RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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Thread resurrection - we're playing the assualt on Farshore in the next few weeks and my group has requested a wargame style. Ken, if you read this, would you mind briefly explaining your simple system for the squads and how you worked out their attack bonus etc? It sounds perfect - simple yet effective!
Anybody... do you know a simple system to run this fight as a wargame without too many rules?
Hmmmm - wonder if Hank Woon ever finished his mass combat rules or has a beta version...
Hey guys, I've only just read this now, and yes it sounds cool, especially letting your players run all the defending forces. Personally, I ran it similar, but more light-weight...
I just used the picture of Farshore that came printed in the magazine (from the free pdf enhancement with all the pictures in it, printed a decent size). I then used little markers for the invading ships, and the players told me where they stationed their troops, what kinds of orders they had, and so on. We played out the initial attacks in a completely rules-free way, i.e. I described the invading ships arriving, and the players described what, if anything, they would do about it from their PC's point of view. Once the PC's got into combat, they we jumped to the specifics of that fight, and once it was over I described what else they say going on.
For example, initially the players tried to slow down the invaders by planting one of their own ships in the harbour, with native warriors planted either wide on the hills, but I ruled that the ships had far superior artillery (in range and damage) so the natives followed their orders to fall back if losing, then the pirates just advanced and took control of the ship the players left to try and block some of the harbour. From there, the pirates launched their longboats at various points, and their golems also went in, which the PC's saw as the biggest threat so that's where the first "PC fight" took place - a set of golems, then a set of pirate invaders. Most of the pirates went on shore in the one point the PC's left least guarded, at the same time as the PC's fought the golems - channelling the pirates was one of the players pre-planned strategies. But if the Pc's were not involved, I just described how it all panned out, letting them know how their pre-planned strategies worked out based on what I thought was reasonable. Basically, once the pirates got on shore, the defenders had solid plans and better numbers, so the best they could do was get as far into the town as possible for a last stand-off between Lavinia and Vanthus, which the PC's got to just in time, killing Vanthus and routing the remaining pirates.
It went surprisingly quick - about 5 hours of play is all it took, and I think it was still pretty epic playing it all out on two levels - the map of the town to show the general view of where all the invaders were (but without any specific rules or rolls), then the tactical map to play out any fights that the PC's got involved in.
But for some reason my players didn't attack the boats - perhaps because I made that option look like a folly, with the ships having strong artillery pieces (magical and mundane), the yuan-ti got them a bit spooked, and I also had warforged amongst the crew (my players probably thought these were tougher than your average pirate, which was true). Also, my players had previously discussed strategy, and decided (quite sensibly) that their greatest strengths lay in superior numbers and in having a fortified town to defend. They had also done some divination and knew the invaders were not just pirates but also yuan-ti, warforged, and demons. I think it all depends on what your players come to expect out of your games - in my games, my players tend to expect me to present situation that are realistic as opposed to always winable, so here they no doubt figured that if they just tried to take out all the ships themselves, then I'd let them have it and they would be crushed. Which is about right. Although potentially I'd just use the situation to tie up the Pc's with one ship, and the others would go past them and get into the business of destroying the town while the Pc's are not there to save it.
That was basically my strategy for the pirates all along - if they found a point of resistance, the pirates would not get bogged down, a few troops would stay to tie up the defenders, while the rest of the invaders went in elsewhere. That makes sense as far as the pirates go, and it also makes for a fun, dynamic invasion where the Pc's have to keep trying to work out where they should go to next.