[Notebook] We ask only... for WAR!

[Morgenstern]

One aproach to open warfare in the Mastercraft system.

NEW PRIZES

Command
   The Command prize represents masses of troops who have sworn fealty to you and who accept your orders during battle. Troops primarily contribute Force to your side during battlefield confrontations, but they may also grant you additional battlefield tricks. Troops only assist their commander during battlefield conflicts – for NPCs that participate in regular adventuring, consider the Followers feat (see FC, page 98).
   You may purchase points of command 1:1 with Reputation, using these points to select units from table 1. You may acquire new troops (either replacing losses or exchanging existing troops for new selections) up to your maximum command points at the rate of 25 points per month of downtime. There are three limitations to adding troops to your command:

• You may only choose units with a Glory equal to or less than your highest Renown rank.
• You may choose a maximum number of units equal to your total Renown ranks.
• You may not choose the same unit more than twice.

   A character may have only a single command prize.

[Morgenstern]

Common Units
   Archers: Standard bowmen. Arrow Volley 3
   Battering Rams: Men equipped for siege. Siege Warfare
   Cavalry (light, medium, and heavy): Armored horsemen, expert at breaking infantry lines. Cavalry; Thundering Hooves
   Infantry (light, medium, heavy): Armored warriors ready for battle.
   Elite Infantry (light, medium, heavy): Rugged veterans unafraid of war.
   Horsebowmen: Mounted archers. Cavalry; Arrow Volley 3
   Peasant Archers: Untrained farmers issued bows and pointed in the right general direction. Cheap; Arrow Volley 2
   Peasant Infantry: Untrained farmers pressed into service. Cheap
   Peasant Spearmen: The cream of the crop of peasant warfare. Cheap; Spear Volley 2
   Pikemen: Warriors armed with long spears, experienced in repelling cavalry. Cheap; Wall
   Pikemen, Veteran: Bold warriors versed in luring cavalry to their doom. Wall; Impale
   Samurai Cavalry: Heavily armored warriors astride terrifying warhorses. Arrow Volley 3; Thundering Hooves
   Samurai Warriors: Heavily armed and armored veterans able to turn the tide of almost any battle. Arrow Volley 3
   Spearmen: A staple of the battlefield. Spear Volley 2
   Spearmen, Veteran: Masters of their weapons, these spearmen are a constant threat. Spear Barrage 2

Common Unit Traits
Mobility
   Infantry. This Unit moves on foot. This is the default mobility trait for units.
   Cavalry. Fast, typically mounted units. This Unit’s force may contribute to the Outflanked! battlefield modifier.
   Flying. This unit is able to engage in combat in three dimensions. This Unit’s force may contribute to the Air Superiority and Death from the Skies battlefield modifier.

Unit Training
   Cheap. This unit cannot have a Force, Cost, or Glory greater than 1. This unit is replaced after 1 week of down time and does not count against regular replacement costs.
   Elite. This unit cannot be dispersed by enemy tricks.

Other Traits
   Eyes Up. This unit’s Force is subtracted from the enemy army’s flying Force when determining if an army has Air Superiority or suffers Death from the Skies.
   Wall. This unit’s Force is subtracted from the enemy army’s cavalry Force when determining if an army is Outflanked!

Common Battlefield Strategies
  The following are common keywords for strategies.
  One Attempt. This strategy may only be used once per confrontation, regardless of success or failure.
  Win or Lose. This strategy takes effect even if you lose the challenge roll.

   Impale (battlefield trick): One Attempt. Disperse one enemy cavalry unit.
   Siege Warfare (battlefield trick): One Attempt, Win or Lose. Destroy one enemy fortification of your choice. This unit’s force is set to 0 for the remainder of the battle.
   Thundering Hooves (cavalry battlefield trick): One Attempt. Disperse one enemy infantry unit with a lower Force.
   “Weapon” Barrage 2 (ranged battlefield trick): Destroy one enemy unit of your choice with Force 2 or less. You may use this trick until you have succeeded with it once per battle.
   “Weapon” Volley 2 (ranged battlefield trick): One Attempt, Win or Lose. Destroy one enemy unit of your choice with Force 2 or less. This unit’s force is set to 0 for the remainder of the battle.
   “Weapon” Volley 3 (ranged battlefield trick): One Attempt, Win or Lose. Destroy one enemy unit of your choice with Force 3 or less. This unit’s force is set to 0 for the remainder of the battle.

Infantry Units   Type   Force   Traits   Tricks   Troops   Cost   Glory
Peasant Units                     
Peasant Archers   Infantry   0   Cheap   Volley 2   250   0   1
Peasant Infantry   Infantry   1   Cheap   —   500   1   0
Peasant Spearmen   Infantry   1   Cheap   Volley 2   250   1   1
Infantry Units                     
Archers   Infantry   0   —   Volley 3   250   4   1
Pikemen   Infantry   1   Cheap, Wall   —   250   1   1
Pikemen, Veteran   Infantry   2   Wall   Impale   60   3   3
Spearmen   Infantry   2   —   Volley 2   250   3   1
Spearmen, Veteran   Infantry   2   —   Barrage 2   100   4   2
Infantry, Light   Infantry   2   —   —   250   2   1
Infantry, Medium   Infantry   3   —   —   250   4   1
Infantry, Heavy   Infantry   5   —   —   250   8   1
Samurai Warriors   Infantry   6   —   Volley 3   25   10   5
Elite Infantry Units                     
Elite Infantry, Light   Infantry   2   Elite   —   60   3   3
Elite Infantry, Medium   Infantry   3   Elite   —   60   5   3
Elite Infantry, Heavy   Infantry   5   Elite   —   60   9   3
Cavalry Units                     
Horsebowmen   Cavalry   0   —   Volley 3   60   5   2
Cavalry, Light   Cavalry   1   —   Thundering Hooves   60   2   2
Cavalry, Medium   Cavalry   2   —   Thundering Hooves   60   4   2
Cavalry, Heavy   Cavalry   4   —   Thundering Hooves   60   8   2
Cavalry, Samurai   Cavalry   6   —   Thundering Hooves, Volley 3   20   13   5
Siege Units                     
Battering Rams   Infantry   1   —   Siege   40   3   2

Creating New Units

Set Attacking and Defending Force
   Choose values between 0 and 12.
   If Attacking and Defending Force are equal List a single Force value.
   If Attacking Force is greater than Defending Force list “Force (Force Defending)”.
   If Defending Force is greater than Attacking Force list “Force (Force Attacking)”.

   Example. If a “garrison” unit has an Attacking Force of 1, and a Defending Force of 4, its table entry would read Force: 4 (1 Attacking).

Choose Traits

Mobility
   A unit must have 1 and only 1 of the following: Cavalry, Flying, Infantry.

Unit Training
   A unit may have 1 and only 1 of the following: Cheap, Elite.

Other Traits
   A unit may have any combination of the following: Eyes up, Wall.

Choose Tricks
   Choose from the common tricks list as appropriate.

Table XX: Unit Costs
Force
Attacking Force: 1 per point
Defending Force: 1 per point
Mobility
Cavalry: 2
Flying: 5
Infantry: 0
Unit Training
Cheap: 0
Elite: 3
Other Traits   
Eyes Up: 2
Wall: 1
Tricks
Impale: 2
Thundering Hooves: 1 (must be cavalry)
“Weapon” Barrage 2: 3
“Weapon” Volley 2: 1
“Weapon” Volley 3: 5 (or 4 if Force is 4+)

Determine Unit Value
   Value = Attacking Force + Defending Force + Traits + Tricks – 1

Determine Costs & Glory
   Cost + Glory = Value

Determine Unit Size
   Unit size is set by Glory. Use the following table.
   Cavalry Units are considered to have +1 Glory for determining troop numbers.
   Siege Units are considered to have +2 Glory for determining troop numbers.

Glory: Size
0: 500
1: 250
2: 100
3: 60
4: 40
5: 25
6: 20
7: 15
8: 12
9: 10
10: 8

[Morgenstern]

Battlefield Confrontation
   Battles are a combat sub-system modeling the clash of armies as warlords and generals direct their troops in battle. While special characters may be able to stand alone against an army at least briefly, bringing an army of your own is generally the better course of action.
   The main strength of an army is measured as Force. Special characters and units of troops contribute to the Force of their side in a battle.
   Special Characters in Battle: Each side must have one special character declared as the “commander”. All other special characters in that army are called “leaders”. A special character’s Force equals the highest number of Basic, Melee, or Unarmed combat feats he has.
   If a special character has 1 or more Ranged combat feats, he gains a trick.
   Heroic Barrage (ranged battlefield trick): Destroy one enemy unit of your choice with Force less than the number of Ranged Combat feats you have. You may use this trick until you have succeeded with it once per battle.

Conducting the Battle
   The GM decides which side is the attacker, and which is the defender based on the circumstances of the confrontation. Each battle is resolved as a series of opposed checks. Before each check, the commanders declare which special character will be rolling for their side this round. The defending commander or leader must declare any “battlefield” or “opposed roll” trick he will be using with the current check, then the attacking commander leader may do the same. Both characters then make opposed rolls using their Tactics ranks + lowest attribute modifier + battlefield modifiers (see table X.XX). The highest roll wins, earning a success for that commander. In the event of an exact tie, neither character gains a success. A commander may concede at any time, awarding his opponent enough successes to immediately win the battle (see below). Each battlefield check takes time equal to the total Force of both sides in minutes (double this time if the battle takes place at night).
   To win a battle, a commander must accumulate a number of successes equal (or greater than) the current Force of the opposing army or the opposing commander’s starting action dice, whichever is higher. After earning his final success, the winning commander scatters the opposing army and may take control of any location the defenders were protecting. Each special character on the losing side loser must choose and destroy one-half of his remaining units (round up). The winning commander may then capture (or kill) any special charters without any remaining troops (otherwise those leaders escape in the confusion). The GM may provide other benefits to the winning army as appropriate to the circumstances of the battle.

Table XX Battlefield Modifiers
  Circumstances:  Modifier
  Air Superiority. Your army has more flying Force than any other army:  +2
  Death from the Skies. Your enemy has any amount of flying Force while your army has none:  –2
  Outflanked! Your army has more cavalry Force than any other army:  +2
  Outmatched. Your army has at least double the Force of the enemy:  +4
  Overwhelming Numbers. Your army has at least triple the Force of the enemy:  +10
  Predictable. Same character rolls again, while opposing character has changed:  -1 (cumulative)

Multiple Fronts
   Many larger battles take place across multiple fronts. The GM determines the maximum number of fronts along which the battle may take place using Table X as a guide. The attacking commander decides how many fronts he wishes to commit special characters to, then the defending commander may assign his special characters to as many fronts as have attackers. Battles at each front are conducted simultaneously, with the defending commander choosing the order of checks for each cycle until all fronts have had a check. The time for each cycle of checks is equal to the total Force of both sides along all fronts in minutes (double this time if the battle takes place at night).

Table X.XX Battlefield Fronts
Circumstances: Maximum Number of Fronts
Chance encounter or pursuit: 1
Attacker has at least a hour to prepare: Upto 2
Attacker has at least a day to prepare: Upto 3
Siege: Upto 4

[Bill Whitmore]

Hmm, I may have to steal and modify this to work in my Birthright game.

[Desertpuma]

That's great stuff, Morg!

[Morgenstern]

Hmm, I may have to steal and modify this to work in my Birthright game.

I'd love to hear back on how that goes. A lot of this is addapted from the Legend of the Five Rings CCG's combat phase and some of the related cards. That's a rugged system with something like a decade of hard field testing, so I'm confident this is on the right track, but direct testing of this set-up would help .

For some related feats, check out the Rokugan adaptation - the Iron Mountain feat chain directly ties to troops, and there are several more general feats (like Focus) that apply to battlefield checks.

This list of troops has been slimmed down to the extremely generic stuff, suitable for human-centric fuedal era campaigns. Unfortunately the potental list EXPLODES when you start dealing with settings with multiple races (if you want those races to alter the way troops work at this sort of macro-level). I'm still wrestling with how to iterate out to those types of worlds. I'm hoping that I'll be able to just template over the stock units, but I have my doubts.

[Desertpuma]

I noticed that Morg, especially with the Force, Terrain, Defender deciding which battle comes first and Glory (Honor?)

[Morgenstern]

I noticed that Morg, especially with the Force, Terrain, Defender deciding which battle comes first and Glory (Honor?)

Force is such a nice, evocative name for "the big number that measures the effectiveness of a side". No reason to mess with it.

Haven't dealt with terrain yet. Formations (pretty much stances for armies ) will probably come before that, and a lot of general bonuses/tricks from action cards and persoalities are likey to come before formations. There's litterally thousands of L5R cards to mull over once the basic frame is set up.

Glory is a nod to the Clan Wars game, which also has a lot of good input to offer like elite troops having a preference for more famous commanders (a wargame, useful for setting up mass battles, go figure )

[Bill Whitmore]

Hmm, I may have to steal and modify this to work in my Birthright game.

I'd love to hear back on how that goes. A lot of this is addapted from the Legend of the Five Rings CCG's combat phase and some of the related cards. That's a rugged system with something like a decade of hard field testing, so I'm confident this is on the right track, but direct testing of this set-up would help .

For some related feats, check out the Rokugan adaptation - the Iron Mountain feat chain directly ties to troops, and there are several more general feats (like Focus) that apply to battlefield checks.

This list of troops has been slimmed down to the extremely generic stuff- suitable for human-centric fuedal era campaigns. Unfortunately the potental list EXPLODES when you start dealing with settings with multiple races (if you want thos eraces to alter the way troops work at this sort of macro-level). 'm still wrestling whith how to iterate out to those types of worlds. I'm hoping that I'll be able to jus template over the stock units, but I have my doubts.

The game is currently ongoing and may see use in the next few weeks.  I'll let you know how it goes when we fight a battle with it.

[Morgenstern]

The game is currently ongoing and may see use in the next few weeks.  I'll let you know how it goes when we fight a battle with it.

Sweet.

You'll probably have to give the players a "loaner" army. For a first attempt I would stick to a single front (maybe, maybe 2).

One of the coolest modifiers is the cumulative penalty for not swapping people rolling. If you give the other side at least 2 special characters (who keep swapping), you can force your group to swap which player is throwing the dice (at least from time to time) to clear the penalty, which should help keep everyone involved beyond the passive value of contributing Force to their side. If you spread the troops around a bit (so say one guy who may not be the best tactician has the archers) you can also encourage pushing different people to the fore to bring their troops to bear.

My biggest concern is the number of successes needed to win could run a little high. Most tricks pick at and nibble away at the enemy's force, whch brings the victory condition lower and lower, but I definitely want these confrontations to take less time in real life than the represent in game .

[Bill Whitmore]

You'll probably have to give the players a "loaner" army.

Nah, it's Birthright, they already have the armies.

[Morgenstern]

Cool. The last number on each line is the nuber of people in the unit - keyed for numbers ftting for a Japanese-inspired setting (the basic heap of infantry is 100 guys). For a setting like Birthright, you might scale those numbers up by a factor of 10 or so. I'm not sure how big your armies have been described as, btu Birthright sort of lends itself to the crash of thousands .

[Bill Whitmore]

Yea, the base Birthright game says each unit represents 200 troops and the PCs currently have about 8-10 units total which gives them an army of roughly 2,000 but those are spread out across a 3 province front at the moment.  Since, population-wise, they are a fairly small nation, this seemed appropriate to me.

[Catodon]

Will be watiching this thread and how the testing goes. A good roleplayers set of mass battle rules is the one big thing that the FC core book does not provide that I really need for my epic/mythic ancient era game.

[Morgenstern]

Yea, the base Birthright game says each unit represents 200 troops

Oh. That's easy math then: just double all the numbers on the table above.

The unit sizes on the table above make it easier to handle more elite units - as the unit quality goes up, the headcount goes down (with special characters being the apex predators of the scheme ).

...and the PCs currently have about 8-10 units total which gives them an army of roughly 2,000 but those are spread out across a 3 province front at the moment.  Since, population-wise, they are a fairly small nation, this seemed appropriate to me.

What sort of units do they have? Need anything to expand on the list above to set up for a run?