So in about a week, either this Saturday or the following, I'll be using the Mass Combat rules from Unearthed Arcana. Now I mentioned this already to my players, and had a small conversation that there are some obvious mistakes in the rules given. I mean that's expected, it's quite short rules!
So without drifting off topic, can you give me some insight to the rules, what went right in your sessions, how would you change the rules and some glaring mistakes that are so obvious but I may have missed.
When I have some answers, I'll make sure I keep you posted after the game!
Kinda funny actually, I am in the exact same situation and one of my players saw this and asked if it was me.
I haven't played with the rules yet, but one thing I have noted is the unbalalance related to unit strenght. Atleast for my stuff we will be using Guards as the standard soldier but naturally we want some strongers ones made up of stuff like archers from Volo's guide to monsters and Veterans. Those get a battlerating that is so far out of the normal guards leauge that they can't loose. This has to to with unit sizes ofc, but to even have sort of cometition the veteran regiments needs to be made up of something under 50 guys compared to 400 guards. Naturally the veteran group should be stronger, but there should be some value to the numbers of the normal troops. So I have been thinkign bout forcing moral checks based on how many enemy units are currently around them at the end of their round or something like that. With the DC increasing based on how many enemies they have. So while a veteran regiment will butcher any guards they meet you have to use them carefully to avoid them beeing routed.
Sorry if the english is botched, and looking forward to hearing about your expereince with this.
I think the Mass combat rules look really useful even in a normal game setting. For instance if in the middle of a battle one or more players use Horns of Valhalla rather then rolling for imitative of each new barbarian you could treat them as a troop and use the mass combat rules. the same can be said for other groups of summoned creatures if need be.
We've just finished first session one out of two. It started a lot behind schedule because of various personal reasons. I didn't manage to stream it on twitch.
Mass Combat; Its kind of interesting if you want to push the story of your campaign forward without getting too technical with rules. I approached the rules with enough scepticism and care that it wasn't instantly broken, we got through a session and made it fun; in hindsight it could have been more engaging. However practically this was probably due to more the lack of time I had to prepare due to a lot of work in RL and getting one session under the belt to get a feel for the rules.
By all means, there are some problems. But we're enjoying it for a one off kind of session.
Guarding Actions could be changed to include ranged in some manner.
Ambushes could be implemented in some way
Lowering the defeat results for -2 BR for over 11 and flee (disengage) -1BR for under 11 (NOTE: the BR for our game were low as default)
A bit of work or thought by the DM to be careful about Battle Ratings overpowering others.
DMs need to have a think about maps. Are they going to create large battles or skirmishes in environments that offer interaction, obstacles and challenges.
@Wish: Thanks for starting this thread. I was recently turned on to the wealth of variety and new rules in Unearthed Arcana, and Mass Combat caught my eye. I'm in the middle of trying to figure out how to use it in my group's next session...this Saturday (15 Apr).
Your point about thinking about maps is on point, IMHO. Until I read it, I hadn't really thought about I was going to run the encounter.
I hope to be able to contribute to this thread after our session.
I was part of Wish's group in that scenario and I think he pretty much nailed it in his breakdown above. In addition I could say that it's hard to create scenarios where players can contribute as individuals (and as their own group). The current rules simply say that players can use their abilities as normal but I just don't see how they can be useful in a combat of this scale unless there is some small scaling change to allow them to make a difference. Some small-scale skirmishes prepared in advance might work, but take more effort.
True mass combat is difficult to truly efficiently implement. The suggestions above have a lot of merit. All I would add is to give some focus to different/difficult terrain, fortifications, and maybe add a way for the playable characters to get allied/soldiers like the ones available from the deck of many things.
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So in about a week, either this Saturday or the following, I'll be using the Mass Combat rules from Unearthed Arcana. Now I mentioned this already to my players, and had a small conversation that there are some obvious mistakes in the rules given. I mean that's expected, it's quite short rules!
So without drifting off topic, can you give me some insight to the rules, what went right in your sessions, how would you change the rules and some glaring mistakes that are so obvious but I may have missed.
When I have some answers, I'll make sure I keep you posted after the game!
Kinda funny actually, I am in the exact same situation and one of my players saw this and asked if it was me.
I haven't played with the rules yet, but one thing I have noted is the unbalalance related to unit strenght. Atleast for my stuff we will be using Guards as the standard soldier but naturally we want some strongers ones made up of stuff like archers from Volo's guide to monsters and Veterans. Those get a battlerating that is so far out of the normal guards leauge that they can't loose. This has to to with unit sizes ofc, but to even have sort of cometition the veteran regiments needs to be made up of something under 50 guys compared to 400 guards. Naturally the veteran group should be stronger, but there should be some value to the numbers of the normal troops. So I have been thinkign bout forcing moral checks based on how many enemy units are currently around them at the end of their round or something like that. With the DC increasing based on how many enemies they have. So while a veteran regiment will butcher any guards they meet you have to use them carefully to avoid them beeing routed.
Sorry if the english is botched, and looking forward to hearing about your expereince with this.
How did it go?
I think the Mass combat rules look really useful even in a normal game setting. For instance if in the middle of a battle one or more players use Horns of Valhalla rather then rolling for imitative of each new barbarian you could treat them as a troop and use the mass combat rules. the same can be said for other groups of summoned creatures if need be.
We've just finished first session one out of two. It started a lot behind schedule because of various personal reasons. I didn't manage to stream it on twitch.
Mass Combat; Its kind of interesting if you want to push the story of your campaign forward without getting too technical with rules. I approached the rules with enough scepticism and care that it wasn't instantly broken, we got through a session and made it fun; in hindsight it could have been more engaging. However practically this was probably due to more the lack of time I had to prepare due to a lot of work in RL and getting one session under the belt to get a feel for the rules.
By all means, there are some problems. But we're enjoying it for a one off kind of session.
@Wish: Thanks for starting this thread. I was recently turned on to the wealth of variety and new rules in Unearthed Arcana, and Mass Combat caught my eye. I'm in the middle of trying to figure out how to use it in my group's next session...this Saturday (15 Apr).
Your point about thinking about maps is on point, IMHO. Until I read it, I hadn't really thought about I was going to run the encounter.
I hope to be able to contribute to this thread after our session.
I wear pants, short pants.
I also ask a lot of questions; insatiably curious
I was part of Wish's group in that scenario and I think he pretty much nailed it in his breakdown above. In addition I could say that it's hard to create scenarios where players can contribute as individuals (and as their own group). The current rules simply say that players can use their abilities as normal but I just don't see how they can be useful in a combat of this scale unless there is some small scaling change to allow them to make a difference. Some small-scale skirmishes prepared in advance might work, but take more effort.
True mass combat is difficult to truly efficiently implement. The suggestions above have a lot of merit. All I would add is to give some focus to different/difficult terrain, fortifications, and maybe add a way for the playable characters to get allied/soldiers like the ones available from the deck of many things.