Mass Combat: Bunkered forces and pitched battles

[mlangsdorf]

I was reviewing Mass Combat and I came across a quirk on the rules:

An encamped and bunkered force cannot win initiative in the Recon Contest (Mass Combat 29) but can only tie.

In a pitched battle, only a force that won initiative in the Recon Contest can claim a Defense Bonus (Mass Combat 32).

Therefore, by a strict reading of the rules, an encamped and bunkered force can never claim a Defense Bonus in a pitched battle.

I think this quirk is wrong, but I can't read the rules any other way. I would love it if someone could point out exactly how I'm reading the rules wrong.

There's an extreme version of this quirk, which goes like this:
* A force only gets a fortress' DB if the force is bunkered in the fortress (Mass Combat 39).
* A siege is a pitched battle (Mass Combat 40).
* A bunkered force cannot win initiative in the Recon Contest (Mass Combat 29).
* In a pitched battle, only a force that won initiative gets a DB (Mass Combat 32).
Therefore, any force in a fortress can never be in a siege. Which is clearly not right, and I'm prepared to accept that the sentence on Mass Combat 39 that says "A fortress’ DB applies only if one side is encamped and chose to bunker themselves within" overrules p 32, though it would be nice if the fact that p 39 overrrules p 32 were clearer.

But outside of a siege situation, a bunkered force can only claim DB in an encounter battle.

[weby]

Yes, it seems that the who gets the DB bonus rules are buggy.

There should likely be a first rule that is something like: "If a force is bunkered and was not surprised or ambushed it gets DB, in other cases (fill in the current rules)"

[RyanW]

I think matching the intent (or at least the way to make the rules make sense), is to modify p.32 very slightly:

• The side with initiative can claim a Defense Bonus in a pitched battle, based on using favorable terrain to anchor their defense.
• A side that was encamped and hunkered down prior to the battle can claim a Defense Bonus in any battle (even if they're confused).

[mlangsdorf]

The way I'm going to house rule this is to say that any encamped force that is not at a No Security posture can claim a defense bonus. Otherwise, sending out patrols can cause an encamped force to lose its DB, and that doesn't make any more sense to me than the RAW.

An encamped force may choose to not use its DB, by choosing an attack or raid strategy, but it should always have the option of going on defense and getting a DB.

[Captain Joy]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

The way I'm going to house rule this is to say that any encamped force that is not at a No Security posture can claim a defense bonus. Otherwise, sending out patrols can cause an encamped force to lose its DB, and that doesn't make any more sense to me than the RAW.

An encamped force may choose to not use its DB, by choosing an attack or raid strategy, but it should always have the option of going on defense and getting a DB.

Indeed, I would think (I have only limited Mass Combat experience) that the default is that an encamped force gets to use its DB, unless they act in a manner that obviously negates their intrinsic DB.