Conan Mass Combat

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Mass CombatAbout His Iron-Clad Feet GrewA Ring of Mangled Corpses

UnitsA unit is a group of individuals banded together to a commonpurpose on the battleeld. For the purposes of this system, everyperson within the unit has the same function, the same weaponsand the same abilities. Units can be disciplined and orderly,with a history of their own, such as the Poitainian Knights, orthey can be thrown together on the morning of the battle, aswith the Mob Of Angry Fishermen Fresh From The BurningYuetshi Village.

A unit consists of one or more counters. Each counter representsa certain number of individuals, with the minimum being 10.(For any less than ten per counter, it is not really worth using themass combat system.) Most units will contain between 5 and

20 counters.

Units are the characters of the mass combat system. Theyreceive orders, move, ght and react as if they were individuals.They may assume different formations, in which the counters ofwhich the unit is composed are rearranged in a specic way.

The Unit RosterUnit rosters are used to record the details and abilities of everyghting unit within an army. These rosters allow players andGames Masters alike to judge the effectiveness of any unit at aglance, and greatly aids combat resolution during mass combat.

The Unit Roster is used as a matter of convenience throughoutthese rules, from launching a devastating charge at an enemy torecording casualties when being pounded by catapults. Thereare many circumstances in a game where the Games Masterwill prefer to use standard rules from the Combat chapter ofthe main rulebook to resolve combat and skill checks the UnitRoster is used when large numbers of unit members need toperform one task at the same time.

A typical Unit Roster Sheet, detailing a newly recruited regimentof pikemen from Gunderland, is shown below:

Race: Gundermen Class: Soldier Level: 1Unit Size: 8Creatures Per Counter: 10Unit Type: InfantryCounter Hit Points: 18Initiative: +4 (+4 Improved Initiative)Attacks: Pike +3Damage: Pike 1d8+1DV (Parry vs. melee): 13 (+1 Str, +2 large shield)

DV (Dodge vs. melee): 2 (-10 Close formation, +2 largeshield)DV (Dodge vs. ranged): 13 (+1 Close formation, +2 largeshield)Ability Scores: Str 13, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 9, Wis 11,Cha 8Saves: Fort: +3; Ref: +0; Will: +0Feats: Improved Initiative, Gunderland Pike-and-Shield Fighting, Weapon Focus (pike)

The battlefield stretchedsilent, crimson pools among the

still sprawling figures seemingto reflect the lurid red-streamered

sunset sky. Furtive figures slunkfrom the tall grass; birds of prey dropped

down on mangled heaps with a rustle ofdusky wings. Like harbingers of Fate awavering line of herons flapped slowlyaway toward the reed-grown banks ofthe river. No rumble of chariot wheelor peal of trumpet disturbed the unseeingstillness. The silence of death followedthe thundering of battle.

RoundingUnlike the usual practice in d20 games, fractional numbersin the mass combat system are rounded to the nearest wholenumber, rather than always rounded down. Thus if youdivide 29 by 10 to get 2.9, you will round this up to 3 ratherthan down to 2. Any fraction of half or above gets roundedup, any fraction below half gets rounded down.


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FeatsAny unit that has a majority of members with one or moreidentical feats will have such feats listed on their Unit Roster.However, the following feats have no effect upon masscombat and so are never listed, no matter how many unitmembers possess them. However, they may still use such featsindividually when not using the mass combat system rules.

Cleave, Combat Reexes, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush,Improved Disarm, Improved Overrun, Improved Sunder,Improved Trip, Whirlwind Attack

FinesseFinesse combat is never used during the Mass Combat System,as the chaos of war rarely allows for anything fancier than ahack at the nearest enemy.

Ability Scores&

SavesOnce again, the ability scores and saves of the majority of theunit are noted down on the Unit Roster.

FormationsThe formation of a unit is the pattern made by the counters,viewed from the top down. Formation is important on thebattleeld because it affects how vulnerable your units are andhow many of them may attack a given target. A unit maychange formation as a move-equivalent action.

Units in open or close formation have one or more faces. The

face of a unit is one of its edges on which the combatants arebraced for battle. The front of a unit, the direction in which itmoves, is always a face. The sides and the rear of the unit arenot faces.

Creating A FaceA face is dened as any edge of a unit where the soldiers areturned outwards and on guard. A unit may take a move-equivalent action to turn one or more of its edges into a face.For example, soldiers at the rear of a unit turn around and readytheir weapons to meet oncoming opponents. A unit that hasestablished more faces than just the front may not move again

without taking a move-equivalent action to abolish all the facesbut one, which is now the units new front face.

The importance of faces is their reduction of the unitsvulnerability. Attacking a face is much harder than attackingthe sides or rear of a unit. Any unit may freely surge intoanother units space (see the surge attack below) if there is noface established.

SkirmishSkirmish formation is open and loose. Counters must beat least ten feet away from each other but there is no otherrestriction upon their movement. This formation is used byscouts, snipers and other free-roaming units. It offers gooddefence against missile re, allowing for dodges withoutpenalty, but is very bad for attacking or defending in melee

combat, as it is very easy for enemy units in closer formation tooutnumber you. Units in skirmish formation suffer only halfdamage from ranged attacks.

OpenOpen formation is orderly, with room to manoeuvre. Unitsmust be arranged in a linear or rectangular formation. Thereis room enough to swing any size of weapon but open ranksprevent the battle line from being easily defensible. While youare in open formation, you may arrange the counters in a unitas you wish, so long as no unit is more than ve feet away fromany other unit and the whole arrangement is a simple block or

line with no angles or bends in it. You may therefore createlines, columns or squares as you see t. Changing from onesuch arrangement to another uses up a number of feet of theunits Move allowance equal to the furthest distance moved byany one counter.

CloseClose formation is tightly packed. As with open formation,units must be arranged in a linear or rectangular pattern.While in this formation, units may not ght with two-handedweapons except for melee piercing weapons; there simply is notroom to swing a greatsword or shoot a bow without hurting anally. They may however use reach weapons.

Units in close formation who have large shields may take amove-equivalent action to form a shield wall on their frontface, which increases the shield bonus to the units DefenceValue by +2. If the unit is stationary and has established otherfaces, they may form shield walls on the other faces but maynot move without abolishing the faces and disrupting the wall;see the section on faces above.

Units in close formation have a -10 penalty to DV whendodging melee weapons, as the units are packed together toodensely for dodging to be a feasible option. However, if thegroup has shields there is no penalty to DV when dodging

missile weapons, but instead a +1 bonus to DV due to theoverlapping shields of the units members in this instance,a dodge represents a duck behind the shield. All Reexsaving throws are made at a -2 circumstance penalty.Close formation is usually employed by heavilyarmoured units with shields.

Units in close formation may be rearranged,as with units in open formation, butevery counter must be adjacent toat least one other counter. Units


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If the defenders have a shield wall in place, they receivea +2 circumstance bonus to their Strength check.

If the attacking sides face extends further in width thanthe defenders, the attacker receives a +1 circumstancebonus to its Strength check. Two such bonuses maybe earned if the attackers face exceeds the defenders oneach side.

If one sides members are of larger size than the other(such as a unit of ogres attempting to defend againsta surging unit of humans) a +1 circumstance bonusis applied to that sides Strength check for every sizecategory that the one side is larger than the other.

If one unit is wearing heavy armour and the opposingside is wearing medium, light or no armour (such as aunit of knights in plate armour facing a unit of archersin mail shirts) a +2 circumstance bonus is applied toheavily armour sides Strength check.

If it is able to move into the other units space withoutencountering a face, such as by attacking suddenlyfrom the ank or the rear, the attacking unit may surgeinto the defending units space without needing tomake an opposed Strength check.

It is much easier to let gravity help you when you areattempting a surge, so running downhill into a mass ofenemies is the best way to do it; conversely, those whohold the high ground are in the best defensive position.A unit making a surge attack downhill receives a +2circumstance bonus to its Strength check, while a unitattempting to surge uphill receives a 2 circumstancepenalty to the same check.

If either side is in open or close formation, every rank ofcounters behind the front line adds a +1 circumstancebonus to the Strength check of that side, to a maximumbonus of +4. So, a unit three deep has a much betterchance to resist an oncoming surge than a single line ofdefenders.

If the surge attack fails, the attackers stop at the defending unitsface without advancing any further, where they may make anordinary attack with a -2 circumstance penalty on their chanceto hit. If the defenders were using reach weapons, the attackersstop at the limit of the weapons reach.

If the attack succeeds, the attacking unit moves forward intothe defending units space and the two units are now consideredmerged. They remain so until one side is slain or withdraws.

The attacking unit may now make an immediate melee attack

against the defenders, who suffer a -1 circumstance penaltyto Defence Value on account of the disarray that follows thesmashing of their battle line. These penalties only apply forthe duration of the single attack that immediately follows asuccessful surge. Remember that all attacks made by units ina merged formation are already made with a -2 circumstancepenalty to the defenders DV.

If the attacking unit was charging as well as surging, it receivesthe appropriate bonuses and penalties on its rst attack. Thecharge bonuses and penalties apply even if the surge is resisted.

Breaking Up A FaceBefore A SurgeIf a face has been broken up by having counters removed and thedefender does not have enough counters (or the opportunity) toreform the face, then it no longer counts as a face and attackersmay surge freely into the defenders.

Multiple MergedUnitsA unit may voluntarily merge with two or more units who arealready merged simply by moving into their space, so long asthe total number of counters in the fray does not exceed 60following the merging. In this instance, when it is your turnto attack you must allocate at least one of your counters to ghteach enemy counter and allocate the remainder how you will ifthere are any left over. Separate attack and damage rolls must bemade for each combat in the fray.

Bear in mind that in referring to the outmatching table, the totalnumber of counters ghting on each side is what counts, ratherthan the size of the individual units involved.

For example: Amalrics Free Company have surged into the ranksof the Gunderland pikemen, merging the two units on the eld.

Amalric has 30 counters and after the rst round of combat,the Gunderland pikemen have 8 a dismal situation for theGundermen. The mercenaries outnumber them by more thanthree to one and will probably chop them to mincemeat on the nextround.

Just as all seems lost, a unit of dismounted Poitainian knights arriveover the prow of a nearby hill, hurling themselves into the fray. The

Poitainians have added 20 more counters to the merged units. Thislevels the eld somewhat; the mercenaries will no longer gain anyoutmatching benets.

Amalric must now allocate 8 of his counters to ght the Gundermenand 20 to the Poitainians, with 2 counters left over. He assigns theseto ght the Gundermen, hoping to whittle them down quickly.

Resolving UnitCombat

The mass combat system follows many of the rules creatures dowhen they ght using the core game system. Unless otherwisestated below, all combat rules detailed in Conan The RPGapplyequally to units, the Unit Roster making this transitionrelatively easy. Unit combat occurs whenever two unitsmeet in battle and engage in combat. A full summaryof unit combat, together with the changes made to therules in Conan The RPGis presented here.


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RoundsUnit combat is broken up into 6 second rounds as usual.

InitiativeBefore the rst round of unit combat begins, each unit involvedmakes an Initiative check. An Initiative check is a Dexteritycheck (1d20 + units Dexterity modier). If the units leader

has the Leadership feat, a +2 competence bonus is applied totheir Initiative check. Furthermore, the unit leaders Base AttackBonus is also applied to the units Initiative check.

AttacksUnits may make a melee attack on every round in which oneof their faces is in contact with the enemy, or in which they aremerged with an enemy unit. If the unit is using a weapon thatallows it a long reach, then in contact means within weaponrange. They may make a ranged attack on any round in whichan enemy of which the unit is aware is within range of theirweapons.

If a unit is in any formation other than merged, only thosecounters who are in contact with enemy counters are includedin the attack. If the unit is merged with another unit followinga surge, then all the counters in the merged units are consideredto be in contact with one another.

Ranged AttacksMost ranged weapons are propelled upwards in a diagonal 45arc when used in mass combat. This allows for maximum range,as well as ensuring that all the archers or javelin-throwers in aunit can shoot at the same time. Thus, for most ranged attacks

every counter can shoot at once, so long as at least one counterhas direct line of sight to the enemy. Any reduction in accuracycaused by this indirect attack is more than compensated forby sheer volume of re, and even heavy armour is not alwayssufcient defence against it since at least some of the arrows willnd their way into chinks, eyeslits or weak spots of the armour.

Crossbows, however, have a far atter trajectory. Whenresolving crossbow attacks, only those counters who have directline of sight to the enemy may attack. If crossbowmen are inranks, only those units on an established face may re, as thebodies of the soldiers in front make missile re from countersbehind them impossible.

Attack RollTo score a hit that deals damage, a unit must roll the targetsArmour Class or better.

Melee Attack Roll: 1d20 + base attack bonus +Strength modier + size modier

Ranged Attack Roll: 1d20 + baseattack bonus + Dexterity modier

+ size modier

Note that size modiers refer to creature size as normal, not tothe overall Unit Size. Range penalties are never used in the masscombat system, due to the ease of hitting large units of ghtingmen at any range.

Flank And RearAttacks

If part or all of a units face is attacking the side of a unit, itreceives a +1 circumstance bonus to its attack roll. If part orall of a units face is attacking the rear of a unit, it receives a +2circumstance bonus. These bonuses apply to melee or rangedcombat equally.

In addition, when a unit is attacked in the rear, the defenderslose any parry bonuses to Defence Value.

DamageThe majority of attacks in Conan The RPGdeal damage in hitpoints. However, units receive damage in terms of Counter Hit

Points, which are effectively the number of Hit Dice of eachentire counter in the unit.

To calculate damage, roll the units base damage a number oftimes equal to the number of counters that were involved in theattack and apply it across the defending counters. For example,if there were 8 counters attacking at a base damage of 1d6+1,you would roll 8d6+8 to nd the damage. It will be immediatelyapparent that a large force attacking a small one from all sideswill quickly cut the smaller force to ribbons.

Defence ValueA units Defence Value is the result needed for an enemy unit to

successfully make an attack roll.

DV: 10 + parry bonus + Strength modier + size modier

Counter Hit PointsCounter Hit Points represent how much damage the counters ina unit can take before they are considered to be wiped out.

Attack OptionsWhen attacking, a unit has four basic options;

Charge: A unit not currently engaged in melee combat may

charge any enemy with this option.Surge: A unit whose face is currently in contact with an enemyunit may attempt to surge into that units space. Units may alsomove until they are in contact with an enemy unit and thensurge, so long as they have at least 10 feet of movement left afterthe move. A charge may be combined with a surge.Attack: A unit may make either melee or ranged attacks. Unitsthat can strike more than once each round may do so with thisattack option.Withdraw: If involved in melee combat, a unit may attempt towithdraw.


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Individual UnitMembers

Any unit member not actively engaged in unit combat mayact as normal, following all the combat rules in Conan TheRoleplaying Game. This includes making attacks of their own,casting spells or any other action permissible.

Attacks ofOpportunity

Attacks of opportunity are only used in unit combat when oneunit attempts to withdraw from melee combat with anotheror when an attacker is charging a defender who has readied weapons against the charge. The act of withdrawing fromcombat generates an attack of opportunity. Units that aremerged with other units may attempt to withdraw.

Taking DamageThe Counter Hit Points are a representation of how muchdamage a unit can take before they are completely slaughtered orrouted. A counter reduced to 0 Counter Hit Points is consideredvanquished, though not all of its members are necessarily slain; aunit reduced to zero counters is similarly vanquished.

Following an attack in which counters are lost, the attackerdecides which of the defenders counters to remove. He mayonly remove those counters that were in range of the attack. Ifmore damage has been inicted than there were counters inrange to receive it, the additional damage is wasted. On thedefenders turn, counters may be moved into position to reform

the face of the unit.

Counters that are removed are placed into the dead pile, or ifyou are not using physical counters or miniatures, kept tally ofin the dead column. There is more than one kind of pile, asthere are various different ways of becoming hors de combat. Thenumber of counters in each pile will affect your ability to recoverunits after the battle is over.

The Three CounterConditionsThese are the three possible conditions in which any lost

counter may end up. Effects other than simple death areusually produced by spells or special abilities.

Dead: The creatures are mostly slaughtered. This is the pile intowhich counters are placed if they fall in melee or ranged combat,if they are struck by magic that causes damage or if death magicis used against them.

Crippled: The creatures are not necessarily dead but are uselessfor combat. They may or may not recover. They are removedfrom the battle.

Incapacitated: The creatures are useless for a portion of thebattle, but may well recover and will probably survive to ghtagain another day. Incapacitated counters may not be givenorders. The Games Master decides what they are most likely to

do, given their condition.

OtherConsiderations

If the majority of the unit have a special ability (the BarbarianRage, for example), then this too applies to unit combat.Bonuses to attack, damage and related rolls are easy to apply tothe unit combat system portrayed here.

The rules for at-footed combatants are not used in unitcombat.

In addition, the following rules are never used in unit combat;

Magic Actions, Miscellaneous Actions, Injury and Death,Flanking, Aid Another, Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, MountedCombat, Overrun, Trip

Unit ChargeOption

Any unit not currently engaged in melee combat may charge anenemy unit. In doing so, the unit gains the normal +2 charge

bonus to its attack roll. However, the unit will also suffer a 2penalty to its Defence Value for one round. The charge optionor an attempt to surge are the only ways in which a unit mayinitiate melee combat with another.

If the opponent is armed with weapons that have reach, thecharge must be combined with a surge attack in order to haveany effect; the only hope in such a situation is to break throughthe opponents lines all at once. If the surge is unsuccessful, theattacking force remains at a 10-foot distance from the defenders(20-foot if the reach weapons are pikes) and may not closewithout making a second surge attempt.

Unit AttackOption

Unit combat is treated in the same way as combatsbetween creatures in that Initiative checks are made,followed by attack and damage rolls. There are,however, some important differences to beaware of.


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FreshnessArmies often keep their best units in reserve, not just to reducecasualties so those troops are at full strength later in the battle,but to keep them fresh for a sudden push.

When two units are in melee combat with each other, if one ofthe units has not fought before during that battle and the otherhas (whether or not they sustained any damage), the fresh unitgains a +2 morale bonus on all attack and damage rolls duringthe rst round of combat.

Outmatching When one unit heavily outmatches another, either in termsof number or ability, they will soon nd they are able to causean incredible amount of damage upon their enemies whilstsuffering very little in return. The table below is used to grantattack and morale modiers to units who heavily outmatch theirenemies, or are outmatched in return.

To calculate the outmatching modier for a given combat, look

at how many counters from each side are within melee combatrange of the other side. Assume that any counter that canattack does attack. Next, compare the number of attackers tothe number of defenders and adjust the attack rolls accordingly.For example, if ten attackers are facing ten defenders, there willbe no modier, but if one side has surged over another so thatthere are three times as many attackers able to reach the enemyas there are enemy units, apply the appropriate modiers.

Group or Army Size is:Attack RollModier

MoraleModier

Ten times or moreenemys

+5 +5

Five times enemys +3 +3Three times enemys +2 +2

Twice enemys +1 +1

50% of enemys -1 -1

33% of enemys -2 -2

20% of enemys -3 -3

10% or less of enemys -5 -5

Outmatching does not take into account counters in the unitwho are not able to reach the fray. This is why surging is so oftenthe attack that signals the start of the real chaos, as merged unitsght as if all counters in the unit were in contact.

Formation also makes a considerable difference, as a unit inclose formation attacking a unit in open formation can easily

have their attacking counters outnumber the defendingcounters.

The morale modier is handled differently. Tocalculate morale, compare the sizes of each army

involved in the battle, i.e. the size of everysingle unit on the eld.

Recording DamageIf a hit is scored, a damage roll is made for normally, with theresult being deducted from the targets Counter Hit Points. Ifsufcient damage is caused to remove a counter from the unit,the attacker chooses which counters to remove.

A minimum of 1 point of damage will always be caused, even ifthe dice roll is modied to 0 or less.

Units with less than 10 creatures in them do not use thissystem use the normal combat rules described in Conan TheRoleplaying Gameinstead.

Rounding DownIn any situation when a fraction of counters hit points would beaffected, round the damage down as usual.

Saving ThrowsYou may need to use saving throws in the mass combat system

for various different purposes, most commonly the avoidanceof sorcerous effects. Saving throws work as follows: subtractthe appropriate saving throw bonus from the DC of the savingthrow, subtract one from the result, and multiply the total byve. The result is the percentage of the counters in the area ofeffect failed their saving throws. At least 5% will always fail, andat most 95%.

Example:A unit of 40 counters is affected by a black plague spell.The sorcerer rolls a total magic attack roll of 22, giving the DC ofthe saving throws. The units Fortitude save bonus is +4. 22, -4,-1 = 17. 17 x5 = 85% , so 34 of the 40 counters fail their savesand die horribly.

Note that this is the average number of individual troops who woulddie if you rolled separate saving throw for each, too: with a DCof 22 and a +4 saving throw, the troops need an 18, 19 or 20 tosucceed, giving them a 15% chance of success or an 85% chanceof failure.

Magical AttacksHugely damaging spells such as black plague can have adevastating effect on the tightly packed mass of a unit. Magic isa powerful force on the battleeld and sorcerers are much soughtafter by generals and kings alike often, in fact, they become

leaders themselves, such is their dominance.

Sorcerers on the eld are always treated as individuals, never asunits.


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Spell RangeSpells listed as having a range of touch, evil eye, or close mayonly be used against an enemy unit with whom the spellcasteris currently engaged in melee combat. Otherwise, the ranges ofspells are measured out in feet as usual.

Spells or Alchemical

Items TargetingSingle CreaturesResolve the use of spells that target single creatures as if thespellcaster was ghting one member of the unit; see the sectionon Player Characters below. A roll to hit must be made asnormal if the spell requires a ranged touch attack to succeed. Ifthe single creature is killed or incapacitated, deduct (creatureshp/10) from the total counter hit points. If it is reduced to halfits hit points, deduct (creatures hp/20) from the total counterhit points. Otherwise, ignore the result.

For example, Ankh-af-na-khonsu hurls a globe of AcheronianDemon-Fire at an enemy knight, hoping to incapacitate him andbreak the morale of the remaining soldiers. He rolls to hit with aranged touch attack and succeeds; the globe of erce-burning hells

re splashes over the noble, dealing 4 points of re damage andmore importantly incapacitating him for the next two hours. Thenobles total hit points were 32, so (32/10 = 3) 3 unit hit points arededucted from the unit for his incapacitation.

Area Effect Spellsand Alchemical Items When calculating the effect of a damage-inicting area spell

or effect, such as Kothic Demon-Fire, upon a unit, map thespells area of effect on to the units concerned to nd out whichcounters are affected. Next, consult the saving throw sectionbelow to nd out how many counters are discounted.

For a damage-inicting spell or effect, the amount of hit pointsof damage dealt by the spell multiplied by the number ofcounters affected is the amount of counter hit points that arelost from the counters in this area. Otherwise, the spell effect isapplied to all those counters that did not save.

For example, Ankh-af-na-khonsu throws a second AcheronianDemon-Fire at four of the third level soldiers making up a differentenemy units front and second lines, intending to create a break inthe line and allow his side to surge forwards. The Reex savingthrow required of the four soldiers is 20. The soldiers have a Reexsaving throw of +1; subtracting this from the saving throw DC,subtracting another 1, and multiplying by 5 gives the result that90% of the warriors fail their saving throws. The full damage of thedemon-re is therefore applied to all four of the counters (90% of 4is 3.6, rounded up to 4), as is the 1d4 rounds stunning effect. Eachhas only taken 1 point of damage, but for the next

Attacks OfOpportunity AgainstSpellcasters Assume that any spellcaster who begins to cast when in thethreatened area of any counter in an enemy unit suffers an attackof opportunity from 1d4-1 members of the unit. Resolve this as

per the normal combat rules from Conan The Roleplaying Game.Casting in the middle of a fray (two or more units in mergedformation) is a more vulnerable situation and attracts attacks ofopportunity from 1d4 creatures.The Games Master is the nal arbitrator as to the ultimateeffectiveness of any spell, though the rules provided here willallow him to handle the vast majority of spells available quicklyand easily.

Other Magicks in theMass Combat System

Spells that cause affects other than damage will only providetheir bonus or penalty to a unit if the majority of its memberscan be affected. If only a minority are affected by the spell, itprovides no benet or penalty in unit combat.

Spells that produce effects other than damage can place a singleunit member or a group of counters in the unit into a givencondition. The following is how these conditions are appliedon the battleeld.

Any spell or effect that causes mass death, such as black plagueoragonising doom, sends affected creatures to the dead pile.

Any spell or effect that renders the victims unable to defendthemselves, such as Acheronian Demon-Fire against a singletarget, places the affected counters into the Crippled pile. (Theexception is if they are so affected in the middle of a fray, inwhich case they count as dead.) They are likely to have sufferedfatalities, but most of them remain alive; in the carnage of thebattleeld, they are more likely to be left that way, as they donot represent an immediate threat. At the Games Mastersdiscretion, for added realism crippled counters may be left onthe battleeld, but turned upside down or otherwise marked;a unit may take a standard action to perform a coup de graceon any incapacitated counters within reach, adding them to thedead pile.

Any spell that interferes with the victims ability to ght butdoes not leave them defenceless, such as Acheronian Demon-Fire against an area containing several targets, causes theaffected counters to become incapacitated for the durationof the spell. The Games Master should adjudicate theseeffects but a circumstance bonus of +2 to any attacksmade against the incapacitated counters is agood rule of thumb. Incapacitated countersare not able to resist a surge attack.


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Terror effects, as well as causing the affected countersto ee, prompt an immediate morale check from anymembers of the same unit.

Unit WithdrawOption

A unit may choose to withdraw if the ght runs againstthem, either to regroup before launching another attackor to attempt to break off from combat altogether.

A unit attempting to withdraw instead of attacking ina round immediately provokes an attack of opportunityfrom any enemy in melee combat with them.

MoraleThere are very few units who will truly ght to the death.As the enemy swarms over barricades and defences, long-time comrades start to fall beneath their weapons, and

swarms of arrows rain down, many warriors may chooseto throw down their weapons rather than risk a crueldeath.

Morale checks are made in unit combat whenever thecircumstances listed on the table below are met. The DCrequired to be rolled for each circumstance is also given.

If a Morale check is failed, the unit automatically makesa withdraw option in its next round and will continueto leave the battleeld at the fastest possible speed. Aunit must pass a Morale check at DC 20 in order to rallyand make another attack option in the following round.

Player characters are under no obligation to ee but fromthis point, they will be ghting on their own! There isalso, however, no guarantee that an enemy will necessarily allowan enemy to escape and will mercilessly charge them again andagain, causing great carnage and destruction.

RecoveringCasualties

The loss of counters does not track actual deaths amongst a unit,though there are certainly likely to be plenty of those. Instead

it demonstrates a units ability to continue ghting throughindividual death, injury and surrender as the number of menleft standing is whittled down.

At the end of every battle, whether involving ranged ormelee attacks, a percentage of the counters lost by each

unit may be automatically recovered as those injuredare helped, those who ran come out of hiding

and the death toll is nally totalled.

Ranged Combat: At the end of any combat involving purelyranged weapons, 50% rounding down, of lost counters may berecovered from the dead pile.

Winning Melee Combat: At the end of any melee, the victor ofthe combat may recover 50% rounding down, of lost countersfrom the dead pile, 75% from the crippled pile and 75% fromthe incapacitated pile.

Losing Melee Combat: At the end of any melee, the defeatedside may recover 25% rounding down, of lost counters fromthe dead pile, 50% from the crippled pile and 75% from the

incapacitated pile.

These percentages are further modied as follows:

Morale Circumstance DC

Enemy surge successful against unit 15

Unit Size reduced to half of original score 15

Unit Size reduced to one quarter of original score 20

Unit Size reduced to one third of current score ina single round

10

Unit suffers more damage in a round than enemyin melee combat 15

Unit is hit by enemy of three times or greater UnitSize

15

The following modiers apply to Morale checks:

Morale Modier

Unit Leader + Leaders Charisma modier

Morale modier* +/- Morale modier

Unit Leader with Leadership feat + Leaders Character Level

Player Character actions VariableMercenary unit -1

Enslaved unit + -4

* Morale modiers may come from any source, not just those listedon the outmatching table above. For example, the nobles Rally classfeature gives a +2 morale bonus to his followers attack rolls however,in unit combat, it will also grant a bonus to Morale checks.

+ Includes any unit whose members have been forced into combatagainst their will and without any form of pay or reward.

Golden Wine of Xuthal orsimilar magical healing available

+1% per object orpotion (max. +10%)

Character with at least rank 4 inCraft (herbalism) present

+1% per character(max. +10%)

Character with at least rank 4 inHeal present

+1% per character(max. +10%)

Unit withdrew in melee -20%


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War MachinesUpon the battleeld, a general may nd himself facing an enemyforce comprising of far more than mere infantry, cavalry andarchers. Arrayed against his own units may be dreaded ballistae,catapults and awesome mobile fortresses. These are the warmachines, giant constructions that can dominate any battleeldwith their repower and sheer strength.

War machines are treated as if each were a unit in its own right within the mass combat system. However, to reect theirincreased capabilities, war machines have a slightly differentprole to regular units as well as some special rules which givethem the capability to crush hordes of enemy warriors with theirgreat weaponry.

The WarMachine Roster

The War Machine Roster is used to record the details and

abilities of every war machine within an army. This roster allowsplayers and Games Masters alike to judge the effectiveness ofany war machine at a glance, and greatly aids combat resolutionwithin the mass combat system.

A typical War Machine Roster Sheet, detailing a medium-sizedcatapult, is shown below:

Medium CatapultStructure Dice: 1d10 (5 sp)Hardness: 5Size: LargeDV: 5 (-1 large, -4 stationary)Attacks: 1 Catapult shotDamage: Catapult shot 4d6/2d6Rate of Fire: 6Crew: 3Special Qualities: NoneCost: 675 sp

As can be readily seen, the War Machine Roster has much incommon with the monster entries of the main rulebook, as dothe unit combat rules detailed below.

Structure DiceThe majority of attacks in Conan The Roleplaying Game dealdamage in hit points, whilst units in the mass combat systemdeal damage in Counter Hit Points. However, war machinesreceive damage in terms of structure points.

An attack by a single character or creature must cause ten full hitpoints worth of damage to deal one structure point of damage toa war machine. Any lesser amount is ignored and disregarded,the attack simply bouncing off the side of the war machine.

Some war machine weapons are listed as causing structuraldamage. These weapons deal damage directly to the structure

points of another building or war machine. Hardness is neverapplied to structural damage, except in the case of a threatenedbreach (see below) as such attacks are simply too powerful.Attacks by units in the mass combat system automatically causestructural damage to war machines, due to the large numbers ofghting men attacking together.

HardnessWar machines only use their hardness score when attacked bysingle characters, never when attacked by units.

SizeThis lists how large the war machine is in relation to creatures.

DVThis is the Defence Value of the war machine, used to defenditself against all attacks it may face.

Attacks War machines have devastating weapons, enabling them toslaughter huge numbers of warriors with each attack. Detailedhere is each attack a war machine possesses.

DamageMany war machines are capable of causing structural damage toother war machines and structures. If a war machine is listedas having two types of damage for a single weapon, the latterwill reect structural damage, the former the damage caused tosingle characters and units alike.

Range IncrementThis is the gure used to calculate the range penalty to any attackby a war machine. Ballistae and similar weapons that work bybow-like action can re up to ten increments. Catapults andsimilar weapons that work by throwing action can re up to veincrements. Range increments for war machines work exactly asfor normal ranged combat, with a 2 range penalty to the attackroll for each range increment over the rst one.

Rate of FireDespite having a many crewmen, most war machines areincredibly slow to reload, aim and re. Listed here is how manyfull-round actions the crew must expend to re and reload the

war machines weapons.

CrewThis is simply the number of crew required to maintainthe war machine at peak efciency in battle. Eachweapon may lose up to a quarter of its crew, roundingdown, before its rate of re is affected. Eachcrewman lost after this point will cause therate of re to be doubled. The crew ona war machine must all have Profession


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(siege engineer) skill. For every 3 ranks (rounded down) theyhave in this skill, a +1 competence bonus is added to the warmachines attack roll. (If there is variation in skill ranks amongthe crew, apply the rank held by the majority.) If for any reasona war machine is operated by a crew lacking in this skill, applythe 4 penalty for attacking with a weapon in which one is notprocient to the war machines attack roll.

CostSimply a guide as to how much a general must pay to own thiswar machine and have it within his army.

War Machines inBattle

In most respects, war machines are handled within the masscombat system and, indeed, the normal Conan combat systemin the same way as any other creature or object, taking intoaccount new rules such as structural damage. However, thereare some exceptions within the mass combat system that reectponderous nature of war machines upon the battleeld.

All war machines suffer a -4 circumstance penalty to theirInitiative checks.

Ballistae within the mass combat system attack all units as ifthey had a Defence Value of 10, and any resulting damageis deducted straight from the Units Hit Points as the powerof the huge bolts used allow a single one to skewer manyghting men. However, other war machines are attacked asif the ballista were a single character the ballista will needto deal 10 points of damage after it has overcome the targetshardness in order to deal 1 point of structural damage.

Catapults and trebuchets within the mass combat system hitall targets, both war machines and units, as if they had anDefence Value of 10. The amount of damage they cause isdeducted from the Units Hit Points as they are fully capablesmashing several warriors to a pulp with each shot. Againstwar machines or structures, they cause structural damage, asdetailed in their descriptions below.

Catapults and trebuchets within the mass combat systemcannot attack a target within one hundred feet unless it isover fteen feet tall.

No war machine can ever make an attack of opportunity.There are many different types of war machine that may be takento the battleeld, from small ballistae to huge trebuchets and

mobile fortresses. Players and Games Masters are encouragedto create their own, using the examples below as a guideline to

cost and effectiveness.

BallistaStructure Dice: 1d6 (3 sp)Hardness: 5Size: LargeDV: 5 (-1 large, -4 stationary)Attacks: 1 BoltDamage: Bolt 3d6/-Range Increment: 120 ft.Rate of Fire: 3Crew: 1Special Qualities: NoneCost: 500 sp

Light CatapultStructure Dice: 1d6 (3 sp)Hardness: 5Size: LargeDV: 5 (-1 large, -4 stationary)Attacks: 1 Catapult shotDamage: Catapult shot 3d6/1d6

Range Increment: 150 ft.Breach Range: 19-20Rate of Fire: 5Crew: 2Special Qualities: NoneCost: 550 sp

Medium CatapultStructure Dice: 2d6 (7 sp)Hardness: 5Size: LargeDV: 5 (-1 large, -4 stationary)Attacks: 1 Catapult shotDamage: Catapult shot 4d6/2d6Range Increment: 150 ft.Breach Range: 18-20Rate of Fire: 6Crew: 3Special Qualities: NoneCost: 675 sp

Heavy CatapultStructure Dice: 3d6 (10 sp)Hardness: 5Size: Huge

DV: 4 (-2 huge, -4 stationary)Attacks: 1 Catapult shotDamage: Catapult shot 5d6/3d6Range Increment: 200 ft.Breach Range: 18-20Rate of Fire: 8Crew: 5Special Qualities: NoneCost: 800 sp


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TrebuchetStructure Dice: 4d6 (14 sp)Hardness: 5Size: HugeAC: 14 (-2 huge, +6 natural)Attacks: 1 Trebuchet shotDamage: Trebuchet shot 6d6/4d6Range Increment: 250 ft.Breach Range: 18-20Rate of Fire: 10Crew: 6Special Qualities: NoneCost: 1,400 gp

PlayerCharacters

In the centre of the action of any role-playing scenario are theplayer characters and in the mass combat system, they truly havethe opportunity to act as heroes. As their unit crashes into theenemy, the soldiers and nobles lead their men forward, seekingto engage the opposing unit leaders as their unit ght a desperatecombat against their own counterparts. Barbarians nimblydodge poorly aimed sword swings as sorcerers cast awesomemagicks, pummelling the enemy into submission.

The rules presented in this chapter are designed to allow the easyintegration of player characters into the mass combat system,with as little work as possible required on the part of eitherGames Masters or players. The length of a combat round, be itfeaturing the actions of characters or an entire unit, is always sixseconds. Thus, whatever a character could normally attempt ina normal combat round will apply equally in the mass combatsystem.

Attacking andDamaging WarMachinesWhen attempting to hit a war machine with a ranged attack,the normal Conan rules are used. War machines, however, tendto be very large and so can be very difcult for a character toactually miss! The equivalent creature size of each war machineis listed in their entries. When a character attempts to hit a warmachine with a close combat weapon, assume the war machine

has an Defence Value of 0 even a cross-eyed ghter will havea great deal of difculty in missing a such a large object whilststanding next to it. . .

Situations may arise whereby a player wishes to attack a warmachine in a direct and specic manner ring a aming arrowinto an arrow slit, for instance, or hacking apart a wooden wheelto stop it moving. In such circumstances, the Games Mater

should determine the outcome of such actions using the rulesgiven in the main rulebook, using the war machines hardnessscore as a base line with which to work out damage.

Unit CombatsPlayer characters are never counted as part of the unit whencalculating the Unit Roster they always act independently, evenif they are mere foot soldiers, thus allowing them to do all sortsof heroic (or cowardly) things. Under normal circumstances,combat for player characters in melee combat is handled inexactly the same way as presented in the main rulebook. Theyare, however, permitted to attack enemy units.

If two units are in combat with one another, player charactersmay choose to aid one side. To do so, they engage in combat with one or more members of the enemy unit, using thenormal combat rules presented in Conan The Roleplaying Game.Everyone involved in the combat acts in Initiative order, so theplayer characters may have the chance to act before anyone else.However, if they manage to slay or subdue any of their enemies,then the 1/10 the hit points of the creatures they overcome

are immediately deducted from the Unit Hit Point score. Forexample:

Whilst leading his stalwart Bossonian skirmisher unit to attack aunit of Nemedian Adventurers in a desperate charge, Balthus theforester, rolling the highest initiative of the combat, attacks a bigNemedian captain as the rest of his men engage the rest of theenemy. The Unit Hit Points of the Nemedians is 30. Balthusdispatches the captain in one round of combat. The captain had22 hit points, and thus the mercenaries lose 2 Unit Hit Pointsimmediately, bringing them down to a total of 28. The unitsnow ght, in remaining initiative order.

It should be noted that some spells may be particularlydestructive in such engagements when ghting men are crowdedtogether in a unit. In such cases, the spell is handled as detailedin Chapter 6: Sorcery, and the Games Master should use his ownjudgement as to the ultimate effectiveness of it, based upon itslisted area of effect

Unit MoralePlayer characters are immune to the effects of unit morale,though units are likely to take a dim view of players whocontinue to ght as they try to surrender. However, many of aplayer characters actions in combat may have a direct inuence

on how their unit ghts. The table below lists some of the morecommon actions a player character may attempt to boost themorale of his unit, though the Games Master is welcome toadd others as the need arises basically, a player shouldalways be awarded for bravery and will certainly earn therespect of the unit. The morale bonus earned applies tothe units attack and damage rolls for the rest of thecombat, as well as to morale rolls made on thetable on pg 10.


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Player Characters asLeadersThe leader of a unit, or of the entire army, can have a signicanteffect on the battle. A player character who is the leader of a unitwill enhance its morale by his very presence, and further by hisactions, as detailed above and elsewhere in this chapter.

A player character who is the general of the entire army will havethe chance to command all the units on his side, passing onorders to the individual unit leaders. These signals are usuallygiven with trumpets by the armies of the Hyborian kingdoms,though southern forces sometimes use golden or ivory oliphantsinstead. A good general is capable not only of expert strategy,that is, deciding which units to use and which enemies to havethem attack, which is the realm of the player; but also experttactics, that is, deciding precisely how to employ each unit to itsbest advantage at the moment it engages the enemy, which is therealm of the character.

During every round of combat when a player character isgeneral, the player should make a Tactics check opposed to thatof the non-player character general of the opposing army.

Tactics Check1d20 + base attack bonus + Intelligence bonus

All the units commanded by the winner of the opposed Tacticscheck gain a +1 competence bonus to all their attacks duringthat round. If one general beat the other by 20 or more, thisbonus is increased to +2.

Unit ExperienceIn our playtesting, we tended to nd the actions of playercharacters pretty much guaranteed a high turnover of men in aunit, due to casualties, so that soldiers were never likely to be inthe position to gain experience themselves. However, if playersare taking a great amount of care over the risks they put theirunits through, Games Masters may discover that the majoritydo, in fact, survive encounters.

There are no hard and fast rules for units to gain experiencethemselves, but the Games Master is welcome to periodicallyraise the quality of a unit, perhaps every six months during amilitary campaign, so long as the majority survive each battle.

In this way, slave and militia units may become solid soldiers andveterans may actually start to rise in character level.

Non-PlayerCharacters

It is strongly recommended that these rules for player charactersalso be adopted for important non-player characters, be theyallies to the party or enemies. In this way, even a small Himeliantribe should not have its warlord subsumed into the Unit Roster he will act as an independent character, encouraging his unitand attacking the player characters at their weakest points. Hecan also earn the morale bonuses presented above.

Player Character ActionMoraleBonus toUnit

Slaying enemy unit leader +2

Slaying enemy ofcer/sergeant +1

Destroying enemy war machine +1

Fleeing battle -4Slaying 10% or more of enemyunit in one attack

+1

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