DL: Battle of the High Clerist tower!

[cooper]

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All information taken from Dragonlance Classics: Volume II dragons of light. Adventure module by Grubb, Hickman, and Niles.

Notes on CHAINMAIL

MAN TO MAN
Easiest of course is just to default to d20 d&d. In d&d (d20) a +4 to hit is the statistical equivalent of an extra attack. This coincides with the transition from CHAINMAIL to d&d where creatures--instead of doing their HD in damage, eventually did about 1/2 their hd in damage by the time of the Greyhawk supplement (and is still the case even in OSRIC) a 10 HD dragon and a 6 HD troll, for example do about 5d6 and 3d6 dmg with their claw/bite routine. The damage is only 1/2 HD partly because, "such things as speed, ferocity, and weaponry of the monster attacking are subsumed in the attack matrixes.", Men and Magic pg. 19. In other words, the monsters improved thac0 is the other half of the damage.

Each 20% increase in "speed, ferocity, and weaponry" counts as another attack.

So too then the fighting man. at 4th level he gains a +4 to hit going from a Thac0 21 to a Thac0 17--thereby receiving 2 attacks at level 4, but if he is attacking with a magical sword (+3) and has a strength bonus(+1), is damage is really like 4 normal attacks (1d6+4 Thac0:17 =1d6x4 Thac0 21)

What am I doing with CHAINMAIL? On the 2d6 table this would be translated roughly as:
normal man +0
hero: +2
s. hero: +4

A hero then, in MtM combat could attack a dragon once with a 2d6+2 attack roll or he could attack 4 normal men individually rolling 2d6 attacks against each of them.

IN MASS COMBAT 1d6/x we have even smaller numbers. A single pip in mass combat counts as 16% roughly. So, if we had 3 units Heavy foot attacking Light Foot, normally they would roll 3d6/5-6 is a kill. But with 3 units of 4th level heavy foot fighters we could roll 3d6/4-6 and achieve a similar result. The return attack by the LF of course would be reduced to every 4th hit being a kill (because 4th level fighters have lots of hit points and are difficult to kill.)

normal man +0
hero: +1 pip
s. hero: +2 pips

these all track with the combat matrix in d&d so normal man encompasses levels 0-3, hero 4-7 and s. hero 8-12.



MISSILE FIRE:

I don't know what to do yet. Since the rules for missile combat mass combat doesn't involve dice it assigns hits based on how many archers. Perhaps it might be as simple as increase casualties 20% for 4th level archers and 40% for 8th level archers etc. If the result says "5 hits" and you're using 4th level units then turns into (rounding up) 6 hits?


Part 1: The juggernaught comes (battle of firstblood)
Location: The clerist Tower

Unit scale: 1:10

WHITESTONE FORCES [1,400 knights+100 peasants+7 undead] [xxx units] [point value: xxx]
Army of the rose: 8HD heavy horse [10 units] 4HD medium horse [14 units] 4HD armored foot [14 units]
Army of the Sword: 8HD heavy horse [10 units] 3HD med. horse [14 units] 3HD armored foot [14 units] 3HD archers [14 units]
Army of the Crown: 8HD heavy horse [7 units] 3HD med. horse [14 units], 2HD heavy foot [13 units] 2HD archers long bow HF [13 units]
allied light foot peasants [10 units] seven 15HD spirit knights of virkhus armored foot [1]

DRAGONARMY [900 draconains, 400 kobolds, 250 humans, 35 ogres, and 34 undead] [xxx units] [point value: xxx]
4th blue army: 41st DRACO 2HD baaz draconians [14] 42nd 2HD DRACO baaz [13] 43rd DRACO 2HD baaz [13]
5th blue army: 51st DRACO 3HD kapak [16] 52nd DRACO 3HD kapak [16] 53rd ARCHER 3HD kapak [16] 1st OGRES 4HD [3+5 MtM]
6th blue army: 61st kobold [10] 62nd kobold [10] 63rd kobold [10] 64th kobold short bow [10] three blue dragons HD 9/8/8 and riders
8th blue army: 81st DRACO 4HD bozak [4] 82nd ARCHER 3HD human [11] 83rd light horse 4HD human [14]
9th blue (reaper) Lord Soth's heavy horse 9HD undead [2] banshee chariots (light horse?) 7HD [2] 2 blue dragons HD 9/8

HEROIC COMMANDERS scale 1:1
epic level: 13+
super hero-1/paragon-1 to s. hero+1 levels: 7-12th
hero-1 to hero+1 level 3-6th

whitestone [point value: 540+dragonlances??]
epic hero: [1] (Virkhus 15th)
super heroes: rose [4] (12th/10th/8th/8th) sword [1] (10th) crown [1] (8th) Heroes of the Lance [5] (7th-10th)
heroes: sword [3] (6th/6th/6th) crown [3] (5th/4th/4th) HotL [1] (Laurana 5th)
magic weapons: dragonlances (# anyone know? 20-30 points per lance)

Blue Dragonarmy [point value: 504+380 w/ dragons]
anti-super heroes: [7] (Kitiara/blue lady 12th) (men 10th/9th/7th) (undead soth 9th banshee queen 7th) (draconian, Doom 8th)
anti-heroes [10] draconian: (6th/6th/6th/5th/5th/4th/3rd/3rd/3rd) (ogre: 6th)
leaders: [4] (kobold 1+1 level)
blue dragons: [6] (Skie 10HD) 2nd flight (9hd/8hd/8hd) and 3rd dragon flight (9hd/8hd) 10-12HD = 3 heavy horse, 8-9HD = 2 heavy horse. dragons melee in MtM or FCT only, breath weapon and fear attack in Mass Combat.

[cooper]

"...The sound of distant thunder rolls across the plain. Soon the lookouts on the battlement walls cry out, pointing to the south.
The normally sharp line of the horizon is obscured by a cloud of dust rising from the distance. The Dragonarmies are attacking the pass!
A solid wall of draconians and kobold archers crashes across the plain under bow fire from the defenders. Their ranks break against the wall; their arrows cascade onto the top of the curtainwall. The battle is joined!

Battle of First Blood

Location: The Clerist Tower

Units engaged:
* All Whitestone forces
* Dragon Highlord's forces
5th Blue Dragonarmy (all units)
6th Blue Dragonarmy (all units)

Whitestone Orders Repel the attack

Dragon Highlord Orders The 63rd and 64th kobold archer units will attempt to pin down movement on the top of the curtain wall in support of the draconian advance.

[/i][/quote]

Looking at the map, it seems that any curtain wall is only 100 feet long, which would give us no more than two ranks of 50 whitestone archers (5 units 3HD of sword archers and 5 units 2HD of crown) We have 10 dragonarmy units of kobold archers attacking units on top of a wall. CHAINMAIL give us rules for archers attacking people under cover in this case as reducing casualties by 1/2 (pg. 12 "cover")

1st turn
(CHAINMAIL pg. 11) 10 units of kobold archers roll a single d6 vs. fully armored foes. 1-4 indicates 1 casualties, 5-6 indicate 2 casualties (divided by 2) and 16 units of kapak archers roll a single d6 vs. fully armored foes. 1-4 indicates 2 hits, 5-6 indicates 3 hits.

Whitestone forces themselves have 10 units of archers. Rolling a single d6 to determine casualties. They wil be attacking 1/2 armored enemies. 2 hits per turn per group.

Dragonarmy: 4 dmg total (killing a units of 3HD kapaks)
Whitestone: 3 dmg (remember the sword unit can take 3 hits and the crown can take 2 before being routed--killing 1 unit of sword)

The 5th Blue Army will then select the weakest point of wall defense and under cover of the 53rd draconian archers, make an attempt to scale the wall. This attack will test the defenses for weaknesses. Break off attack if more than 4 units rout or if any unit takes more than 25% casualties.

[/i][/quote]

The Kapak archers of the 53rd draconian unit are 16 units strong. Ladder climbing and scaling of walls is done on the MtM table (pg. 23). 14 units (previously 16) of over two hundred draconian foot troops and 35 ogres advance the wall. The wall is 100 feet wide and we will allow 1 ladder per 5 feet of wall which gives us 20 ladders and 60 draconians attempting to scale the wall at a time. ladder climbing and scaling of walls is done on the MtM table. (pg. 23) we will run 2 battles using the man to man rules (dungeons and dragons) and multiply the results by 10 for the first turn.

2nd turn
Kapak archers deal 3 dmg to whitestone.
kobold archers deal 1 dmg to whitestone.
whitestone archers do 4 dmg (half are in melee)

MtM melee on ladders 1:10 scale
#1: draconian wins melee at top of ladder (10 knights killed--1 units, 30 draconians up the ladder 3 units)
#2: knight wins melee at top of ladder (30 draconians killed--3 units)

Here a 2HD baaz drac. would roll a single 2d6 attack cross referencing the weapon vs. ac of the chart and would require about 5 hits to kill the knight. The 5th level knight would make a return attack of 2d6+2 and require 2 hits (in MtM combat with PC's it is easy to use weapon damage dice and add appropriate modifiers for strength or magic items instead of just tracking, "hits".)


remaining 5th army draconian foot troops: 35 units (of 48)

5th dragon army losses: 13 units (kapak HF)
whitestone losses: 4 units crown and 2 units sword archers.

This is more than 25% units killed. A retreat is called!

next battle includes dragons.

[cooper]

BATTLE OF THE CLERIST WALL

They have returned! Once again the armies of draconians and kobolds raise clouds of dust from their swollen ranks. Their weapons flash and glint in the distance as they close again on the Tower.

Now, to the horror of the Knights, great blue dragons appear overhead! One dragon rakes the walls with it's lightning breath while two other dragons, laden with nearly a dozen draconians each, start dropping them onto the outer wall! The attack is more furious than ever and fear of the dragons keeps many of the brave Knights down behind the bastions, unable to fight!

Curtain walls have a hit point value of 25-40 (CMpg. 22) In prior ages at the nadir of the Solamnic Knights during the time of Huma, I would give this wall a 40. However, the picture (not shown) from Dragonlance Classics Vol. II on page 94 shows the tower to be in serious disrepair. 25 points then.

A blue dragons lightning breath is the same as a wizards lightning bolt which is to say a "heavy field gun" (pg. 31&35). However, except for skie, the blue dragons attached to these armies are 1/2 size (2 heavy horse) therefore we will use the stats for a "light field gun" (pg. 22). Swords and Spells recommends 1/4 dmg per hit die. For an 8HD dragon it works out to 2 dmg.

The lightning breath does 3 (or 2) damage. One of the eight or so curtain walls is now down to 22 points. A dragon can breathe 3x before having to land and rekindle it's internal fires (pg. 35). This particular curtain wall is down to 13 points.

Dragonlance Classics Vol. II on page 118 explains that 10 draconians can ride a dragon at a time and my glide up to 32 inches (960 feet) from a high launch level.

When draconians attempt to glide onto a wall, subtract the height of the wall from the launch height. The draconians can be up to four times the height difference away from the wall and still be able to glide onto the wall.

this gives us 20 draconian 3HD kapak heavy foot. Which comes to 2 units that land on the archers atop the wall.

the 5 unit of sword archers (3HD)
the 5 units of crown archers (2HD)
and 5 units of sword AF (3HD)

This is all that can fit on this curtain wall. Reinforcements will arrive every 1d4 turns to keep these numbers until all available reinforcements run out. (9 additional units of sword AF, 7 units of sword archer, and 3 units of crown archers)

All who are atop this battlement must all check morale vs. the dragon awe as if they had taken excess casualties (pg. 17) We will use the most favorable category for Solamnic Knights, that of swiss pikemen. They need a 5+ on a 2d6 to remain in the fight.

Sword archers: fail
crown archers: fail
sword knights: success

in 1d4 turns a hero/army commander will arrive to automatically rally the troops (pg. 21). The curtain wall defenders now have no archer support and the 5 units of sword AF must also deal with 2 units of Kapak HF in addition to the ladders and archers.

1st turn
kapak archers: don't shoot
kobold archers: don't shoot

mass combat 2 units of kapak HF vs. 5 units sword AF. (2d6/5-6--divide hits by 2 remembering the +1 for 17 thac0) vs. (5d6/4-6)
kapaks: 0 hits
sword: 2 hits.

MtM ladder:
#1: draconian wins melee at top of ladder (no defenders 30 draconians up the ladders 3 units)
#2: draconian wins melee at top of ladder (no defenders 30 draconians up the ladders 3 units)

we have now 6 units of HF kapak and 5 units of sword AF (and other knights cowering).

2nd turn
dragonarmy archers no longer fire.

mass combat (6d6/5-6--divided by 2) vs. (5d6/4-6)
kapaks: 1 hit
sword: 2 hits

MtM ladder:
#1: draconian wins melee at top of ladder (no defenders 30 draconians up the ladders 3 units)
#2: draconian wins melee at top of ladder (no defenders 30 draconians up the ladders 3 units)

11 units of Kapak up on the wall vs. 4 units of sword knights.

3rd turn
REINFORCEMENTS!
heroes and 4 units of sword knights arrive to rally the dragon feared troops.

11 units of kapaks vs. 15 units of crown and sword (plus hero leader modifiers).

mass combat (11d6/5-6--divided by 2) vs. (5d6/3-6) and (5d6/3-6) (crown archers in melee)
kapaks: 3 hits.
sword knights: 3 hits
crown knights: 2 hits

MtM ladder:
#1: draconian wins melee at top of ladder (10 knights killed 30 draconians up the ladder 3 units)
#2 knights win melee at top of ladder (30 draconians killed 3 units)

Dragonarmy despite almost overwhelming the tower have taken too many casualties and sound a retreat.

5th dragonarmy kapak losses: 12 units
knight losses: 4 units (all sword)

[cooper]

A lot of changes! I've re-adjusted everything to a 1:10 ratio and I think I've made higher level troops easier to use, feel free to give me feedback or ask questions.

[shadow=red,left,300]THE CHALLENGE[/shadow]

A single knight approaches the gates of the Tower. His black armor glistens in the pale sunlight despite the dust that coats his leggins. He stops 100 feet in front of the gate and hails the sentry.

"Lord Knights of Solamnia! I, Vindar of Khurman, seek Harus of the Knights. He has done me injustice and I claim the right to single combat with him as is my right by your Measure. If you be men of honor, then I stand ready to fight!"

The dilemma here is that Harus is a 1st level knight at best and Vindar is actually thinking of the young knights father, a hero must go forth or Harus will be slain by Vindar who is a 9th level anti super-hero.

If an NPC goes out to do battle, the battle may be resolved on the Fantasy Combat Table (pg. 44)

Determine longer weapon pg. 25 then attack with a 2d6. A hit may kill or drive back.

Hero needs 10+ to drive back, 11+ to kill
S. Hero needs 5+ to drive back 6+ to kill

Or using our modified MtM rules found in the first post.

Hero has 1 attack per round (rolling 2d6+2) and does d6 dmg (counting str and magic weapon bonuses) and has 4HD, the super her attacks once (rolling 2d6+4) and has 8HD. Score to hit is determined by MtM weapon chart found on page 41.

[kesher]

That's a pretty cool way to scale things up and down, therefore getting some use out of all the available mechanics!

[cooper]

Ok, some serious changes that can be read in the first post under, "NOTES ON CHAINMAIL" I realized I was trying to adjust d&d to match CM, but perhaps it is better to adjust CM to match d&d. The effects I think are usable in your campaigns and will comport well with the d&d rules, especially 0d&d.

I have not fixed missile fire yet, as it uses rules and haven't quite figured out how to adjust for higher level archers. I'm willing to take suggestions.

[cooper]

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BATTLE OF THE REAPER

Units Engaged:
* All Whitestone forces
* 5th blue Flight (all units)
* 6th Blue Flight
All units except the 9th blue dragon army.

Whitestone Orders:
Hold the Westgate Pass and High Clerist Tower at all costs

Dragon Highlord Orders
All remaining forces of the 5th and 6th Blue Flights are thrown against the tower. Assault drops of draconians and dragon lightning will be employed to breach the walls and gain the tower. The dragon Highlord's forces will press the attack unitl 50% of her units are routed or destroyed.



Ok, Dragon breath will easily breach the wall. 0-level men with dragonlances can kill a dragon on the FCT as if they were heroes.

Let's look at a quick battle between 16 units of 3HD Kapak draconians (HF) vs. 14 units of 4 HD rose (AF).

normally HF attacks AF 1 die per 2 men/6 kills, so we would roll:

16d6/6 for the Kapak.

But! Kapak have a Thac0 of 17. This translates to +1 pip.

16d6/5-6 for the Kapak, but lets give this group a leader, so 16d6/4-6 is our new target. Every 8 hits counts as 1 for purposes of killing our 4HD knights. (4 hits for the HDx2 for the heavy foot vs. armored foot)

The 4HD rose knights return the attack. They also have a 17 thac0 and so receive a +1 pip and we'll also give them a leader.

14d6/3-6 kills counting every 3 hits as 1 for purposes of killing our 3HD draconians.

We have 3 units of ogres (HF) (with 5 ogres in MtM--left over from only a partial unit of 20) vs. 10 units of peasants.

Our sad peasants will roll:

10d6/6 counting every 8 hits to kill 1 unit of ogres vs. 3d6/4-6 counting every hit as a killed unit. If a single ogre walked around smashing peasants he would roll on the MtM table weapon vs. armor 2d6+2 for his "to hit" roll and his damage would be 1d6+2 (statistically the same as 1d6x4 or thereabouts).

Lets pit our 2 units of Lord Soth's medium horses (9HD) vs. 14 units of rose medium horse (4HD). Now normally MH vs. MH is xd6/6 vs. xd6/6 but because we have Thac0 11 vs. thac0 17:

2d6/3-6 with every 4th hit killing 1 unit vs. 14d6/5-6 with every 9th hit killing 1 unit.