D&D 5E Legends & Lore 28.04: Battlesystem! (mass battles rules)

[Li Shenron]

I'm pleasantly surprised, despite much talking about it, I did not expect this to end up in the core game:

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20140428

 

[GX.Sigma]

Sounds great. One question: Why call it Battlesystem? Are they trying to make a standalone Battlesystem game again? Did they just really want to hang onto the trademark?

Edit: Actually, better question. How the heck do spells work at this scale?

 

[Blackwarder]

Sounds great. One question: Why call it Battlesystem? Are they trying to make a standalone Battlesystem game again? Did they just really want to hang onto the trademark?

Edit: Actually, better question. How the heck do spells work at this scale?

I like it for two main reasons:
1. It's a basic system that will be easy to use right out of the box.
2. It leaves the door open for a more robots and complex system down the road.

Warder

 

[I'm A Banana]

I like how simple it is -- just basically takes the abstraction and moves it one level up. I'm probably not the ideal market for it, since I'd just "cinematic"-out most massive army clashes, but it sounds neat, and something I might use once or twice if I'm in the mood.

Does this start to meet the needs of the people who REALLY wanted a mass combat system?

 

[Blackwarder]

I like how simple it is -- just basically takes the abstraction and moves it one level up. I'm probably not the ideal market for it, since I'd just "cinematic"-out most massive army clashes, but it sounds neat, and something I might use once or twice if I'm in the mood.

Does this start to meet the needs of the people who REALLY wanted a mass combat system?

Slightly, it's a good first step and might be useful in a pinch but for a campaign that is centered around domain play and strategic and tactical movment of fantasy armies it's only the tip of the iceberg.

What the game need for those is the type of supplement like ACKS domains at war product, everything you need in order to raise armies, supply them and command them in you campaign, including rules for large scall building and the use of magic in the game.

Warder

 

[Li Shenron]

Does this start to meet the needs of the people who REALLY wanted a mass combat system?

I don't know, but it does seem to meet my own needs (i.e. wishes) for battles between the PCs (possibly with allies) and a large number of monsters.

I like BECMI War Machine for armies battles, but 5e Battlesystem sounds like a very nice cross-bridge between traditional D&D combat and true mass battles.

Indeed, the only thing that the article doesn't mention, is how spells change. Everything else sounds like it can work very well for many gaming groups, since it's kept simple and very similar to normal combat.

 

[Stormonu]

The old battlesystem played poorly (magic and enchanted creatures were poorly thought out and implemented), hopefully this works out a lot better. I'm especially curious to see how they handle "units" of wizardly creatures and calvary (not just horses, but the stranger stuff like hippogriffs, pegusi, wyverns or even stranger beasts).

Also, having had some experience with WHFB, using a grid system for formation style units sounds atrocious. We'll have to see how this ends up playing out - and how well it's supported with mini's, pogs or whatnot (Battlesystem's cardboard counters sucked, as you had to move them individually, instead of like WHFB's movement trays).

 

[Blackwarder]

I found a nitpick! Why squares and not hexes? for skirmish combats hexes are superior.

Warder

 

[Blackbrrd]

I think I need to see an example with PC's in play before I decide if there is any point to this or not. The last time my PC was involved in mass combat, we flew over the army while invisible and cast Blade Barrier, Ewards Black Tentacles, Fireball, Acid Fog and so on, obliterating the army in very short order. (We had four full spellcasters, two clerics and two wizards).

 

[Will Doyle]

This system sounds relatively scalable to me - i.e. you could quite easily extend the turn length and increase the amount of creatures per stand.