Battle for Volvo Field

[HerbieRai]

With the holidays and exams in full swing, some people don't have time to handle the erfworld sims already in play, I figure I would GM a small game ment to last till the new year (or a week or so into it). I wont mind a game with only 2 or 3 players, and it would follow close to the "battle for __" format, although I'd change some of the specials. The goals would be my base camp, and you'd have till a certian date (real time) to take it. My goal would be to hold you back. Any takers?

[Shusagi]

Been reading the forums for a while, only realized I'd been doing so without an account when I tried to reply. o__o

I'm in! I have exams, but plenty of time to play. About how many turns per day (or days per turn) are you thinking?

[Squeejee]

I can jump in as well - exams are next week, but I'm way too confident about my awesomeness to let that bother me .

[WaterMonkey314]

I'll jump in too, though I'll be out of town until next Sunday. I think I may just bring my normal Escotian side (all-ranged, low move with a small number of MASSIVE ranged heavy mounts with moderate move) if the rules don't change too terribly much.

[HerbieRai]

The specials will change, so range wont be as powerful, the map will be smaller (I'm thinking 7 by 5). I'll post up official rules tonight.

Watermonkey - you can come in as reinforcements when you get back, np. I think Turn 1 will be starting thursday night or friday.

Turn length is as long as you guys take. In this series, the games are the players vs the gm, so your turn ends when all of you are done. The gm turns end up being a little shorter. I'm going to be able to do at least 1 turn a day, sometimes more. The players have the advantage of a larger force and more diverse troops but has to coordinate between the factions.

Edit: I'm also GMT -5

[Nihila]

I'll send in a force too, but I think Risun is too overstretched to afford one. Maybe some Legend of Zelda themed side or Marbits or something. I'll see the rules first, of course.

[zilfallon]

Not sure if i can really participate, don't have much time nowadays...can't even really play my other games, but i'm hoping to get some free time soon. If that happens (low chance, though ), the Sovereign will deploy Gerardion's Army of Dead to this battle, since Koraz'ji is in a temporal statis and they have nothing to do because of that

(not to get out of topic, but does anyone know what happened to Siralus? It would be a pity if his game just ended a few turns before i saw some action )

[HerbieRai]

Ok, so right now we got Nihila, Squeejee, and Shusagi starting with Watermonkey coming in as reinforcements

@zilfallon - I'll keep you out for right now, but if you get some time I have no problem adding you in quickly.

If anyone else wants in there is still room, but I want this to be a quick game to last only a few weeks.

Practicalities

Each team will be responsible for PMing me their orders, I'll leave individual troop coordination to the two teams. I'll be maintaining a map to keep track of unit positions, but other than a starting map of the combat area, I'll leave how you coordinate your movement positions to you.

You may appoint a chief warlord to orchistrate the scout commnads, but other than that each player controls their own units. The exception to this rule is when units from different factions are in the same stack, in which case the commanders faction or the faction with the most unit has control

Each player can design five units. Commanders are an upgrade for any of those units with between 3 and 6 hits

Rules

Design your force:

Spoiler: show

As in the Comic, Units have four stats – Move, Attack, Defence, and Hits.

Move is the number of hexes a unit can move on the strategic map – Value 0 to 5.

Attack is the Combat value of the unit, whether attacking or being attacked.

Defence represents the Armour/Dodge value of the unit. It is the capacity of the unit to avoid taking hits. Basically, a value of 5 means that 5 out of 8 hits against a stack will be ignored.

Hits are the amount of damage a unit can take before being cwoaked. Hits are restored to full at the beginning of the side’s turn.

For the purposes of this game, Players will design their own unit types. Each Player can have up to five distinct unit types, each with their own stats. These cannot be changed as the game progresses, so be careful in design.
Some simple rules on design:
1. Movement of 0 is Garrison. Movement of 1 is Siege; Movement of 2 is Infantry; Movement of 3 or 4 is Cavalry; Movement of 5 is Flyer. Units may not have move higher than 5 in this game.
2. Attack is limited to (2*Hits) or round up(4*Hits^(2/3)), whichever is lower.
3. Units may have a defence value between 0 and 5, but may not have defence higher than hits.
4. Hits are related to size. So a unit with 1 hit is tiny (like a bat or bird), 3 is small (like a Gobwin), 5 is average (like a Human or Elf), 10 is big (Horse or Twoll), 20 is large (Dwagon or Golem), 30 is huge (Giants, etc). A unit may not have more than 30 hits.
5. The cost of the unit is equal to all the following formula:
Cost = Hits*Move/2 + Defense*(Hits^(2/3))/2 + Attack + Special (Move = .8 for Garrison units)
Attack is limited to (2*Hits) or round up(4*Hits^(2/3)), whichever is lower.

Specials are as follows:
Scouting: 4*(Hits+(Defence/2)) I want scouts to be cheaper
Commanders: 20
Ranged: Attack. Range units get to strike before units without range
Siege: 10. Unit gains +5 attack, and deals quadruple damage to fortifications. Can only be give to units with a move of 1, and cannot mount or fly. This allows the unit to exceed the usual attack cap.
Dancefighting: 0.75*Attack (rounded up). Units with dancefighting, if led by a Commander with dance fighting get an additional 1.5 damage multiplier.
Mancyspecials Units can have only one Mancy special, and can only use it once each day.

Healomancy: Attack. A unit with healomancy can heal up to ATTACK hits of damage at end of turn during their players turn, OR prevent ATTACK hits worth of damage from an enemies attack during an enemies turn, but not both in one day. Units with Healomancy count as having 0.5*Attack (rounded up) in combat.

Foolomancy: Hits+Defence+5. A unit with foolomancy can veil one stack of units he is a member of, that stack suffers no retaliation damage on it's next attack unless the opposing side makes a (number of units*5+lvl of highest commander in hex)% spot check, the percent is based off of the units in the target hex, not stack; OR the unit can generate a baffle that grants the stack he is in a +1 defence bonus for the next turn.

Shockomancy: Attack. A unit with shockomancy can shock up to Attacks hits of units once a day. Those units attack values are not including in retaliatory damage calculations. The unit with shockomancy must be engaging the target stack in order to shock them. The Shockomancy affect happens before ranged damage.

Dirtomancy: 10+Defence+Attack. A unit with dirtmancy once a day can either raise 50 hp of fortification in a single hex, or set a trap in a single hex. A trap deals damage to the first ground stack to enter the hex equal to the dirtmancy units attack *2 before any combat is calculated.

[Terrain] capable: 5. Terrain capable units can move through the terrain at no penalty. Non flying units without the suitable terrain capable spend an extra move to move through mountian and woods hexes (so siege can not enter), and cannot enter water hexes. The Terrain types are Mountain, Water, Woods, Roads, Plains. NB: All ground units gain an extra move if the entire move is spend on road hexes.

Each Player has 300 points worth of units at the beginning of the game.

Mounts and Riders

Spoiler: show

Mounts can carry up to Hits/2 Hits worth of units into battle. Mounting and demounting does not cost any move.
In combat include the mount and the rider as separate units when determining total attack, average defence, stack bonus and level bonus.
When assigning damage in stack order the damage dealer gets to decide which of the rider or the mount is ahead in the stack (i.e. a Stack of 1 orlie, Jillian mounted on a Gwiffon, 1 orlie - the attacker deals damage in the order of Orlie, Jillian, Gwiffon, Orlie or Orlie, Gwiffon, Jillian, Orlie depending on his choice.
Ranged units on non ranged mounts can choose to either fight at range in which case the mounts attack and level is not included in the total stacks attack score nor does it count towards the stack bonus (though it still counts for calculating the stacks average defence), or fight at melee range in which case the mount counts as a unit in the stack as normal.
Likewise Dancefighting units on non dancefighting mount can choose to either dancefight in which case the mounts attack and level is not included in the total stacks attack score nor does it count towards the stack bonus (though it still counts for calculating the stacks average defence), or not dance fight in which case the mount counts as a unit in the stack as normal.
The converse is also true for a ranged/dance fighting mount and a non ranged/non dancefighting rider.
Non flying riders on flying mounts are subjected to the dangers of falling. If the mount is killed the rider falls to the ground. On hitting the ground the rider has a 1/3 chance to instantly croak, a 1/3 chance to be incapitated (cwoak if not healed via healomancy in one turn) or a 1/3 chance to be injured. The damage dealt is equal to unit hits/2- unit defence, minimum 1.

Commanders:

Spoiler: show

A Commander is a unit, like Ansom or Zamussels in the Comic. Each Player must have at least one Commander.
In the Comic, Commanders are all roughly “Human”. Therefore, no Commander may have more than 6 hits, or less than 3.

In addition, Commanders have a “Level”. When the Commander is created, the GM will determine the level – on a d10, 1-2 is level 1, 3-5 level 2, 6-7 level 3, 8-9 level 4, 10 level 5.

Commanders increase the attack values of the units they are stacked with, and may issue orders. Only units given orders by a Commander may move in a turn.

Levels:

Spoiler: show

Each time a commander is in a winning combat (ie, inflicts more hits than the opponent), the unit gains 1 experience point. The commander may go to the next level if they have experience points equal to the next level (ie, to go from level 3 to 4, the unit must have 4 experience points).
[spoiler]

Fortifications:
[spoiler]Fortifications have hits and can be destroyed, reducing their defence bonus. The defending stack deals damage to any units attacking the fortification. However if the fortification is destroyed any left over damage is applied to the defending stack. Alternatively attackers can choose to attack the defenders directly, if they do so and succeed in wiping out all defenders in the fortification the attackers gain control of the fortification.
A forts defense bonus is added to the terrain bonus. Defenders may hide 1 stack in a fort and may push one hex in a fort. The hidden stack cannot be attacked or damaged until either all other defending stacks are destroyed, or the fort is destroyed. The pushed stack must be attacked before any other stack is attacked in the fort. The attackers may also attack the fort and do damage to the fort, but the defenders will get half retaileation damage against the attackers, which will not cause fatigue. If the fort is destroyed, then the attackers get to "overrun" attack on a stack that was in fort. This attack works like a normal attack.
Forts have max of 200 hits.

Building

Spoiler: show

Units can build up to their hits/turn as long as they do not move. Dirtamancers can build an extra 25 hits, and may use this bonus 25 after moving
Roads need 50 hits before getting the bonus
Forts can have up to 200 hits, get the bonus immediatly, but lose the bonus if destroyed.

Combat:

Spoiler: show

In the comic, Parson says that Combat in Erfworld has a simple mechanic, and the key to victory is multipliers, not addition. The following system attempts to replicate that.

Units fight together in Stacks. In Combat, Total all ATTACK values points for the units in the stack. Flyers may not stack with non-Flyers (unless the non-Flyers are using the Flyers as Mounts).

Stack Bonus. A stack of 1 unit has a stack bonus of 1.0, this increases by 0.1 for every additional unit until the stack has 8 units, and then reduces back to 1.0 after 8.
Eg. 1 unit 1.0, 2 units 1.1..., 8 units 1.7, 9 units 1.0

Commander Bonuses – for each level of the Commander in the stack, increase the Command Bonus by 0.1. If there is no Commander, the Bonus remains at 1.0.
The Chief Warlord is a Special Commander. In any hex with a Chief Warlord, the Leadership bonus of all Allied stacks is increased by 0.1.

Terrain Bonuses: Some terrain increases Defence values. Fortifications also increase this number. In attack, this is always 0. In Defence: Roads and Plains are 0; Woods, forts, and Mountains are 1. Flying units never get Terrain Bonuses, and always count this as a 0, although they can hide in forts. Total Defence values for all units in the stack, and then divide by the number of units to get the average.

Ranged units do damage before non ranged units, and this ability cancels with another ranged stack. There is no more hit and run

Dancefighting. For units without dancefighting this is 1.0, units with Dancefighting 1.5.

Fatigue Penalty. Starts at 1.0, each subsequent attack the stack defends against reduces this value by x0.5. The only exception to this is if the Defending unit succeeds in ‘wiping out’ the attacking stack – ie, all attacking units are cwoaked. In this event, the Defending stack acts as though it had not fought any combats.

Ambush Bonus – units that enter a hex without scouting can be ambushed. The Ambush value ranges from 1.0 (no ambush) to 2.0 (ambush).

Random Number – not every combat point means a hit. The Random Number adds a bit of luck to the mix. On (2d6+8)/20, 2 is 50%, 7 is 75%, 12 is 100%, etc.

Use the following formula to work out how many hits have been inflicted on the enemy:

Hits = Total Attack X Stack Bonus x Command Bonus X Level Bonus x Dancefighting bonus x Fatigue Penalty X Ambush Bonus X Random Number X (8 - Opposition Average Defence - Terrain Bonus) / 8

Round result to nearest whole number.

The opposing stack takes the number of hits inflicted. Units are destroyed based on their stacking order – first unit listed takes maximum hits, before the next is wounded.
Exception – a stack led in attack by a Commander may direct hits at any unit in the opposing stack, but the unit takes TWICE as many hits to cwoak as it normally would. Opposing Commanders take FOUR TIMES as many hits to cwoak as normal if targeted. Obviously the first unit in a stack will never need to be targeted.

A turn:

Spoiler: show

The turn is broken into two phases – Scout, and Move / Combat. At the beginning of the game, the players will elect one of their own to be Chief Warlord. It is the responsibility of the Chief to declare an end to the Scout Phase, and to the Move / Combat phase, which will end the turn. In the event that a Player has not posted orders within 72 hours (three days) of the beginning of a phase, the Chief Warlord may issue orders on their behalf and end the Phase.

Scout Phase:
Players may create units with a special scout ability.

In the Scout phase, any scout unit in the same hex as a Commander may be given orders to inspect a string of adjacent hexes equal to the unit’s move. The unit remains in the original hex – it simply inspects the hexes (how it does this is left entirely up to your imagination). The Scout unit moves in the Movement phase.

In the Scout Phase, players give orders to their scout units. Once the Chief Warlord declares an end to the Scout Phase, the GM will examine the orders and update the map with information from hexes inspected. Scout units may then move their full allowance in the Move / Combat phase.

Figure 1:
Scout unit S has three move, and has the following orders – inspect NW (Northwest), inspect SW (Southwest), inspect S (South).
Scout unit S2 has two move, and has the following orders – inspect SW, inspect SE.

(Sorry, image isn't visible. Scouts can inspect any number of hexes that they could move into in the Move/Combat phase, as long as each hex is adjacent to the last hex scouted)

Both units remain in the starting hex, and may move 3 and 2 hexes respectively in the Move / Combat phase.

During the Scout Phase, the Chief Warlord may be given a number of points to distribute between the players. The Players may then nominate a set of units to “pop” at the beginning of the Scout Phase.

Once the GM has reported on the actions of scouts, the Movement and Combat phase begins. Players may issue orders to units in the same hex as a Commander. Units may move into any hex, but if a unit moves into a hex that has not been scouted, it may be ambushed if enemy forces are present.

Commanders may move units to pass on orders to other units – so a stack at a distance could be reached by another unit that passes on instructions.

Commanders may move into a hex, issue orders to units there, and then move on again.

Units may be sent to attack enemy units. Players should use the spreadsheet provided to calculate the combat results. Each Unit may attack once per turn. - to be added later

Units gain advantages by stacking together. It is possible to attack the same stack multiple times, but each stack in a hex must be attacked before any stack is attacked more than once.

For Example:
A hex contains two stacks – Stack “A” of 8 gobwins, and stack “B” of 6 gobwins.
In order for Alliance troops to attack Stack “A” twice, stack “B” must be attacked at least once.

Players may move in any order, and may move and fight with all or some of their units at any one time.

If a stack has movement left after combat, it may move to an adjacent hex.

Commanders (and players) can communicate with each other without hats, thanks to Charlescom Communication Solutions.

And the map

Spoiler: show

All special costs are up to debate if anything seems horribly over/under costed.

Unit/ combat calculator https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ap2ki9oQ_GTEdGh1aWZNeVFxNFB0NXdTQ1Y2QTRXZlE&hl=en&authkey=CJTC6K8N

[BLANDCorporatio]

I'd like to see how this goes, and I'll defer playing in favour of our new recruits.

Btw, I think I was supposed to lay down my own set of rules for "The Battle of <>" type games. And I will do so in the next three days, promise

[Nihila]

Okay, I'll submit my side now. Also, I presume that you just copy-pasted Sihoiba's rules, so some things need to change to reflect that we have one GM vs. all players as opposed to two teams.

And now for my side. Unit dispositions to come later tonight, or early tomorrow.

The Natural Allies:

Eager Elves:
Hits: 6
Attack: 12
Defense: 5
Move: 3
Special: Ranged, Dance-Fighting
Cost: 50

Lofty Elves:
Hits: 6
Attack: 12, 6 in combat
Defense: 5
Move: 1
Special: Healomancy
Cost: 35

Marbits:
Hits: 3
Attack: 6
Defense: 3
Move: 4
Special: None
Cost: 15

Doombat Scouts:
Hits: 1
Attack: 1
Defense: 0
Move: 5
Special: Scout
Cost: 10

Doombat Fodder:
Hits: 1
Attack: 2
Defense: 0
Move: 5
Special: None
Cost: 5

Please check my costs if anything feels off.

Opening Dispositions:
1 Eager Elf Warlord "Link"(Lv. ?)=70
1 Lofty Elf=35
2 Eager Elves=100
9 Doombat Scouts=90
1 Doombat Fodder=5
Total=300

Edited: Changed opening dispositions slightly.

[Squeejee]

Heavy Stabber [17]
4 - 8 - 4 - 2

Heavy Horse [39]
12 - 5 - 4 - 4

Field Archer [15]
4 - 4 - 2 - 2
Ranged

Knight [26]
6 - 12 - 5 - 2

Camo-Master [19]
4 - 1 - 2 - 2
Foolamancy

Starting Battlegroup
1 Chief Warlord Knight, "Randy" (47)
1 Warlord Knight, "Jake" (47)
2 Camo-Masters (38)
6 Armored Stabbers (108)
4 Field Archers (60)

[Shusagi]

Andwoid
5 Hits
1 Move
10 Attack
5 Defense
Cost: 20

Hoverboard:
12 Hits
5 Move
0 Attack
0 Defense
Cost: 30

Engineer Dwoid
4 Hit
1 Move
8 Attack
0 Defense
Special: Dirtomancy
Cost: 28 points

Destwoyer
30 Hits
1 Move
43 attack
0 Defense
Special: Seige
Cost: 63

Cloaker Dwoid
1 Hit
1 move
0 attack
0 Defense
Special: Foolamancy
Cost: 7

Starting troops:
1 (Chief?) Warlord Andwoid (Mr.Roboto) (40)
1 Warlord Andwoid (Tinman) (40)
4 Andwoids (80)
1 Hoverboard (30)
1 Destwoyer (63)
1 Engineer Dwoids (28)
2 Cloaker Dwoid (14)

Total: 40+40+80+30+63+28+14=295

(Can ANY unit mount ANY unit as long as it follows the hits requirement? For instance, can one of my Andwoids wear a Cloaker Dwoid like a backpack, or does move determine whether or not something is a mount? Also, please let me know if anything's off)

[Nihila]

Shusagi, the max Defense score is either Hits or 5, whichever's lower. Your Andwoid's can't have 5 Defense, unfortunately. Fortunately, this will make them cheaper (by 2 points), so you should be able to buy more units.

And your Andwoids can wear your Cloaker Dwoids, if we're sticking to past rules.

By the way, I just edited my opening units, so don't feel too surprised if something feels different.

[HerbieRai]

Thanks for the help Niliha, what he says is true.

All the basic rules are exactly as the "tale of two cities" except only commanders can level, foolamancy, shockamancy, and siege have been nerfed some. Also I added building rules.

you can post your units and starting units, there is no reason to hide it from anyone.

Also, You will be getting 75 pop points each every turn after the first. In the other games, I've noticed once a players starting stack is destroyed, they are pretty much out of the game becuase it takes 10 turns (50 pts / turn to 500 pts) to rebuild the force without taking other players points. To get around this I'm starting with less and giving you more per turn. Now you can rebuild your force in 4 turns.

Another note for the newer guys, you cannot stack fliers with non fliers, and all move 5 are fliers. You cannot mount a flier on a non flier, but can mount non fliers on a flier. Just something to think about when creating a force. Feel free to modify or change yours until turn 1. I'll hopefully post my units tonight. Def cannot be above 5 and must be equal to or lower than hits.

Also standard rounding. 49.499999999 is 49, while 49.5 is 50.

And the +5 attack from siege is not added into the cost. It is paid for in the 10 from the siege special.

[Shusagi]

Thanks for pointing out the defense thing. The andwoids used to have more hits but I decreased them so I could fit two to a hoverboard, and hadn't adjusted defense accordingly. I think, given the 75 points/turn thing, I'm actually going to buff them up a little bit and make them pricier. (Edit: Also, brought the move down for an even 20, looks like I'm really seige now.)

[HerbieRai]

And here is Gobwin Knob Forces

Dwagon

Spoiler: show

Hits: 15 Attack: 22 Defense: 3 Move :5 Special: None
Ever since the Arkenhammer has been held by Stanley, Dwagons have been a staple of Gobwin Knob
Cost: 69

MegaDwagon

Spoiler: show

Hits: 30 Attack: 35 Defense: 5 Move: 5 Special: None
A new found monster in the mountians around Gobwin Knob that bows to the arkenhammer like a Dwagon, but is double the size
Cost: 134

Cwap Golem

Spoiler: show

Hits: 7 Attack: 10 Defense: 2 Move: 2 Special: Range, Dirtamancy
Cwap Golems build forward bases for Gobwin Knob and throw Cwap at their enemies
Cost: 53

Hobgobwin

Spoiler: show

Hits: 4 Attack: 6 Defense: 2 Move: 2 Special: None
Hobgobwins may not be strong, but are cheap natural allies of Gobwin Knob
Cost: 13

Spidew

Spoiler: show

Hits: 14 Attack: 22 Defense: 5 Move: 4 Special: None
Spidews are used as cavlry for Gobwin Knob when Dwagons are not available
Cost: 65

Gargoyle

Spoiler: show

Hits: 3 Attack: 6 Defense: 3 Move: 5
A newer addition to Gobwin Knob, they are small fliers that harrass enemies.
Cost: 17

Deciple of Jack

Spoiler: show

Hits: 5 Attack: 6 Defense: 4 Move: 3 Special: Ranged, Foolamancy
Because he is that awesome
Cost: 39

Wanda's decripted have become a valuable asset to Gobwin Knob, and usually come into play as standard troopers

Decripted Piker
Hits: 5 Attack: 10 Defense: 4 Move: 2 Special: Dancefighting
Cost: 28

Decripted Archer
Hits: 5 Attack: 8 Defense: 5 Move: 2 Special: Range
Cost: 28

Decripted Wienner Ram
Hits: 15 Attack: 25 Defense: 3 Move: 1 Special: Siege
Cost: 47

Decripted Archon
Hits: 6 Attack: 12 Defense: 5 Move: 5 Special: Dancefighting, Range, Shockamancy
Cost: 68

[Shusagi]

If we don't spend all 75 of our points in a turn, do the leftovers roll over to the next turn?
I'm wondering about editing my units to be able to spend all 75 each turn, but won't bother if it's not necessary.

[Nihila]

If we don't spend all 75 of our points in a turn, do the leftovers roll over to the next turn?
I'm wondering about editing my units to be able to spend all 75 each turn, but won't bother if it's not necessary.

They have rolled over in the past, so presumably they will now.

HerbieRai, can we start scouting now?

[HerbieRai]

Yes, they do roll over, although a new rule is you can only give away 25 pts to your allies each turn.

Few other new things: I'm starting with as many points as you until watermonkey joins in. I wont be getting the boost in reinforcements

Go ahead and start

[Nihila]

Scouting Orders, Turn 1:
From C9:
DS1:B9, A9, A8, A7, A6
DS2:B9, B8, B7, B6, A5
DS3:C8, C7, C6, C5, B5
DS4:C8, C7, C6, C5, C4
DS5:C8, C7, C6, C5, D5
DS6:D9, D8, D7, D6, E5
DS7:D9, E9, E8, E7, E6