Mass Combat

[karkas132]

Hi relatively new to these forums and was looking for tips on mass combat ideas as the game has no set rules for mass combat just all the best tools for it ;p. Am running a campaign where several places are going to fall into states of civil war leading up to an Armageddon type war between pantheons taking place on Rifts earth.

[taalismn]

There's some mass combat rules in a Rifter article Dan Felkins in the Rifter#23...It's got general rules for both fantasy and modern combat(though not all possible factors for modern combat are covered), and it may be a little low powered for the idea of EPIC pantheonic battles unless you treat armies of minions armed with magic weaponry as being essentially grunts for the purposes of resolving combat.

[dragonfett]

I personally like they way it's handled in the D&D 3.5 book Heroes of Battle. Basically you design a flowchart with at least three ending battle conditions (for example large win, minor win, defeat). If I remember correctly, the book says to more or less handle each scenario or event during the battle like a dungeon where the rooms can't be gone back to and others are closed off entirely depending on how the players choose to go.

The GM figures out overall how the battle plays out before hand figuring out what happens when so they have an idea of what is going on if the PC's decide to run off to a different part of the battle. But this is critical for the flow chart design. Each event is worth x amount of Victory Points as determined by the GM and the strategic value of the event (defending a hill, attacking a bunker, etc.). Record the amount of Victory Points as the players complete each event and at the end of the battle, calculate which of the ending battle conditions the players have achieved.

If you want a better break down, check out the Heroes of Battle.

[karkas132]

There's some mass combat rules in a Rifter article Dan Felkins in the Rifter#23...It's got general rules for both fantasy and modern combat(though not all possible factors for modern combat are covered), and it may be a little low powered for the idea of EPIC pantheonic battles unless you treat armies of minions armed with magic weaponry as being essentially grunts for the purposes of resolving combat.

Well the whole pantheonic war comes a little later on in the campaign, NGR is falling into a state of civil war and so will several other nations, coming to find out later on this was ushered in by various deities and later on in the war I intend to involve them and their armies a bit more directly.

[Blue_Lion]

I use home brewed rules that track the MDC of types of units as a whole, and average damage then have a random damage modifier roll. The roll is modified by tactical advantage and PC actions. Depending on how things are tactically one side or other can reteat or move to statitigic location to get tactical advantage rating. Basically I treat all large fights beyond what the PC is doing as swarm NPCs until there moral is broken and they flee desert. I track every so much MD they loose a unit but general actions for the whole unit. Special actions for the PC and those they are fighting. (Typically swarm actions are done on a longer time table to allow more PC influence. I go with 10 minute increments.)

For example CS grunts have 100MD each and 80% use pulse lasers for 6d6MD or 21MD and 20% use heavy weapons for 1d6X10 I round this one down to 30MD. That means a 10 grunts have 10000MDC but loose 1 grunt every 100MDC taken and inflict 1680+600= 2480MD per swarm action at the start of the fight. I then roll a 1d20 subtract 8 then times it by 5 to get the percentage to modify average damage by. (1d20-8)5% Examples of things that give tactical bonus include air to ground +4, better defensive position +1 to 6, better trained troops +2, being ambushed -6, successful ambush +10 dedicated anti air vs air +4 PCs achieves key adjectives to turn the battle +12(such as killing the enemy commander disabling command centers or setting up enemy troops to fall in a ambush).

[HWalsh]

Mass combat in Rifts is a very difficult undertaking.

So I use what I call the: Narrative Mass Combat Rules.

They are totally arbitrary but work fairly well.

They work like this:

I ask the attackers to come up with 3 phases of their attack plan:

For example:

Phase 1: We will position troops X distance away from the city and use long range bombardment to soften enemy defenses.

Phase 2: We will move in with armored units to crush defenses that survived the long range shelling.

Phase 3: We will occupy the site with infantry and hunker down to create a forward position.

Then I grant them the chance to come up with a basic defense strategy. For example:

Spread out so any return fire can't hit us while grouped, keeping armored units at the front and long range fire at the rear. The infantry will dig trenches and hunker down.

The other side does the same, this is double blind.

Then I assign percentages based on how well the defense matches up with the offense of phase one:

So, if we assume that the Defenders in Phase 1 gave me a Defense of:

"We'll move the Civilians into under ground bunkers and use the lay line Nexus to open a giant rift to absorb any incoming rockets or artillery fire."

That has a GREAT chance of working against:

Phase 1: We will position troops X distance away from the city and use long range bombardment to soften enemy defenses.

So I say that defense has an 80% chance of working vs this offense. So I roll a percentile on a 1-80 that works on an 81-100 that fails. (A 01% always works, a 100% always fails)

If a defense works then the defenders may choose to become the attackers and we start again. Every successful defense ends a round.

If a defense fails then the defenders declair how they plan to rebuff the second phase. Then likewise the third.

Each time an attack succeeds the defender loses 30% of the forces they began the round with.

A combat ends when either one side completes all 3 Phases, or at the end of the 3rd round.

If a combat ends with no winner both sides are given a chance to resupply and come up with new tactics.

So, for example:
A wants to take the town B is defending.

A has 200 troops and comes up with an attack, hit them from long range with indirect fire (mortars). B has 100 defenders and his defense isn't so great, he's going to line shooters up behind sandbags, especially at 2-1 odds. I give B's defense a 30% chance. I roll a 47. B falters and loses 30% of their 100 defender leaving them 70.

A moves onto their second phase. B figures A is going to swarm them so comes up with a really decent anti-swarm idea, he's going to fall back into the armored complex in the town center. The numerical advantage is with A, but B predicted his plan of overwhelming with sheer numbers. I give B a 60% chance and roll... A 23! B's plan works wonderfully. A's attack stalled.

Round 1 ends.

B decides to counter-attack, they give me their plans. A, however, thinks their numerical advantage will hold long enough to regain initiative so decides to hold their ground. Unfortunately for A, B's plan was pretty daring. Instead of trying to push them out, B figures that they can use the small space to their advantage to nullify A's numbers and catch them in a pincer, forcing them deeper into the complex. B's plan is perfect against enemies holding their position. I give A a 40% chance. I roll a 62. A loses 30% of their numbers leaving them only 140 men.

B's phase 2 was to seal off the exit points and use cover fire to cut a retreat and force A's troops into his own. Holding the pincer. A, unfortunately, decided to try to retreat hoping to get outside to regain a numeric advantage. Exactly the worst thing he could do. He's only getting a 40% chance odown to that working. I roll... 89...

It's a slaughter... B is down to only 80 men. His number advantage is all but gone. We move on to Phase 3... Hopefully A can figure a way out of this tactical mess...

[FatherMorpheus]

Someone has talked about doing Birthright rules for Rifts at one point. Unfortunately, I don't think they over got them started.

[kaid]

This is actually one thing I am really looking forward to the savage worlds conversion for. They have some really good quick rules for even planetary scale combat. I could easily see GM's running some hybrid stuff where palladium for the more small group action stuff with some savage worlds stuff for major combats huge military engagements that the default palladium rules get a bit bogged down in.