I have an upcoming session (not for a few weeks, but im trying to prepare now) where it is going to be a massive battle, trench warfare style.
Elven army: Light infantry with some powerful magic users.
Defense: A few towers that have magic missile users to act as machine gunners, a few very high level mages using meteor swarm to motor the field, and some front line defenders with Cone-shaped spells when the enemy tries to rush.
Weaknesses: I would say a big weakness for these guys is 1) their infantry are nothing compared to enemy heavy infantry, and 2) because the opposing force has almost no magic, the elves dont have many magic defenses up.
Dwarven Army: Almost no magic. Army full of high strength dwarves wearing heavy army, with a division of very skilled cross bowmen
Defenses: A second line of cross-bowmen to shoot down incoming attackers, and catapults to pelt the area. The heavy infantry are able to easily slaughter the light infantry of the opposing force.
Weaknesses: Pretty much no magic, and some more limited defensive options
I currently dont know which side the PCs will choose. but keeping this in mind, how would you have the PCs in a campaign cross no mans land and not be obliterated by masses of spells, rocks, bombs, and arrows? How would you run this whole session as a DM?
Edit: So im using many fantastic suggestions to change things up. Instead of meteor swarm to mortar the field, its been changed to fireball. Gas masks to cover possible cloud kill, the dwarves having large heavy stone blocks with anti-magic runes to lessen the impact of large waves of spells, and the terrain being changed to very loose dirt and small pebbles to make mold earth/digging not an option. Invisibility is a great option for being undetected, but still runs the risk of being struck by a stray arrow, which i like. I really appreciate all the help so far, and im really looking forward to this trench warfare session.
Crossing should be done while invisible. Neither side will have significant detection for invisible - the dwarves do not have the ability and the elves know the dwarves will not be invisible.
Components: V, S, M (an eyelash encased in gum arabic)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
A creature you touch becomes invisible until the spell ends. Anything the target is wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it is on the target's person. The spell ends for a target that attacks or casts a spell.
At Higher Levels.
When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 2nd.
Crossing should be done while invisible. Neither side will have significant detection for invisible
both sides absolutely would... Just because something is invisible doesn't mean it doesn't interact with the environment. Bell on string rings, barbed wire bends, board cracks, puddle splashes, mud clumps, smoke whirls around the invisible person, the sound of someone walking towards you = someone is there...and we're talking mass AOE options so you don't need to know exactly where. Even without the AoE, once there's a detection, just have everyone on the line throw a few handfulls of pebbles. Where they bounce in mid-air...that's your target. I would imagine in a D&D world, even your newest noob understands invisible creatures have to be considered when you're specifically designing something that no creature is supposed to cross.
@ OP...with those resources, I was answering your 'how would you run this session' question, which is a huge question. But for the specific, 'how to cross question'...elf side is easy since there's a bunch of magic options. Dwarf side = dig.
I wouldn’t try to figure out how the party will do it, that’s the party’s job. You need to figure out what the various armies will be doing at any given time, and what sorts of protections they have in place. Then you make them respond to the party’s choices. Much like if they were going to do a heist, you don’t plan their heist, you plan the security.
I’d make it clear that if they run across the area, they will die. After that it’s for them to figure out how to get there. And how will depend greatly on party composition, level, magic items, and other factors, like what sorts of NPCs they are friendly with.
Also: why wouldn’t the elves, with their high level wizards, just spam the mold earth cantrip and dig themselves a trench or two right up to the dwarven lines?
There's four things I can think of, with the aid of memes:
We only get shot on arrangement. Either advancing army is going to suffer casualties, that's an inevitibility of traversing No Man's Land. The best they can do is mitigate them with distractions, such as having the sun to their backs, foxholes to dive in to, and no small amount of damage done to the front lines that will make the defenders retreat.
Oh no, they've gone around it. The Maginot Line is one of the greatest defences the world has ever seen, its only problem being that it didn't work. An exaggeration, but the lesson is that the Line would've been sudden death for any encroaching forces. So... don't do it. Find a way around that their artillery doesn't know about or can't reach.
Claykickers. This one applies especially to the dwarves, stereotypically a race of miners. During the First World War, the Tunneling Companies of the Royal Engineers (such as "The Tipton Claykickers") were tasked with digging underneath No Man's Land to sneak into the enemy's trenches, usually doing battle in cramped, dingy conditions with little to no oxygen. Dwarves are usually born in such conditions and may prefer that to the open air, so digging beneath the trenches to get into the enemy's face unexpectedly could turn the tide of the war... if the land above doesn't swallow them up first.
Deus Ex Machinegunner. The party is given plot armour to get across No Man's Land barely enough, as they watch good soldiers die all around them. They're invisible to the defenders (but can still suffer blast damage and stray fire) until the troops are gone, and after that, they're on their own in a trench, and that's when the fighting will get dirty. Build up the scene before they get there; it's a cutscene, so to speak, but don't let them know that. If the PCs are to meet their end, let it be in the nitty-gritty where they actually stand a chance. And if they search-and-destroy while they're there, all the better.
This is of course assuming they cross No Man's Land. They could, whilst in the trenches of one side, sabotage a few things to give the aggressors an easier time and side with them.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
HeatSmith points out some good resources specifically in the game. If you got it lying around you might want to look at the recent trinity of Star Wars games, specifically Age of Rebellion to talk about a TTRPG party in battle scape, there's some sharp narrative and encounter design thinking there.
In main 5e, you got off the top of my head the finale to Tyranny of Dragons and Descent of Avernus that put the characters into a battle scene. BG:DiA actually has not only the final battle clashing of armies, but the Elturel has fallen section works as a good way to model a party moving through urban "house to house fighting" style warfare.
I wouldn't really play a war game out frankly, or just put your characters in the ranks of a cavalry or infantry charge. Rembember D&D (playing fast and loose here) rose out wargaming where "hero" units could rise above the conventional forces ... and then designers decided to focus a game just on those hero "units" calling them characters instead. PCs are best used as an A Team or Jedburgh type group performing some mission essential to securing victory but not on the main front. Think the musical Hamilton:
WASHINGTON:
The truth is in your face When you hear the British cannons go Boom!
Any hope of success is fleeting How can I keep leading when the people I'm leading keep retreating? We put a stop to the bleeding as the British take Brooklyn Knight takes rook, but look
We are out-gunned (What!) Out-manned (What!) Out-numbered, out-planned! (Boom, boom, boom; boom, boom) We gotta make an all-out stand Hey yo, I'm gonna need a right-hand man (Boom, boom, boom; boom, boom) Incoming!
HAMILTON and MULLIGAN
They're battering down the Battery, check the damages (Brrah!) We gotta stop 'em and rob 'em of their advantages (Brrah!) Let's take a stand with the stamina God has granted us Hamilton won't abandon ship; yo, let's steal their cannons!
WASHINGTON
Goes the cannon, watch the blood and the shit spray, and (Boom!) Goes the cannon, we're abandoning Kips Bay, and (Boom!) There's another ship, and (Boom!) We just lost the southern tip, and (Boom!) We gotta run to Harlem quick; we can't afford another slip
PCs want to be in harmony with Hamilton's irregular (and ahem self-conceived) mission rather than the broader narrative of Washington getting routed. Taking part as part of the line in a big battle piece basically makes the players tourists to your big narration.
I could conceive of playing out a large scale battle with some mass combat rules if the players were actually the generals. In the case you're outlining where they seem to be adventurers joining a yet to be determined side, rather than having the PCs subject to some sort of mass combat rules, I'd simply do encounter chains related to accomplishing their objectives. So a arrow barrage would be some sort of skill challenge or massive amount of saving throws encounter. As another reference, I'd look at Clive Owen. I was just talking about looking at his The International to get a sense of the IRL ABC method of pedestrian (with some vehicular applicability) surveillance or tailing. So pursuant to making Clive Owen a DM aid, in Children of Men, the big battle set piece between the British army and the anarchists is another way of trying to get the PC perspective you're trying to capture of a battle. The sequence never takes a grand look at the whole battle, the camera, what would be the PC perspective, follows Clive's character through the battle with a specific mission that's very much independent of the big fight. In your battle, for "the adventure" the mechanical back and forths of the battle don't really matter and really should be narrational, and ideally influenced by the characters actions ... what you should focus on are a set of encounters, so you basically design the battlefield as a "dungeon" with things to encounter at various parts of their mission from point A to point B. Once you recognize you're really designing a dynamic dungeon that you're skinning as a battlespace, the work of capturing a big fight becomes more reliant on your regular DM skills.
Come up with what you want the PCs to do, giving a number of options they can choose, and then build the forces and scenario around whatever makes the best encounters.
Dispense with ideas about Meteor Swarm. That spell means that being spotted is instant death below about level 15.
I wouldn’t try to figure out how the party will do it, that’s the party’s job. You need to figure out what the various armies will be doing at any given time, and what sorts of protections they have in place. Then you make them respond to the party’s choices. Much like if they were going to do a heist, you don’t plan their heist, you plan the security.
I’d make it clear that if they run across the area, they will die. After that it’s for them to figure out how to get there. And how will depend greatly on party composition, level, magic items, and other factors, like what sorts of NPCs they are friendly with.
Also: why wouldn’t the elves, with their high level wizards, just spam the mold earth cantrip and dig themselves a trench or two right up to the dwarven lines?
I do agree that its up to the party to figure out how, but i definitely want to have some ideas ready in case they come up with nothing.
...um, I didnt think about having the elves do that? lol
I do agree that its up to the party to figure out how, but i definitely want to have some ideas ready in case they come up with nothing.
...um, I didnt think about having the elves do that? lol
how about the dwarves flooded nocreature's land...its a soupy mess...every time you dig a hole, it just fills with muck .... or nocreature's land isn't loose earth, its big ol' flat rock (and the cantrip doesn't work)...the trenches were dug beyond the edges of that rock.
That could be a good idea. Ive made the distance far enough that most spells cant quite reach the other sides front defensive line, but absolutely flooding the area to prevent digging wouldnt be out of the question.
There's four things I can think of, with the aid of memes:
We only get shot on arrangement. Either advancing army is going to suffer casualties, that's an inevitibility of traversing No Man's Land. The best they can do is mitigate them with distractions, such as having the sun to their backs, foxholes to dive in to, and no small amount of damage done to the front lines that will make the defenders retreat.
Oh no, they've gone around it. The Maginot Line is one of the greatest defences the world has ever seen, its only problem being that it didn't work. An exaggeration, but the lesson is that the Line would've been sudden death for any encroaching forces. So... don't do it. Find a way around that their artillery doesn't know about or can't reach.
Claykickers. This one applies especially to the dwarves, stereotypically a race of miners. During the First World War, the Tunneling Companies of the Royal Engineers (such as "The Tipton Claykickers") were tasked with digging underneath No Man's Land to sneak into the enemy's trenches, usually doing battle in cramped, dingy conditions with little to no oxygen. Dwarves are usually born in such conditions and may prefer that to the open air, so digging beneath the trenches to get into the enemy's face unexpectedly could turn the tide of the war... if the land above doesn't swallow them up first.
Deus Ex Machinegunner. The party is given plot armour to get across No Man's Land barely enough, as they watch good soldiers die all around them. They're invisible to the defenders (but can still suffer blast damage and stray fire) until the troops are gone, and after that, they're on their own in a trench, and that's when the fighting will get dirty. Build up the scene before they get there; it's a cutscene, so to speak, but don't let them know that. If the PCs are to meet their end, let it be in the nitty-gritty where they actually stand a chance. And if they search-and-destroy while they're there, all the better.
This is of course assuming they cross No Man's Land. They could, whilst in the trenches of one side, sabotage a few things to give the aggressors an easier time and side with them.
Already dealt with point number 2: The battle ground borders the 2 nations, but the one area where they could go around is bordered by another nation that trades a LOT of food with other nations. Having troops pass en masse during a conflict on forien soil would come with enormous sanctions that would starve out troops.
I wouldn’t try to figure out how the party will do it, that’s the party’s job. You need to figure out what the various armies will be doing at any given time, and what sorts of protections they have in place. Then you make them respond to the party’s choices. Much like if they were going to do a heist, you don’t plan their heist, you plan the security.
I’d make it clear that if they run across the area, they will die. After that it’s for them to figure out how to get there. And how will depend greatly on party composition, level, magic items, and other factors, like what sorts of NPCs they are friendly with.
Also: why wouldn’t the elves, with their high level wizards, just spam the mold earth cantrip and dig themselves a trench or two right up to the dwarven lines?
I do agree that its up to the party to figure out how, but i definitely want to have some ideas ready in case they come up with nothing.
...um, I didnt think about having the elves do that? lol
I get your instinct, but I’d say don’t hand hold them. If the players come up with nothing, their mission fails, and they have to deal with the consequences. Otherwise, you’re building intentional flaws into the defenses, and it get confusing why the rest of the army didn’t think of it.
Also, as others have said, PCs typically shouldn’t be sent into mass combats. Find a mission that requires someone hitting a specific small point: take out that tower, poison the food, kill the general.
If the dwarves flood the area, it seems like it’s difficult terrain, and they can’t get across either. If the dwarven goal is simply to hold the line indefinitely, it could work, but if they want to advance, anything they do to the terrain hurts them, too. The stone makes more sense, then they can’t use move earth either, which a high level wizard would have access to. Though, in a larger sense, if there’s high enough level wizards to have meteor swarm, they should have won already. They could stagger a few walls of force to give the elves cover and then just leisurely walk across the area, or to let themselves get close enough to cast meteor swarm.
The PCs will definitely be involved more in specific points, like taking out the magic missile towers, or sabotaging catapults, to make it easier for the other side to cross. So absolutely, they wont be involved in the mass rushes across to the other side.
I was more thinking meteor swarm to take the place of what would be traditional mortars shelling the area. I tried to take examples of what "normal" fire would be and change it to DND. Machine gun nests? Several wizards spamming magic missile. Mortar? Meteor Swarm. A bayonet line? Even better, a cone of cold line. Thats what my line of thinking was.
The PCs will definitely be involved more in specific points, like taking out the magic missile towers, or sabotaging catapults, to make it easier for the other side to cross. So absolutely, they wont be involved in the mass rushes across to the other side.
I was more thinking meteor swarm to take the place of what would be traditional mortars shelling the area. I tried to take examples of what "normal" fire would be and change it to DND. Machine gun nests? Several wizards spamming magic missile. Mortar? Meteor Swarm. A bayonet line? Even better, a cone of cold line. Thats what my line of thinking was.
Just the presence of Fireball casting changes the way that war works from battlefield armies to trench warfare. Magic Missile is too resource heavy to be effective - each spell might not even take down a single opponent, and while it's great for blasting a single target, it fails against multiple enemies. Fireballs on the other hand are perfect against any attempt at a formation.
You should aim a lot lower with the mortar equivalent. meteor swarm is a 9th-level spell; if the elves have access to that, they'd also have access to spells like control weather and sunburst and mass polymorph and illusory dragon and all kinds of other wizardy nonsense that would just crush an infantry line
Imagine incendiary cloud or whirlwind sweeping through a trench. Imagine reverse gravity just picking up most or all the dwarves in a 100-ft stretch and dangling them in midair for target practice, before they crash back down
Normal 3rd-level fireballs will do just fine for magic mortars
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Fireball pretty much eliminates massed infantry as a viable option, but with a range of only 150' it has limited effects. I remember mucking around with concepts for what warfare would look like in D&D, and other than a bunch of stuff that would look familiar in WWII, there's a few unique things for D&D, such as burrowing monsters (I had a silly idea for gnome giant badger cavalry), using illusions to make defenders waste spells, invisible and ethereal monsters and creatures, teleportation, using fog clouds to conceal activity, ...
I would say if you want to present this as a contest, you'll need to either severely restrict the elves' access to spellcasters or give the dwarves similar unfair advantages (artificers are thematic option).
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I have an upcoming session (not for a few weeks, but im trying to prepare now) where it is going to be a massive battle, trench warfare style.
Elven army: Light infantry with some powerful magic users.
Defense: A few towers that have magic missile users to act as machine gunners, a few very high level mages using meteor swarm to motor the field, and some front line defenders with Cone-shaped spells when the enemy tries to rush.
Weaknesses: I would say a big weakness for these guys is 1) their infantry are nothing compared to enemy heavy infantry, and 2) because the opposing force has almost no magic, the elves dont have many magic defenses up.
Dwarven Army: Almost no magic. Army full of high strength dwarves wearing heavy army, with a division of very skilled cross bowmen
Defenses: A second line of cross-bowmen to shoot down incoming attackers, and catapults to pelt the area. The heavy infantry are able to easily slaughter the light infantry of the opposing force.
Weaknesses: Pretty much no magic, and some more limited defensive options
I currently dont know which side the PCs will choose. but keeping this in mind, how would you have the PCs in a campaign cross no mans land and not be obliterated by masses of spells, rocks, bombs, and arrows? How would you run this whole session as a DM?
Edit: So im using many fantastic suggestions to change things up. Instead of meteor swarm to mortar the field, its been changed to fireball. Gas masks to cover possible cloud kill, the dwarves having large heavy stone blocks with anti-magic runes to lessen the impact of large waves of spells, and the terrain being changed to very loose dirt and small pebbles to make mold earth/digging not an option. Invisibility is a great option for being undetected, but still runs the risk of being struck by a stray arrow, which i like. I really appreciate all the help so far, and im really looking forward to this trench warfare session.
I would like at these 2 Unearthed Arcanas: When Armies Clash and Mass Combat.
Look at Dragon+ issue #31.
On DMSGuild there's also several free homebrew rules. I'd search for 'simple mass combat', 'mob rules', 'guide to mass combat'.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Crossing should be done while invisible. Neither side will have significant detection for invisible - the dwarves do not have the ability and the elves know the dwarves will not be invisible.
I appreciate the resources, but it doesnt really address the question I had in mind @ HeathSmith
As a DM, would you allow expending multiple spell slots to make a party invisible, even though its normally a 1-person concentration spell?
Invisibility
A creature you touch becomes invisible until the spell ends. Anything the target is wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it is on the target's person. The spell ends for a target that attacks or casts a spell.
When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 2nd.
both sides absolutely would... Just because something is invisible doesn't mean it doesn't interact with the environment. Bell on string rings, barbed wire bends, board cracks, puddle splashes, mud clumps, smoke whirls around the invisible person, the sound of someone walking towards you = someone is there...and we're talking mass AOE options so you don't need to know exactly where. Even without the AoE, once there's a detection, just have everyone on the line throw a few handfulls of pebbles. Where they bounce in mid-air...that's your target. I would imagine in a D&D world, even your newest noob understands invisible creatures have to be considered when you're specifically designing something that no creature is supposed to cross.
@ OP...with those resources, I was answering your 'how would you run this session' question, which is a huge question. But for the specific, 'how to cross question'...elf side is easy since there's a bunch of magic options. Dwarf side = dig.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
I wouldn’t try to figure out how the party will do it, that’s the party’s job. You need to figure out what the various armies will be doing at any given time, and what sorts of protections they have in place. Then you make them respond to the party’s choices.
Much like if they were going to do a heist, you don’t plan their heist, you plan the security.
I’d make it clear that if they run across the area, they will die. After that it’s for them to figure out how to get there. And how will depend greatly on party composition, level, magic items, and other factors, like what sorts of NPCs they are friendly with.
Also: why wouldn’t the elves, with their high level wizards, just spam the mold earth cantrip and dig themselves a trench or two right up to the dwarven lines?
There's four things I can think of, with the aid of memes:
This is of course assuming they cross No Man's Land. They could, whilst in the trenches of one side, sabotage a few things to give the aggressors an easier time and side with them.
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
HeatSmith points out some good resources specifically in the game. If you got it lying around you might want to look at the recent trinity of Star Wars games, specifically Age of Rebellion to talk about a TTRPG party in battle scape, there's some sharp narrative and encounter design thinking there.
In main 5e, you got off the top of my head the finale to Tyranny of Dragons and Descent of Avernus that put the characters into a battle scene. BG:DiA actually has not only the final battle clashing of armies, but the Elturel has fallen section works as a good way to model a party moving through urban "house to house fighting" style warfare.
I wouldn't really play a war game out frankly, or just put your characters in the ranks of a cavalry or infantry charge. Rembember D&D (playing fast and loose here) rose out wargaming where "hero" units could rise above the conventional forces ... and then designers decided to focus a game just on those hero "units" calling them characters instead. PCs are best used as an A Team or Jedburgh type group performing some mission essential to securing victory but not on the main front. Think the musical Hamilton:
WASHINGTON:
When you hear the British cannons go
Boom!
How can I keep leading when the people I'm leading keep retreating?
We put a stop to the bleeding as the British take Brooklyn
Knight takes rook, but look
(What!)
Out-manned
(What!)
Out-numbered, out-planned!
(Boom, boom, boom; boom, boom)
We gotta make an all-out stand
Hey yo, I'm gonna need a right-hand man
(Boom, boom, boom; boom, boom)
Incoming!
(Brrah!)
We gotta stop 'em and rob 'em of their advantages
(Brrah!)
Let's take a stand with the stamina God has granted us
Hamilton won't abandon ship; yo, let's steal their cannons!
(Boom!)
Goes the cannon, we're abandoning Kips Bay, and
(Boom!)
There's another ship, and
(Boom!)
We just lost the southern tip, and
(Boom!)
We gotta run to Harlem quick; we can't afford another slip
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
You're doing this backwards.
Come up with what you want the PCs to do, giving a number of options they can choose, and then build the forces and scenario around whatever makes the best encounters.
Dispense with ideas about Meteor Swarm. That spell means that being spotted is instant death below about level 15.
I do agree that its up to the party to figure out how, but i definitely want to have some ideas ready in case they come up with nothing.
...um, I didnt think about having the elves do that? lol
how about the dwarves flooded nocreature's land...its a soupy mess...every time you dig a hole, it just fills with muck .... or nocreature's land isn't loose earth, its big ol' flat rock (and the cantrip doesn't work)...the trenches were dug beyond the edges of that rock.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
That could be a good idea. Ive made the distance far enough that most spells cant quite reach the other sides front defensive line, but absolutely flooding the area to prevent digging wouldnt be out of the question.
Already dealt with point number 2: The battle ground borders the 2 nations, but the one area where they could go around is bordered by another nation that trades a LOT of food with other nations. Having troops pass en masse during a conflict on forien soil would come with enormous sanctions that would starve out troops.
I get your instinct, but I’d say don’t hand hold them. If the players come up with nothing, their mission fails, and they have to deal with the consequences. Otherwise, you’re building intentional flaws into the defenses, and it get confusing why the rest of the army didn’t think of it.
Also, as others have said, PCs typically shouldn’t be sent into mass combats. Find a mission that requires someone hitting a specific small point: take out that tower, poison the food, kill the general.
If the dwarves flood the area, it seems like it’s difficult terrain, and they can’t get across either. If the dwarven goal is simply to hold the line indefinitely, it could work, but if they want to advance, anything they do to the terrain hurts them, too. The stone makes more sense, then they can’t use move earth either, which a high level wizard would have access to.
Though, in a larger sense, if there’s high enough level wizards to have meteor swarm, they should have won already. They could stagger a few walls of force to give the elves cover and then just leisurely walk across the area, or to let themselves get close enough to cast meteor swarm.
The PCs will definitely be involved more in specific points, like taking out the magic missile towers, or sabotaging catapults, to make it easier for the other side to cross. So absolutely, they wont be involved in the mass rushes across to the other side.
I was more thinking meteor swarm to take the place of what would be traditional mortars shelling the area. I tried to take examples of what "normal" fire would be and change it to DND. Machine gun nests? Several wizards spamming magic missile. Mortar? Meteor Swarm. A bayonet line? Even better, a cone of cold line. Thats what my line of thinking was.
Just the presence of Fireball casting changes the way that war works from battlefield armies to trench warfare. Magic Missile is too resource heavy to be effective - each spell might not even take down a single opponent, and while it's great for blasting a single target, it fails against multiple enemies. Fireballs on the other hand are perfect against any attempt at a formation.
You should aim a lot lower with the mortar equivalent. meteor swarm is a 9th-level spell; if the elves have access to that, they'd also have access to spells like control weather and sunburst and mass polymorph and illusory dragon and all kinds of other wizardy nonsense that would just crush an infantry line
Imagine incendiary cloud or whirlwind sweeping through a trench. Imagine reverse gravity just picking up most or all the dwarves in a 100-ft stretch and dangling them in midair for target practice, before they crash back down
Normal 3rd-level fireballs will do just fine for magic mortars
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Fireball pretty much eliminates massed infantry as a viable option, but with a range of only 150' it has limited effects. I remember mucking around with concepts for what warfare would look like in D&D, and other than a bunch of stuff that would look familiar in WWII, there's a few unique things for D&D, such as burrowing monsters (I had a silly idea for gnome giant badger cavalry), using illusions to make defenders waste spells, invisible and ethereal monsters and creatures, teleportation, using fog clouds to conceal activity, ...
I would say if you want to present this as a contest, you'll need to either severely restrict the elves' access to spellcasters or give the dwarves similar unfair advantages (artificers are thematic option).