nian, Mari's sister, sorceress
Catala Rumen, Mari's cousin, warstrider pilot
Zephyr Bloodwind
Relia Bloodwind

Imbued Mortals
Atahn, theTeflonshugenja/Apocalypse
Dolman, theTeflonshugenja/Tower
Talaren Doreneal*, theTeflonshugenja/KnightofSwords
Ebron Caronnen, theTeflonshugenja/Crown
Caeleiagh*, theTeflonshugenja/Admiral
King Soren of Serrania*, theTeflonshugenja/KingofSwords
Zeprin the Red*, theTeflonshugenja/Hermit
Prince Azyn of Oakbond*, theTeflonshugenja/Chariot

Heroic Mortals
General Tholan
Baron Pendrelle of Oakbond
Prince Hallen of Greenwatch
Founder Lahan of Felmorne
Baron Matai Gavrilen of Aquila

(*) - included in the Voice of Distant Regard network

Deployment

UNDER CONSTRUCTION - STILL WORKING THE DETAILS

As of the first session, battle at the river west of Clearspring:

• Aleric, Galian, and Crimson Banner Executioner on mission in Yu-Shan.
  
• Bec and Ardal(?) infiltrating the Chrysalis of Steel Becoming.
  
• Rain, Zephyr, Kestrel, Atahn, Tholan, Founder Lahan, Rumen, and Azyn are stationed at Sloane's Glade. Forces consist of one full legion of Felmorne Infantry and another eight thousand mixed infantry from Shroud Hill, Fornost, Hearthfire and Serrania, with two thousand light infantry and archers as reserves (15,000 total). Additionally, notable unique units include Rain's Lances, Zephyr's Tiger Warriors, Atahn's shock troops, the Reapers of the Full Earth, three scales of battlefield engineers/artillery, and the warstriders Incandescent Resolution and Indomitable Blade. Last, up to four Magnitude 1 Dragonfly strikes can be called in from the Citadel 35 miles to the west, which will arrive 15 long ticks after being called.
  
• Flying Citadel stationed over Aquila. King Soren is given command of the Citadel's forces and aerial defense, including the two Thunderbirds on station over the city. Talaren remains on station there in command of the Dragonfly pilots. Matai Gavrilen in command of the ground forces and city defenses of Aquila.
  
• Mari, Nian and Slate are on station in Talon Valley, commanding the mobile fast-response-and-deploy legion there consisting of Mari's Spears, four scales of battlefield engineers with artillery, five hundred archers, one thousand Serranian Heavy Infantry, and 2,500 Medium Infantry.
  
• Dolman and his Queensmen are in possession of Palelily. They hold the city and are responsible for preventing unrest.
  
• Baron Pendrelle and Prince Hallen are stationed at Oakbond, along with the Greenwatch forces, to maintain the northern edge of the Duskwood. Additionally, two thousand additional infantry from Hearthfire are bolstering the city's defense force, and 500 Kether Rock Tiger Warriors are stationed within the city itself as security forces.
  
• Caeleiagh personally commands one of the Thunderbird-class skyships in the skies around Oakbond and the northern Duskwood. She has orders to bring down elements of the Crimson Sky Fleet that attempt to seize Oakbond.
  
• Relia is stationed in Vulture Point to maintain the western border of the Duskwood. Old Man Doreneal is acting interim governor of Headwater.
  
• Zeprin the Red is in nominal command of the massed Reaver forces moving east across Kolan.
  

8 dragons of Refugee Volunteers, 1 Dragon of Citadel Defenders, 24 Dragonfly pilots, 200 Citadel Gunners, and 350 Citadel Savant-Engineers are assigned to the Flying Citadel. The Savant-Engineers are divided into 7 shifts of 50, with two shifts on duty at all times; each shift gets one day off per week. Additionally, 12,000 refugee citizens (noncombatants) are permanently relocated to the Citadel to make it a fully functional city. Citadel inhabitants are subsidized until such time as it becomes a self-sustaining economy.

One fang of Citadel Savant-Engineers are assigned to repair and maintainance crews for each of the four Warstriders.
Depending on requirements, between three and five Citadel Savant-Engineers are assigned as repair and maintainance crew for each Thunderbird- and Nimbus-class airship.
One fang of Citadel Savant-Engineers are attached to each scale of Battlefield Engineers possessing First Age artillery to act as repair and maintainance crew.

Oakbond Rangers stationed out of Vulture Point.
Four dragons of Lata'an Cavalry and the Felmorne Outriders patrolling in force the flatlands surrounding Aquila.
Two Thunderbirds at Aquila with the Citadel to counter possible blockades by the Crimson Sky Fleet.
One Thunderbird, personally commanded by Admiral Caeleiagh, in the skies near Oakbond.
One Thunderbird at Headwater.
One Thunderbird at Shroud Hill.
One Thunderbird and all ten Nimbus transports located at Talon Valley. Two full-strength mixed troop legions stationed at Talon Valley as fast-response reinforcements that alternate weeklong standby shifts. That gives us the ability to put an extra 5000 men down anywhere in Kolan in under a day. The Thunderbirds are escorts.

Unique and Modified Units

Rain and Aleric are using Tiger Warrior Training Technique and Harmonious Academic Methodology (respectively) to quickly train a large number of highly competent specialty units. Assume the basic template is that of the Regular Troops (p. 279 of the 2E Core) with the noted modifications. Unless otherwise noted, the troops here are drawn from the Fornost and Headwater Medium Infantry. They are as follows:

Citadel Savant-Engineers: 500
Dexterity 3, Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Lore 3, Occult 3, Craft 5 (Magitech +2)[Fire, Air, Earth, Wood, Magitech], Drill 5
Tiger-Warriors. Support and maintainance crew for the Flying Citadel and accumulated First Age armament.

Citadel Gunners: 200
Perception 3, Lore 4 (Gunnery +2)
Weapons crew for the Flying Citadel. Heavy Essence Cannons are manned by one gunner. Very Heavy Essence Cannons are manned by teams of 3. Two full complements of gunners alternate shifts during combat engagements. The Heavy Implosion Bows are fired from the central control chamber and thus do not require gunnery teams.

Thaumaturges: 1,000
Intelligence 3, Occult 5 (Talismans +2)
Drawn from regional citizenry. Noncombatants. Responsible for outfitting all non-reserve ground units with Might 1 in talismans and charms.

Citadel Defenders: 500
Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Melee 4, Resistance 3, War 4, Valor 4, Drill 5
Tiger-Warriors. Primary security and defense force for the Flying Citadel, should it be boarded.

Mobile Shock Infantry: 1,000
Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Melee 5, Resistance 3, Valor 4, Drill 5
Outfitted with Perfect Reinforced Breastplate, Target Shield, Shock Pike, Chopping Sword, Knife
Tiger-Warriors. Drawn from Serannian Heavy Infantry. Comprise the units personally commanded by Rain and Mari on the battlefield.

Ashigaru Commandos: 250
Dexterity 4, Thrown 1, Stealth 3 (Unit Tactics +2), Ride 1 (Haslanti Glider +2), Valor 4, Drill 5
Outfitted with Ashigaru armor, knife, straight sword, brace of javelins. May be deployed aerially via hang glider from airships within 500' of the ground.
Tiger-Warriors. Covertly trained in a joint effort by Rain and Bec. Comprise the unit personally commanded by Bec on the battlefield.

Battlefield Engineers: 500
Archery 3 (Siege Weapons +2), Craft 5 [Fire, Air, Earth, Wood, Magitech], Drill 5
Tiger-Warriors. Typically divided into scales of 25. Each scale is assigned four First Age artillery weapons: two Medium Essence Cannons and either one or two Lightning Ballistae, with a Fire Pearl Mortar replacing the second Ballista in about half of the units. Comprise the troops typically managed by Slate.
Scales are divided according to their duties in the following manner:

• One Leftenant Engineer in charge (qualifies as a Unit Commander or Subaltern)
  
• Eight artillerists assigned in teams of two to maintain and operate the First Age weapons
  
• Six siege engineers assigned to construction of field engines; authorized to conscript labor from the rank-and-file of the main troop body
  
• Ten fortification engineers assigned to field preparations; authorized to conscript labor from the rank-and-file of the main troop body
  

Soren's Charge: 500
Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Melee 4, Resistance 3, Ride 5, Valor 4, Drill 5
Tiger-Warriors. Drawn from Serannian Heavy Cavalry.

Dragon Warriors: 500
Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Thrown 1 (Javelin +2), Resistance 3, Valor 4, Drill 5
Drawn from Hearthfire Medium Infantry. Outfitted with breastplate, target shield, short spear, brace of 6 javelins, knife.
Tiger-Warriors. Comprise the unit personally commanded by Relia on the battlefield.

Aerial Marines: 500
Dexterity 3, Melee 4, Sail 3, Valor 4, Drill 5
Outfitted with breastplate, chopping sword, knife. One in ten wields a Light Essence Cannon.
Tiger-Warriors. Comprise the fighting complement of the aerial forces commanded by Caelieagh.

Dragonfly pilots: 24
Wits 4, Archery 3 (Lightning Ballista +2), Ride 5 (Dragonfly-class aircraft +2), War 3 (Aerial Tactics +2), Drill 5
Elite Troops. Additionally, Tiger Warriors. Drawn from the Doreneal Knights. Comprise the pilots of Talaren's aerial strike force and dogfighting squadron.

Comments

Updated some of the spelling (it's Caelieagh, not Caeliegh- pronounced kay-LEE-ah, not KAY-lee, and no I'm not giving you a hard time about it becasue yes it is a ridiculously Gaelic name) and filled in a lot of blanks. I agree wtih the assessment about Bec having some good ideas there- Jef and I will be working them out over AIM and the like in the next few weeks. The first session should have Aleric and Galian in Yu-Shan stealing fire from the gods, Rain fighting his first major engagement against the Enemy, and Bec and Ardal trying to bust Karn out of the Chrysalis of Steel Becoming. I look forward to it. - Punslinger

So, ummm, when you guys actually throw down, you guys will post the blow-by-blow report here, right? - TonyC

We have an audience now?
(boggle) - teflonshugenja

This wikipage seems to be shaping up into a full scale Mail & Steel runthrough. If it does, then it might be the only one, as previous runthrough I've seen are all small scale and mostly crafted examples as opposed to actual play. Hence my interest. - TonyC

Fair enough. The system is 2E Mass Combat, which is a refined version of M&S with a few differences. But yes, it'll be the whole tamale. I guess I'll need to be taking some brief notes as I go, then. - teflonshugenja

Finished theTeflonshugenja/UnitBlocks subpage and added a link to it. - teflonshugenja

Okay, while we're talking tweaking the technoninjas, can I get them a ride score? I would like to be able to deploy them aerially via ninja-style hang-gliders, using warships to drag them behind enemy lines. How would that work skill wise? - TheIronJef

Hm! That would be doable. I think we can probably scrounge up enough dudes who have Ride 1 to avoid training that and just give them a specialty in Haslanti gliders. That'd cover competency with a Dex + Ride pool of 7, which oughta be good enough to get them on the ground in one piece. I hadn't even considered the idea before. What would you want to swap out for it? - teflonshugenja

I guess if it's just a specialty dot we can either dip into the current specialty in unit tactics or else drop a point off of stamina. Stamina reduction would leave us in the black, so we could maybe buy a thrown specialty with the leftovers in javelin or something. -TheIronJef (The thought being that these guys have pretty badass armor on, so they should have acceptable soak anyway, but if things go to crap they'll go to crap faster than 1 stamina dot would really fix, since they're such glass cannons and there's only 250 of them anyway)

I was thinking Stamina, too. They're getting a Resistance bonus vs. infection and stuff from the armor anyway, and losing a little Endurance isn't crucial since they're hit-and-fade troops. We'll do that. - teflonshugenja

Added stat summaries for the Imbued Mortals. - teflonshugenja

Added a link to the Mass Combat house rules. - teflonshugenja