War
When combat becomes a battle between armies, the fighting becomes a full scale war, fought across vast distances and kinds of terrain. The following rules detail such large scale combat, and how the players fit into it.
Hex Battles
When combat turns into a full-fledged war, the Hexploration map becomes the battlefield. The characters and groups of units- soldiers, war machines, etc.- fight to eliminate and gain ground over each other.
Initiative
When determining the acting order in a war, the characters roll a group initiative to determine their order in combat. Other groups (such as a nation's army or a horde of Undead) might do the same, or alternatively, they can roll a d8, taking a group initiative equal to the result x 10.
Resting
Until a war is resolved, creatures can't long rest without gaining levels of Exhaustion, and don't lose Exhaustion by resting.
Battle Actions
Each faction participating in a war- the characters and each major group- takes 3 Battle Actions on their turn, choosing from one of the following actions. The combination of these actions occurs over the span of 1 hour.
Move
Units move to a new hex. Characters move using normal Hexploration rules, while other units move according to an amount shown on the Speed column of the Unit Details table. Unless otherwise specified, units can't move past mountains- they must go around.
Recuperate
Characters can choose to forgo their turn in a War to take a short rest.
Repair
A unit made of nonliving material in a controlled hex, such as a trebuchet or arcane cannon, regains 30 hit points.
Ranged Attack
If possible, the unit makes a long-distance attack against unit(s) in another hex within range. Each unit has a range from which it can attack, as shown on the Unit Details table.
If a unit's range is 0, it can only attack another hex by Entering the Zone.
Enter Zone
Units enter into a hex occupied by another party and either attack. If the characters enter the zone, you can choose to resolve the encounter using the War attacking rules, or by using the standard combat, roleplay, and exploration rules.
Entrenchment
You grant 1 armor to a unit within a hex under control.
Controlling Territory
When 1 or more units move into a hex that has no hostile units in it, it is considered controlled by that unit's leader. All other hexes are considered neutral. The controlling party retains control of a given hex until it is removed from the hex or has no units in the hex.
Certain spaces (called Command Posts) are always controlled by a unit leader unless captured by an enemy, at which point they become Command Posts for the enemy until recaptured. Strongholds, cities, and other such structures might act as Command Posts.
There can be a maximum of 5 units in a space at once, unless stated otherwise. Units can't occupy a mountain's space unless they can fly.
Attacking
When a space attacks another space, whether at range or by Entering the Zone, each side rolls a number of D6s equal to the number of units they are attacking or defending with. To decide a battle, pair up the dice in descending order on either side and compare them. If the attacker's die is higher in the pair, the defender loses a unit. If the defender's die is higher than the attacker, the attacker loses a unit. If there is a tie, both units bounce and neither dies.
For example, Blue attacks a neighboring Red space. Blue has 3 units with no special modifiers. Red has 2 units with no special modifiers. Blue rolls a 6, a 5, and a 1. Red rolls a 6 and a 3. Only Blues two highest rolls will be compared to reds. Blue 6 vs Red 6. Both units bounce and don’t harm each other. Blue 5 vs Red 3. Blue’s unit is victorious over Red’s unit and kills it, leaving red with 1 defender for the next round of the attack.
In the next round, Blue rolls 4, 4, 3. Red rolls 1. Red’s final unit is killed by Blue and blue elects to send 2 units into the space to claim it.
Armored Units
Certain units can take multiple hits from attacks without being destroyed. Usually these are more heavily armored war machines, but might also be a Dragon or the mighty Tarrasque. These special units can take multiple hits instead of one before being destroyed, as shown on the Armor column of the Unit Details table.
Reinforcements
Characters and other organizations gain reinforcements by controlling Outposts, completing special objectives, or from other circumstances the DM deems appropriate.
At the start of each round, each controlled Command Post grants 1 Unit for the group that controls it, placed on that Command Post's hex. A Command Post under attack by hostile units that have Entered its Zone produces no units.
Units
Table- Unit Details
| Unit | Speed (hexes) | Range (hexes) | Armor | Outposts Required to create | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bandits | 1 | 0 | — | 1+ | — |
| Knights | 1 | 0 | — | 1+ | War Training |
| Healers | 1 | 0 | — | 1+ | Healing |
| Undead Horde | 1 | 0 | — | 2+ | Undead Fortitude |
| Battle Tower | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 2+ | — |
| Warship | 2 (must be on water) | 1 | 1 | 3+ | Colossal |
| Arcane Tower | 0 (cannot move) | 3 | 1 | 3+ | Deadly |
| Airship | 2 (must be in air) | 1 | 2 | 4+ | Airborne, Colossal |
| Walking Behemoth | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5+ | Colossal, Deadly |
| Flying Behemoth | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6+ | Airborne, Colossal, Deadly |
Special Abilities
Certain units have one or more special traits that change how they are played, which are detailed below.
Airborne
This unit can fly. It ignores the maximum amount of units that can be in its hex unless they also have Airborne, and can move past mountains.
Colossal
This unit is considered the size of 3 units when determining the maximum amount of units that can be in a hex.
Deadly
This unit deals double damage on targets it attacks.
Healing
This unit can create 1 unit on a hex if at least one friendly unit died on that hex since their controlling faction's last turn.
Undead Fortitude
When this unit dies, roll 1d6. If the result is a 6, it revives on their controlling faction's next turn if it is on a hex controlled by its faction. Otherwise, it dies as normal.
War Training
This unit has a +1 bonus to Attacking rolls when defending from or attacking another unit.
Credits
Credit to Digiscript for many of these rules and mechanics.
Collaborators and Creators on this Project
- @esteban_7581 on Discord
- @world_tnt on Discord