Rules Development: Units

[LidlessEye]

As a few of you already aware, I’ve been working on a supplemental rules set that will, among other things, add a mass combat dynamic to Strange Aeons.  This isn’t really practical for conventional games, but opens the door to having an enormous Threshold task force take on an army of Serpentmen, or an Innsmouth vs. Dunwich mega-battle, if that’s what you happen to feel like doing.  I just about have the rules in beta test condition, but there’s one aspect that’s proving a bit more challenging: Units - how to effectively lump models together into larger groups in order to simplify command and combat.

So, what I’d like to do is bounce what I have at present off all of you and see what suggestions you might have for refinement.  Please give these a read, and hopefully a trial run, and let me know what works and doesn’t work.  Remember, these rules are NOT meant to be used in conventional games of Strange Aeons or Kulten, so you’re just testing big fights with lots of models.  That may seem a little odd, but trust me, there'll be some exciting new toys coming that will require this sort of scale....

Units
Models of the same profile can be grouped into Units of 2-5 models.  A complete Unit may be activated with a single ‘nomination’, and may be ‘nominated’ by a model with Command provided at least one model in the Unit is in range.  All models in the unit must take the same two Actions, though targets of Charges, Shooting attacks and Spells may be selected individually.  Any model in a Unit may also elect to take no Action at any time if the Unit’s selected Action would be of no benefit to it (eg. two models within a unit worship at an Obelisk, but the other three models are not in base-to-base with the Obelisk and cannot use it).

In order to streamline gameplay (and avoid a lot of potential confusion) all models in a Unit need to be identical – no variations in stats, gear or abilities.  Spells are rolled for as a Unit, and all models are equipped with the Spell rolled or purchased.

CHALLENGE: I don’t like having to restrict this, but it seems a necessary evil, else you’re still in a position of having to resolve each model’s attacks individually.

Unit Cohesion
In order to remain effective as a team, models within a Unit can’t get too far away from each other.  Each model must remain within 4” of another unit member to maintain cohesion.  When out of cohesion, a model may execute only Move Actions until cohesion is restored: this is the only instance in which a model may take a different Action than other models in the Unit.

Damage & Suppression
The owner of the Unit may choose to assign Wounds to any Unit member of their choice, with the restriction that all Wounds from a single attack must be assigned to a single model until it is reduced to 0 Wounds, at which point any additional Wounds from the attack may be assigned to a different model in the Unit (ie. if a Unit of 2-Wound models is assessed 3 Wounds, 2 Wounds must be assigned to one model, and one to another – you may NOT assign one Wound each to three different models).

A unit member reduced to 0 Wounds rolls on the Injury Table as usual.  Should a model be rendered non-Normal (ie. Face Up or Face Down), the entire unit is considered Suppressed, and may only take Change State Actions until all members of the unit are returned to Normal.  Injured models are removed from play (and the Unit).  Human models that find themselves as the last surviving model of a unit must take a Resolve test to overcome the loss of their comrades.

Fighting in Close Combat
Units fighting in melee fight as a unit rather than as individuals, and make a single roll ‘to hit’ against their opponent.  Roll dice equal to the combined Attacks characteristics of all models currently in cohesion.  Other friendly models in the same combat (but not the same Unit) will provide an additional D6 as normal, while Friendly Units add 1D6 per model in Cohesion.

CHALLENGE:  I want to make sure Units and Mobs retain some differentiation, and have strongly considered reducing the number of Attacks a Unit receives.  One approach is to only use one model’s Attacks and add 1D6 per other Unit member, but that seems unfair to Units of models with more than one Attack (eg. a Unit of Conglomerates would only have two more Attacks than a Unit of Cultists!).  Alternatively, some sort of formula would be required, which seems like it would just add complication and slow down gameplay.

Targeting
Shooting Attacks need only be able to target a single model within a Unit, and may select which model to target if multiple options are available (ie. if all but one model of a Unit is in cover, the model in the open may be targeted, thereby eliminating cover saves).

Spells that require a target model must always select that model individually, even if it is within a Unit, and will only ever affect a single target (ie. all damage from Sinister Energies would be assessed against a single target model, even if the Spell inflicts more Wounds that the target model possesses).

Units & Command
Regardless of the number of models in a Unit that have the Command or Lieutenant skill, only one model within the Unit may be selected to use it on any given Turn.  Too many voices shouting out orders will only lead to chaos!

Summoned Models and Profile Upgrades
Beings summoned by use of unique abilities or Spells, or models purchased as upgrades to other profiles (such as Familiars), are not considered independent Lurkers and may therefore be included within the same Unit as their ‘parent’.  Such Units may contain 2-5 of the base ‘parent’ profile and any number of summoned models/upgrades.  For example, a unit of Witches may contain any number of Familiars.

Variable and Periodic Abilities/Conditions
Some models have abilities or characteristics that will vary from Action to Action, such Stupidity or a Fishman’s Movement.  All such conditions are rolled for once by the Unit wherever feasible, rather than for each individual model.

[pacarat]

re combat:  "Roll dice equal to the combines Attacks characteristics of all models currently out of cohesion. "

This seems contrary to : "When out of cohesion, a model may execute only Move Actions until cohesion is restored"

Hmmm....should this read "all models currently not out of cohesion"? Makes no sense (to me) as written above.

But hey, I could be missing something...

[LidlessEye]

No, you're absolutely right.  I had it written as "Exclude all models not in cohesion", then combined two sentences and failed to correct it to positive rather than a negative.  I've edited the original text to read correctly.  Thanks for spotting that.

[Baconfat]

I really the Unit idea!  This will be nice for the occasional larger game with more than a few players.  It'll be good for conventions when one is showing off Strange Aeons.

[pacarat]

FWIW... Another comment on supression:

"Should a model be rendered non-Normal (ie. Face Up or Face Down), the entire unit is considered Suppressed, and may only take Change State Actions until all members of the unit are returned to Normal."

Seems extreme for one fig's staus to affect whole unit. Would incentive then be to have smaller units?

[EndTransmission]

Seems extreme for one fig's staus to affect whole unit. Would incentive then be to have smaller units?

Alternatively, allow larger units to recover from the effect more easily than small units, then you have the option of multiple small units that will not have as big an effect on the overall force when suppressed, or larger units that can recover faster and take more damage.

[pacarat]

Yep, that might work.

Another option is to do a ratio of figs - if max unit size is say five figs, then have suppression in effect when three or more figs are non-normal (i.e., >50%). Then incentive would be to have larger units...

[LidlessEye]

I see where you guys are coming from here.  The objective to keep Units very different from Mobs led me to not want to adopt the mechanic of dragging along downed models, but there's no reason a Unit with a casualty shouldn't be able to press on and keep fighting, though it may mean leaving a comrade vulnerable and out of cohesion.

How about this: Units are allowed to take any Actions they choose so long as at least half the models in the Unit (rounding up) remain Normal.  When over half the models are non-Normal, the Unit is considered suppressed and may take no Actions other than Change States until all models in the Unit have returned to Normal.  In non-suppressed Units, models rendered Face Up or Face Down are always permitted to take Change State Actions regardless of the Action selected by the Unit, even if they remain in cohesion.

Also realized I need to address Psychology in relation to Units.  For now, assume they take a single test based on the best Resolve in the Unit, and a single roll on the Insanity Table should the test be failed.  Units that haven't taken casualties should probably benefit from some sort of bonus due to morale (say, -1 to Resolve), but that should only apply to tests induced by game events (nearby deaths, etc) and not casting Spells or other such effects.

[pacarat]

I see where you guys are coming from here.  The objective to keep Units very different from Mobs led me to not want to adopt the mechanic of dragging along downed models, but there's no reason a Unit with a casualty shouldn't be able to press on and keep fighting, though it may mean leaving a comrade vulnerable and out of cohesion.

How about this: Units are allowed to take any Actions they choose so long as at least half the models in the Unit (rounding up) remain Normal.  When over half the models are non-Normal, the Unit is considered suppressed and may take no Actions other than Change States until all models in the Unit have returned to Normal.  In non-suppressed Units, models rendered Face Up or Face Down are always permitted to take Change State Actions regardless of the Action selected by the Unit, even if they remain in cohesion.

Also realized I need to address Psychology in relation to Units.  For now, assume they take a single test based on the best Resolve in the Unit, and a single roll on the Insanity Table should the test be failed.  Units that haven't taken casualties should probably benefit from some sort of bonus due to morale (say, -1 to Resolve), but that should only apply to tests induced by game events (nearby deaths, etc) and not casting Spells or other such effects.

Much better. One more suggestion, though...

change :
"When over half the models are non-Normal, the Unit is considered suppressed and may take no Actions other than Change States until all models in the Unit have returned to Normal. "

to:
"When over half the models are non-Normal, the Unit is considered suppressed and may take no Actions other than Change States. Once [at least / more than] half  the models have returned to normal, the unit may perform "the usual permitted/allowed/normal/available*" Actions."

(*not sure what your exact term might be for the set of Actions available to a unit).

IMO, this logic makes sense, and points to a single "tipping point" wrt ratio of normal/non-normal figs within a unit.

[Mathyoo]

This sounds great for larger monster hunts - it will certainly help with all the villagers that Threshold have recruited for their hunt on a specially mean monster! 

[forcedperfect]

this is a great idea!  i've actually been playing around with the USE-ME eldritch horror rules for bigger engagements based on escalations from our SA game, it'd be a lot of fun to be able to keep using the same core rules for the occasional bigger-scaled fight! 

[Argonor]

You're an evil, evil man....