I got Cry Havoc...

[Trainz]

I bought Cry Havoc today...

...and I will return it tomorrow. I'm not saying it's not good, it's just WAY too complicated for my needs. I have great respect for the Sage. His book might be suitable for many DM's out there, maybe most, but it's very, very complicated.

It's more complicated than some strategy board games.

So, I nevertheless want to congratulate him on an endeavor that wasn't simple to tackle in the first place, and I beleive that he did succeed in creating a mass battle system that take into account every little detail of any possible mass battle situation. He just made me realize that my needs are much more humble, and I will create my own house-ruled battle system, that will probably fit in a 5 page document.

IMHO.

 

[Mach2.5]

I have to partially agree with you (although I will definately be using the book and not returnng it.)

The basic section is indeed quite the migraine of number crunching and rule memorizing. I certainly wasn't prepared for that kind of treatment of mass warfare. Thankfully, there is also a well thought out section on how to quick play a mass battle in a simplified manner. I'll likely utilize the second approach as I ween my players (and myself as well) on the more complicated battle system. I run a Dark Sun campaign were warfare is commonplace. Originally, we used the Battlesystem rules (heavily modified) but since the switch to 3e, mass warfare of the kind we regularly played was put on hold until someone came up with a good enough system. WAR (AEG) was close, but still not up to par. Cry Havoc fits the bill though. Its just going to take a little bit longer till the City-States wage war on eachother again. Not too long, I hope. The natives are indeed gettting restless.

 

[Darrin Drader]

If you want a mass combat system that's much more quick and dirty without a lot of complications, pick up Oathbound Arena. The mass combat section is all of 10 pages and the playtesting feedback we received on it was extremely favorable (besides, I wrote it )

 

[Trainz]

Sounds very interesting Baraendur, but I really want to give a shot at making a very simple system.

You see, when all is said and done, you can simply use the CR of a creature. Base a unit on the creature's CR, create a system that grades each CR units with a standard AC, BAB and all that, and there you go.

You could complicate it as much as you want, taking into account area of effect spells, ranged weapons, and all that, or simply leave it down and dirty.

I think I'll go midway, allowing commanders to improve a unit's efficiency, but not much more. I want a battle to be resolved in about 10 minutes game time.

And I'll also take into account mixed units. This is gonna be fun !