Is Mass Combat seeing play?

[Figleaf23]

Here's a summary of my first experience with it as a player. I was pleased with the system and definitely have it in my back pocket for the Swaschbuckling campaign I'm running now.

[Figleaf23]

Originally Posted by james73

I used it with no problems and enjoyed it. I especially liked the part where the PCs had to invest their own well being into the greater overall battle.

It's a great mechanic for keeping the players feeling involved. When I get to GM Mass Combat, I'm going to experiment with the PCs role-play an episode within the battle to represent their choice of risk. Or maybe I'll offer it as an optional -4 or +4 choice if they want to play an episode.

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by hari

Would you like to see it expanded? Or see it revised? Or do you not care?

Maybe.

I certainly care because it seemed to me a very well designed system and sourcebook.

[makke]

Originally Posted by hari

I don't hear people mention Mass Combat here much at all. Are you using it? If so, how? Low or high TLs? How often do you use it? Is it just an occasional thing or is it your focus? And if you are not using it, how do you imagine you would use it? How would you like to use it?

Bought it but found no use for it up to now. Hope this will change in the future - I kind of like the idea. :)

[Kromm]

I used it for the climactic battles that concluded my last campaign. In those fantasy engagements, the PCs' side had a wide variety of human troops (berserkers, foot and horse archers, light and heavy cavalry, Roman-style legions, siege engines, spearmen, and various guerrillas and partisans) – and also air elementals, amazons, demons, jungle monsters, ogres, trolls, undead, and valkyries. The enemy had mainly heavy infantry, armed with a mix of melee weapons and slow-firing weird-science blasters, supported by wizards, giants, and infantry on flying platforms. Both sides had many supernatural powers and flying troops.

It went well. I'd use it again.

[Gigermann]

I used it to model a football game (see thread). I will be using it again in a couple of weeks for a village-vs-raiders battle—I'll let you know how it goes.

[Dwarf99]

I use an old article in Roleplayer that had the original manifestation of it. I've made a few mods but as yet can't afford the 4th ed. Consider it on my wishlist.

[martinl]

Originally Posted by hal

One of the player character knights (they all started as household knights by the way), has Born War Leader 4, and Strategy & Tactics at 16 and 17 respectively. Coupled with Charisma 1 and Voice advantages, not to mention Luck ... that if Kaldor enters into a civil war, that he and three other nobles will declare neutrality in the civil war and break away, forming a new kingdom.

I'm a bit of a stat normalizer, admittedly, but it seems to me that someone with those stats could win the Kaldoric Civil War.

[panton41]

I haven't had a chance, but partly because the kind of game I'd want to use it in (an epic ship-to-ship space opera battle) isn't supported. I showed it to a Trekker friend and his first question was whether it could do The Battle of Wolf 359. Since that kind of space game was what he was wanting it didn't pan out.

I am thinking about using it to simulate battles for a play-over-IM game I'm doing in a homebrew Low Tech setting.

[jimminy]

Originally Posted by hari

I don't hear people mention Mass Combat here much at all. Are you using it? If so, how? Low or high TLs? How often do you use it? Is it just an occasional thing or is it your focus? And if you are not using it, how do you imagine you would use it? How would you like to use it?

It's interesting that, although it's cannon GURPS, the majority of the crunch in it is so unrelated. What thoughts might anyone have on that? Would you like to see it expanded? Or see it revised? Or do you not care?

I've used it for a game set during the First Crusade, about 20-120 combatants vs about the same number, for skirmishes, information gathering, ambushes and sieges, during a brief time a character had control of a fort (then the story interrupted and we were all surprised when he lost control).

It worked well, I thought. First time was slow as we worked through the rules, and there was less dramatic description than needed. Second time we had one PC actually sneak into the camp and do things during the battle, so we'd drop in and out of mass combat time and battle time. It was really good from my end as a GM. Plus, they had to pay their forces through raiding and stuff. It was fun for the PCs to have different responsibilities.

Can't think of any changes/revisions off the top of my head, but I'll let you know if I remember anything.