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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Drew" data-source="post: 2061135" data-attributes="member: 1314">I played through a small sample battle last night. I wish I could say it was awesome, but I was a little underwhelmed. Here are my thoughts a day later:PositiveBR system: My favorite part of this ruleset is the BR system. I think the conversion of a group's CR into a generic number showing how powerful and effictive they are is genious. When I'm running a D&D mass combat, I'm not interested in going into the fine detail of warband building that other mass systems offer. I don't want special rules for regeneration, confusion gazes, ad infinitum... The BR rating is a great abstraction. A unit of trolls is tough because of their strength, reach, and regeneration. A unit of knights is tough because of training, armor, and weaponry. Both translated into roughly the same BR.NegativeLack of Tactics: I understand that this is meant to be a quick and abstract system, but it seemed to be that battle tactics were pretty much non existant in this rules set. Troops in tight formation have a facing or sorts, but its only important during movement. As stated above, there is no tactical advantage to storming an enemy unit from behind. While I'm not looking for Advanced Squad Leader or anything, I can't help but wonder what the point is of using minis and a battle mat when there is no facing, no flanking, etc. I was just wandering willy-nilly around the battle mat, disengaging with the enemy whenever it suited me. It just didn't feel like a battle to me. I also found the formation rules somewhat lacking. There wasn't much in-game difference between having a tight formation and a goup of skirmishers. Yes, there is a difference, but its pretty much just movement. It also seemed strange that I was worrying about troop formations at all considering the lack of flanking rules. I'm not looking for a lot of tactical detail, but there is no reason to make the Mass Combat system less tactical than the core combat system.Poor Rule Info: I know we're just dealing with a quick rules set, and that it only cost $2...but there were a few things that I didn't get. When, for example, do I make command checks? Do I do it whenever the unit needs to do something that would require a command check? What happens if my commander gets killed or otherwise incapacitated? I'm not expecting layers of detail here, but it seems like these sorts of questions would have come up while this was being written. I really like what was there, but I found I had more questions that I expected.I would also have like to see clearer rules on ending a battle. As written, there are no rules for retreating from the battlefield if you're using a battlemat. You can just move off the battle mat, but on a small enough scale you're still logically within the reach of pursuing troops. Without rules to arbitrate things, it comes down to an agreement between the players or a decision from the DM.ConclusionI really wanted to be able to grab this simple little system and adapt it as my de facto mass combat rules. It looks like I'll have to put some work into it myself if I want to keep using it. I'll probably take the BR system and build something just a little more involved and tactical and see how it turns out.</blockquote>

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