Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 rockjaw Aug 27, 2008 17:28:59	My players are just at the start of the newest campaign, and they are joining a 'Mercenary Band' basic idea is a normal unit of basic fighter-types, nothing real special just assorted Light Infantry / Bowmen, Heavy Infantry, Light Horse, and Heavy Horse each element 250 individuals strong (Heavy Horse limited to 100) What I'm looking for is 'unique' elemets to add, or if you will 'Special Operations' types. Many in my party are, like myself former military so we'll be having alot of fun with this... Limits are as follows: I look forward to seeing what this community will develop, ask questions and I'll answer. Rocky
#2 Reg06 Aug 27, 2008 18:44:51	Are you looking for ideas for Special Operations groups within the Mercenary Band? If so, I've got a few ideas (but only time for one) Brute Squad- Comprised almost entirely of the biggest guys the band has to offer. While they aren't all from the same cohort most of them are and most fill the front ranks of the heavy infantry squads. However, outside of full scale military operations the Brute Squad is used to secure housing, food, gear, and money when diplomacy doesn't work. Essentially, the Brute Squad are professional thugs that the band groups together everynow and then when it needs some muscle to achieve a goal and a full army isn't feasible. These guys are often the first ones to start bar brawls, and are the ones called in to stop bar brawls. Is the campaign taking place almost entirely within the Mercenary Band? If so, having a bunch of different spec ops groups with their own agendas and goals would add a neat social aspect to the game while keeping a very militaristic flavor.
#3 rockjaw Aug 27, 2008 20:24:52	Brute Squad I like that. Some more info, in my world there is a large landmass that has no single ruler only multiple small kingdoms and areas under the control of some sort of powerful individual ( about eighty at last count ). This area has never been able to be fully united under one ruler for multiple reasons, mostly infighting among those powerful enough. This lead to the creation of the Free Companies several hundred years ago. Over time the profession of "warrior for hire" has evolved into part of the social structure of the landmass. The articles of war or rules for a better term, are rigid and enforced, the primary being that no company can number over 1000 troops total. So with 850 regular units, I left room for an additional 150 special or unique troop types to be described by the community.
#4 catzo Aug 28, 2008 0:15:55	You could go all the way and create a Special Operations squad. It is natural that the PC's will be such a group as they are highly skileld individuals of very versatile skills. They could be used for kinapping, espionage, saboutage, assassinations and so on. Usually behind enemy lines or at least without much possiblity for support. To get the squad into position Short-range teleportation could be used, maybe the auwd gets a One-use magic scroll to be used for extraction once their mission is completed. Maybe they need to get back to a specific extraction point where a teleportation spell will get them back at a specific time and date.
#5 rockjaw Aug 28, 2008 19:14:19	The telportation scroll idea is reall good. Here is something like I was thinking: Troop Type: Dog Handler Name: Wendu (HM lvl-2 expert animal training) Description: Wendu is the companies "Dog Master" his animals are mastiff type hounds trained in warfare and as guard animals. Wendu lovingly cares and trains his brood. At present he has 8 dogs all grown and serving. His personal animal Eus' is aged and grey in the jowels, some of the younger troopers make the same comment about Wendu as he has been a fixture in the company for almost two decades. Wendu is given his own tent, as nobody else wants to share with that many snoring dogs though several of the company share thier rations during the lean days to insure his dogs are as fed as the men, considering several of the troops can relate a tale or two about the dogs saving thier skin. Wendu holds no real rank but given his time he is treated as a semi-officer, his dogs usually can be found roaming the camp casualy walking into and out of the troopers tents or out along a picket line. To an outside observer the prescence of these large dogs may seem almost unreal, considering that even the most vigilant sentry, without looking away, will casualy reach out and gently stroke these large animals. Wendu personally see to his dogs development and equipment oiling thier armour and mending it as needed, making thier leather thick collars himself almost as if they were his children.
#6 jdudley1121 Aug 28, 2008 21:56:04	A corps of sappers isn't a bad idea. Make it up of wizards, artificers, and soldiers equiped with item destroying and explosive magic items. This unit also has multiple applications. Of course, there's punching thru walls in a seige, even of the defensive end to make a "back door". However, this unit could also be powerful as a flanking or rear attack unit. If you want to get real crazy with it, you could equip them with giant eagles or other airborn mounts. Then they could drop in behind walls and attack supports from the softer side. A lone unit of these guys could devestate a small castle.
#7 gorditobandito Aug 28, 2008 23:55:48	Must be realistic in nature like, Sappers, Engineers, Skirmishers, Wizards, Quartermasters, Trackers, Scouts, ect. haha sorry I just thought the wording of that was humorous. my advice is for your party to be individual of the 100 and 250 squad regiments. that would be waaaaaaay to much trouble for you and would most liekly end up boring the players with that much traffic on the battlefield. there is a 3.5 book called heroes of battle which I found to be an excellent resource for this type of management, as well as a good starting point for what you want to do.
#8 rockjaw Aug 30, 2008 15:30:07	Gorditobandito, Thanks I didn't see the wording till you pointed it out..HA.! I have Tome of Battle, and sadly almost all the 3.5 sourcebooks, But I am comfortable running these large groups, my current gaming group consists of 16 active players each with one current character. However the group that we just 'retired' was the same 16 people each with 3-PC's and some of them with retainers and or hirelings. It is just fantasitic to play.!, Our swan-song was over 1 year (real-time) gaming sessios and covered 12 years (game-time) during which the group never once engauged in hard martial combat. We entered one of the larger cities everyone between 8th-13th level, and spent the next 12 game years becoming merchant princes, guildmasters, deacons, bishops, Knight-Commanders, barons and even one throughly convincing hermit.
#9 werral Aug 30, 2008 15:52:03	If the rules of war limit numbers then it makes sense that they limit magic too. So you could keep that "realistic" low-magic feel by having magic strictly rationed. The PC's could even act as arms inspectors to check others aren't developing more magic than they should and go on missions to take out those that are. Or they might have magic but it's use is limited by treaties - at high levels this becomes an issue as the PC's are increasingly tempted to break out the heavy stuff. (a bit like atomics in Frank Herberts "Dune") As a further twist, when one Free Company breaks the rules then ALL the other Free Companies might send troops to eliminate them. But troops from a rival Free Company might be interested in seizing the magic for themselves as destroying it (I'm thinking of the US and Soviet race to capture Nazi missile tech as an example). 1E Battlesystem was great for mass combat by the way. You could probably rework the main table (you make one roll to resolve the attacks of anentire unit) and createa homebrew 4E version. Also the magically spawned monsters might be weapons of war (golems, owl-bears, even the tarrasque). So they're not so much dungeons as silos.