Abstract Mass Combat (2026 take)

BASICS 

Armies are composed of homogeneus groups called Squads. Squads have a base amount of HP from 1 to 4. A small or tired squad has 1 hp, while a complete and fresh one has 4. Having even more men makes you start another squad. (Use incomplete squads when you want to represent poor or unstable armies, use complete ones normally for convenience)

HPs do not represent a specific number of people, but a fraction of a serious contingent. There is more people on a 4 HP footmen squad than in a 4 HP cavalry one. 

When two squads collide, they deal damage to the enemy by rolling 1d6 each:

1,2,3 means no damage
4 means 1 damage unless the victim has a shield
5 means 1 damage
6 means critical hit (damage depends on weapon) 

Sword: crit 2

Spear: crit 3

Bow: crit 2, but can fire volleys from behind another squad.

Crossbow: crit 3

Musket: crit 4 

Armor gives +1 or +2 hp to each squad, depending on the quality. Note that there is no initiative and that both squads hurt the other at once. 

 

SQUAD TYPES 

Squad types work like pokemon types: they have advantage (+1d6, keep both) and resistance (+1d6, keep worst) versus a type of squad, or in certain situations.

Cavalry: +1d6 vs footmen, both melee or ranged. If forced to leave the horses because of the terrain, they count as a footmen squad of half the HP. 

Spearmen: +1d6 vs cavalry. Once hit in melee, they are considered in close quarters and must become footmen (if they have backup weapons) or have their critical capped at 1. A levy of peasants might not have weapons beyond some bamboo spears, but one of trained samurai will. 

Footmen (Ranged): Muskets, crossbow and bow. +1 damage to spearmen on formations, and +1 vs horse archers if they are kiting; but -1 damage to a charge of cavalry. When they are in close combat, ranged footmen can become melee ones if they have side weapons, but they count as a unit of -1hp. 

Footmen (melee): Sometimes, the terrain will impose disadvantages for charging, shooting, mantaining formations, etc; such as in a forest. Footmen get +1d6 then. 

Horse archers: +1 damage vs spearmen, only bow allowed.

Big monsters: Specific weaknesses if any depend on their nature, but the way to represent them is that so one of them fights as a whole squad. They can have any number of HP, and if encountered by a single warrior outside mass combat, their HP should triplicate.

I will make up other types if needed. Big monsters can count as squads for battle purposes.

 

ADVANCED:

I don't want to use this system to simulate realistic battles, but to have the PCS and NPCs have enough factors to consider it as if it was one. Normally, unless I/you want to complicate the scenario with different points of interest, the basic battle will be a 2d line where squads clash in order.

*  Generals choose an order in which the squads will march. They do so without knowing which order will the other general use, nor which kind of squads, unless they have done espionage through PCs or others, which they historically did. It is also a great idea to find out if they have any Hero that is bestowing any mantle on a specific squad (see below)

* Each turn, after squads have clashed, each general can do one tactic action on the whole army. For example, moving a squad one step forward on their line (two steps for mounted units), or have a white mage attempt to heal a squad. Squads that move forward into the battle line effectivelly replace the current squad fighting on the next turn.
 

* Heroes are named NPCs (or PCs!) that lead a squad. Certain character skills or spells can affect the squad performance, such as a valkyrie summon (1-3 free re-rolls per combat, cast during the tactics phase), or just apply a bonus like +1d6 on a single charge or +hp to a squad. 

* Specific actions during the combat can impact the whole scenario, such as breaking a bridge or shooting at a nest of giant wasps, use common sense. 

* Flanking: a squad flanking another can attack twice. Flanking opportunities may be presented by the territory if you take the effort of study it.

I DONT PLAY WARGAMES. HOW ARE PCS INTERTWINED IN A BATTLE SCENE?

If PCs are directly involved on the battle, they will have a first person encounter for each battle their squad fights. If they lead a squad, they can also use any leadership-related skills at will. 

It is possible for a PC to live while his squad failed and die while his squad won. A squad at 0 hp is considered to be disbanded, but there will be some survivors unless the enemy is dedicated to exterminate them. 

If PCs are not directly involved on the battle, in my experience, they still like to see the battle, so I made this rules because the previous ones, while they worked nice, abstracted the battle too much.

 

Ideas for mass combat (notes)

 I had some ideas today for running mass combat in the frame of rpgs. Never ran one in D&D and im not familiar with all the OSR rules around for that; I only ran one on a homebrew cyberpunk themed game  and it was a real mess. Nonetheless, I had some ideas on how I'd like to do one if I did it now, and I'll put them down here for reference.

First, I'd treat "the big melee" scenario as a zone with random encounters. This table below is an example (1d8). You take +1 if you are some kind of leader, and -1 if you are not an actual fighting man (like a woman or a kid just trying to sneak around a battlefield)

1-2-3: Nobody engages with you this turn. You can help an ally on their encounter, search for an enemy, perform any action, etc

4-5: you face a common troop

6-7: a gang of 1d4 enemies fights you at once

8: You draw the attention of an enemy lieutenant or elite troop.

Then, after all the PCs have done their turn, you check how is the battle going. You roll 2d6 plus modifiers, positive if your side is more numerous or has any advantage, or negative if the other side is. Then use a table similar to this:

12 Enemy is defeated or repelled. This doesn't mean necessarily that all enemies are killed: they might try to surrender, retreat or even make a final phyrric charge for 1 turn; GM will decide.

11 Somewhere an enemy leader has been defeated. +1 on further rolls in this table.

10 Enemy numbers are greatly decreasing. +1 on further rolls in this table.

9: If there is a potential advantage, it is succesfully exploited (enemy lured into a canyon, weak point succesfully applied, etc) and you get +1 on  further rolls on this table. This result might require that the PCs perform a quest first to get the relevant information or setup (GMs discrection). If this result is rolled a second time, it automatically works.

8: You see a known NPC. He rolls a save, on a pass he is fighting, otherwise is dead or unconscious.

7 Battle rages. If you declared that you were searching for something or somebody on the heat of battle, you find it.

6 You see a known PC or NPC wounded or in trouble, asking you for help.

5: Your side is hosed to a disfavorable position or is otherwise forced back. -1 on further rolls in this table. This result can be ignored once if your PCs did any quest to prevent it (GM's discrection)

4: Ally numbers are greatly decreasing. -1 on further rolls in this table.

3 An important leader in your side has been defeated. -1 on further rolls in this table

2 Your side is defeated or repelled

Of course, a battle has more facets than just a big melee. Things like firing from atop of a wall, ambushes, catapults, etc should be handled each on their own way; but succesful and meaningful actions of this type can grant bonuses to the 2d6 roll every battle turn, making them count narrativelly and mathematically at the same time; or even trigger a roll on the table by themselves. Even if thePCs are just watching the battle from atop of a tower, you can use the table to narrate the battle to them by rolling every turn.

Handling big battles this way has the upside that every possible "gamist" aspect counts (character levels, gear, actual battle tactics in the big scale, alongside normal combat tactics, characters dying, characters facing multiple opponents or ganging up on a single enemy, etc) and it makes the battle unfold "from the inside", as if it was seen through the fighting character's eyes; which is the aspect I think that should be highlighted on an RPG as opposed to a wargame where you see battles from an "eagle's view". 

I can see how people might like wargames, and I can see how d&d came from chainmail and such. But in my opinion they are very different concepts and don't mix as well as one might think. Also, in this way, PCs fight using the same combat rules they use in the rest of the game; instead of a simplified or tailored ruleset.