TROIKA MASS BATTLES

This requires a GM still

THE TURN: Draw a token The owner of the token may MOVE and/or ATTACK with one squad. The same squad can not move on consecutive draws unless it is the last squad on that team.

Troop stats: Armour Attack Move Make a little paper chit with the numbers on and an arrow showing facing direction. On the back write the numbers again except attack is 1/2. You flip to this side when you lose a step. The second time you lose a step you are eliminated.

To convert some TROIKA dudes to MASS COMBAT do the following: Determine ATTACK by 1) taking the average of the units SKILL, rounding down 2) multiply by STAMINA divided by 10 Example: The War Pope’s Honour Guard have skill 7 stamina 8. There are 8 of them and they are lead by War Deacon Anthromax (10/10). Add the 8 guards (56) and Anthromax (66) together, divide by 9 equals 7 (7.333, rounded down), take their average stamina of 8 (worked out the same as the last average we did), divide by 10 (0.8) and multiply their SKILL by that to get 5 (5.6, rounded down). SHORT VERSION is AVERAGE SKILL multiplied by AVERAGE STAMINA DIVIDED BY 10, rounding down at every step. Easy. It’s much simpler in homogeneous groups.

“But what if there are 100 guys in one unit and 10 guys in the other?” or “Wouldn’t Anthromax be better off on his own rather than have those other guys weigh him down?” Answer: No. The GM sets a scale and arbitrates. Divide the sides into roughly equivalent sized chunks which are then represented by tokens. 100 vs 1000? 1 token vs 10 tokens. Use the smallest to determine the scale. Stuff individuals into squads. Dragons and godlike beings can optionally be on their own, but the GM can figure out how that works. They might be slightly reduced in potency, to represent the scale, however I think 1 dragon can just as easily kill 100 men as 10.

The GM is supposed to make these chits up. The guide for conversion is just a guide. Add and minus where it makes sense.

Movement depends on the unit. 4 spaces for human sized two legged things. 3 spaces for small two legged things (dwarves and goblins etc) 8 spaces for quick four legged things like horses and dragons.

So that squad of guards will be ATTACK 5 MOVE 4.

Each clear space costs 1 MOVEMENT to enter. +1 cost if it is LIGHT cover +2 cost if it is HEAVY cover

Turning costs 1 movement per facing.

This can be played on either a hex or a square map. If square, diagonals are fine, you just have to turn more frequently.

Fighting uses this table:

Attacker VS Defender, rounding down in all cases. The simplest way to do ratios is to just count up the smaller side into the larger and ignore any remainders. Roll 1d6 and find out what happens.

Die Roll 1:6 1:5 1:4 1:3 1:2 1:1 2:1 3:1 4:1 5:1 6:1
1 AE AE AE AE AL AL x x EX DL DR
2 AE AE AE AL AL x x EX DL DR DE
3 AE AE AL AL x x EX DL DR DE DE
4 AE AL AL x x EX DL DR DE DE DE
5 AL AL x x EX DL DR DE DE DE DE
6 AL x x EX DL DR DE DE DE DE DE

AE = Attacker eliminated AL = Attackers lose one step x = Nothing happens EX = Both sides lose one step DL = Defender loses one step DR = Defender loses one step and retreats DE = Defender eliminated

If a unit is armoured (average armour/2 round down if you’re converting) they get one BONUS SHIFT on the combat results table per armour. UNLESS their opponents are armed with armour piercing weapons, which negate one shift.

SHIFTS are a column shift on the combat results table. Bonus or penalty, left or right. Context should make it obvious which way.

Defenders (only) gain SHIFTS equal to the movement cost of the space they occupy (so, 0, 1 or 2)

A unit is in combat with another if they are adjacent. Combat can be entered and exited at will. When you move adjacent to an enemy token you must stop moving.

—Ranged— At the scale this game assumes, combat includes ranged attacks in the general pile. Artillery is something I’ll add.

—Initiative— Like TROIKA, bag, stack, end of round token etc. Each side needs a COMMANDER. The initiative stack for a side is 1/unit PLUS the INITIATIVE value or GENERALSHIP (or etc.) advanced skill rank (not total) of the commander.

An aside on dragons. If the dragon isnt the commander he isnt getting the full use of his massive initiative. That’s fine. If you’re bossing a dragon around he isnt putting his whole heart into it anyway.

Anyway, draw tokens. Each side share a pool, much like enemies do. The players are working together to win, not as individuals. If they bugger off on their own then they are not in mass combat any more.

—Morale— Check for morale every time the end of round token is drawn. Any unit who are in combat and would be rolling on 1:2 or worse in an attack must test. Roll equal or under a units ATTACK (12 always fails) or else they retreat MOVE minus 1d6 spaces away (minimum 1). If the path of retreat is not obvious the GM decides. Attackers in contact with the unit may PURSUE MOVE minus 1d6. If the retreating unit is surrounded and has no legitimate moves they must make a free attack instead.

Talking of morale, mine is shot. This weekend I spent in the company of some lovely game industry people and fans at a gallery show. Everyone was happy to see me, grateful for me doing a little talk, they were kind, generous with their time, a real sense of community and wholesomeness. I was riding high on mutual respect. Someone there gave me the missing piece of the above mass combat rules (thanks Nicolas), and I put them all together on Sunday ready to take on the week. Monday was admin day, so not much happened there, but today is my last day off until the 30th (good old 10 day work week) and I set it aside to solve a problem and channel these old ideas slotting into place. BUT HEY NO WAY, fuck that, you got shit to do Dan, people are mad, you gotta pretend you control the weather and how fast everything is done.

I won’t bore myself with the details but I think this is it for crowdfunding. I have never felt more disrespected than when I’ve been the go-to person to blame for all of the bad things that happen in a crowdfunding campaign. And I worked in TESCO! Yes, worse than that. Yes, fine, I should be better at everything. But I’m not. Yes, I should have spent our money on admin staff and HR departments rather than making more and better books. But I didn’t.

I’m reading about idealism and it had an interesting thing about Ego. If Mind is the only ontological primitive, then why can’t we reform ourselves at will? Well, this fellow posits, it is because of a self preservation reflex in the Ego. It knows that if it changes too much it is effectively “dead”. The Ego wants to maintain its structure.

Anyway, there is no shortage of great ideas for making our creative lives easier but I feel like no one will like the solutions. We’re stuck exposing ourselves to the gaping maw of Guys On The Internet because we need to pay the bills, monthly, on time. In a lucid moment of rare self respect and calm, I put together the Friends of Melsonia subscription and holy shit it made my life ten times better. A non-toxic relationship with fans. Imagine! It’s almost like crowdfunding is stuffing two cats in a sack and shaking them up.

To be CRYSTAL CLEAR: 99% of people who like our books are lovely. If you’re reading this I STRONGLY doubt you’re in the 1%. But there is an easy test: have you recently communicated directly with me while treating me like a barista who just spat in your coffee while you watched? If no, then we’re cool.

I don’t even begrudge people being angry. I’d love to have that much enthusiasm for a poxy book. I just quietly wait for my things and enjoy them in solitude or with friends. Can you even enjoy a game that got you so upset? I feel like it would be hard.

So. I think the plan from here on out is to make books, offer them as pre-orders, and accept that it might shrink our ability to make money and pay the bills. ’Cos it is not worth this. I have three books almost ready to go and I struggle to maintain enthusiasm for them when I can see a future of snide comments and angry emails if I complete them. YES, again, I should be able to do something to help the situation, but it all feels very much like pulling myself up by my bootstraps. In as much as it’s not possible. Yes, yes, shout at the goose, maybe it’ll lay eggs faster and not just die of a heart attack instead.

TLDR: Troika mass comabat rules & don’t treat Dan with respect it gives him delusions of creativity



Posted on May 20, 2025




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