Ideas for narrative mass combat

[Magister_Ordo_Lyrae]

I'd like to say hi since this is my first post. My friends and I stumbled across the Conan RPG in a used bookstore and picked it up out of love for the novels even though we had some reservations about D&D 3rd ed, although I must say I have been pleasantly surprised by how well its worked so far (had some bad experiences previously with very broken 3E games). I've been lurking for a little while and have found a lot of useful ideas so I thought I might contribute some of my own.

So I love the narrative mass combat rules from the free companies book for a number of reasons: its simple and quick, it works well to transition from a large view (whats happening on the field) to a character view (whats happening to your character in the middle of it all) and it involves very little crunch, but...

My GM is running a mercenary/free company centered game and we were thinking of ways to add a bit of flair to the mass combat rules and make named units a little more unique than just their MC value. We came up with the idea of unit feats that help a unit under certain circumstances. I thought I would post them on the forum to get some feedback and share our ideas so let me know what you think:

Command unit - using banners, flags, trumpets, drums or other devices the unit can convey orders to another friendly adjacent unit granting them a +2 to their MC value. The command unit can only use this ability if they are not engaged in combat.

Shield wall - this unit has trained to maneuver and fight in close formation creating a nearly unbreakable line capable of withstanding even heavy cavalry charges and withstanding hails of arrows. this feat allows the unit 2 special abilities: when the unit braces against a charge they gain a +2 to their MC (cancelling the out the -2 penalty they would normally take for receiving a charge from cavalry). the other ability is is basically the roman Testudo, and allows the unit to ignore missile fire but if attacked in close combat while utilizing this ability they suffer -1 to MC.

Banner - the unit contains a symbol of allegiance and honor such as a hyborian war banner, a copper sigil of set or even a crude idol. This allows a unit to reroll their MC roll but they must accept their second roll.

Hail of Doom - this unit can unleash a hail of missiles so devastating that is can decimate the ranks of opponents. If they are not in close combat they can impose a -2 penalty to MC on any unit within range (instead of the standard -1 penalty for taking missile fire), or they can reduce an opponents MC by 1 for the duration of the battle just as if their opponent had lost an MC check.

Skirmishers - this unit moves swiftly and fights in a loose formation that gives them a +2 to MC when operating in open terrain that allows them to maneuver and fight in a hit and run manner.

Horde - the savagery, ferocity and sheer weight of numbers means this unit takes only half the listed penalties (rounded up) for MC checks.

Thunderous Charge - the elite of most hyborian nations are their heavy cavalry, some of these are so fearsome on the charge they become an unstoppable wave of steel crashing through all who dare to stand in their path. This unit increases the penalty their foes take for receiving a charge from -2 MC to -4 MC.

Sneaky - these units are expert infiltrators and if the battle field has suitable terrain to conceal their advance this unit may choose to attack their opponents from the flank or rear even if the arrayed armies begin the battle facing each other.

Favored terrain - this unit has been raised to fight in specific conditions (picts in the forest, shemite nomads in the desert, Cimmerians in the hills, etc.) and while the unit is fighting in this terrain they gain +1 to their MC.

So let me know what you think and if you have more ideas for battle feats I'd love to hear them.

 

[kintire]

I think its a sound basic idea, and I like the feats you've quoted. How were you proposing that units acquire these abilities? Presumeably some of them would be granted by items (like the banner). Would others needs feats from the commander? Or would they work like combat maneuvers, so if you met the prerequisites you could take them? Or maybe from the Soldier formation ability? I think its a general opinion that that needs a boost...

 

[Magister_Ordo_Lyrae]

sorry about the delay with a reply I've been a little busy. Anyways with regards to how units get the feats my GM and I have been discussing that. some of the ideas we have come up with are the same things you said. For example a unit of 3rd level soldiers with a the heavy cavalry combat formation might get thunderous charge for example. others might require certain things like a specific race, for example a unit of gunderland pikemen might have the shield wall feat (especially if they had the heavy infantry formation), certainly some of these feats were created with specifics races or troop types in mind. I do like the idea of formations giving mass combat bonuses because I agree that formations as they currently work are not all that great. Similarly if the commander of a unit has certain feats they might also grant certain abilities to a unit, using thunderous charge again, if the commander has the unleash the thunder feat from free companies he might grant his unit the thunderous charge ability. We haven't really locked down any specific requirements yet and have just being using common sense to determine battle feats at this point.

 

[Oly]

I've always tried to keep the mass battles uses the Free Companies' narrative system to be as simple as possible. Remember that a "unit" often represents over 1000 men and doesn't comprise a single type. Where there are small battles of less than a 1000 men there's only one formation. There may be mounted knights at the front, supported by footmen, then a rank of shieldmen and behind them archers all within a single unit.

It's all kept very abstract and the effects of a particular type of troop within the unit of 1000s is basically ignored.

What I have done is to be pretty creative when it comes to calculating the MCs of the various units and the changes to a units MC based upon what the PCs got up to. So yes maybe the unit is adept at handling a charge or especially good at launching large volumes of missile fire but my mantra always was keep it simple and keep the focus on the actions of the characters.

If you're operating at a smaller level of detail, say you do want a single unit of a few dozen 3rd level soldiers with a certain feat, then you might want to have a look at the alternative crunchy mass combat system that Mongoose provided as a download some time ago. If you search this forum then I'm sure that you'll find links to it somewhere, if not PM me and I can email it on to you.