Battle
When combat occurs between two, we call it a Duel. When it happens between more than two, it becomes a Skirmish. But at some point, attempting to adjudicate combat between too many actors becomes a tedious chore. Oh, look, your samurai chopped down the tenth Brute. Don't worry; only 145 more to go!
At this point, before thrilling combat degenerates into tedious score-keeping, a Skirmish becomes a Battle. How do you know when to apply the Battle Rules versus the Skirmish Rules? Simple: when there are 50 or more combatants. Why 50? The typical group of player characters will compose a wa, and a wa at its typical maximum will have seven samurai (like the Seven Thunders) with a maximum of six Brutes attacking each wa member. Thus, forty-two Brutes against seven samurai remains a simple enough Skirmish to still adjudicate with forty-nine actors. Add one more, and it's an actor left standing around with nothing much to do until someone falls in battle. Which is neither fun nor realistic, frankly. And yes, this glosses over a lot of other possibilities of how Brutes and other characters can interact, yet 50 remains a fairly good cut-off point between Skirmishes and Battles.
The point of these Battle rules is twofold. First, to simplify mass combat in terms of both times and mechanics, yet also to keep one's sense of agency and fun. Secondly, to provide a way to manage a battle between opposing forces of any size. Battle rules should be able to portray conflicts ranging fights between magistrates and bandits, to those between vast armies.
So, we know the first criteria: Fifty combatants. After this, there are several steps to take:
- Know Your Force
- Know Your Terrain
- Know Your Advantage
- Know Your Wave
- Know Your Casualties
Your Force
The first thing to determine is how many forces the Battle is dealing with. Typically, this will be two forces: the player-characters versus whoever is opposing them. However, this need not be the case. There may be three, four, or even more forces involved, each with its own agendas and ideas concerning victory. Even all the wa members may not stay in the same force. There may be loyalties or agendas that conflict with their fellow wa members, in which case it's perfectly fine, and interesting, for them to choose to be in another's force, or even commanding their own. It could also represent that a much greater, grander campaign is being waged all about your samurai, but your independent unit is embroiled in a smaller battle in the midst of the chaos.
You could even be a force all by yourself, a force of one. This is a very dangerous and deadly option, but it could be necessary.
So decide which force you're in. Then choose a commander for the force. Preferably, this ought to be a player-character. While someone in a force may be appointed by an outside agent (such as a daimyo) to lead the force, they may be incompetent and wisely allow someone else to be the actual commander in terms of Battle mechanics. Or they may not. If you wish to wrest command of the force from this appointed leader, it is certainly an Act of Vice. But it also may save the force from destruction.
If a commander is killed or unconscious during the Wave or after taking Wounds at the end of the Wave, then the force loses all Advantage. A new commander can arise or be chosen and continue the Battle, but they will have to establish their own Advantage as if the Battle were occurring in the midst of a Scene (which essentially is what happening). So no new Divination, Politics, or Oratory rolls for the next Wave. Just a Battle roll.
If no commander takes charge, the force is considered immediately defeated and can no longer participate in the Battle. It is up to opposing forces to either capture or allow the escape of the force.
Know Your Terrain
The next order of business is to determine what kind of terrain dominates the battlefield. There are five kinds of terrain: Accessible, Suspended, Stalemated, Constricted, or Precipitous. Each terrain provides bonuses and penalties to a force.
Accessible Terrain is easily passable by all forces, a feature typified by essentially flat plains and other even ground. This would include courtyards, otherwise empty plazas, or any other territory open and spacious. No force gains a significant benefit over the other as advancing is a simple matter; however, there are no significant penalties to any force either.
The openness of the terrain allows for less restriction of movement. A commander targeting someone in their force for a Battle Action is not limited to targeting that individual only once.
Constricted Terrain bottles up forces into narrow passages and ground bordered by difficult heights. Examples include valleys, rocky badlands, snaking caverns, and crowded city streets. In such terrain it is vital to occupy its extent and maintain your hold.
Whichever force wins the opposed Battle/Water roll for Advantage gains a bonus to their Advantage equal to their Water Ring Rank; they have managed to permeate the battlefield with their force, gaining a firm upper hand.
Precipitous Terrain is dangerous territory containing violent changes in elevation. Twisting mountain passes, bridges, city walls, rooftops, and any combat aboard ship (except within the vessel) qualifies as precipitous terrain.
Whichever force wins the opposed Battle/Water roll for Advantage gains a bonus to their Advantage equal to their Earth Ring Rank; they have managed to take the highest ground, making them hazardous to dislodge.
Stalemated Terrain offers no immediate advantage to any force, and limited movement; the only proper course is to withdraw until the enemy offers you an opening. Then your force storms in, swift as a wildfire. Such terrain include any heavily fortified structure or natural terrain such as forests, swamps, or snowfields.
Whichever force wins the opposed Battle/Water roll for Advantage gains a bonus to their Advantage equal to their Fire Ring Rank; they have managed to take advantage of an enemy commander's impetuous attack with a lightning fast counterattack.
Suspended Terrain varies from high ground to low ground, but not nearly as violently as precipitous terrain. This is terrain it is easy to advance from, but difficult to retreat back to if necessary. Land that slopes, such as hillsides, rolling plains, or even the wide ramps that often mark castle entrances all qualify.
Whichever force wins the opposed Battle/Water roll for Advantage gains a bonus to their Advantage equal to their Air Ring Rank; they have managed either to make use of their maneuverability and high ground for a devastating assault (often with ranged volleys), or were able to cunningly draw the enemy into a position difficult to disentangle themselves from.
Devoted scholars of Sun Tao will note the absence of “expansive” terrain. Such terrain offers no advantage to attack, containing a distance too wide for a force to maintain momentum. Only a fool would attempt battle on such terrain.
Know Your Advantage
Determining who wins or loses in a Battle is measured by Advantage. Once all of a force's Advantage is calculated, only then does the Battle proceed into Waves. Certain aspects of Advantage are only able to be garnered when forces of sufficient size have time to engage in the niceties of samurai warfare; other Battles may occur to quickly for these elements to be observed, becoming vicious contests of momentum and tactics.
A good commander, one assured of victory, must attend to the Tao of War: the Tao of Heaven, the Tao of Honor, the Tao of Glory, and the Tao of Strategy. Assessing the full Tao of War is equivalent to a full Scene, considering each individual assessment a significant and complex Action. If Battle erupts within a Scene, there is no time for these assessments except for the Tao of Strategy. In some situations a commander may not wish to make these assessments, especially if their goal in the Battle is not victory. This is especially true of those who choose only themselves as a force, becoming their own commanders, for the purpose of freedom on the battlefield to achieve specific goals before withdrawing. Reasons include theft, assassination, and avenging blood feuds by duels.
Becoming a force unto yourself is rarely honorable.
The Way of Heaven: Divination
All forces choose a single character in their force to perform a divination, seeking the will of Heaven. This is not, it should be noted, as requesting the aid of Heaven. However, how this knowledge is communicated to both the commander and the rest of the force is important. No shugenja wishes to tell their daimyo he is doomed to defeat; those who do are often placed on the front line and commanded to “reconsider” their prediction.
Each force's chosen character makes a Divination/Awareness roll. The highest roll wins Heaven's Advantage, and can increase their hold over the Advantage by +1 per Raise.
The Way of Honor: Politics
All forces choose a single character in their force to find the moral high ground in the battlefield. A force united in justice and honorable purpose is far stronger than one acting against the Celestial Order, thus each force tries to outmaneuver each other in legal and moral terminology through diplomacy before hostilities begin.
This roll can only be made by a force whose commander is superior or equal in status within the Celestial Order. If a commander is clearly inferior in status to an opposing commander, they cannot even attempt to gain this Advantage. A commander whose actual status is inferior, however, may be granted a higher status by virtue of the authority he is given. Thus, a daimyo could authorize a heimen to command a force against another daimyo's samurai, although this would be very rare, allowing the heimen to try for this Advantage.
Each force's chosen character makes a Politics/Awareness roll. The highest roll wins Honor's Advantage, and can increase their hold over the Advantage by +1 per Raise.
The Way of Glory: Oratory
Each commander heads forth to proclaim their prowess, ancestry, and virtue to the enemy. What appears to be a mere “shouting match” between commanders, however, is in truth a vital morale booster for each commander's force as they attempt to outmaneuver one another in confidence. Except for using some special abilities, only the commander can engage in this boasting.
Each force's commander makes an Oratory/Awareness roll. The highest roll wins Glory's Advantage, and can increase their hold over the Advantage by +1 per Raise.
The Way of Strategy: Battle
This assessment covers all the traditional trappings of war: strategy, tactics, formations, military discipline, and logistics. Each force's commander (the real commander, not just the one for show) makes the final roll. This is the only assessment that can be made without preparation. Unlike the other assessments, there are certain modifiers to this roll, depending on both the force's morale and strength.
A force's morale is determined by past experience in Battle. If the majority of the force has been in a lost Battle prior to the current one, the roll suffers a -1k0 penalty. If the force lost the prior Wave, the roll suffers a -1k0 penalty. If the force won the prior Wave, the roll gains a +1k0 bonus.
A force's strength is determined by its size in comparison to other forces in the Battle. If its size is larger, it gains a +XkX bonus to its roll, where X is the magnitude in size compared to the next largest force in the Battle. An army of 10,000 samurai versus an army of 5,000 samurai has a 2 to 1 advantage, and therefore a magnitude of 2, granting a +2k2 bonus.
Once both modifiers have been calculated, each commander makes a Battle/Water roll. The highest roll wins Strategy's Advantage, and can increase their hold over the Advantage by +1 per Raise.
Example: Two samurai armies are fighting over a borderland valley, making it Constricted Terrain. The commanders are Hida Jo and Akira (whose duties have put them in conflict). Hida Jo's teishin wins the Politics roll, with 2 Raises. Akira's shugenja wins the Divination roll. Akira then also wins the Boasting roll, with 1 Raise. At this point, Hida Jo has an Advantage of 3 (Politics + 2 Raises), and Akira has an Advantage of 3 (Divination + Boasting + 1 Raise).
Now they move onto the Battle roll. Hida Jo's force is 10,000 strong, while Akira's is only 5,000 strong, granting Hida Jo a +2k2 bonus. However, 8,000 of those 10,000 survived a losing Battle the week before, giving Hida Jo a -1k0 penalty. Akira's force is green, granting no penalty or bonus. Hida Jo has a Battle of 4 and a Water of 4, while Akira has a Battle of 5 and a Water of 3. Thus, Hida Jo rolls 7k6 while Akira rolls only 5k3, and Hida Jo wins the roll. He has the Advantage.
Hida Jo's total Advantage is 8 (Politics + 2 Raises + Battle + Water for winning Battle roll in Constricted Terrain), while Akira's total Advantage remains 3. The outlook for Akira's force is grim.
Know Your Wave
Battle has begun in earnest, and occurs in Waves. While preparation for the Battle is considered a Scene in itself, all the Waves combined together comprise a separate Scene as the forces vie for the upper hand, fighting and dying. Combat ranges all across the battlefield, with various individuals and units finding themselves driven onto specific positions, embroiled in duels, or targeted by magic.
Like Skirmish combat, the Wave is broken into Phases. Initiative works the same as in a Skirmish, with the following exceptions:
- Instead of Void, the commander of each force rolls their Water for the entire force.
- Individuals and Brute Squads do not have their own Initiative or Actions; they have only the Actions assigned to them by their commander.
- Individuals in a force can gain their own Actions by spending Void Points, exactly as if they were gaining an Interrupt Action. They can still only perform Battle Actions, however.
Only specific Battle Actions can be performed during a Wave. The these actions often include “target someone in a force” or “in another force,” or even target a force itself. Each commander can only target a specific individual or force once per Action, including themselves. When spending a Void Point to act independently during a Wave, an individual is not bound by the same restrictions, however an “individual in your force” must always refer to themselves. Any individual targeted by a Battle Action is considered to be performing an Act of Virtue.
Battle Actions include:
Bonus Effects: Target yourself. You can establish facts about the Battle equal to your Void Ring Rank as if they were bonus effects created by Raises.
Duel: Target an individual in your force and an individual in another force. A duel begins between the two as a Skirmish, unless both agree sagely to sheathe their katana and attempt Iaijutsu. Two shugenja may launch the raw power of the kami at each other in a Taryu-jiai duel. In any case, your individual is considered the challenger, and can determine what kind of challenge it is. If the opponent refuses, they are considered to have used the Flee Battle Action. The duel is also applicable to attacking nonhuman creatures who can only avoid one-on-one combat by Fleeing. No other duel (Sumai, Shiken, or Correspondence) may occur.
Except for Romance. It can flare to life in the flash of a blade. That's how the Matsu uji stay populated.
Flee: Target yourself or, if you are the commander, your force. You withdraw from the field of the Battle. No matter how orderly or necessary or haphazard your escape, this is an Act of Vice. The Battle is over for you, although you still take Wounds during the Know Your Casualties segment.
Rallying Cry: You can attempt an additional Oratory (Boasting)/Awareness roll (TN highest Advantage of another force x 5) to inspire your force. If successful, at the beginning of the next Wave you now have Glory's Advantage, and can increase your hold over the Advantage by +1 per Raise.
Spell: Target any individual in your force that can perform magic, such as a shugenja or monk. This individual can cast a spell, perform a kiho, or use any other magical ability. If the magic targets anyone else, they can target freely. If multiple Actions are normally needed, it is unnecessary now.
Contentious Ground: Target another force who is benefiting from the current Terrain. You can make a Battle/Water roll opposed by the force's commander to move your force into the advantageous position occupied by that force, pushing them out. If you win the roll, you gain the benefit instead for the next Wave.
Deadly Ground: Target an individual in your force. This individual has found themselves on ground where there is no escape; they must vanquish or die. The individual gains a +2k2 bonus on all combat rolls for the rest of the wave. If they are not targeted by an additional Battle Action or use a Battle Action by the end of the Wave, they suffer +2k2 Wounds at the end of the Wave.
Dispersive Ground: Target another force. They have penetrated deep into your held territory, but your force is swallowing them up. Inflict +1k1 Wounds on the force at the end of the Wave.
Encircled Ground: Target another force. You cut off the force from making any effective maneuvers, making them lose all current Action Dice at the price of losing all of your own force's Action Dice.
Entrapping Ground: Target your force. You can tell the Terrain is solidly against your force, and swiftly order the entire force to break ranks and reform somewhere more suitable. At the end of the Wave, the entire force moves to the nearest accessible Terrain. If no other force pursues, the Battle is ended for your force with neither victory or defeat. The force still accrues Wounds and casualties, however.
Focal Ground: Target another force. You have provided an opening for that force to act at an advantage. The other force gains an additional Battle Action in the current Phase.
Heavy Ground: Target your force and another force. You drive deep into their held ground, at a cost to your own force. At the end of the Wave, your force suffers an additional +1k1 Wounds, but the other force suffers +2k2 Wounds.
Light Ground: Target your force. Your force has penetrated lightly into enemy territory, causing them to group together for better defense. At the end of the Wave, your force suffers -1k1 Wounds.
Traversable Ground: Target an individual in your force. They have been placed some distance away from the engagement as a defensive precaution, finding ground to move swiftly away from hostilities when necessary. The individual does not gain any Honor or Glory from this Battle Action, but they suffer only 1k1 Wounds at the end of the Wave and cannot be targeted by any other Battle Action.
Know Your Casualties
At the end of a Wave, each commander has the opportunity to evaluate his losses. And war, though honorable and glorious, is deadly and unpredictable. It is a quick way to die, so tread carefully when you wade into rivers of blood.
A force takes 2k2 Wounds at the end of the Wave, depending on their armor. Those in light or ashigaru armor reduce their Wounds by -1k1, and those in heavy armor reduce their Wounds by -2k2. Carapace applies as well. Battle Actions may also increase or decrease the Wounds suffered. All of this is in addition to any Wounds taken during the Wave, such as during a duel.
A force is composed of individuals, or Brutes, or both. Wounds taken by individuals (those noteworthy enough for complete statistics) are taken as normal. It's important to note that a large force likely has a wide variety of such individuals. Registering the Wounds for all of them would be time-consuming and prohibitive, so one needs only to keep track of Wounds for ones relevant to the players and Story. If hey showed up in a duel, were targeted by a similar Battle Action, or are in command, then they're worth keeping track of. Otherwise, don't worry about it. And of course, the player-characters should take their full amount of wounds at every opportunity. No Glory without blood.
Brutes are a different matter. If different elements of the force's Brutes are differently armored, roll separately for each division (non-armored, lightly armored, and heavily armored). Roll twice. The first roll is the percentage of the force too wounded to continue fighting; the second roll is the percentage of the wounded actually killed. Those wounded will be too exhausted, demoralized, or damaged to engage in any further Battles during this Story.
The Next Wave
Once casualties have been calculated, the next Wave begins. Heaven's and Honor's Advantage continue, as does Glory's Advantage unless it changed hands due to a Rallying Cry. Strategy's Advantage is rerolled Wave to Wave, which can fluctuate based on changing morale and strength.
Ending the Battle
The Battle ends when:
- One commander has the most Advantage during three Waves.
- Every other force surrenders (to the enemy), cedes victory (to an ally), or is obliterated, leaving only a single force standing victorious.
- There are no forces left in the Terrain (as all have chosen to Flee or withdrawn to a different Terrain).
Being in a victorious army is considered an Act of Virtue; you gain twice as many Glory Points if you were the commander. If your force surrenders or is obliterated, it is considered an Act of Vice; commanders of such forces lose twice as many Glory Points.
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