How do you represent enemy groups that function well in formation yet...

[Isamu Dyson]

are much easier pickings once their ranks are broken?

[Qc Storm]

are much easier pickings once their ranks are broken?

Loss of cohesion due to lack of leadership and excessive reliance on teamwork.

This can be illustrated by the troops taking suboptimal actions due to being confused, creatures panicking/running away, or a -2 circumstance penalty to rolls. They can also have this circumstance bonus to rolls when grouped to further amplify the effect of their group.

[JungleChicken]

Give them a moral bonus to hit, damage, saves, and hit points when officers are present.

Take them away when they are taken out and stop using good strategy to show their failure to function as a unit without the officers and they will be much easier to pick off by the players

[ngilop]

Thats actually really easy.


case in point in our own real world Hisotry teh battle bwteen the Greeks and Persians at Marathon.

Thats exactly what happenend. When Miltiades learned the Persian calvary was absent from the battle field he orderd the attack. he moved some of his center out to reinforce his flanks which lured teh persians into pressing further in that should have, eventually teh flanks turned in and crashed asgainst teh persian forces, routing them. the thought of as the most powerful and nigh-incvincble persian forces broke into a panic and raced to their ships to retreat back.

Just look at some other classic example in military history, this is actually something that happen pretty commonly. History, military history, especially ancient and mideval is kinda my thing , so sorry if i rambled on at any point.

SIDE NOTE: a sling stone recovered at marathon had greek writing on it that said "Eat This' and is the first known use of psychological warfare in the world.

[Urpriest]

Legion Devils do this sort of thing well. There are also various Phalanx Fighting-themed feats across a few books, though there's no unified set of rules about it IIRC.

[A Tad Insane]

mechanically, two ranks of guys with reach weapons. In formation they can hit you when you can and can't hit them, yet they start tripping on themselves trying to get you into their threat range when the line is broken. Or maybe tower shield shenanigans, you can never have to many tower shield shenanigans, not even when you have a tower of them made by a drunken master.

[Kol Korran]

A few ideas (Some of which have been suggested):
1) There are soem feats that rely upon working togehter, or staying on formation, such as the Phalanx feats and such that Urpreist mentioned. They are spread amongst several books, but complete warrior and Heroes of battle (That REALLY goes into formations) describe.
2) Compose the unit of 2-3 different kinds of troops, such as the suggested heavily armored front liners, and attheir back reqach weapons with heavy damage output. I once did that and included 1-2 people with buffing capabilities in the center, such as a caster or a marshal and such. worked quite nicely.
3) You can relate the effectiveness of the troops with "aid another" actions, where 1-2 warriors give another warrior a nice bonus to hit, and it carries a very damaging weapon. In that way low level troops might hit higher level ones. I think there is a feat or two soemwhere that upgrades the "aid another" option, making it a +3 or a +4 or such. Can't recollect where it is though.
4) If I recall correctly, Heroes of Battle has some additional advice on the matter, and fighting in groups and formation in general. I suggest to check it out.
5) If you're going with a more magical/ super natural bent, you could create certain powers that function better when there are close allies nearby, or in formation.A simple example is the shcoking lizard's charge ability, though it may not really be "formantion" fitting.
Actually ,that might fit even more mundane groups. You can call it "amry training/ formation fightiing" or whatever, giving bonuses to armor, attack or such while in formation.

I hope this helps.

[Just to Browse]

There are really good synergistic combos that would work like this. An example is red dragon + iron golem.

[Lokd0wn]

If you're using multiple weaker enemies backed up by a leader or two the Teamwork Benefits from the PHB2 can add few nasty surprises, but they are reliant on the leaders being alive.

[Diarmuid]

Are you looking for mechanical benefits or ways to describe something?

[Isamu Dyson]

Are you looking for mechanical benefits or ways to describe something?

The former.

[Brookshw]

.

SIDE NOTE: a sling stone recovered at marathon had greek writing on it that said "Eat This' and is the first known use of psychological warfare in the world.

Awesome, had never heard that. Thank you!

[Tvtyrant]

Tower shield hiding folks in the front row, reach and then large with reach behind them. Enemies can no longer melee your units without using reach weapons, and your units move forward slowly and stab away. This only works at low levels (flight and AoE spells ruin it,) but it makes box formations brutal.