Mass Combat Rules

Mass Combat Rules involve the intersection of the rules for Combat, Armies and Units, Commanders, Strongholds, Rituals, and more. Most of these rules will be listed twice, once here, and once with the rules for all of the other concepts in use. The rules presented on this page are specifically ONLY the rules as they apply to the mass combat system. Further, the list of specific stats aren't found here(But most will be linked).

Turns in Combat
Mass combat begins with the same thing normal combat does; An Initiative roll. Each Unit rolls initiative separately, however most do not possess a bonus to this roll. If they do, it is often from the Tactician or Commander in charge of the Unit. Initiative otherwise works as normal.

Each turn in Combat is 1 Minute long. Each turn, Units may Move and take one Action. Unless otherwise noted, each Unit may move a single space, and may use their Action to Attack another Unit, or move another space. Many units have a special Action to take, such as the Cavalry's Charge action or the Archer's Volley action. These spaces are measured in roughly 300-foot cubes(Technically 320-foot cubes, but we'll round).

Non-Units in Mass Combat can happen. Usually they serve roles as Battle Mages, Commanders, or Tacticians, but they have minimal direct impact on Mass Combat. If they are unaffiliated with a Unit, they roll initiative and act normally. Because there are 10 turns to a Mass Combat round, multiply the unit's speed by 10 and round to the nearest 300. Whatever the creature can contribute is whatever they can contribute, action-wise. Most attacks and spells are useless against giant monsters and mass combat units, though massive resource expenditure with the right abilities might cause a wound.

Units
Units have a total of 5 important statistics(Attack, Defense, Morale, Toughness, and Cost) and 5 Key Words(Experience, Gear, Ancestry, Position, and Size). Let's break it down from the top.

Attack is a number and die pair, such as 3(d6), 7(2d8), or 10(4d8). When the Unit Attacks or is Attacked, the corresponding Attack Die is rolled, then the engaged Unit's Defense Die is rolled, and the difference is applied as damage. It is affected by all Keywords.

Defense is a number and die pair, such as 1(d2), 2(d4), or 5(1d10). When the Unit Attacks or is Attacked, they roll their Defense Die, which reduces their opponent's Attack Die before the difference is applied as damage. It is also effected by all Keywords.

Morale is a number, such as 4. When reduced to 0, the Unit is halved due to deserters, and they regain half their Morale maximum. Morale is lost based on damage suffered and other factors. It is affected by Experience, Ancestry, Position, and Toughness(As half the creature's Toughness is added to their Morale)

Toughness is a number, such as 8. It is related to Size, and represents the number of Wounds a Unit can take before it is Disbanded. Each time half the Toughness is lost, the Unit's Size is reduced by 1 step. It is affected by Gear, Ancestry, Position, and Size.

Cost is a number, representing the cost in Kr of a Unit. This is used in determining Upkeep and hiring costs. This calculation works forwards and backwards; If you create a Unit, you tally the statistics and determine Cost from that, but if you are given a Cost Limit, you can then use that to determine the statistics of that Unit.

The Experience Key Word notes the level of experience of the unit. It effects Attack, Defense, Morale, and Cost.

The Gear Key Word notes the level of equipment the Unit wields. It effects Attack, Defense, Toughness, and Cost.

The Ancestry Key Word notes the race of the Unit. Technically, under these rules, there can't be a Unit made of a mix of units, but that's fairly unrealistic, and it would be more accurate to say that the Key Word is the most common ancestry within the Unit, and that most Units have multiple Ancestry Key Words. It effects Attack, Defense, Morale, Toughness, and Cost.

Size is a physical grid size, much like a creature's size. Most Units are Mass Combat Medium, also called Macro-Medium and Township Medium. It effects Attack, Defense, Toughness, and Size. Size is also interesting, because Units of a larger or smaller size can't actually fight effectively against eachother. A large force can only muster a fraction of their attack, while a smaller force can only attack a small area of a larger force. In effect, these actually balance out identically on the math, strange as that is. Being larger also allows you to engage with more units. Perks.

The Position Key Word notes the Unit's military purpose, such as "Infantry" or "Archer." This effects Attack, Defense, Morale, Toughness, and Cost, as well as special abilities.

Siege Engines
Siege Engines can make up their own special Units. They only have 3 Stats(Attack, Toughness, and Cost), and 3 Keywords(Operator Experience, Manufacturer, and Size).

Attack, Toughness, Cost, and Size are all more or less the same as for ordinary Units. Siege Engines cannot defend, and unless their Operators can serve as a Unit on their own, even they can't defend the engines in any meaningful way. On the upside, Siege Engines do not track Morale, nor do their Operators(Unless they function as a unit), and it is assumed that roughly half their losses come from their Operators fleeing before the company is attacked.

The Operator Keyword, referenced several times now, refers to the people working the engines. If there are no operators, the Siege Engines must be Automatic or Sentient. It effects Attack and Cost. If the Operators function as both Siege Operators and a combat Unit, their price is built as a Unit, and their Operator stats are added to them at half the cost. Further, at the beginning of each round, the Operators get to choose whether to act as a Unit, or as Operators to this Siege Unit.

Manufacturer is exactly what it sounds like, it's who made the Siege Engines. This almost never actually impacts the stats of the Siege Engine Unit, but sometimes it does.

Commanders and Tacticians
Each "Side" in a conflict tends to have one or fewer Tacticians- Which give a passive benefit throughout the entire combat, assuming they are not killed otherwise- and most Units possess a Commander, even if this commander is not sentient, or technically "in command" of the unit. For example, a Unit of Zombies may be led by a Ghoul, or Empowered Zombie, or even a Zombie T-Rex. These creatures aren't intelligent enough for a "Command" system, however being instinctively led by a unit of being of such power confers many of the same benefits.

Tacticians grant their benefits through Orders and Stratagems, and cannot usually be killed during a combat(Though assassinations and foolish tacticians both lead to exceptions here). These Orders grant an army's Units special Actions to take in combat.