War Stories

It turns out my Mum had an ulterior motive in asking me about my favourite D&D characters and the type of games I like on the phone a month ago. I recieved Heroes of Battle in the mail on Friday last week.

It's got some interesting ideas contained in it, and will be very useful for my campaigns in the future (I'm planning an invasion scenario for my next game ).

I was wondering if anyone had campaigns (or took part in one) with major War and Major Battle-type themes in them.

Did your players get more tactically minded in such a game?

Any memorable victories, defeats, or scenes that really resonated with your players?

I always have a big war in my campaigns. Often more than one. You know, crazy villains who believe they are superduber and want to conquer the world. Not that they are strong enough, but they think they are.

Biggest battle yet: 30 hours. The 8 PCs attacked a fortress in a city with 600 men at arms to rescue one of their own kept in the dungeon below. PCs level 6-9, the soldiers ranged between level 2-6, elite mercenaries level 6-8. The PCs wasted every single piece of expendable magic item just to get out alive (and they did not rescue the single PC... in this attack).

Other battles:
- PC group vs 1200 soldiers Roman Style...
- City defense as end point of the campaign... group broke 2 evenings before end.
- 1 PC vs two armies. Well, she lost but achieved her goal.

Players more tactically minded? Nope. IME this takes years and years of gaming and study and the right mindset. I have pretty intelligent friends who have no clue about tactics and pretty "slow and simpleminded" ones (no offense, they know how they are and like it) who go straight for the weak point in the enemies setup.