ron poirier
09-17-1999, 04:11 PM
At 11:36 AM 9/17/99 -0400, you wrote:
>From: ron poirier
>
>>I have "Battlesystem", and might consider using it in a P&P BR game.
>>However, for my PBEM BR game, I have devised my own battle system,
>borrowing
>>heavily from Darklords: Dark Lords Rising. It's simple, relatively fast,
>>but complex enough to keep the PBEM players interested.
> Gee, thanks for sharing, why don't you TELL us about it rather than just
>teasing us! :)
>--
>Daniel McSorley- mcsorley.1@osu.edu
>http://hoffmann-institute.org/
Hey, man, I ASKED if anyone wanted to hear about my PBEM, and got ONE lousy
response from someone who suggested that I DON'T!!!
:^/
;^)
Hang on just a sec, I'll pull the PBEM files off my machine (Just setting up
to process turn #7 now)...
I may consolidate lots of PBEM info in the future and post it here, after a
few more months of experience. Of course any input from you folks would be
appreciated...:
War and Siege
Due to the increased level of military activity in the BR game of late, I
have decided to clarify some of the rules of warfare for the players.
Please take a moment to save this e-mail somewhere in your BR archives, or
print it up for future reference.
The first thing I would like to discuss is military units. You have been
mustering units and not knowing their relative strengths and weaknesses. I
am going to work on a chart for the stats of all military units, and then I
will send them to you. While I don't have the chart just yet, I do know how
it will work:
Every unit has a Strength rating, a Hits rating, and possibly a Missile
rating or something special (Charge, Block, Terrain Bonus, etc.). The
Strength rating is the chance in 10 that a unit will score a hit in a round
of combat, and the Hits rating is the number of hits that unit can take
before being killed.
Heroes (like the regent PCs and their henchmen) can operate in battle in
one of two ways:
First, they can take the "safe" route and work in conjunction with an
existing military unit. In this case, the heroes add +1 to the unit's
Strength, Hits, and Missile ratings for every three levels of the hero. For
example, a 6th level fighter adds +2 to the Strength, Hits, and Missile
ratings of an infantry unit he is assigned to work with. Note than more
than one hero can enhance a military unit this way, so 2 5th-level thieves
can both fight with the same unit of archers to give it a combined bonus of
+2. Even though mages and most priests lack missile weapons, the missile
bonus still applies as these heroes usually have magic spells to enhance the
long-range capabilities of any unit they serve with. If the military unit
the hero is assigned to is killed, the hero dies, too.
Second, hero units can go out on their own and work solo on the battlefield.
In this case, the hero effectively becomes a unit with Strength, Hits, and
Missile ratings equal to the bonuses it would give a military unit it worked
with. This is somewhat more dangerous for the heroes, but it also allows
them to function as an additional unit for the battle.
Unless otherwise directed, I will always assume heroes present during a
battle to be grouped with the unit with the most Hits.
At its most basic level, a combat works like this: All units present are
divided into two sides, aggressor and defender. I roll for every aggressor
unit first, tallying up the number of hits scored. Then I roll for every
defender unit. Then I apply the hits to each side. Generally speaking,
each side gets to choose which of their units are targeted first (I will do
this myself, as intelligently as possible, unless you specifically tell me
otherwise (i.e. "Keep my Scout unit in the back, away from the action")).
Once one side or the other runs out of units, the battle is over and one
side or the other is victorious.
Note that all of this is for battle situations on a battlefield. If an
army attempts to take a castle, the rules change a bit.
Siege War:
Castles help out a lot when it comes to defending a province and keeping it
safe from attack. Castles can garrison a number of units equal to their
level - a castle (3) can garrison 3 military units. Garrisoned units are
protected from attack by enemy forces (see below). In addition, enemy
military units can never pass through a province in which a castle exists.
The units must either stop or turn back.
This rule can be overlooked if an invader brings enough units to Neutralize
the castle. A castle is Neutralized if there are enemy units in the
province equal to the castle's level PLUS the number of units garrisoned in
the castle. For example, a castle (3) with 2 infantry units garrisoned
within can be neutralized by 5 enemy units. In this case, the number of
enemy units over and above those required to Neutralize the castle may pass
through the province and into another province.
If the enemy units decide to stick around, they may lay Siege to the castle
IF it can be Neutralized. Laying siege is a long process, though, depending
on cutting off supply lines to the castle and waiting for the castle's
stores to run out. A castle can withstand a siege of 3 turns per castle
level, so a level 5 castle would take 15 turns to lay siege to! Every 3
turns of siege drops the castle's effective level by 1. If at any point the
number of enemy units drops below that required to Neutralize the castle, it
is assumed that supplies get through and the siege must begin anew (with the
castle at its full maximum level). If a castle is successfully sieged, the
units within must emerge and fight on the field of battle or they will die
from lack of food and water.
Storming a Castle:
A castle may be assaulted, or "stormed", if the invading forces have at
least one artillery unit with them. Note that this is very difficult to do,
however, and the combat will always favor the defender. When an enemy army
storms a castle, battle proceeds as normal with a few changes:
1. The Strength rating of all aggressor units is reduced by one.
2. The Hits rating of all defender units is increased by one PER TWO LEVELS
OF THE CASTLE!
3. The defender decides which units all hits are applied to, both his own
and the enemy's. Of course any intelligent defender will apply all hits to
the aggressor's artillery units, because once they are eliminated the
assault is over.
4. Units with the "Charge" special ability (Knights, Cavalry) cannot take
part in assaults on castles, for defensive or offensive purposes.
Because of the importance of artillery units to the success of an assault,
it is often wise to beef up their toughness by assigning one or more heroes
to fight with them. These specialized units can survive a lot longer if
there is a mage present to cast protective spells, a fighter or thief to
fend off attackers, etc.
It is worth noting that more castles fall to betrayal than assault.
Successful Espionage actions and other tactics can go a long way towards
taking an otherwise impregnable fortress.
----------------
Military Units
These are stats for most of the military units in the BR game. First, a few
terms:
Muster: Cost in GB to Muster the unit
Maint.: Cost in GB to Maintain the unit, payed every Tax Turn
Req: Required Province level to muster unit, where "L" is the province level
MV: Move, or the number of unroaded plains provinces the unit can cross in a
turn. Roads double movement rate, and many terrain types slow it down.
ST: Strength, or the chance in 10 of scoring a hit in battle
HTs: Hits, or the number of hits it takes to destroy the unit
Missiles: Checked before the first round of battle, this is the chance in 10
of scoring a hit on an enemy unit with no chance of retaliation. After the
missile phase of the battle, the unit's ST rating is used instead.
Siege: Artillery units allow assaults on castles, and gain a +7 to ST during
such assaults, whether attacking or defending.
Charge: Charging units do an extra "hit" of damage if they hit. They cannot
participate in assaults on castles, though.
Block: Pikemen negate the Charge ability of knights and cavalry while they
remain on the field.
Scout: Scouts can enter enemy provinces unseen, and slip past castles.
Every time a scout unit enters a hostile province, there is a 50% chance of
the unit being captured and destroyed.
Undead: Living units facing the Undead suffer fear and loss of morale
equating to -1 ST. Priest heroes facing the Undead, however, ignore this
penalty and may DOUBLE their combat bonuses for purposes of affecting Undead
units only (so a 6th level Priest is +4 ST/HTs/Missiles against Undead units).
Common (Human) Units:
Archers: Must: 2, Maint: 1, Req: L2*, MV 2, ST 3, HTs 2, Missiles 5
Artillerists: Must: 4, Maint: 2, Req: L5 or L4 (Dwarves), MV 1, ST 1, HTs 2,
Siege
Cavalry: Must: 4, Maint: 2, Req: L3, MV 3, ST 6, HTs 3, Charge
Infantry: Must: 2, Maint: 1, Req: L1*, MV 1, ST 4, HTs 2
Infantry, Elite: Must: 4, Maint: 2, Req: L3, MV 1, ST 6, HTs 3
Irregulars: Must: 1, Maint: 1, Req: L1**, MV 2, ST 3, HTs 2
Knights: Must: 6, Maint: 2, Req: L4, MV 2, ST 8, HTs 4, Charge
Levies: Must: 0, Maint: 1, Req: L1, MV 1, ST 1, HTs 1
Merc Archers: Must: 4, Maint: 2, Req: None, MV 1, ST 3, HTs: 2, Missiles 5
Merc Cavalry: Must: 6, Maint: 2, Req: None, MV 3, ST 6, HTs 3, Charge
Merc Infantry: Must: 4, Maint: 2, Req: None, MV 1, ST 4, HTs 2
Merc Pikemen: Must: 4, Maint: 2, Req: None, MV 1, ST 3, HTs 2, Block
Pikemen: Must: 3, Maint: 1, Req: L2*, MV 1, ST 3, HTs 2, Block
Scouts: Must: 2, Maint: 1, Req: L0***, MV 3, ST 2, HTs 2, Scout
* Can also be raised by any Temple, Guild, or Law Holding of level 4 or more
** Can also be raised by any Temple, Guild, or Law Holding of level 3 or more
*** Can be raised by any Guild holding or level 2 or more
Uncommon (Non-Human) Units:
Dwarf Guards: Must: 4, Maint: 2, Req: L4 (Dwrf) / Merc, MV 1, ST 6, HTs 4
Dwarf X-Bows: Must: 4, Maint: 2, Req: L4 (Dwrf) / Merc, MV 1, ST 4, HTs 3,
Missile 5
(Dwarf Units ignore movement penalties for Hills and Mountains)
Elf Archers: Must: 4, Maint: 1, Req: L3 (Elf), MV 2, ST 3, HTs 2, Missiles 8
Elf Cavalry: Must: 8, Maint: 2, Req: L4 (Elf), MV 4, ST 8, HTs 3, Charge
(Elf Units ignore movement penalties for Forests and gain +1 ST in Forests)
Goblin Archers: Must: 1, Maint: 1, Req: L2 (Gob) / Merc, MV 1, ST 2, HTs 2,
Missiles 4
Goblin Infantry: Must: 1, Maint: 1, Req: L2 (Gob) / Merc, MV 1, ST 3, HTs 2
Goblin Cavalry: Must: 4, Maint: 2, Req: L3 (Gob) / Merc, MV 2, ST 8, HTs 3,
Block
(Goblin Cavalry ride huge Wargs. Horses fear wolves and will not Charge them.)
Lizardman Marauders: Must: 2, Maint: 1, Req: L2 (Lizardman), MV 1, ST 4, HTs 2
(Lizardman Marauders ignore Swamp move penalties and gain +2 ST / HTs in Swamp)
Undead: Must: Spec., Maint: Spec., Req: Spec., MV 1, ST 4, HTs 3, Undead
(Undead units are comprised of skeletons and zombies raised by dark necromancy)
-----------------
There you go! My system, in a nutshell. Good for PBEMs, though you may
wish to tweak to taste (considering terrain, etc.)
- Ron ^*^
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