Because I’m crazy, and because of recent substack discussion on Chainmail/AD&D Mass Combats… AND because it made sense in-game world based on various downtime activities and results of player action, for our Second “Real Session” I ran a mass-combat:
Lord Guthrie and his men-at-arms versus Drake the Bandit Lord and his ruffians.
All this despite our group being essentially entirely neophytes. What could go wrong?
The wargaming map + figures worked… but honestly might not have really been necessary given the action that actually ended up occurring. Theatre of the Mind wins again!
Mixed 1:10 scale with “hero” 1:1 scale works fine when you mostly keep the “heroes” focused on each other and the “squads” focused on “squads”.
Sneaky/stealth/movement/surprise/shenanigan's are something which “feels” like it should have more rules around it. I kept grasping for some “fair” way to adjudicate the player’s stupid stealth-plan. I know “move silently” for thief… but that can’t be the full extent of it. Maybe there are rules for this, and I just didn’t find them.
I probably should have planned out what treasure/captives there were in the bandit lair beforehand, but whatever, prep time is finite.
Lord Guthrie (ruler of Fornost) took it upon himself to wipe the land clean of the scourge of Drake’s Bandits (after they had interfered with his regular delivery of Hazelwood-apple Cider). As such he assembled his men, called upon the lonely wizard Xenon, and set out on the morning of Sunday August 30th. Sigurd Bitterwind rode at the front of the war-band, leading them along the trail he had previously scouted with his huntsman acquaintance.
When the army reached the final landmark Sigurd recognized, they knew the Bandits were close, and the army sent out scouting parties. The player character party was one of these, accompanied by a few of Guthrie’s archers. They eventually stumbled across a Bandit sentry group, were able to maintain stealth, and sent their gnomish Thief out to follow the sentries.
The thief successfully returned with intel about the Bandit camp:
The trail bends into a wooded hollow. Rock faces rise on both sides, pocked with cave mouths; some sealed with brush, some not. Smoke drifts from a cook-fire near the largest entrance. Horses picket in a rough line; some barded in chain, most just in leather tack. Sentries pace the ridge above, spears in hand. Trampled mud. Old bones. A crude palisade blocks the main cave, staked with a black drake banner. Voices echo faint from inside: too many to count.
The party returned to the main army, and offered their suggestions which Guthrie largely ignored in favor of marching his army straight to the bandits to do battle.
Xenon however, offered to cast Invisibility 10’ Radius on the players and a few footmen willing to join them, so they could be an advance sabotage party and try to use some flaming oil to soften the bandits before the army arrived.
The players arrived at the bandit camp, undetected in their magical invisibility. They argued in heated whispers at the edge of the forest about how exactly to enact their sabotage, before deciding—naturally—to “split the party.”
Theophrastus, the gnomish Thief, snuck into one of the bandit’s caves, found chained captives and immediately set to work picking the lock. He would not be tempted by the relatively unguarded personal belongings of the bandits lying around the cave, and was determined to see these prisoners freed. However he is only a level 1 thief, and took quite a few rolls (time) before he eventually succeeded. (I know, thieves are only supposed to be allowed a single attempt per-lock, but I ruled that as long has he was willing to risk the time/danger, he could keep attempting. I might have just decided to search through the belongings for a possible key… but hindsight is 20/20).
Temüge, the human Cleric, led the footmen with a rope toward the horses pickets. I’m still not really sure what the rope was for. They cut the horses loose and scattered them, causing the bandits to boil out of their caves and go on the alert.
Sigurd, the human Fighter, brought his flask of oil to a debris-blocked cave mouth a little ways up the hill, and drenched it, preparing to set fire when the attack began.
As the army arrived, the players’ invisibility was cancelled and they found themselves in hot water. Fortunately the army attacked right away, and the bandits (mostly) focused on them. Sigurd was able to keep to the fringes and plink away with his longbow. Theophrastus kept pickin’ that lock. And poor, young Temüge was brutally cut down while attempting to flee, by Kahn, the right-hand-man of Drake, himself a fairly high leveled fighter.
With Xenon’s spells doing work, and the superior numbers brought by Lord Guthrie, the battle was essentially wrapped up in 3 rounds, and the 30 remaining bandits fled into the woods, successfully evading pursuit.
Drake the Bandit Lord was captured, and found to be wearing Boots of Speed, which were identified by the wizard Xenon. Guthrie offered the Boots in lieu of any other claim to loot by the remaining party members, as a token of his gratitude for Temüge’s sacrifice. The party accepted, and Sigurd “owes” Theophrastus since Sigurd will be using them for now.
XP = 2500 + 10 + 50 = 2570 / 2 = 1285xp each for Sigurd and Theophrastus
RIP Temüge