Re: [DL] Mass Combat Rules

[Allan Seyberth <darious@darious.com>]

At 02:00 PM 6/2/2002 -0400, you wrote:
 >
 >On Sunday, June 2, 2002, at 01:50  PM, Jerzy Cichocki wrote:
 >
 >> Howdy folks!
 >>
 >>  In  the Unity you have new mass combat rules for Hell on Earth. Is it
 >>  possible  to  use  it  in  Deadlands:  Weird  West? Or maybe there is
 >>  separate rules somwhere on the web or suplements?
 >
 >There's no reason you shouldn't be able to... The new rules, if you've
 >heard about them but haven't read them, are basically meant to simulate
 >the posse wading through combat with an army of mooks... It's basically
 >roll a d20, compare to a table, and detemine a result including how much
 >ammo is spent.

Bleah.

In this case, I would again look to the Master - Sergio Leone.

Keep it immediate, keep it personal, and keep it focused on the heroes.

There was a Civil War the battle scene in The Good, The Bad, and the 
Ugly.  The two protagonists were stuck on one side and had to get to the 
other.  Blondie and Tuco - instead of participating in the battle - took it 
upon themselves to change the course of the fight and in the process earned 
some manly hero points by letting the dying Captain get his last wish.

Instead of just lining up 10,000 men against 10,000 men and rolling dice to 
see how it goes, take a little extra time to pre-determine the course of 
the battle.  The fight will start by General X opening fire with artillery, 
General Y will order counter-battery fire.  Within thirty minutes the 
cavalry units will clash with each other as they probe for weaknesses in 
each others lines.
General X will order his units to advance against what appears to be the 
easiest section of terrain to cross but General Y has laid a trap blah blah 
blah General X having broken the flank on the west side of the hill commits 
his reserve to breaking the line, and the situation is desparate enought 
that Y has to commit his, but due to a miscommunication the reserve show up 
out of position blah blah blah having lost the ground, General Y orders a 
general retreat leaving behind 2000 wounded and dead men, and 40 pieces of 
artillery, but in the course of the battle General X took a minnie ball in 
the upper thigh and isn't expected to live the night.  As the next in line, 
a rather inept political appointee officer is now in charge of General X's 
troops.
etc. etc.

By planning the battle out you KNOW what is going to happen beforehand.

Now throw the heroes into the mix and let them change the outcome.  And be 
prepared to have the generals of both sides react in accordance to what 
happens.
This both avoids the blandness of having the whole outcome determined by a 
random die roll, cuts down on the ad-libbing you have to do during the 
game, and MOST IMPORTANT - allows you to keep the focus of the story on the 
heroes.

If you really want to enhance the "realism" of the scene, you might want to 
give each general personalities beforehand - and plan their strategies 
accordingly.  Rough sketch about 5 or 6 important officers and how they are 
going to act.  (Many a battle has been lost because some junior officer 
either got the wrong orders or thought he knew more than the man in 
charge.  Of course, many a junior officer DID know more than the man in 
charge. . . )  On reading about Civil War battles, it is amazing just how 
much the outcomes were determines by the personalities of the men in charge.
Through in a handful of colorful sergeants and privates for roleplaying 
interaction, and then plan out the battle.
If you REALLY want to get in depth write out the order of battle, units 
names, commanders, etc.

All of this creates the feeling of what I've heard called "artifical 
depth".  Where by having all of the minor details in place, the audience 
will subconsciously pick up on these clues and be more drawn into the 
movie/story.
For gaming, this artificial depth is even more important as it not only 
draws the players into character better, but it also gives the players more 
to interact with.  The more detail you give them, the more they have to 
work with.

Now, if you want to do all this and are just feeling lazy - steal a real 
battle.  Gettysburg is a good one.  Just change the terrain a little, 
change the names, and then figure in the effects of mad science and the 
Reckoning, and you have a whole new battle unrecognizable from the original.
But all of your hard work is done for you.

At least that's the theory.  :-)  I've never run a large battle for my 
games but I've always wanted to homage Gettysburg this way.   On which side 
of Picket's charge the players are on will be determined solely on how mean 
I'm feeling that day.

-------------------------------
"All you could see of those men was a thin red mist"
Description of some rebels who were about to reach and capture the Union 
artillery when some Union sergeant cut loose with triple loaded cannister 
at, I believe, about 10 feet.
-----------------------------



------------------

Allan Seyberth
darious@darious.com

"If women didn't exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning."
                 - Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975)