Army Battles

Sometimes your stories and games have battles far exceeding the scales viable with the normal battle system. Epic Space battles, armies storming a medieval castle, or soldiers fighting against an incoming invasion force are examples of scenarios that would be far too complicated if you tried to simulate each individual participant. The Army rules offer an alternative that actively allows you to participate in such conflicts and simplifies armies’ movement.

Units

Instead of using creatures, you fight army battles with units. Units usually represent a group of creatures. The number of creatures in a Unit is not fixed. It could be five creatures, or it could be 100. You determine what best fits the scale of your battle.

Stats and Levels

Units have Stats, but they are different from the normal Stats of a creature. They are the following:

1. Vitality: This Stat determines how long a unit can fight, similar to the Vitality of a creature. However, unlike a creature’s Vitality, a unit always dies as soon as its Vitality drops below 1.
2. Movement: This Stat determines how many spaces the unit can move during their turn and when their turn is.
3. Defense: This Stat determines how easy it is for the unit to receive full damage from an attack of another unit.
4. Damage: This Stat determines how much damage this unit deals when they attack.
5. Precision: This Stat determines how likely it is that they deal full damage to another unit.
6. Range: This stat determines how far away a target of this unit can be.

Units also have Levels. They gain +2 to Vitality and +1 to Defense, Damage, and Precision per Level.

You can find a list of all standard Units and their Level 0 stats below.

Rounds and Turns

Just like normal combat, army battles have rounds and turns. Each unit has one turn during a round. The order is determined by the Movement of the units. The units with the highest Movement get their turn first, and afterward, the units with the second-highest Movement, and so on. If the units have the same Movement, the side on the battlefield that started the battle can move their units first. The GM decides which side has priority if there is no clear instigator for this army battle. Each side can decide in what order their units with the same Movement act.

A Unit can move a number of spaces equal to their movement and do one action.

Unit actions

A unit has four possible actions during its turn.

1. Attack: The unit makes an attack.
2. Charge: The unit doubles its Movement for that turn.
3. Defend: All attacks against this unit have disadvantage until their next turn.
4. Prepare: The unit attacks the next target that gets into range. You can specify a target (or group of targets) that triggers the effect.

Attack and Defense

A unit that uses the Attack action to attack another has to make an attack roll to see if they deal their full damage. They have to roll a d10 and add their Precision to it. If it is equal to or greater than the Defense of their target, they deal the full damage of the attack. Otherwise, they deal only half of the damage. In case they roll a natural 1 on the d10, they do not deal any damage at all. If you roll a natural 10, you automatically deal the highest potential damage of the attack without having to roll for it.

The damage of an attack equals 1d6 plus the Damage Stat of the attacker.

Heroes and Hero Units

Heros are mighty participants on the battlefield, like the player characters, who can shape the conflict independently. A hero gains the hero unit stats and has a Level equal to the creature’s or character’s Tier. Multiple heroes can form one hero unit by adding each of their Tiers to the unit’s level (for example, three level 6 characters would make a level 9 Hero Unit). A hero unit can fly when every hero in that unit can also fly.

Heroes can join other units. They increase the Level of the unit by an amount equal to their Tier if they do so. Additionally, they grant a bonus to the unit depending on their Primary Stat. Hero units also profit from those Primary Stat depending bonuses. The bonuses are the following:

1. Strength: The Tier of the hero is added to Damage of the unit.
2. Dexterity: The Movement of the unit increases by half the Tier of the hero rounded up.
3. Constitution: The Vitality of the unit increases by an amount equal to twice the Tier of the hero.
4. Intelligence: The Precision of the unit increases by an amount equal to the Tier of the hero.
5. Charisma: The unit regenerates Vitality equal to the Tier of the Hero at the start of their turn.
6. Instinct: The Defense of the unit increases by an amount equal to the Tier of the Hero.
7. Will: Any damage the unit receives is reduced by an amount equal to half the Tier of the Hero rounded up.

A hero survives, leaving a hero unit behind, should the unit they were a part of reach a Vitality of 0. In case a hero unit loses all of their Vitality, they die unless the attacking unit wants to keep them alive or the GM is very merciful and lets them just fall unconscious on the battlefield.

The damage of a damaged hero unit is distributed among the splitting units evenly should they decide to split. That can lead to a character or creature dying instantly if there is not enough Vitality left for each splitting unit.

Heros that are Boss creatures multiply the amount of Tier-based bonuses and levels that they give to units by their boss grade.

If two opposing hero units meet in combat, the action zooms in, and the battle takes place according to normal combat rules. The action zooms out again if one side wins or successfully retreats.

Battlefield Terrain

A battle is rarely fought on a simple plain. The terrain itself can help or hinder each side and has effects on the units. Here is a list of examples of modifiers that terrain can give units:

• High Ground: A unit attacking another unit in a space lower than its own has the high ground and gains an advantage. Their Precision increases by 2 for any such attack. This also counts for flying units that are flying above other units. (Examples: hills, atop a wall, cliffs, …)
• Obscured: An area can be full of obstacles that make it hard to traverse but also give good cover. Any unit within such a space gains +2 to their Defense but needs twice as much Movement when they move into such a space. (Examples: Forest, rocky terrain, hills, …)
• Cover: Sometimes, a unit is in a highly defensible position. They gain +3 to their Defense if they are in such a space. (Examples: Trenches, atop a wall, fortress)
• Difficult Terrain: Some areas are extremely hard to move through and can slow down a unit. Any unit needs twice as much Movement when it moves into such a space. (Examples: swamp, desert, river, …)

A space is not clearly defined as in normal combat. The GM can freely determine the size of a space to fit the scale of battle that they want to achieve. A space could be only 10 m x 10 m, but it could also be 100 m x 100 m or even more.

List of Units

Here is a list of all units and their stats at level 0.

Name	Vitality	Movement	Defense	Damage	Precision	Range	Special Ability
Infantry	10	2	10	5	5	1
Heavy Infantry	16	1	14	7	4	1
Scouts	5	4	8	1	7	2	Terrain does not slow them down; a missed attack against them does not deal any damage
Ranged	7	2	8	3	7	4
Artillery	7	2	4	7	3	3	Attacks deal double damage to buildings
Light Cavalry	8	5	9	4	4	1
Heavy Cavalry	13	3	12	6	3	1
Anti-Air	7	2	8	2	6	4	Attacks deal double damage against units that can fly
Ranged Cavalry	7	4	6	3	5	4
Flyer	9	3	8	4	2	1	Can fly
Ranged Flyer	8	3	7	3	2	3	Can fly
Bomber	9	2	7	8	3	4	Can fly; Can only attack spaces right below it; attacks deal double damage against buildings
Heavy Flyer	11	2	10	5	1	1	Can fly
Anti-Cavalry	9	2	11	5	4	1	Attacks deal double damage against Cavalry, and if they use the Prepare action (does not stack)
Healer	6	2	6	0	3	1	Can heal Unit that they stand next to by 1d6 + their Level as an action
Hero	0	2	5	0	0	2	See Hero Unit rules

Next Chapter: Alternative Rules