Mass Combat Starting Positions?

[Smithers1]

So I'm about ready to take my party through some Mass Combat in the current adventure we are doing, the only thing is that I can't seem to find where it says how far away armies start normally. I know its probably a GM's choice thing, but I'm looking for any advice!

If I place the armies too far away then the ranged units will have a significant advantage of non-ranged armies as they could get multiple rounds of ranged attacks off, possibly destroying an army before it can even make a roll in combat! However if I put them too close then they won't have a chance to shine and do what ranged units do best.

If anyone has done some Mass Combat before and has some advice on what they found was a good distance to make the armies fairly balanced that would be really helpful!

[Chemlak]

For this purpose the mass combat rules are super abstract. Basically the armies start far enough apart for a single ranged combat phase. If either army chooses to close the distance there isn't another ranged combat phase (unless you get yourself multiple armies so that some can stay at range while others close the distance).

What is that distance? No idea. How long is the ranged combat phase? However long you want, but each phase lasting a couple of hours is a good bet.

Or get Ultimate Battle and Ultimate War by Legendary Games and tighten up the mass combat rules a load.