Handling big skirmishes [3.5e]

[Krosta]

In the adventure I'm currently running, the players are attacking the base of a small evil cult that threatened to obliterate their home village. While the PCs infliltrate into the base to rescue a kidnapped baby, the small army they gathered engages battle with the cultists just outside.

I need to simulate this skirmish someway; the players devolved many time in the arrangements, and many important NPCs are involved in it (obviously they will want to know what happened to them after the thing is over :smallsmile:).
I am looking for a way to do this, and to determine exactly how many casualties each side undergoes. The battle itself is not so large (there are about 30 individuals per side), but it's way too big to handle with the standard combat rules, and it involves an impressive mix of different-level NPCs (1st to 6th level).

There are rules for simulating big battles in 3.5? If not, what do you think I should do? What is your favorite way to handle this situations? Thanks in advance! :smallwink:

[Ernir]

You're at a really awkward place in the D&D mechanics - too large for it to be convenient to run at a table, too small for mass combat rules.

If it's not something the PCs are going to be present for/directly affect, just roll it out yourself beforehand. No one being around to argue/talk/have fun with should make it go much quicker.

[Righteous Doggy]

You can always just roll in groups or turn the whole battle into a series of planned events.

Personally, I like turning things like this into a big series of events, with the pcs going through a bunch of prep work with the village and coming up with their own plan, then having random events pop up with the enemy doing things like trying to attack a group of civilians/joe the named npc or someone shouting for help, or whatever else you happen to come up with.

Or you can just hope someone prepared black tentacles today. That mess can take out plenty of low level npcs on its own...