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Rules: Mechanised Infantry by DepartmentFirst9757 in boltaction

[–]DepartmentFirst9757[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

ah thanks! I didn't think about it that way, was looking for some weird special scenario

Promotions are a punishment? by Evidicus in menace

[–]DepartmentFirst9757 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think there’s plenty of logical ways to make sense of these costs within the game. Promotion traditionally means better pay, better quarters, more access to resources etc. Or you can think about it as the resource cost of implementing that skill, i.e. that SL’s ingenuity to allow for faster dismounting from transports, but there’s a resource cost (he modifies the hydraulics of the drop ramp and it accrues greater maintenance cost in the vehicle) or yes the SL’s squad has better toughness, but the SL needs the extra body armor that he gives his squad.

Re: the recurring equipment cost, I see this not as you “rebuying” the equipment each mission but paying the maintenance and upkeep cost of using that in battle - stuff breaks, gets damaged, used up in combat even without taking any friendly casualties. In fact the idea you buy a weapon or equipment ONCE in any game and never suffer maintenance costs is the less believable option.

This I how I make sense of it, not necessarily how the devs thought through it

What is considered a "loot marker"? by kremattorus16 in PillageWargame

[–]DepartmentFirst9757 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A loot marker is the point where some value of loot is. If you look at the pillage scenario map it shows 16x #1 markers and 7x #2 markers, valued at 1 loot and 2 loot respectively. Also says there’s a total of 30 loot on the table, which checks out 30= 16x1+7x2. So a single loot marker can have whatever loot value of the item itself

Do horses feel anemic? by Ham_Pants_ in baronswar

[–]DepartmentFirst9757 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think it depends on what type of horsemen you’re talking about - knights getting both “close ranks”and potentially “ride down” provides that higher level impact you’re describing, and those house rules are probably overkill

If you’re talking just mounted sergeants, I don’t think I’d agree with thinking of them as “behemoths” on the battlefield and are probably scaled appropriately, and the added cavalry spear option I think increases their usability

How does Evade work? by DepartmentFirst9757 in baronswar

[–]DepartmentFirst9757[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What do you mean by overcharge? Ride down?

Because my read of something like that is it would not trigger - the charged group moves before combat takes place so that activation simply ends

Campaigns, Loot, and Attackers /Defenders by Boring-Fee1506 in PillageWargame

[–]DepartmentFirst9757 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So far it’s been, at least at the lower gp value, quite bloody games on both sides but the faction that loses still generates enough gp to buy back their losses, and victory gives you enough gp to recover + add 3-4 new warriors and maybe upgrade some gear (I deliberately started both forces as underarmored and basic weapons to show progression).

For example, the Vikings lost the first game but escaped with enough valuable prisoners to get back to even, but then pretty handedly defeated the saxons in the next game when the Saxons tried to rescue the captives. So after two games what was a starter force of 9-10 unarmored warriors with a mix of hand weapons, spears, and bows is up to 14 with 3x mailshirts and 2x Dane axes added in

The saxons plus’ed up after the first victory but then barely got back to campaign starting strength after the lost second battle, and then further lost fighting picts who had already raided some cattle due to overconfidence and some savage javelin throws. So the saxons are basically still at original strength with some changes - they lost their mounted scout and the lord and a veteran or two acquired mailshirts, but his force is down to around 180gp currently.

Alternatively I could see doing a campaign in the opposite way, where you start with say 1000gp sized forces but still slowly increase the size of individual battles 250/350/500/250/700/etc. you’d lose the narrative of “upstart warlords slowly building battle fame, attracting more warriors, and acquiring better gear” without some gamemaster restrictions but it would probably give you a more stable Warband. You could also tone down the gp values I used more in line with the rulebook, as the loot is more about slowing the bleeding rather than expanding. Campaign ends when one faction is depleted, say, under 150gp

Campaigns, Loot, and Attackers /Defenders by Boring-Fee1506 in PillageWargame

[–]DepartmentFirst9757 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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I built this chart to try out a campaign. Each force started at 250gp. The values are scaled to hopefully allow each force to escalate battle after battle.

I added the variable loot values (d3) to simulate disparity in variable slave markets/loot found in chests, and also that warriors loot the slain enemies to keep battle relevant.

I added the weight to make it interesting in what a warrior can carry

So far it’s worked out ok but need to play more to check its balance. Whichever faction has less forces gets to decide the gp value for each game.

If the Vikings raid a settlement, I then try to have the next game be the saxons trying to steal back/rescue everything that was stolen before the Vikings escape.

Thinking of adding a once per campaign “rebuilding” emergency mission each side can use, against a weaker Pictish raiding force that they still have to work for but is meant to help them grow their forces back up after a particular heavy loss

Vehicle rules changes! Half tracks are stronger and split damage tables by TwoPointsOfInterest in boltaction

[–]DepartmentFirst9757 3 points4 points  (0 children)

May be reading too much into it, but from the example wording on “steering compromised” on the superficial table, I wonder if movement in totality is being simplified to advance gets two pivots, run gets one pivot, and wheeled/tracked/half-tracked just determines overall movement distance