Mass Battle Rules

[sam500]

Hey,
MY friend wants to hold a mass battle the likes that has never been seen with my mammoth DDM collection.
What mass battle rules would work best for this (are the easiest to handle) for large numbers of minis?
CHeers,
Sam

 

[frankthedm]

Something other than D&D.

The new version of Vor: The Maelstrom was supposed to be out by now.

Sadly most wargames nowadays are thinly veiled attempts to sell the companies own miniature.

 

[Bayushi Seikuro]

My preference would be Black Company, if you have it. I've been on rants about it lately, so...

At squad levels, each squad has, more or less, PC stats, etc. So the skirmishes play out like character on character combat. You can work in routing and fleeing, etc, experience levels of the squads, you name it.

 

[Gerion of Mercadia]

Define "mammoth"

I have done a D&D battle with approximately 100 miniatures. It was a "SWAT" style assult by a 7th level party on BBEG castle - "Robin hood" style.

Darn thing took nearly 20 hours to play out, (all weekender) but it worked.

Your DM is best to use some sort of "Group Initiative" for the Soldiers dividing up each element into 8-12 individual combatants. It greatly speeds the combat up.

If you even ATTEMPT to use D&D as a combat system on anything with more than 20 individual combatants, IMHO you need a computer and a shrink check. The system just isn't designed for it.

 

[sam500]

My preference would be Black Company, if you have it. I've been on rants about it lately, so...

At squad levels, each squad has, more or less, PC stats, etc. So the skirmishes play out like character on character combat. You can work in routing and fleeing, etc, experience levels of the squads, you name it.

Don't have it.
I've got other mythic vistas books, but not that one.
I've got nearly every official WOTC book put out.
How are the heroes of battle mass combat rules? or the minis handbook ones or anything else for that matter?
Cheers,
Sam

 

[sam500]

Define "mammoth"

100's of figs. maybe 500

 

[Laman Stahros]

How are the heroes of battle mass combat rules?

Heroes of Battle doesn't have rules for the type of mass combat that you are looking for. HoB focuses on the party like in war movies like Saving Private Ryan. A good system, imho, but not what you are asking for.

or the minis handbook ones or anything else for that matter?

The Miniatures Handbook doesn't really do mass combat well. It has a squad level and a platoon level system, both of which are based on the minis put out by WotC. I used to use the Battlesystem back in 2e and, in comparision, the Miniatures Handbook does not have a mass combat system, at all.

 

[irdeggman]

Birthright rules (follow my sig) cover unit level battles (and are free). Units are comprised of roughly 200 soldiers.

I don't think this is the thing you are looking for, but you might want to consider switching from a PC oriented battle to a larger war between units type of scenario.