I have a game that needed a new combat system. It was my first game and the combat system was to much like Shogun (Samurai Swords).Here is my basic idea for a new system.
There are 6 types of pieces divided into 3 ranges.
Short range - Militia, Infantry, and Cavalry
Medium Range - Bowmen, Gunners
Long Range - Artillery
Pieces are organized into armies of 15 pieces or fewer.
For each type of unit you roll 1d, (4, 6, or 8 sided). Multiples of 1 type of unit improves your chance to hit with that unit type by 1. Long range rolls 1st, then remove casualties, then mid range, then short range.
Example: Militia roll d8, infantry roll d6, and cavalry roll d4. If you have 1 militia in your army, you roll 1d8 and hit on a 1, 2 militia roll 1d8 and hit on a 2, etc. 1 infantry rolls 1d6 and hits on 1, 2 inf roll 1d6 and hit on 2, 3 inf roll 1d6 and hit on 3 and so on.
Different pieces cause different numbers of casualties on a successful hit roll. Example: militia cause 1 casualty on a hit, infantry cause 2 casualties on a hit, cavalry cause 2 casualties + 1 per 2 cavalry in the army.
Some units take 1 casualty to destroy some take 2 or 3.
The idea is that pieces with a better chance to hit roll a smaller die. 1 cav has a 1 in 4 chance to hit while 1 militia has a 1 in 8 chance to hit. Each additional piece of the same type increases your chance to hit by 1. 2 cav have a 1 in 2 chance to hit while 2 militia only have a 1 in 4 chance. 4 cav together would be very powerful because they would hit on 4 on a d4 and inflict 4 casualties.
Bowmen roll d6 and cause 1 casualty, gunners roll d8 and cause 2 casualties, artillery roll d8 and cause 1 casualty + 1 per 3 artillery in the same army and can destroy buildings when attacking towns.
Each type of piece can only score 1 hit per battle for 1 - 4 casualties. The player to cause the most casualties is the winner of the battle.
I think that this system would allow for some interesting strategies in assembling your armies. Having a diverse army would lower your chances to hit, but would increase your maximum casualty capability. Concentrating an army on 2 or 3 types of pieces would increase your chances to hit because you could have more of each piece in the army, but would also decrease the number of potential casualties that you could inflict.
I am also thinking that each army should not have more of a piece then the die that the piece rolls. So an army could have a max of 4 cav, 6 inf, 8 mil, 6 bowmen, 8 gunners, and 8 artillery, as long as the total pieces in the army does not exceed 15.
Any questions, comments, concerns, etc?
Thanks
Xan Lynch
Thanks for the input. There are some bugs that need to be worked out. I agree that my basic concept gives to much power to cavalry. I like the idea of having an automatic miss, I would use the high number on each die for an auto miss. So rolling a 4 on a d4 unit will always miss, 6 on d6 unit misses, etc regardless of how many of that unit you have.
One thing that I am not sure that I made clear is that you never roll more then 1d per type of unit, regardless of how many of each unit you have. This limits the number of die rolls per battle to 6 or less per player. To get 6 dice in 1 battle you would have to have all 6 types of pieces in 1 army.
Also, each type of unit could only hit once per battle. Bowmen could never inflict more then 1 casualty per battle, regardless of how many of them you have. Gunners could never inflict more then 2 casualties per battle, regardless of how many you have. So you could optimize your units for the best chance to hit but, then you won't be able to do much damage.
Example: A 15 unit army includes the following units (assuming high number on each die is a miss)
3 artillery - roll 1d8, hit on a 3 or less, inflict 2 casualties on a hit
2 bowmen - roll 1d6, hit on 2 or less, inflict 1 casualty on a hit
4 gunners - roll 1d8, hit on 4 or less, inflict 2 casualties on a hit
3 cavalry - roll 1d4, hit on 3 or less, inflict 3 casualties on a hit
2 militia - roll 1d8, hit on 2 or less, inflict 1 casualty on a hit
1 infantry - roll 1d6, hit on a 1, inflict 2 casualties on a hit
This example would allow a high potential casualty rate, but also gives many units a poor chance to hit. You could count on the cavalry (3 in 4 chance to hit) and probably the gunners (4 in 8 chance to hit or 1 in 2). After that, you have artillery at 3 in 5 chance to hit, bowmen at 1 in 3, militia at 1 in 4, and infantry at 1 in 6. You could maybe count on 1 hit from these units.
As far as battle resolution time goes, I was hoping to make battles shorter then they are in Samurai Swords or Axis and Allies by elliminating the 1d per piece rolling system. The most rolling possible for any battle would be as follows.
Long range - each player rolls 1d8, remove casualties
Mid range - each player rolls 1d8 and 1d6, remove casualties
Short range - each player rolls 1d4, 1d6, and 1d8 remove casualties
Player who causes the most casualties wins and loser must retreat.
I thought that it would result in quick battles with minimal die rolling.
Also, the primary aspect of the game is kingdom building. Combat should be expensive to minimize battles to small raids and an occasional siege of a town.
I hope that clears up a few things, I always have trouble putting my ineas in writing clearly.
Xan
www.rentoys.com