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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Old One" data-source="post: 2021750" data-attributes="member: 83">Black Company...TerraDave and Narfellus,I DO have the BCCS book (don't hate me 'cause I am beautiful <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />)...I have read through the Mass Combat system a couple of times and here are my impressions:(1) It has 3 different scales - Character, Company and Army.  These are three seperate systems, with a suggested flow being starting the action at Army level, then drilling down to Company level when the action heats and finally moving to Character level for the exciting finish.  Action at the Character level is in normal rounds, Company level equals 4 rounds and Army level encompasses a day of action.Character scale is regular combat (with BCCS twists).  At Company scale, the basic element is the Platoon (made up of 4 8-man squads).  Companies consist of 4 platoons (128 men) and battalions consist of 4 companies (512 men).  I suppose you could continue the progression to regiments (4 battalions) and divisions/brigades (4 regiments), but actions much larger than a couple of battalions should probably be handled using Army level combat.  The smallest unit at the Army scale is the company.(2) At Company scale, units are handled like characters in many respects, with initiative (the commander's command check), speed, AC, attack modifier and hit dice.  It includes several troop types and sub-types (light and heavy infantry, light and heavy cavalry, archers and horse-archers).  Units can be of four quality levels (green, trained, veteran and elite).  Command (and commanders) are very important at Company Scale.  The BCCS has a number of command feats that are designed to work specifically at Company scale.  Opposed command checks at the opening of combat decides which side has the Advantage (a BCCS convention).  Command checks are also used to issue unit commands (such as attack, disengage, rally, move, reform, retreat, etc).When in attack is made (assuming a successful hit), a hit is scored for every full 5 points the attack roll exceeds the target unit's AC.  Hits are then added to a die roll of the most common weapon type of the attacking unit (longsword, 1d8) and any strength modifiers to come up with a damage value.  The target unit must then succeed on a DC 15+damage value Fort save to resist injury.  Failing by less than 10 means the unit is injured.  Failing by more than 10 means the unit is injured and shattered.  Each injury a unit suffers adds -1 to future injury and morale checks.  A shattered unit that fails to rally and takes another injury is destroyed.  In addition, units are subject to morale checks when they take injuries.  Failure can lead to a unit becoming shaken, frightened or panicked.Magic works pretty much the same as it does at Character scale, except for a few simple scaling provisions and common sense items.Although it does take a bit to figure out, once you work up unit stat blocks, the system runs pretty smoothly and is certainly a good representation of BC combat.  There is plenty of places for the PCs to impact the combat, either as free agents or unit commanders.(3) Army scale is much more abstract, with the base measure of unit effectiveness being the Army Strength Rating (ASR) - a composite of Army Command Value (ACV), Army Overall Quality (ACQ), quantity and troop types.  Once ASRs of the opposing forces are calculated, the larger ASR is divided by the smaller, rounding down.  The army with larger ASR then gets that number as part of their resolution pool.  Morale, environmental factors, terrain (including fortifications), condition (units that are fatigued or have been fighting extended campaigns have negative modifiers), an opposed command check (winner gets +1d4 resolution points), an opposed magic check (if both sides have wizards) - the winner gets 1d8+1 per magnitude (BCCS convention) for their resolution pool, the loser gets 1d4 points.  Resolution consists of each side rolling 1d6 (represents fog of war/luck) and adding the result to their resolution pool.  The side with the higher number is the winner and casualties are determined by the difference between the checks.  Casualties can be reduced with skilled healers.Overall, I really like the system...but it is a BCCS specific system.  Due to significant differences in how magic is handled in BCCS, you would need to do some modifying to fit it into a standard campaign.  Also, since the setting relies so heavily on command and command feats, translation to a standard campaign might be difficult.  The Army scale system could be converted fairly easily, however, since it is so abstract.Having delved pretty deeply into both systems, I would say the Bad Axe Mass Combat System falls somewhere between the Company Scale and Army Scale in complexity.  However, it is a unified system that scales infinitely.  If I were running a BCCS campaign or heavily BCCS influenced campaign, I would go with the BCCS system.  If, however, I was running a standard 3.x campaign, I think Bad Axe Mass Combat is the way to go.~ Old One</blockquote>

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