From: Oerjan Ohlson <oerjan.ohlson@t...>
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 07:44:37 -0500
Subject: Re: Points, Mass and Fantasy FMA NON-TOPIC, REALLY
Sorry for sending this to this list, but I've lost count on which people could be interested: > On Fri, 13 Dec 1996, Allan Goodall wrote: > At 12:59 AM 12/13/96 -0500, you wrote: Since armies are so small (usually 10-15 elements) and play so fast (usually less than 1 hour), I don't see that as a real problem. Providing unit grades a la DBM would unbalance things quite a lot - going from (O) (Ordinary) to (I) (gets a -1 penalty if the opponent gets a better result) means going from dying once in a while to dying a lot, and with so few elements to lose... well, it's hard to get a very even fight then. My solution has been to use DBM rules (and correspondingly larger armies); by using some creative troop definitions (like equating wolfes with camels <g>) and in some rare cases inventing new troop types (... all flying troops, for instance) one can use DBMs grading system to full effect. You might want to use some sort of magic system, though; I'm mainly into the Tolkien/Pratchett style of fighting, where magic doesn't normally affect the battle directly. > The armies are distinct as a whole, and the interaction In DBM/Fantasy, I'd make the Elves Regular Spearmen(S) (for Superior - adds 1 to the combat roll if beaten), Reg. Bow(S) and various mounted; all these troop types are 'expensive' in the points system used. The orcs would be irregulars - Hordes, Warbands, Bow(I), Camels(?!) and so on - cheap but brittle units. There's your outnumbering effect. Of course, there are several DBM/Fantasy conversions floating around the 'net. Last time I checked there were some Middle-Earth army lists on Ed Allen's DBM Homepage... and IIRC those lists don't use any special rules whatsoever. > >I've been planning on taking a small set of They should be. DBA was written for historical battles, after all <G> > The campaign rules would be part of a grand tactical set. This I disagree with. A campaign system should be able to play out battles using your favourite grand tactical rules set rather than being tied into one single set; after all, how much people eat has little to do with how you resolve their fights...