[Grim Tales] Mass Combat PDF

[ragboy]

edit... Nevermind... I'll keep this thread for further questions not already answered... grrr.

Spoiler

Is the MC PDF a direct copy from Slavelords? I don't have the book, and I'm writing a review of the PDF/XLS bundle...

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

edit... Nevermind... I'll keep this thread for further questions not already answered... grrr.

Spoiler

Is the MC PDF a direct copy from Slavelords? I don't have the book, and I'm writing a review of the PDF/XLS bundle...

Other than the artwork, yes.

 

[ragboy]

I think the couple of things that are hanging up in my brain at the moment will be dislodged after another read and a solid playtest session, but I'm not getting the abstraction of the Ground and the Casualty rate, specifically how it relates to the Strategic Objectives.

I don't have the PDF in front of me at the moment, but there are a couple of the Strategic Objectives where the victor has a 100% casualty rate. IIRC, a 100% casualty rate is not recoverable? Or am I misreading?

On the Ground, as far as I can tell, you're Strategic Objective, if successful, changes the Ground to one more favorable to you, yes? So, it's a kind of stack ranking down from Dangerous (being bad for everyone) to one where you can actually make a play for Control (where if successful, you get the +2 bonus to Command checks)?

If you think this will be more clear after a re-reading and playtest, don't bother. Just reading it straight through the first time, these are the only points of confusion (though they are major...).

As has been stated before, the CR->EL system of unit building is inspired, especially since it facilitates inclusion of PC's much more elegantly than any other system I've seen. I'm wondering how this would play with a modern battlefield setting. Has anyone tried it with tanks and troops and helicopters and bombers and whatnot?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I don't have the PDF in front of me at the moment, but there are a couple of the Strategic Objectives where the victor has a 100% casualty rate. IIRC, a 100% casualty rate is not recoverable? Or am I misreading?

1) Before the battle, both generals choose a Strategic Objective.

2) The winner of the battle achieves his Strategic Objective.

3) The Strategic Objective determines the casualty rate.

4) After the battle, both sides recover casualties according to that rate.

5) Very Important Caveat: A unit reduced to 0 BR cannot recover casualties unless it is on the winning side. (What this means in practice is that the loser is probably not going to recover any losses unless his units fled the battlefield.)

Example:

General A chooses "Divide the Enemy Forces" which has a casualty rate of 100% Victor, 25% Loser. General A has four units, A1, A2, A3, A4, each with BR18.

General B chooses "Control" which has a casualty rate of 50% Victor, 50% Loser. General B also has four units, B1, B2, B3, B4 each with BR18.

During the battle, Unit A1 fights Unit B1 to the bitter end. A1 is reduced to BR0; B1 is reduced to BR2.

Units A2, A3, and A4 do better, and they force enemy units B2, B3, and B4 to flee the battlefield, along with the shattered remains of Unit B1 (remember, now reduced to BR2).

General A wins the battle, and he has achieved his Strategic objective. He nets the benefits of Divide the Enemy Forces (which may, but not necessarily, mean changing the type of Ground, as you noted).

It also means that his Objective sets the terms for recovery of casualties: 100% casualties to the victor, and 25% casualties to the loser.

(Divide the Enemy forces is obviously, then, a very costly gambit for the General, even if he wins. It's best used by overwhelming forces who can afford the loss.)

This means that all BR lost by Units A are "real." 100% of the BR lost by Units A remains.

On the other hand, the loser suffers only 25% actual casualties. Unit B1, which lost 16 BR (reduced from BR18 to BR2) only suffers a "real" BR loss of 4 (25% of 16 BR lost). So the unit recovers to BR14.

Now let's flip it around and say that General B ends up winning this battle-- his units B2, B3, and B4 drive Units A off the battlefield.

His objective was Control: 50% victor, 50% loser.

Unit B1 suffered a loss of 16BR (it was reduced from BR18 to BR2). 50% of this is real: a loss of 8BR. Unit B1 recovers to BR10 (18-8).

Unit A1 was reduced to 0BR. However, because General A lost the battle, and this unit was reduced to 0 BR, it cannot recover at all, even though the loser normally only suffers 50% casualties. If there were any casualties in Units A2, A3, and A4, as long as they were not reduced to 0BR, they do benefit from the 50% casualty rate assigned to the loser.

Does that help?

 

[ragboy]

Does that help?

*Bonk*

Got it. That's an interesting approach.