An Overview of Battlesystem

  Every now and then in fantasy RPGs (as well as others, of course) you need to figure out what happens when 400 orcs fight 300 elves. Indeed, if you play Old Schhool D&D/AD&D the 'end game' almost must include large scale battles.
  The old Chainmail rules covered this sort of thing, but the rest of the game had changed a fair amount when Battlesystem was released as an update to Chainmail.

  In a nutshell, Battlesystem is an attempt to make mass combat in D&D/AD&D something manageable and that can be played out on the table with player choices mattering instead of having the action occur 'offscreen'.
  Battle system is very much a supplement! It is not designed to replace or compete with stuff like Warhammer - it is, very simply, a tool for DM's and player to resolve certain game situations.

  Battlesystem does its best to be simple and straightforward. All groups are divided into 'figures', or groupings of similar creatures (from 10 creatures like orcs to 1 creature like a giant). These figures are then grouped into units and the units as a whole have a set of stats to describe their abilities on the battlefield. Stats include things like movement speed, armor class, THAC0, etc. as well as morale and discipline ratings.

  Battle consists of maneuvering units as groups and combat rolls are made for units as a whole, not by figure or by creature. Rather than being just a statistical game, though, players do roll dice to see how well or poorly units do from round to round, adding a touch of luck to the system. At the same time, Battlesystem is still designed so that better tactics outweigh better luck!

  The game is divided into sections (basic, etc.) so that you can learn the rules in steps.

  While simple, the rules do cover a wide range of topics and are detailed enough that 99% of situations are going to be covered directly or indirectly.

  I will continue with play reports!
 

Battlefield Action

  This weekend I broke out the Battlesystem rules PDF I acquired a few weeks ago. I haven't done Battlesystem in 25 years and my kids had never seen it, so we went with the Basic rules (no heroes, no magic, no missiles) and a simple largest size Orc tribe (me) versus largest size Elf tribe (my oldest) on a field with two copses of trees.

  My setup (from my vantage):

   AXEMEN             PIKES            SPEARS              SCIMITARS
3 wide x 2 deep          3x3            4x2 w/ 1 extra              3X2 w/1

  His setup From my vantage):

  SPEARS                     SWORDSMEN
      4x2                                   6x2

I had 50% more troops, but with a lower A.C. and a -1 to attacks due to fighting during the day.

  Since this was simple maneuver and fight, we closed rapidly. My oldest was mindful of being forced to charge (due to racial hatred) so I was able to anchor my right flank on an impassable thicket/copse while also separating my axemen about 50 yards to my left. His front hit my main body essentially evenly and at once. It was time to slog it out.
  Elven swordsmen, with their racial +1 to hit, really worked over the scimitars and spears. The spears, however, with two ranks able to fight, worked over the elven swordsmen. The tiny even frontage of spears on spears was a slight advantage to the elves, but the 3x3 pike formation was mauling the spearmen.

  My son admitted he wasn't paying attention and missed that those were pikes or he might have done things differently!

  My axemen wheeled right and charged, slamming into the exposed right flank of the elven spears and the meat grinder continued with superior elven A.C. and attacks about matching superior orcish numbers. While the elven swordsmen clearly outclassed the orcish scimitars and elven spears just edged out orcish spears the pikes were tearing through the elven spears with relative ease. The just-arrived orcish axemen put the elven spears in a bad spot.

  In the second round of combat losses were bad enough that most units had to check morale, with the pike and the elven swords switching to Open position!

  During the next move my axemen did a 'wrap around' and encircled the remaining elven spears. At this point the spears essentially ceased to existThe elven swordsmen had mopped the floor with orcish scimitars, but had taken very serious casualties, as well. Realizing they were facing 2 ranks of pikes and (essentially fresh) axemen my oldest announced he would flee - his superior movement and lucky positioning meant this was a certain escape. 100 elves and 120 orcs survived the battle with the orcs holding the field.

  Observations
  1) As I had noted in a previous post, in mass combat every point of A.C. and every single +1 or -1 to hit has a huge impact on the battle
  2) The type of damage die has a big effect in mass combat
  3) The number advantage can overcome disadvantages in A.C. and to hit, but at a cost of more dead.
  4) This was a very, very even fight and changing any 2 rolls would have resulted in an Elven win.

Next time - Hobgoblins vs. Dwarves, and with missile weapons!