Adapting 'Hammer of the Scots' for Exalted

[Flagg]

Hopefully there won't be too much of those types of units around.  After all this is a peasant rebellion against weakened realm forces made up of mostly local levies...

:twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:


-S

 

[Silence In Daylight]

What is it you're doing here exactly? Making a strategic boardgame for use in Mass Combat in Exalted? (never heard of 'Hammer of the Scots', so I don't know what you're talking about...).

 Tactical wargame from Columbia Games that models Scotland's struggle for independence during the late 13th and early 14th centuries--the 'Braveheart' era, if you will.

 

[Silence In Daylight]

Hopefully there won't be too much of those types of units around.  After all this is a peasant rebellion against weakened realm forces made up of mostly local levies...

:twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:


-S

 But that needn't be the case.


 In most continuities, the Realm likely has more on their plates than to deal with this minor satrapy. However, Edward I was off in Flanders during much of the initial Scottish rebellion as well.


 I'd suggest a potential Event that has the Realm sending first-tier reinforcements; to balance, a potential Event that draws in Lookshy may need to be included as well.

 

[Flagg]

Which forces get drawn in, and when, is going to be determined by the story, rather than any formal structure.


I'm making every type of unit I can envision coming into play. They may or may not be used in this particular scenario. If this works out, I may use it in other games, in which case having those units made already will come in handy.


With that, I give you Light Artillery!

• 

-S

 

[Silence In Daylight]

How are you adapting the unit-healing mechanic from HoS to Geald? Will there be differences between the Imperials and the rebels, and if so, how do the Imperials reinforce?

 

[Flagg]

How are you adapting the unit-healing mechanic from HoS to Geald? Will there be differences between the Imperials and the rebels' date=' and if so, how do the Imperials reinforce?[/quote']
Good question. In this scenario, the Realm is using strictly foreign soldiers. No use conscripting from a rebellious population and putting weapons in their hands.


So, the rebel forces will "heal" as per normal HoS rules. The Realm forces will only "heal" by bringing in new troops from outside. If the  PCs are able to cut off their re-supply lines, they'll stop "healing".


-S

 

[Flagg]

Also, there will be no "fog of war". All units will be visible to everyone. The Lunar PC can easily fly-over the entire province in a matter of hours, and I'm going to assume that the Realm's forces have plenty of ways to spy (help of spirits, summoned demons, sorcery, etc).


-S

 

[lowguppy]

I found the "fog of war" to be a pretty minimal effect in the game anyways. All the nobles are pretty much the same, and after one battle you basically know what the other player has there. There's a small element of surprise when new units are brought in, but that was about it.

 

[Silence In Daylight]

Don't underestimate the effect of re-deployment.


 Besides, one's memory can slip from time to time--not a hard things for people used to, say, counting cards or reviewing twelve different chess variations seven moves deep, but for the rest of us...

 

[Flagg]

Here are some preliminary stats for the basic units. I'd love feedback from the  number crunchers and military history geeks in the audience on how reasonable these numbers are.


Some notes:

• There are no specific numbers of troops to a unit. This is deliberate, allowing a conflict to be easily scalable, in order to avoid having an over-/under-abundance of pieces on the board. If one were to take the Light Infantry unit (Mag. 3) as a baseline, and assume it's 150 men strong, then each dot a unit has should be roughly eqivalent to 50 men. Certain units, such as the Warstrider Fang, will always be made up of a small number of men, but due to their natures, each dot represents an amount of punishment it can sustain equivalent to that which would kill 50 mortals.
  
• Water-based units cannot attack land-based units, and vice versa.
  
• Obviously, units with Exalts in them should be more effective than entirely mortal units. This is represented by these units ability to perform stunts, which can grant bonuses to the unit's abilities during a battle.
  
• Each battle involves 3 turns of dice-rolling, with each unit able to attack once per turn. All units share the DV of the highest rated unit present. When damage is inflicted, it is taken from the unit with the most health levels. If all units have the same number of health levels, the defending player may decide which unit loses a health level. When a unit reaches 0 health levels, it is destroyed.
  
• The six attributes of each unit are:Speed (Yellow): The "initiative of the unit. The Speediest unit in a battle acts first. In the event of a tie, the defending unit rolls first.
  
• Attack (Red): The number of dice the unit rolls to attack. On 1+ successes, the opposing units take 1 level of damage.
  
• DV (Blue): The difficulty on the attacking unit's Attack roll.
  
• Movement (Purple): The number of borders a unit may cross per turn. If a unit moves into a territory occupied by an enemy unit, its movement immediately ends.
  
• Drill (Green): The morale/resolve of the unit. Generally, the better trained the unit, the higher the drill.
  
• Magnitude (Orange): The maximum number of health levels a unit can have.

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Comments welcome.


-S


Edit: I just re-tooled the units and lowered the DV values. I realized that they were WAY too high.

 

[Flagg]

Sea Battles

• So long as the water portion of the map is empty, or occupied solely by friendly sea units, land units may move from any sea-side territory to any other sea-side territory as a single movement. Upon landing at the destination, the unit's movement stops immediately, even if they might not have used their entire allotment.
  
• The water potion of the map is considered a single territory. During any turn where two or more enemy units occupy the water territory, they will be considered in combat by default.
  
• Sea units must leave the map, either by fleeing, or going to safe harbor, in order to avoid combat. This yields control of the sea territory to any remaining enemy units.

• 

-S

 

[Flagg]

All units are assumed to be led by Terrestrial Exalted (or other sub-Celestial magical being).


Units led by Celestial Exalted gain +1 to Attack.


-S

 

[Silence In Daylight]

I'd reduce the barbarian unit move to 2; they shouldn't be comparable to light cavalry.

 

[Flagg]

I'd reduce the barbarian unit move to 2; they shouldn't be comparable to light cavalry.

My idea was that they travel extremely light, so they can move fast. In contrast, cavalry requires a lot of supplies and support to travel with them, effectively slowing them down.


In battle, cavalry can move much faster, which is reflected in their Speed.


If you disagree, let me know.


-S

 

[Silence In Daylight]

There is certainly a point to that; however, the barbarians may not have the discipline to take advantage of their speed. Moving fast is one thing; moving fast together is another.


 Also, I may have been reading a bit too much into the description of the unit as 'Barbarian Horde.' For me, that means a fair number of non-combatants as well--more so than the usual army camp followers.

 

[Flagg]

Here's the whole set, so far:

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[Flagg]

There is certainly a point to that; however, the barbarians may not have the discipline to take advantage of their speed. Moving fast is one thing; moving fast together is another.
 Also, I may have been reading a bit too much into the description of the unit as 'Barbarian Horde.' For me, that means a fair number of non-combatants as well--more so than the usual army camp followers.

Point taken. I'll leave Beastmen with a Move of 3. They're superhuman.


-S

 

[Silence In Daylight]

Sea Battles

• So long as the water portion of the map is empty, or occupied solely by friendly sea units, land units may move from any sea-side territory to any other sea-side territory as a single movement. Upon landing at the destination, the unit's movement stops immediately, even if they might not have used their entire allotment.

-S

 You may want to consider a cap on the number of land units a warship unit is capable of transferring.


 Hmm...what about introducing a transport unit? Lousy combat values, but is capable of the unlimited transport described above?


 Also, an amphibious unit (Marines), capable of both naval and land combat, may be a worthwhile addition.

 

[Flagg]

You may want to consider a cap on the number of land units a warship unit is capable of transferring.

The idea isn't that the warships will do the transport. That would be done by transport vessels. However, to simplify things, I thought it easiest to assume that transport vessels can't cross waters patrolled by enemy warships. If the coast is clear (no pun intended), then movement is automatic. This minimizes the need for extraneous units.

Also' date=' an amphibious unit (Marines), capable of both naval and land combat, may be a worthwhile addition.[/quote']
That's not a bad idea. I'll work on that.


-S

 

[Silence In Daylight]

I seem to recall you mentioning some Fair Folk activity to the northeast of Geald...will they not be playing a role in the campaign?

 

[Flagg]

I seem to recall you mentioning some Fair Folk activity to the northeast of Geald...will they not be playing a role in the campaign?

you must be thinking of something else. I'm thinking of making a Fair Folk unit, but I have immediate plans for it.


-S

 

[Flagg]

Here's the "marine" unit. They may fight in sea and land battles, but may only enter coastal territories.

• 

-S

 

[Silence In Daylight]

If the Fair Folk are to play a role, you should have both grunt (hobgoblin) units and elite (cataphractoi) units. After all, something's gotta give the Warstrider Fang a run for its money...

 

[Flagg]

The main thing that's stopping me from doing that right now is my inability to find appropriate graphics in the same style as the rest.


-S