Brian Chalian
First Post
Cry Havoc does offer guidelines on how large a force a city can field. It's the only third-party book I own, and I'm very happy with it.MarauderX said:
Mass Combat?
- Thread starter Taloras
- Start date
Yet another vote for Fields of Blood. Eden Studios does tremendous work, and FoB is much less rules intensive than Cry Havoc and approaches mass combat on more of an RP angle than a miniatures battle angle. Get FoB...get it now...seriously 
I've been using it as the rules set for my Birthright campaign and it's been great.
I've been using it as the rules set for my Birthright campaign and it's been great.
Bendris Noulg
First Post
Yep... Just add in some mystical effects (via Feats or Prestige Classes, or perhaps Templates to represent Bloodline Strength) for BR-styled Regency and the system is completely adaptable as a BR-system that's easily portable to any setting.Slate said:
Over-all, I like FoB. I've compared it to Mongoose's OMCS and AEG's Mercenaries and Empire. I only glanced at Cry Havoc; seemed rather luke-warm (aka, typical SKR material) so I passed on it.
About the only thing that's got me wondering is what system, if any, GR intends to include with The Black Company; I have a hard time imagining a BC game without Mass Combat rules, and I have an equally hard time imagining GR doing a bad job of it.
Until then, FoB all the way.
Fields of Blood is a great book for running a Birthright-style domain campaign. Empire is a good book for doing the same. Both books offer a way of handling nation-level interactions and adjudicating their effects. Empire suffers from some choppy editing, making it less attractive than it should be. Both books offer fairly comprehensive treatments of mass combat, including rules on raising troops and how such fits into the economy of the nation.
Cry Havoc is a book for adding war to any existing campaign, as an event. It talks about running a "war theme campaign" and offers some different resolution systems based on how close you want the PCs to be to the action. From what you said you want to do, Taloras, this is the book that best fits what you described.
The Book of Strongholds and Dynasties is also available. It offers the revised Open Mass Combat System II in the back of the book. It is only about 10 pages, and very abstract.
The Miniatures Handbook's mass combat rules are really more a mass MINIS combat rules set, and even MerricB, one of the most ardent supporters of the minis game on this board, has little liking for them.
Here is a link to my comparison thread for these books; although it is focused on the domain-management aspects more than the mass combat, it may proved helpful.
Cry Havoc is a book for adding war to any existing campaign, as an event. It talks about running a "war theme campaign" and offers some different resolution systems based on how close you want the PCs to be to the action. From what you said you want to do, Taloras, this is the book that best fits what you described.
The Book of Strongholds and Dynasties is also available. It offers the revised Open Mass Combat System II in the back of the book. It is only about 10 pages, and very abstract.
The Miniatures Handbook's mass combat rules are really more a mass MINIS combat rules set, and even MerricB, one of the most ardent supporters of the minis game on this board, has little liking for them.
Here is a link to my comparison thread for these books; although it is focused on the domain-management aspects more than the mass combat, it may proved helpful.
Patman21967
First Post
Compare notes
We should compare notes....my campaign starts tonight, and I have the same idea, except I am setting mine in Ket, in the world of Greyhawk. I am using Eric Noah's conversions of G1-3 as the PC's must stop the Giants from joining the Orc horde. Most of the mass combat will be a backdrop, but I wouldn't mind having them see some action. Sound inspired by Salvatore...It would be cool to see this series written up, with the PC's all Dwarves in Mithril Hall.
We should compare notes....my campaign starts tonight, and I have the same idea, except I am setting mine in Ket, in the world of Greyhawk. I am using Eric Noah's conversions of G1-3 as the PC's must stop the Giants from joining the Orc horde. Most of the mass combat will be a backdrop, but I wouldn't mind having them see some action. Sound inspired by Salvatore...It would be cool to see this series written up, with the PC's all Dwarves in Mithril Hall.
The mass combat rules for Mongoose's OGL CONAN game are available as a free PDF from Mongoose's website (I think they're adapted from their Quintessential Fighter rules, although, not having seen that latter, I don't know for sure):
Click here:
Mass Combat Rules
Click here:
Mass Combat Rules
I'd go with with FoB. It covers all the bases in a pretty clean consistent ways. And for me atleast, it provides enough templates to be reasonably expanded (I've already considered adding an expensive Raider suptype for instance, as well as an even more expensive Bribe Unit Regent Action for those civs with advanced thieves guilds). In fact, I'm about to run a mass battle using the rules therein in my pbp game i'm running on these boards.
Patman21967
First Post
just got back from my local game shop, they had 1 copy of fields of Blood, which I picked up....looks really good.. I'll let you know after I'm done reading through it...well, 6:00....off to start my new campaign...wish me luck...
Patrick
Patrick
