[Malhavoc] cry havoc!

[GruTheWanderer]

How well does it integrate individual character action with mass combat?

Very well, in my opinion. Individuals on the battlefield (PCs, NPCs, dragons, etc) can attack units or other individuals and can be attacked in return. Individuals can also function as commanders, issuing special orders to units (which otherwise operate using some simple guidelines).

Individual creatures (or characters) and units both slow to one minute rounds when using the unit battle system., although things can speed up to standard 6-second rounds when important PC's and foes come together (Heroic Challenges).

 

[GruTheWanderer]

And how do xp and gp rewards work?

There's a sidebar about experience rewards in the unit battle chapter. Basically the heroes and commanders each receive about 10% of the xp value of creatures they help kill or drive off the battlefield, along with a story award for the victory (1/100 of the defeated army's total xp value).

 

[GruTheWanderer]

Can anyone tell me how compatable this system is with other d20 products... namely Star Wars Revised d20?

The general guidelines for unit battles would work fairly well when dealing with units of stormtroopers, Gungans, Ewoks, and so on. The rules for catapults and ballista could be adapted for entrenched weapons. It would get trickier to incorporate vehicles, but it should be possible.

 

[GruTheWanderer]

1) Unless my grasp of stats is wrong, when rolling 10 d20 the average of the result is more likely to tend towards 10 than when rolling 1 d20 (less deviation?). Therefore, the BAB of the critters becomes more important under D&D, but this doesn't seem to be reflected by CH. This may be intentional (and I don't see it slipping past the designers) because a unit's fate depends on the others in that unit. It does keep the role of luck on the battlefield lively, which has it's pluses and negatives (probably more pluses, as combat needs that dynamic and unpredictable aspect to it). Perhaps it's captured in that table 3-3 which we don't see?

Yes, the fact that many attacks will average out is covered by the attack tables (3-3). Comparing a unit's attack roll against another unit's defense roll results in a certain number of hits depending the difference between the two numbers. Units are unlikely to completely miss or completely hit the target.

Originally posted by rounser
2) It appears to spread wounds evenly over the unit until one of the critters runs out of HP. Not certain I like this; yes it's simple and probably saves a nightmarish amount of keeping track of casualties, yet the idea of a lucky volley of arrows dropping an ogre (instead of wounding the whole unit equally for some time, and then them all dropping like flies in quick succession later on) is an appealing one.

As Varianor mentioned earlier, it does the opposite. All the damage is applied to one creature until that creature goes down, then to another creature and so on. So you don't have a bunch of wounded ogres unless they are the result of an area attack spell.

 

[GruTheWanderer]

How much?

It's $10 now (special release sale), a great value for 132 pages of material.

 

[GruTheWanderer]

Would I like it as a wargamer? (And roleplayer, obviously.)

I am not an experience wargamer (just a little Warhammer Fantasy ten years ago), so I can't answer the first part of your question directly. The unit battle system is an abstraction (units are represented by individual counters) and battles are conducted on 1 inch grids, so it gives less precise control than many wargames. However, Skip seems to have accounted for lots of important factors: morale, limited communication, mixed orders, terrain (4 pages), cover, concealment, etc.

I think roleplayers who are not familiar with wargaming will definitely enjoy this book (battles can be conducted much like individual combat encounters).

 

[GruTheWanderer]

If I ever do a battle, I think I'd just have my players play it out in individual pockets of the whole, the outcome of the battle hinging on them surgically taking out a key commander or something.

Then you would probably enjoy the army battle system portion of Cry Havoc instead of the unit battle system. The army battle chapter allows you to resolve battles with a series of dice rolls, while taking player actions and tactical choices into account. There are three levels for different levels of detail (one for entire wars, one for individual battles, and one for results of a battle hour by hour), but all of them use the same mechanics and help you describe the course of the battle (which side got surprise, which is more manueverable, which tactics worked or failed, and how many casualties were suffered).

 

[Wombat]

I picked up Testament this last week and I think I am now covered for army-scale mass combat rules.

Simple, straightforward, not too fidgety, allows you to run a huge battle, but get back to the player-scale very quickly.

If I wanted a war-game proper, I'd haul out DBA, or equivalent thereof.

 

[Emiricol]

If I wanted a war-game proper, I'd haul out DBA

DBM, you heathen

Alright, for $10 I can give this a try. Thanks to all who answered the many questions people raised.

 

[Wombat]

I see your DBM and raise you a DBR