So, my players have recently taken control of an Orc Settlement and war is looming between the local three factions - the Humans, the Elves, and the Orcs.
They had one grand battle with some homebrew mechanics based on the mob rules from the DMG (worked pretty well!) but if they're going to be having a full war, I don't want to run that every time they have a skirmish, so I've been coming up with some unique mechanics for managing the war from a War Map, made up of hexes (see below).
These are completely off the top of my head, so I'm hoping to get some feedback on them so I get can it working before the players put it into action.
Mechanics === Map Awareness/Movement --- - Warband movement is known at all times, but the number of Warbands in a group can only be identified from adjacent hexes, or from two away by Scouts. - Each faction has a turn to move all of their Warbands. Each Warband can move one hex unless otherwise stated. - Single non-Siege Warbands count as Scouts and can travel two hexes at a time. - Multiple Warbands can be moved together as an group.
Unit Acquisition --- - Non-Siege Warbands can use their turn to gather supplies while in their home settlement and become Siege Warbands. - Mercenaries can be hired for 1000gp per Warband. They start in the faction's home settlement. - Sanctum Mercenaries can be hired for 5000gp per Warband. They start in the Sanctum hex. - Caches will appear in a random hex at certain times. Reaching the hex and then returning to home settlement gives the occupying faction an additional Warband of their native type in their home settlement.
Open Combat --- - When a Warband enters the same hex as a hostile Warband, a skirmish takes place. - Each side takes 1 damage for each hostile, full-health, non-Siege Warband unless otherwise stated. The damage dealer decides how damage is allocated among non-Siege and Siege Warbands unless otherwise stated. - If a Warband in a hex has a friendly Warband in an adjacent hex, the adjacent Warband can join the battle. - If Siege Warbands are destroyed, their Siege Weapons can be taken by a Warband so the band becomes a Siege Warband, or destroyed. - An occupying Warband can choose to flee instead of fight. They must move to an adjacent square of the attacker's choosing and take half damage, rounded down. - Individual non-Siege Warbands (Scouts) deal their damage second (if still alive) unless joined by a friendly Warband.
Weakened Units --- - Two 1-health Warbands can be merged to restore one of them to full health. - 1-health Warbands deal their damage at the end of the battle if they're still alive.
Siege Combat --- - When a Warband or group of Warbands attacks a settlement or city, damage is dealt in the following order: - Attacking Siege Warbands and Occupying Warbands: Each deal their damage first. If this damage eliminates the occupiers, the attackers take the city. If the occupiers deal enough damage to eliminate all of the attackers, their non-Siege Warbands do not deal damage. - Attacking Non-Siege Warbands: If attacking Non-Siege Warbands remain after the first damage round, they then deal their damage to the occupying Warbands. If this is enough to eliminate them, the attackers take the city.
Spoils of War --- - Each Warband defeated earns the winners 500gp. - Every settlement captured earns the attackers 10,000gp.
Stats === Each race has specific mechanics. Each Warband has 2 health and is formed of 10 units.
Humans --- Starting Warbands: 20 non-Siege Starting Gold: 20,000 Offensive: Ranged Weapons - Human Warbands can attack hostile Warbands from adjacent hexes without receiving damage. They can do this on their turn when they're in range, even if they've already moved. Special: Engineers - A Human Warband can use its turn to create a siege weapon from nearby resources, and become a Siege Warband.
Orcs --- Starting Warbands: 5, of which up to three can be Siege Warbands. Starting Gold: 5,000 Offensive: Aggressive Action - Orcish Non-Siege Warbands deal double damage when fighting in open terrain. Special: Bloodrush - If an Orcish Warband is attacked, friendly Orcish Warbands can move from up to two hexes away to join the battle.
Elves --- Starting Warbands: 15 non-Siege Starting Gold: 15,000 Offensive: Magic Users - Elvish Non-Siege Warbands deal their damage before hostile Warbands. Special:Elusive - Elves take no damage on fleeing a battle.
Mercenaries --- Mercenary Warbands have no special abilities.
Sanctum Mercenaries --- Offensive: Inside Man - Sanctum Mercenary Warbands function as Siege Warbands when attacking cities. Special: Gold Rush - Sanctum Mercenary Warbands can use one of the features of the faction they work for if paid an additional 1000gp every time it's used.
Looks nice. Reminds me of Civilization V. May I suggest upping each Warband's HP to 10 and damage to 5 or 2d4 or 1d10 or something? I like 2d4, myself. That also gives you the option to merge multiple damaged Warbands into one significantly less damaged Warband.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Looks nice. Reminds me of Civilization V. May I suggest upping each Warband's HP to 10 and damage to 5 or 2d4 or 1d10 or something? I like 2d4, myself. That also gives you the option to merge multiple damaged Warbands into one significantly less damaged Warband.
Yeah! I've been playing Civ V recently so I took some inspiration from it, particularly on sieges. That and the Diplomacy boardgame.
In terms of damage (as opposed to the current system, where a Warband is destroyed instantly unless it gets its attack in first), I like the concept. Do you think that merging Warbands would count as "healing" them? As in, if they have 10 health (each healthpoint representing an individual unit), and they take 5 damage (dropping to 5 units) and then you merge them with a 4 health Warband, that makes it a 9 health Warband?
The difficulty with that is that by merging them, you'd reduce the amount of damage they can do - because two smaller Warbands would deal damage independently while one large one would have more health but deal damage once.
That could be compensated for by having damage shift based on the number of units IN the Warband, but that's getting incredibly complex at that stage and I want to keep this as simple as possible.
Looks nice. Reminds me of Civilization V. May I suggest upping each Warband's HP to 10 and damage to 5 or 2d4 or 1d10 or something? I like 2d4, myself. That also gives you the option to merge multiple damaged Warbands into one significantly less damaged Warband.
Yeah! I've been playing Civ V recently so I took some inspiration from it, particularly on sieges. That and the Diplomacy boardgame.
In terms of damage (as opposed to the current system, where a Warband is destroyed instantly unless it gets its attack in first), I like the concept. Do you think that merging Warbands would count as "healing" them? As in, if they have 10 health (each healthpoint representing an individual unit), and they take 5 damage (dropping to 5 units) and then you merge them with a 4 health Warband, that makes it a 9 health Warband?
That's exactly what I was thinking.
The difficulty with that is that by merging them, you'd reduce the amount of damage they can do - because two smaller Warbands would deal damage independently while one large one would have more health but deal damage once.
That could be compensated for by having damage shift based on the number of units IN the Warband, but that's getting incredibly complex at that stage and I want to keep this as simple as possible.
Thoughts?
A simple solution might be to go the 2d4 route and have a Warband at half health or lower only deal 1d4. Or to have them deal 1d2-1 per unit, but then you might as well just have 1-unit Warbands.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
I had a think about it and how mechanics would work.
I like the idea of having wounded Warbands and combining them, but I still want numbers to remain simple and low. Even with the 2d4 route, you end up better off having a Warband on 4 health (dealing 1d4 damage) and one on 6 health (dealing 2d4 damage) than having one 10 health Warband (dealing 2d4 damage).
My counterbalance for incorporating the idea is the following adjustments:
Each Warband now has 2 health instead of 1.
Single Warbands (Scouts) now deal their damage second instead of dealing none at all.
A Warband on 1 health can't deal damage. It can still function as a Scout.
Two 1-health Warbands can be combined to restore them to a normal, 2-health Warband.
It doesn't have the same level of random chance as the dice, but I don't mind that so much as it means you're more reliant on tactics and negotiation than on chance (which is also how the Diplomacy boardgame works).
Thoughts on this? Do you think 1-Health Warbands should be able to deal their damage second instead of not at all?
I had a think about it and how mechanics would work.
I like the idea of having wounded Warbands and combining them, but I still want numbers to remain simple and low. Even with the 2d4 route, you end up better off having a Warband on 4 health (dealing 1d4 damage) and one on 6 health (dealing 2d4 damage) than having one 10 health Warband (dealing 2d4 damage).
Better offensively, but that one 10-health Warband is guaranteed to survive an encounter with another healthy Warband, unlike the weaker ones. You do the math; I'm tired.
My counterbalance for incorporating the idea is the following adjustments:
Each Warband now has 2 health instead of 1.
Single Warbands (Scouts) now deal their damage second instead of dealing none at all.
A Warband on 1 health can't deal damage. It can still function as a Scout.
Two 1-health Warbands can be combined to restore them to a normal, 2-health Warband.
It doesn't have the same level of random chance as the dice, but I don't mind that so much as it means you're more reliant on tactics and negotiation than on chance (which is also how the Diplomacy boardgame works).
Thoughts on this? Do you think 1-Health Warbands should be able to deal their damage second instead of not at all?
I like it and I think that 1-health Warbands should definitely be able to deal damage. Mutually Assured Destruction is fun.
Mental note: Try Diplomacy boardgame.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
So, my players have recently taken control of an Orc Settlement and war is looming between the local three factions - the Humans, the Elves, and the Orcs.
They had one grand battle with some homebrew mechanics based on the mob rules from the DMG (worked pretty well!) but if they're going to be having a full war, I don't want to run that every time they have a skirmish, so I've been coming up with some unique mechanics for managing the war from a War Map, made up of hexes (see below).
These are completely off the top of my head, so I'm hoping to get some feedback on them so I get can it working before the players put it into action.
Mechanics
===
Map Awareness/Movement
---
- Warband movement is known at all times, but the number of Warbands in a group can only be identified from adjacent hexes, or from two away by Scouts.
- Each faction has a turn to move all of their Warbands. Each Warband can move one hex unless otherwise stated.
- Single non-Siege Warbands count as Scouts and can travel two hexes at a time.
- Multiple Warbands can be moved together as an group.
Unit Acquisition
---
- Non-Siege Warbands can use their turn to gather supplies while in their home settlement and become Siege Warbands.
- Mercenaries can be hired for 1000gp per Warband. They start in the faction's home settlement.
- Sanctum Mercenaries can be hired for 5000gp per Warband. They start in the Sanctum hex.
- Caches will appear in a random hex at certain times. Reaching the hex and then returning to home settlement gives the occupying faction an additional Warband of their native type in their home settlement.
Open Combat
---
- When a Warband enters the same hex as a hostile Warband, a skirmish takes place.
- Each side takes 1 damage for each hostile, full-health, non-Siege Warband unless otherwise stated. The damage dealer decides how damage is allocated among non-Siege and Siege Warbands unless otherwise stated.
- If a Warband in a hex has a friendly Warband in an adjacent hex, the adjacent Warband can join the battle.
- If Siege Warbands are destroyed, their Siege Weapons can be taken by a Warband so the band becomes a Siege Warband, or destroyed.
- An occupying Warband can choose to flee instead of fight. They must move to an adjacent square of the attacker's choosing and take half damage, rounded down.
- Individual non-Siege Warbands (Scouts) deal their damage second (if still alive) unless joined by a friendly Warband.
Weakened Units
---
- Two 1-health Warbands can be merged to restore one of them to full health.
- 1-health Warbands deal their damage at the end of the battle if they're still alive.
Siege Combat
---
- When a Warband or group of Warbands attacks a settlement or city, damage is dealt in the following order:
- Attacking Siege Warbands and Occupying Warbands: Each deal their damage first. If this damage eliminates the occupiers, the attackers take the city. If the occupiers deal enough damage to eliminate all of the attackers, their non-Siege Warbands do not deal damage.
- Attacking Non-Siege Warbands: If attacking Non-Siege Warbands remain after the first damage round, they then deal their damage to the occupying Warbands. If this is enough to eliminate them, the attackers take the city.
Spoils of War
---
- Each Warband defeated earns the winners 500gp.
- Every settlement captured earns the attackers 10,000gp.
Stats
===
Each race has specific mechanics. Each Warband has 2 health and is formed of 10 units.
Humans
---
Starting Warbands: 20 non-Siege
Starting Gold: 20,000
Offensive: Ranged Weapons - Human Warbands can attack hostile Warbands from adjacent hexes without receiving damage. They can do this on their turn when they're in range, even if they've already moved.
Special: Engineers - A Human Warband can use its turn to create a siege weapon from nearby resources, and become a Siege Warband.
Orcs
---
Starting Warbands: 5, of which up to three can be Siege Warbands.
Starting Gold: 5,000
Offensive: Aggressive Action - Orcish Non-Siege Warbands deal double damage when fighting in open terrain.
Special: Bloodrush - If an Orcish Warband is attacked, friendly Orcish Warbands can move from up to two hexes away to join the battle.
Elves
---
Starting Warbands: 15 non-Siege
Starting Gold: 15,000
Offensive: Magic Users - Elvish Non-Siege Warbands deal their damage before hostile Warbands.
Special: Elusive - Elves take no damage on fleeing a battle.
Mercenaries
---
Mercenary Warbands have no special abilities.
Sanctum Mercenaries
---
Offensive: Inside Man - Sanctum Mercenary Warbands function as Siege Warbands when attacking cities.
Special: Gold Rush - Sanctum Mercenary Warbands can use one of the features of the faction they work for if paid an additional 1000gp every time it's used.
Looks nice. Reminds me of Civilization V. May I suggest upping each Warband's HP to 10 and damage to 5 or 2d4 or 1d10 or something? I like 2d4, myself. That also gives you the option to merge multiple damaged Warbands into one significantly less damaged Warband.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
I had a think about it and how mechanics would work.
I like the idea of having wounded Warbands and combining them, but I still want numbers to remain simple and low. Even with the 2d4 route, you end up better off having a Warband on 4 health (dealing 1d4 damage) and one on 6 health (dealing 2d4 damage) than having one 10 health Warband (dealing 2d4 damage).
My counterbalance for incorporating the idea is the following adjustments:
It doesn't have the same level of random chance as the dice, but I don't mind that so much as it means you're more reliant on tactics and negotiation than on chance (which is also how the Diplomacy boardgame works).
Thoughts on this? Do you think 1-Health Warbands should be able to deal their damage second instead of not at all?
Better offensively, but that one 10-health Warband is guaranteed to survive an encounter with another healthy Warband, unlike the weaker ones. You do the math; I'm tired.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Cool - everything updated to reflect that.
Think I should be good to go after some basic playtesting - thanks for your help!