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Saintjebus
2009-01-30, 10:13 AM
I'm DMing a 4.0 game, and I need help with a war scenario. Basically, I need a system that I can adapt to D&D for wargaming. I have a horde of alien-type monsters besieging a fortified city, and the PCs are part of the army that is breaking the siege. I don't want to get bogged down in minutiae, and I don't want 10 minutes of battle time to take 4 hours. Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance!

P.S. I would love this not to turn into an edition war. Thanks!

kieza
2009-01-30, 01:33 PM
Essentially, you want to group the enemy and allied troops into squads, and have each squad act as a single unit. You can decide how they interact; whether there's an actual battle that you play out when units clash, or if there's a skill check or something similar, or if you just narrate what happens.

Here's my system:
A company of troops has an attack and defense rating for both melee and ranged combat. Usually attack ranges from -1 to +3 and defense from 5 to 9.
It also has a speed (squares per turn) and range (melee, in which case they enter an enemy square to attack, or 1-2 squares for ranged units).

At the start of an engagement, roll a d20 for each side. The sides alternate moving single units, with the high roller starting. If one side has more units, they move all of them at the end of the round.

Units start with Strength 10. When they get into combat, they roll a d10 for each point of Strength they have, and add the appropriate attack modifier to each die. (i.e. 1d10 + attack for each Strength) If any particular die total exceeds the enemy's defense, it is a hit. The enemy then counterattacks in the same manner. After both sides have attacked, they both subtract 1 from their Strength for each hit the enemy got. If reduced to 0 strength, they are destroyed.

Each round a unit can move up to its speed. They may make a melee attack if they end this movement in an enemy square. Ranged units may move half speed and make an attack. Units in a melee may withdraw at half speed. Units may entrench, for +2 defense, if they remain immobile for one round and are not engaged in a melee during that time.

Terrain may grant bonuses or penalties to defense, speed, or range, and may block line of sight (which is otherwise unlimited).

Tyrmatt
2009-01-30, 05:18 PM
If it's 4.0, throw in lots of minions and do as the DMG's says: Have your players cut a swathe through them like they're made of bubbles and fluff. Then simply make a few waves of enemies who actually have some kind of challenge to them then once the siege is broken revert it back to your standard style.