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In modern times mass combat and classical battles are more and more rare. Automatic drones or special units tactical strikes are fact of present. However, in Dark Eras of history direct war were a fact of life and one could not live his life without even once taking part in mass battle, to defend his kingdom, town or even his family and close ones.
Mechanics
Those rules are inspired by Chase subsystem from Chronicles of Darkness and mass combat rules from Savage Worlds.
They resolve on those basic terms:
Accumulated Successes - Measure of success for particular side in battle.
Battle Turn - Measure of time in Battle. It takes about 15 minutes of time.
Important Character - This character is commander, hero or just exceptional individual that can swing the tides of Battle. In contrast to others fighters, they can use Down & Dirty Combat rules ( see Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook, page 87 ) on whole Unit. Players characters are automatic Important Characters. So does leading NPCs. In normal situations each supernatural creature amidst armies is also Important Character.
Target Number - Number of Successes need for the side to win the Battle.
Unit - Basic, independent part of army. Most of the times it will be size of players group or slightly larger part of army - like Vikings boat with it’s crew or Roman infantry Contubernium, smallest part of Legion. Large or complex war machines can be worth two or more “normal” Units - like balista or tank. If army is composed solely from supernatural characters, the supernatural group ( coterie, pack, cabal, etc. ) is treated as basic Unit.
Units are run as Brief Nightmares ( CoD Rulebook, p. 143 ) taking in account those advice - Minion would be for this lone, not very special individual soldier or vehicle you find sometimes in smaller battles. Most infantry squads and similar would use Horde stats. Lone Terror would be for those true war machines and their crew - catapults, cannons or early tanks. Note, for Willpower trait or typical Resolve + Composure dicepool, use twice Willpower/Scene number. It's coming from this official rule:
Battle
The conflict itself is resolved are similar to rules of Chase ( see Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook, page 84 ). Starting Target Number is 10 for both sides. Each Unit more one side over the other is adding 1 to Target Number of enemy side. Very big or special Units can add more to enemies Target Numbers. Players and other Important Characters are not counted in this basic estimations. There are other modifiers of Target Number, like Chase Modifiers Table. Then add to Targer Number for each Important Character - each one is worth of 1 to Target Number of enemy.
Battles are resolved as normal combat, only each turn takes about 15 minutes. On beginning of it, Important Characters roll their Initiative. Both armies do not roll it, as their “actions” are resolved more as Edge in Chase in Resolving the Turn phase. Important Characters do their actions in normal order. As turn is taking 15 minutes, each Character can make as much as he wants Reflexive Actions, but only one Instant one. (Storyteller is final arbiter ). Supernatural character can use it one of Instant powers and take other Instant Action in the same turn. Each Success in Down and Dirty Combat by Important Character is treated as one Success in general Battle for the side. Characters Exceptional Success is treated as two Battle Successes. Each Success taken by character is equal to defeating one Unit of enemy. Important Characters can fight between themselves - then take them out of Battle and resolve they fight on normal combat rules. If one of Important Characters is defeated, it’s enemies get 1 for Accumulated Successes pool.
Resolving the Turn
When whole Initiative of Important Characters has passed, it comes time to resolve the Battle’s turn effects. Each side rolls it’s Accumulated Successes for each defeated Unit or Important Character to this moment. Start the side with the Edge in this moment. Each Success on this roll is added as next Accumulated Successes pool. Wins the side that makes Accumulated Successes pool equal to their Target Number. Even when some enemy Units can survive, they run away and leave the Battle.
Maneuvers
Armies can make devastating maneuvers. Each one works more or less like creating the Plan for Battle by one of Important Characters ( see Building Equipment in Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook, page 100 ). Difference is that Important Character making it is limited to number of Unites he can use by his Presence and maximal modifier he can make for Maneuver is equal to it’s Presence dots. When two Important Characters of one side fight over the same Unites to use, wins the one with higher Presence. If both Characters are still equal, wins one with higher Maneuver dicepool. If still is tie, roll a die.
When commencing Maneuver, at the Resolving the Turn, Maneuver adds it’s bonus on this particular roll with Accumulated Successes pool. After one roll, Maneuvers end and bonus is lost. Successful Maneuver is great way to take Edge from enemies. To get bonus in next Battle Turn, Important Character needs to make next Maneuver action.
Battle Objections
Some actions or goals are crucial to winning the Battle. Typical are 'breaching the walls', 'taking over hilltop', 'killing enemy general' or 'destroying supplies of enemy'. Storyteller may judge that some actions are worth automatic Accumulated Success by fulfilling them by one army. They typically give 1-3 Accumulated Success per goal fulfilled.
Morale – Signs, Omens and Speeches
Spirit in soldiers hearts can win or lose the battle. Prophecy from night before conflict can foresee the resolution of combat. Maybe bad star showing on the sky, or unfortunate reading of oracle, is not always winning of the particular side – but it surely impact the flow of battle. Also, leaders of each army, doing particular speech before battle, can influence his army winning or losing.
Mechanics
Sings and Omens are constant bonus or penalty for particular side of army that understand it’s meaning – more of army members is taking particular Omen to their heart, modifier is higher for this side. They range from +/- 5 to each Resolving the Turn rolls, judged by Storyteller. Prophetic Dreams and similar powers from supernatural members of army can gives their usage as bonus to their side actions – in number of dots of this power taken. Exception are powers like Prophetic Dreams for Cathalith that do not have dots rating – then use half of Supernatural Tolerance trait of this character ( rounded down ) as modifier to this army for whole battle.
Speeches of army leaders are made as Building Equipment, only those bonuses are constant for each army till the end of battle. Most are made based on Persuasion Skill rolls.
Aftermath
Each Accumulated Successes is one Unit of enemy defeated. As Battle’s Turns are taking 15 minutes, those that did not get help earlier are dead. There can be made dramatic exception when, for example, vampire want’s to find barely living mortal to Embrace him after winning the Battle with his army. It’s assume that monster finds exceptionally resilient combatant or one that had more luck than rest of his Unit - that barely lives in this moment.
Conclusion
What do you think about those rules? Any advises on improving them? I made them when thinking about running Viking Werewolf game and understanding that battle scenes will be often then.
Mechanics
Those rules are inspired by Chase subsystem from Chronicles of Darkness and mass combat rules from Savage Worlds.
They resolve on those basic terms:
Accumulated Successes - Measure of success for particular side in battle.
Battle Turn - Measure of time in Battle. It takes about 15 minutes of time.
Important Character - This character is commander, hero or just exceptional individual that can swing the tides of Battle. In contrast to others fighters, they can use Down & Dirty Combat rules ( see Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook, page 87 ) on whole Unit. Players characters are automatic Important Characters. So does leading NPCs. In normal situations each supernatural creature amidst armies is also Important Character.
Target Number - Number of Successes need for the side to win the Battle.
Unit - Basic, independent part of army. Most of the times it will be size of players group or slightly larger part of army - like Vikings boat with it’s crew or Roman infantry Contubernium, smallest part of Legion. Large or complex war machines can be worth two or more “normal” Units - like balista or tank. If army is composed solely from supernatural characters, the supernatural group ( coterie, pack, cabal, etc. ) is treated as basic Unit.
Units are run as Brief Nightmares ( CoD Rulebook, p. 143 ) taking in account those advice - Minion would be for this lone, not very special individual soldier or vehicle you find sometimes in smaller battles. Most infantry squads and similar would use Horde stats. Lone Terror would be for those true war machines and their crew - catapults, cannons or early tanks. Note, for Willpower trait or typical Resolve + Composure dicepool, use twice Willpower/Scene number. It's coming from this official rule:
Originally posted by CoD, p. 144
The conflict itself is resolved are similar to rules of Chase ( see Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook, page 84 ). Starting Target Number is 10 for both sides. Each Unit more one side over the other is adding 1 to Target Number of enemy side. Very big or special Units can add more to enemies Target Numbers. Players and other Important Characters are not counted in this basic estimations. There are other modifiers of Target Number, like Chase Modifiers Table. Then add to Targer Number for each Important Character - each one is worth of 1 to Target Number of enemy.
Battles are resolved as normal combat, only each turn takes about 15 minutes. On beginning of it, Important Characters roll their Initiative. Both armies do not roll it, as their “actions” are resolved more as Edge in Chase in Resolving the Turn phase. Important Characters do their actions in normal order. As turn is taking 15 minutes, each Character can make as much as he wants Reflexive Actions, but only one Instant one. (Storyteller is final arbiter ). Supernatural character can use it one of Instant powers and take other Instant Action in the same turn. Each Success in Down and Dirty Combat by Important Character is treated as one Success in general Battle for the side. Characters Exceptional Success is treated as two Battle Successes. Each Success taken by character is equal to defeating one Unit of enemy. Important Characters can fight between themselves - then take them out of Battle and resolve they fight on normal combat rules. If one of Important Characters is defeated, it’s enemies get 1 for Accumulated Successes pool.
Resolving the Turn
When whole Initiative of Important Characters has passed, it comes time to resolve the Battle’s turn effects. Each side rolls it’s Accumulated Successes for each defeated Unit or Important Character to this moment. Start the side with the Edge in this moment. Each Success on this roll is added as next Accumulated Successes pool. Wins the side that makes Accumulated Successes pool equal to their Target Number. Even when some enemy Units can survive, they run away and leave the Battle.
Maneuvers
Armies can make devastating maneuvers. Each one works more or less like creating the Plan for Battle by one of Important Characters ( see Building Equipment in Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook, page 100 ). Difference is that Important Character making it is limited to number of Unites he can use by his Presence and maximal modifier he can make for Maneuver is equal to it’s Presence dots. When two Important Characters of one side fight over the same Unites to use, wins the one with higher Presence. If both Characters are still equal, wins one with higher Maneuver dicepool. If still is tie, roll a die.
When commencing Maneuver, at the Resolving the Turn, Maneuver adds it’s bonus on this particular roll with Accumulated Successes pool. After one roll, Maneuvers end and bonus is lost. Successful Maneuver is great way to take Edge from enemies. To get bonus in next Battle Turn, Important Character needs to make next Maneuver action.
Battle Objections
Some actions or goals are crucial to winning the Battle. Typical are 'breaching the walls', 'taking over hilltop', 'killing enemy general' or 'destroying supplies of enemy'. Storyteller may judge that some actions are worth automatic Accumulated Success by fulfilling them by one army. They typically give 1-3 Accumulated Success per goal fulfilled.
Morale – Signs, Omens and Speeches
Spirit in soldiers hearts can win or lose the battle. Prophecy from night before conflict can foresee the resolution of combat. Maybe bad star showing on the sky, or unfortunate reading of oracle, is not always winning of the particular side – but it surely impact the flow of battle. Also, leaders of each army, doing particular speech before battle, can influence his army winning or losing.
Mechanics
Sings and Omens are constant bonus or penalty for particular side of army that understand it’s meaning – more of army members is taking particular Omen to their heart, modifier is higher for this side. They range from +/- 5 to each Resolving the Turn rolls, judged by Storyteller. Prophetic Dreams and similar powers from supernatural members of army can gives their usage as bonus to their side actions – in number of dots of this power taken. Exception are powers like Prophetic Dreams for Cathalith that do not have dots rating – then use half of Supernatural Tolerance trait of this character ( rounded down ) as modifier to this army for whole battle.
Speeches of army leaders are made as Building Equipment, only those bonuses are constant for each army till the end of battle. Most are made based on Persuasion Skill rolls.
Aftermath
Each Accumulated Successes is one Unit of enemy defeated. As Battle’s Turns are taking 15 minutes, those that did not get help earlier are dead. There can be made dramatic exception when, for example, vampire want’s to find barely living mortal to Embrace him after winning the Battle with his army. It’s assume that monster finds exceptionally resilient combatant or one that had more luck than rest of his Unit - that barely lives in this moment.
Conclusion
What do you think about those rules? Any advises on improving them? I made them when thinking about running Viking Werewolf game and understanding that battle scenes will be often then.
If more Units are surrounding him, count next Unit damage as going over next Battle Turn to him. If werewolf do not is attacked by next Unit, he can simply heal his previous wounds from before Unit. 
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