I'm about to start a huge battle similar to the Red Hand of Doom campaign, and I don't really know how to handle them.
If anybody has any input or ideas that I could use, please share them with me as I need them badly.
The battle will involve 4 "Flame-lords" of 10th to 15th level, each of them has several platoons of about 20 goblins, undead, and various fire outsiders and elementals with one commander for each, and various siege engines below them that they can command at their whim.
Thanks
While this sounds like a handwave, it all depends on what you want the battle to be. There are several options:
a) It's a big backdrop and sounds really cool, but the PC fights are the important thing
b) The PCs should have a couple of key fights that may sway the tide of the larger battle
c) The PCs act as generals and control units.
If you've already decided how the battle's going to end, then you're in (a) territory. (For example, if the next adventure is supposed to be the PCs infiltrating the camp and freeing their captured fellows.)
If you've mostly decided how the battle's going to end, but the PCs can affect it (cut the losses, turn a narrow win into a narrow loss or a major win), then you're in (b) territory.
If you're interested in playing it out as a tactical wargame, then you're in (c) territory.
For (a), don't worry about rules for the overall fight. Just sprinkle in lots of descriptions of the battle around the PCs, have a few goblins try to fight a retreat when they have the PCs coming, etc. Concentrate on good transitions, emphasizing the chaos of battle. Don't worry about having the battle as a whole laid out anywhere but a "battle plan"-- if the PCs are in the thick of the battle, they don't know what's going on at the whole battle scale.
For (b), the descriptions are also important, but you'll also want to lay out a few objectives. Clearly tell the PCs what the scouts report and let them pick which objective they want to hit. (Theorize about the effects of their choice in character as the NPC general, an aide, or someone else.) Then play out the set piece battles they select, perhaps adding encounters on the way to their objective. When they accomplish their thing, describe the way it alters the battle.
For (c), break out D&D minis, Birthright, Battle System, or your favorite war game. Play out the battle by the rules of the system you've selected.
Hope this helps.
i find the flowchart system used in heroes of battle to be very handy and it's how i handle all largescale battles in my game that don't involve minitures (and my campaigns tend to focus more on roleplaying and the characters, so miniatures and unit formations are less of a concern)
I once attempted to do this, and wrote up page after page of stats for units, both under PC control and mine. I divided the units among the players and set up the battlefield using the plastic hexagonal terrain pieces from HeroScape. The prepwork took three weeks plus.
First round the Paladin (bravely but contrary to all common sense) charges all his cavalry up a hill into a killzone set up with gunners protected above a steep ravine, and gets them virtually killed to a man. Another player moves his units to another very vulnerable spot and sustains massive casualties. To be clear they had options besides getting instantly killed. Morale broke, the fight was over in one round, we decided to move on and all that work was wasted.
The moral of the story is make sure that it is what your players want to do. If they are not into it, they won't think about tactics or strategy or take into account the nuances of the battlefield. I misread my players' desires and paid the price.
Otherwise, I think Delveg has provided some excellent options. When we used to play Birthright (with a different group), we had some great fun battles on huge scales, and I think the HoB and Minis Handbook rules for large scale engagements are quite suitable.
well, as I own several hundred miniatures and have space available to put them out in large scripted battles; this is fairly easy for me with terrain and appropriate buildings; but, as I have no idea what your resources are it is a little hard to give any real input other than the obvious.
when it comes right down to it, usually pc's and other hero types are far superior than the rank and file soldiers and in keeping with the supposed themes of the genre, I suggest that you pretty much stick to one sides heroes battling the other sides heroes and the winner take all. You can easily make some small charts for orderly retreat to full rout to aniliation and just make some rolls to decide the outcome; modify it by what would make a good story in the long run; do the pcs loose and their army gets wiped or do they win but take heavy losses or do they win big with few losses; you can use x and o on paper if you need to having armies move at spotting distances and having armies engage. Generally speaking; armies of equal strength almost never fight and no real general fights when the outcome is undecided; best to fight with 3-1 odds or 5-1 to be certain; at 5-1 against troops of relatively equal strength the outcome is already decided, but still you can have the heroes fight as they can save or loose the day.