Mass Combat Question - Unit Size

[DaylightDrifter]

Hey all:

I was wondering, when using the Narrative Mass Combat System from Free Companies, are there any modifiers for unit size?

For instance, a group of 500 Nemidian Knights vs. 100 Asgardian Barbarians...are there modifiers for being outnumbered or having the advantage?

I can't seem to find this in the book, but maybe I'm missing it somewhere.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks.

 

[grtbrt]

The only modifier I can see is that of being outnumbered by 2:1 or greater(-2 to MC).
Personally I would extend that to 3:1 (-3) 4:1(-4) etc.....
But when we do large battles we use a modified "Royal Battles of the Hyborian Age" sometimes with miniatures other times with appropiate blocks of wood (painted & detailed).

 

[quigs]

Speaking of mass combat, has anybody looked at the mass combat rules from Legend of the Five Rings 3rd Edition?

They have a nice system of personal encounters during a large battle that you can perform, some of which give your commander bonuses or their commander penalties. Something like that would be a perfect fit for the Hyborian mass combat rules I would think.

 

[Oly]

Speaking of mass combat, has anybody looked at the mass combat rules from Legend of the Five Rings 3rd Edition?

I know the system from 7th Sea and from your brief description it sounds similar.

I've used a version of that system in my D20 Star Wars games and it was close to what I wanted but I feel that the narrative system in The Free Companies is closer still.

IIRC after choosing roughly what level of engagement the PCs want to be at what they actually encounter is random, in fact they might not encounter anything other than the chance of taking some damage. In Conan I want the PCs to choose what they're going to do/encounter based upon my description/sketches of the battle. However what I think I will be doing is using the personal encounters defined in the 7th Sea system to provide inspiration as to what the PCs in my Conan game will meet when they choose to do various things.

 

[Oly]

For instance, a group of 500 Nemidian Knights vs. 100 Asgardian Barbarians...are there modifiers for being outnumbered or having the advantage?

As grtbrt has said there are modifiers given.

Remember though that the outnumbers army can take steps to limit the effects of being outnumbered. The battle at Thermopylae where 300 Spartans held back hundreds of thousands of Persians is a very famous example. What I really like about the Free Companies system is the ability to represent that sort of thing by the GM just choosing which modifiers apply. For that example the GM might decide that the Spartans had no penalty for being outnumbered at all.

 

[DaylightDrifter]

Ah, I see the chart now! Thanks guys, my mistake.

And yes, I love the fact that the GM can assign and discard whatever modifiers work best. I also like the fact that the narrative system is so quick and we don't have to waste hours and hours detailing a single battle when all the players want to do is move on to the next adventure point.

Thanks again!

 

[quigs]

IIRC after choosing roughly what level of engagement the PCs want to be at what they actually encounter is random, in fact they might not encounter anything other than the chance of taking some damage.

It wasn't completely random, it was a die roll modified by some kind of tactics check. So your check gave you a better chance of getting a more heroic or favourable result. I liked it because battle was chaotic to an extent, but you could never be sure where you would end up. Plus most of the challenges could be refused if you were low on hp, but it gave the commander penalties on his next round's warfare check.

I just remember reading some cool examples, like capturing the enemy standard, facing off against 3-4 soldiers by yourself, seeing an opportunity to attack the archers, reserves, or spellcaster (if any) of the enemy, etc. Could be a great addition to the narrative combat system, which I also think is awesome. If I wanted to play a tabletop minis game with tokens and such, I wouldn't be roleplaying

 

[DaylightDrifter]

If I wanted to play a tabletop minis game with tokens and such, I wouldn't be roleplaying

Couldn't have put it better myself quiqs.