ND/Mass Combat House Rules

*see also House Rules*

The element consists of Diffuse or Insubstantial elements that are highly resistant to the attacks of most normal combatants. Only other spirits and some highly specialized anti-spirit units can readily defeat them. Examples include elementals, nature spirits, and ghosts.

Spellcaster (Spell)
The element consists of spellcasters and their assistants. Spellcasters perform magic, which can have a wide variety of effects, but can also be countered by other spellcasters. Spells are especially useful for reconnaissance and communication. Spell Superiority is added to Recon contests and counts as C3I superiority when using the Indirect Attack strategy.

### Mobility

Land Mobility
*Wheeled (Wld)*: Elements that move using muscle powered wheels. They are nearly as fasted as Mounted elements on roads but are slower than Foot elements off-road.
### Optional Features

Class-Killer
Some units don't just make it difficult for the other side to use a Special Class; they actively hunt down enemy elements of that Class and destroy them. If a force has elements with Class-Killer and the enemy does not have Class Superiority in that class, then after the battle, the force commander may opt to force the enemy force commander to double the casualty percentage of units with that Class - though the overall casualty rate does not change, so non-class units take fewer casualties. Class-Killer has no effect if the enemy takes no casualties or if all of the enemy force is made up of elements with the affected Class. Only one Class-Killer option can be used per battle.

Fragile
This element is composed of troops who perform poorly under heavy stress. As long as they are part of a winning army, whether on the offense or defense, they act as their training and experience dictate. Should they find themselves losing, they behave much worse than their training and experience would suggest, refusing to move from safe positions on the offense and either refusing to fall back from compromised positions on the defense or retreating too quickly and failing to hold positions. It can also represent units like mindless undead that are difficult to control.

If a force contains at least 20% fragile elements (by percentage of total elements or total TS), then the force commander has an additional -2 penalty to Battle Strategy rolls when choosing the Rally strategy or when rolling after losing the previous round of battle. The penalty is not cumulative.

Hero
To count as a hero, an individual must have a weapon skill of 20+ and either an unencumbered Dodge of 10+ or either a Block or Parry of 14+, without counting shield DB or inherent Parry bonuses for their weapon type. Element type is Bowmen for archers and crossbowmen, Heavy Infantry for most melee fighters, or Light Infantry for slingers, scouts, or spear throwers. Mounted heroes are treated as Horse Archers, Cataphracts, Heavy Cavalry, or Scout Cavalry as appropriate. Heroes with an encumbered Move of 11+ qualify for Mounted mobility and Cv class even if they're on foot.

For a spellcaster to count as a hero, they need 100 points in Sorcerous Empowerment, Divine Favor, or Compartmentalized Mind. Every additional 50 points in those advantages increases the hero's troop quality by one level.

A hero normally has Good equipment quality, but if much of their gear is exceptional, they may qualify for Fine or better equipment.

A hero normally as Average troop quality. A hero with Soldier or Tactics of 12+ is Good quality. Soldier or Tactics of 14+ is required for Crack quality, and Soldier or Tactics of 16+ is required for Elite quality. Heroes with the Recon Special Class need the same values for Observation and Stealth (Riding for cavalry units).

Hero units may have additional Optional Features or Special Classes at the GM's discretion.

PC hero units have reduced maintenance costs: 15% of normal.

Terror (+50% to Raise and Maintain Costs)
This element is composed of troops who are supernaturally scary, such as the undead or monsters with Terror. If your force has elements with Terror and an effective TS of at least half the enemy force, the your force gets a +2 Battle Strategy Modifier on any round when they did not lose or tie the previous round, including the first round.

If more than 10% of the enemy force (by TS or element count) is Impetuous, divide the effective TS of your elements with Terror by 2 before comparing TS to determine if you get the potential battle strategy bonus. Divide by 3 if more than 10% of the enemy force (by TS or element count) is Fanatic, and by 5 if more than 10% of the enemy force (by TS or element count) has Terror or Unfazeable.

Unfazeable (+20% to Raise and Maintain Costs)
This element is composed of troops who are immune to supernatural fear. If at least 10% of your force (by TS or element count) has Fearless, the effectiveness of your opponent's Terror elements is reduced.

### Equipment Quality

There are two new Equipment Quality levels: Spellforged and Super Fine.

* *Spellforged*: This is Very Fine equipment that has been inexpensively created through the use of Divine Forging and similar magic. Spellforged equipment is not magical and is indistinguishable from Very Fine equipment except when raising or re-equipping troops.
* *Super Fine*: This is the most expensive, most state of the art equipment available: magically enchanted gear made from exotic materials to the highest standards of craftsmanship. It gives a +250% bonus to TS, a +400% increase to Raise costs, and a +250% increase to Maintain cost.

### Troop Quality

There are three new Troop Quality levels: Crack, Poor, and Terrible.

* *Crack*: These are troops that would normally be Good quality after they have extensive combat experience, or picked troops that are not seasoned with combat veterans. They have a TS Modifier of +75%, a Raise Modifier of +150% (+75% for Fanatics), and a +30% Maintain Modifier.
* *Poor*: These are troops that aren't quite Average nor Inferior, such as poorly trained conscripts or somewhat inexperienced militia. They have a TS Modifier of -25%, a Raise Modifier of -25%, and a -25% Maintain Modifier.
* *Terrible*: These are soldiers that are worse than Inferior: poorly trained and unenthusiastic conscripts; parade ground armies with corrupt and unprofessional NCOs; and peaceful civilians suddenly given weapons. They have a TS Modifier of -75%, a Raise Modifier of -75%, and a -75% Maintain Modifier. If Terrible troops also have Poor equipment, the combined TS, Raise, and Maintain modifier is only -80%.

### Raising a Force

Taxes and Spending
The Liberation raises money from territory it controls, and can spend it recruiting militia or regular army units, improving its economy, building fortifications, roads, and bridges, or on miscellaneous expenditures. More details are available at the Taxes and Spending page.

Summoning Levies
Levy forces have half normal TS for the first two weeks after they've been called up, as members report for duty, reorganize, and retrain. They are available for combat during this period, but their two months of free service do not start until they are at full TS.

Converting Levies
A normal unit can be converted to a levy, or a levy to a normal unit, by encamping the unit for four weeks and paying 20% of the unit's raise cost. The unit must be encamped within two days travel of the unit's home.

Levies can be retrained or refitted while being converted.

Initial Troop Quality
Every element gets its initial troop quality from the element type and the location it is recruited from. Not all troops can be recruited in all locations and different nations will have better or worse troops based on culture and historical experience.

Raise Time
For simplicity, assume that producing equipment can be spread out everywhere and done in parallel. Equipment quality has no effect on Raise Time, which is 1 week per $10K of base raise cost and then adjusted by the Raise Modifiers for Training Quality and any special features.

Refitting Troops
Elements can be refitted with the captured gear of defeated enemies. This takes one week and can be combined with raising, converting, or training a unit. The unit gets the equipment quality of the defeated enemy. Using captured enemy gear this way reduces the loot from the defeated enemy unit by 80%.

Battlefield Experience
Each time a unit survives a battlefield, it gains 1 experience. It then loses 1 experience if it took more than 40% casualties, half its experience (round the remaining experience down) if it took more than 50% casualties, and all its experience if took more than 75% casualties. A unit with the C modifier loses it when it survives a battle, whether or not it gained experience.

A unit can be retrained to lock in its experience and improve its troop quality by 1 step after earning 2 experience for Terrible, Inferior, Poor, or Average troops. Good troops require 4 experience to raise to Crack; Crack requires 8 to raise to Elite. Retraining takes one week per $10K of the difference in the raise costs of the improved troop and the unimproved troop. Units with more experience are cheaper to retrain: each extra point of experience reduces the cost by 20%, to a minimum of 0. The retraining time is based on the adjust cost, but can't be reduced below the lower of four weeks or the normal time to raise the unit. A unit cannot move or fight in any battles while it is being retrained, and if it moves or fights in a battle, an entire week of training needs to be redone.

A very experienced unit can improve its quality by multiple steps at once instead of reducing the cost of training. It takes x5 experience to raise the quality by two steps or x10 to raise it by three.

Recovering Dispersed Troops
The losing side in a battle permanently loses half of its total casualties as fatalities, and the remainder lose their equipment and flee (MC 38). These dispersed troops can be rounded up and pressed back into service.

Immediately after the battle, treat the troops as having Poor Equipment and Terrible quality, regardless of their initial troop quality. They also have the Fragile feature. It takes two weeks of reforming to return them to their original troop qualities levels, and they must be maintained at the higher rate for their original troop quality while reforming. They do not lose the Fragile feature. If they gain battlefield experience and are retrained to a higher quality, they lose the Fragile feature at the end of the retraining.

Alternately, dispersed troops may be sent back to training, as though they were being raised from scratch. This takes the normal time but is 25% cheaper as the troops already know something. Dispersed troops raised from scratch lose any battlefield experience and the Fragile feature.

### The Logistics Force

Maintaining a Force
To simplify bookkeeping, Administration cannot be used to increase or reduce the cost of maintaining forces.

Units that are basically stationary (no movement beyond daily patrols or 8 days of movement in a month that stays within friendly territory) in friendly territory have 1/2 their normal maintenance costs and require 1/2 their normal LS. Units that are training or acting as instructors cannot be maintained at half cost.

Units that are more than 100 miles via road, 50 miles off-road, or 1000 miles via coasts or rivers from friendly territory have 2x their normal maintenance costs and require 2x their normal LS.

Levy troops require no logistics force while operating within two days of their home base.

Mercenary troops have a higher maintenance cost than similar non-mercenary troops, but don't require extra LS for that cost.

A unit's maintenance cost is determined by the worst modifier for the month: a unit that spends 2 days outside of friendly territory costs double to maintain, even if it is stationary in friendly territory for the rest of the month.

Campaign Season
The campaign season is four months long, covering August, September, October, and November.

Force Replacements
Troop quality is determined by training and culture and all new troops are raised at the appropriate quality level. If an army has created higher quality troops through battlefield experience, it may not be able to raise fresh units of the same quality to act as replacements. Adding lesser quality troops to a high quality unit generally lowers the quality of the high quality unit, but there are ways to get around it.

#### Field Merges

At any time, two or more units with the same element type and gear quality can be merged. If the new unit is more than 11% larger than the largest unit in the merge, the new unit has training quality equal to the average, rounded down, of the unweighted TS modifiers of all the merging units' training qualities and battlefield experience equal to the lowest battlefield experience of the merging units, along with the C modifier. Field merges takes no time.

If any of the units involved in a field merge have the C modifier, the new unit is automatically treated as being more than 11% larger than the largest unit.

#### Reinforcement by Militia and Resistance Poaching

A Liberation Army unit can quickly recover casualties and train a limited number of reinforcements by absorbing local Resistance units or skilled members of the local militia. The unit can increase its size by up to 11% this way without diluting training quality or battlefield experience. It must pay the full price of the new elements as though it was raising them, but the raise time is only two weeks, regardless of the quality of the units. The reinforced unit adds the C modifier to its battlefield experience and a unit with the C modifier cannot reinforce through poaching.

No unit can reinforce by poaching unless the Liberation is capable of raising a unit of that type. No unit can reinforce by poaching if the Liberation has already recruited more than 10% of the maximum available recruits, as all the likely candidates for poaching are already in service.

#### Cadres

A unit can absorb more reinforcements if it is given time to absorb them and train them to the unit's standards. A unit can take up to 60% of its size in lower quality reinforcements without losing quality (and indeed, raising the quality of the reinforcements) by taking four weeks to train with them. This training is expensive (pay the cost to raise the quality of the reinforcements normally) but is an easy way to quickly produce a high quality unit. The reinforced unit sets its battlefield experience to 0C. No unit with a C modifier to battlefield experience can participate in a cadre, either absorbing or providing reinforcements. The reinforcements cannot have a training quality more than three levels worse than the cadre unit (ie, elites need average reinforcements and can't cadre poor or worse troops).

Units acting as cadres and absorbing reinforcements cannot move or fight in any battles and must repeat the full week of training if they do move or fight in a battle. The reinforcements are keep their lower quality until the training with the cadre unit is complete.

#### Instructors

A high quality unit can be used as instructors to improve the quality of newly raised troops. Each element assigned to act as an instructor can train ten elements to its quality. Raising new elements with instructors has the normal cost of raising a new element of the appropriate quality. Instructors don't save money, they just allow veteran units to raise better units than a nation's normal training programs.

Elements acting as instructors cannot move or fight in any battles and must repeat the full week of training if they do move or fight in a battle. Elements in the process of being raised do not exist for mass combat purposes until their training is complete.

## Elements

Unit costs and values have been changed. The spreadsheet is authoritative.

Most noticeably, Heavy Infantry have TS 5. Also, flying units are generally much cheaper to raise and maintain.

Racial variants of some units (Kobold Miners, Dynfarch cavalry) are on the list. These are usually a standard element type (ie, Miners or Cataphracts) with some standard special features (ie, Fragile or Terrain Adaption: Forest) and broken out to make it simpler to remember the special features and get the costs right.

Light and Heavy Chariots have been removed. Cavalry has been reorganized into several different types:

* Cataphracts are heavily armored and armed horseman, trained to fight with bow and melee weapons. They have TS 3 Cav Fire.
* Heavy Cavalry are heavily armored and armed horsemen, trained to fight as shock troops. They have TS 5 Cav.
* Horse Archers are lightly armored horseman, trained to scout or fight with bows. They have TS 2 Cav Fire Rec.
* Light Cavalry are lightly armored horseman, armed with small bows or crossbows. They fight at range but don't have Horse Archers' skill at scouting. They have TS 2 Cav Fire.
* Scout Cavalry are lightly armored horsemen, armed with javelins and other light weapons. They fight as skirmishers and excel at scouting and raiding. They have TS 2 Cav Rec.

Mages have also been reorganized slightly. All mage units are either Black (violating the Laws of Magic and subject to Corruption) or White (staying within the Laws and slightly less powerful). All mages are available in Flying (add Air, Slow Air mobility) and Cavalry (add Cv, Mounted mobility) versions.

* Black Arch Mages are extremely skilled wizards or exalted priests of dark gods with access to a huge variety of spells. They are very rare and only a few nations can recruit them. They are TS 5 Art F Rec Spell (Arm), Raise $400K.
* White Arch Mages are TS 5 Rec Spell (Arm) (Art) (F) (Insub).
* Black Mages are corrupt mages or priests who serve dark gods. They violate the Laws of Magic in exchange for more power. They have TS 4 Art Spell (Arm).
* Death Mages are Black mages who devote most of their power and energy to summoning and controlling undead. They have TS (2) Spell (Arm).
* White Mages are priests and mages who adhere to the Laws of Magic. They have TS 3 Spell (Arm).
* Archmages is a legacy name for Black Arch Mages. Battle Mages and Support Mages are legacy names for White Mages. Orc Battle Mages and Orc Support Mages are legacy names for Orc Black Mages.

### New Units

Exorcists have TS 3 (Insub) Insub-Killer. This represents medium infantry with special abilities and equipment to defeat insubstantial enemies, and are often but not always priests or mages.

Scryguard are Light Infantry with (Art) (C3I) (Spell) Mage-Killer. They are specially trained and magic resistance squads of assassins that target opposed spellcasters.

Shieldbreakers have TS 5 Eng (Arm). They are supernatural troops with enough strength to break through heavy armor or act as improvised field engineering devices.

Ultraheavy Infantry are large, physically powerful infantry in extremely heavy armor and carrying armor-piercing weapons. They have TS 5, Arm. Ultraheavy Pikemen with TS 5 Arm (Cv) and Ultraheavy Cavalry with TS 5 Arm Cv are also available but require special mounts.

Divine Servitors, Demons, and the Undead
Elements of divine servitors start at TS 2 with Foot mobility. Depending on their divine elements, they get additional bonuses. In most cases, doubling a divine element gives the basic bonus twice, but a few divine elements have different bonuses when doubled. Divine Servitors cannot be raised normally by spending time and money, but must be summoned.

*TS +1*: Disease, Nature, War
*TS +1, 2 elements of P/I zombies*: Death (no bonus for double Death)
*TS +1, Fire*: Fire
*TS +1, Recon*: double Nature
*TS +1, Neutralize Fire*: Air, double Disease, Earth, double Light, Peace, double Water
*TS +1, ~~Neutralize C3I~~Neutralize Spell*: Chaos
*Air, Slow Air Mobility*: Winged
*C3I*: double Order
*Nav*: Water
*Nav, Neutralize Fire*: double Water
*Recon*: double Life, Order, Wisdom
*T1*: Travel
*Neutralize Recon*: Beauty, Deception, Fear
*Night, Neutralize Recon*: Darkness, Light
*Terror, Neutralize Recon*: double Fear
*T1, Mounted Mobility*: double Travel.
*Remove 4 TS of casualties*: Life
Demons, including Imps, are flying units of some sort. Demonic units may be raised by Summoning, but they are usually raised as normal troops with time and money (representing the rituals and contracts necessary to bring them into the world and bind them to service). Normally raised demonic units are raised in 1/4th the time at no extra money cost.

All undead units have the Fragile, Night, and Terror special abilities. Corporeal undead are usually Beasts, Flying Beasts, or Medium Infantry. Non-corporeal undead are always Insubstantial. Undead units need Death Mages to control them in battle. Undead units may be summoned, but are usually raised as normal troops with time and money.

## Fighting

### Forces in Motion

Wheeled units move at 25 miles/day on roads or 8 miles/day off-road.

Forced Marches and No Security Movement each give +50% movement speed and are cumulative with each other. Imperial Highways give +25% movement speed for Forced Marches and No Security Movement, but the bonus is not cumulative.

Large civilians forces move at 2/3rds speed in all circumstances and are assumed to use No Security Movement to achieve normal movement speeds. This mostly applies to supply caravans and the logistics Force.

Message couriers in safe territory perform Forced Marches with No Security Movement for double speed (60 miles/day for cavalry or 40 miles/day for foot couriers).

Individual Hero elements and small groups of Hero elements can use the normal GURPS Hiking rules if they're really in a hurry.

### Reconnaissance Operations

A unit's spotting range is 5 miles for foot mobility, 10 miles for light infantry or mounted mobility, 15 miles for light cavalry, 75 miles for slow air mobility, and up to 100 miles for specialized magic abilities. A unit is aware of any enemy force within its spotting range and has a very approximate idea of its size from counting banners or flags.

Reconnaissance Contests occur when the faster force is within 1/4th its base movement rate in the current terrain of the slower force.

### Element Commanders

A PC attached to an element may increase its quality for the duration of one battle (including the reconnaissance contest) by succeeding in a Leadership roll. Critical success increases quality two levels and critical failure reduces it by one level.

NPCs, including Allies and opposing commanders, can not do this.

### Defense Bonuses

An encamped force may always claim a Defense Bonus unless it is at the No Security Posture, even if it doesn't have initiative in a pitched battle or isn't bunkered during an encounter battle.

A force performing a Fighting Retreat, Full Retreat, Raid or Skirmish may claim half its normal Defense Bonus.

### Ambushes

Ambushers only benefit from defensive bonuses without taking a defense strategy on the first round of combat. On subsequent rounds, they must take a defense strategy to get a defense bonus.

### Battle Round Time

The length of a battle round depends on the overall number of elements in the smaller force, including all fronts and reserves, per the following table:

A force that holds the field after winning a battle must spend a full normal length round, based on its number of elements, to get the benefits of holding the field. This is separate from resting or looting the field.

### Battle Strategy Predictions

When choosing a Battle Strategy, a commander must also secretly record three battle strategies. One of these strategies is the one he predicts the enemy commander to choose and the other two are options he predicts the enemy commander will not choose (and cannot be Parley or Retreat strategies, or strategies that a defensive force in a siege cannot choose if the the enemy commander is defending in a siege). If he correctly predicts the enemy strategy, he gets a +1 on his Battle Strategy roll, and if the enemy chooses a strategy that he predicted they would not choose, he gets a -1 on his Battle Strategy roll.

If either side initially choose a Deliberate strategy and then the other side switched, or if both sides chose Defense strategies and were changed to Skirmish, they do not change or reveal the predictions until the final strategy is established. Predictions are only compared to the final strategy.

It is possible for both commands to correctly predict each other's strategies, and cancel out the bonuses, or for both to surprise each other, and cancel out the penalties.

### Maximum Class Bonuses

The bonus to Battle Strategy from special classes is limited by the number of available troops, either friendly troops to employ them or enemy troops to use them on. Total Battle Strategy bonus from special classes is capped at the maximum of 6, friendly TS bonus, or enemy TS bonus.

### Risk Modifier

Commander do not add their Risk Modifier to their Battle Strategy roll. They may attempt significant actions like anyone else.

### New Battle Strategies

Attack
*Swarm*: Advance in mass, with intent to swamp your opponent in numbers. You get a +1 Battle Strategy bonus if you have at least twice as many elements as your foe, +2 if you have at least three times as many elements, or +3 if you have at least five times as many elements, and another +1 if you have Cavalry superiority. However, your foe gets an additional +1 each for having Cavalry or Artillery superiority.
### Multiple PC Commanders

In order to make things as entertaining as possible for the players, if there are multiple PC commanders at a battle, each PC will be given full responsibility for a portion of the battle. The single PC general is responsible for maneuvering the forces into contact with the enemy and the reconnaissance contest, though a different PC can perform the maneuvering from the one who rolls in the contest.

After the reconnaissance contest is resolved, the actual battle is resolved as a series of smaller bottles. These battles are called fronts and each PC commander participating in the battle has his own front.

Separating Forces into Fronts and Reserves
A commander has a Command Limit of Strategy x10 elements, and can command up to Command Limit elements without penalty. Each additional Strategy x2 elements, or part of that, gives a -1 penalty to Battle Strategy.

A senior commander can give a +1 Strategy bonus to any subordinate with a lower Strategy skill. He can give this bonus to up Command Limit / 4 (round down) subordinates, including subordinates' subordinates. Each additional subordinate commander reduces the by 1, and thus more than 1 extra commander gives a -1 penalty. Each subordinate commander can only get a +1 bonus, no matter how many senior commanders with higher Strategy are above him. All forces fighting on the same side must be under a single senior commander and cannot act independently - the Strategy penalty represents the difficulty in co-ordinating multiple units, and if the units aren't responding to the senior commander, that makes things harder, not easier.

Each front contains a commander, any prominent PCs or NPCs attached to his command, and some number of troops. The PCs should create their fronts first and the GM will create an equal number of fronts and assign troops to them. Should it matter (because of lop-sided troops or class specials or whatever), the side that won the Recon contest can decide which of their fronts is opposed by a given enemy front.

Any number of troops may be placed in a reserve; they do not count against any commander's Command Limit but do not take part in the battle until they are transferred out of the reserve and into a front in between rounds.

As long as there are troops in fronts facing the opposing force, any troops in the reserve can permanently withdraw from the battlefield. The decision to withdraw reserve troops from the battlefield must be declared at the start of the round but does not take place until the end of the round. If all friendly fronts have collapsed and the enemy can pursue, the withdrawing reserve troops are subject to the effects of any pursuit; otherwise, they withdraw without suffering additional casualties.

Fighting the Battles
The length of the battle round is determined by the total forces of the smaller side in the battle, not the smallest force in any given front.

Aside from that, each front is its own separate battle, and decisions made in one battle do not directly effect other fronts. It is possible for a PC commander to win an overwhelming victory and wrack up +8 in PB on one front while an allied commander is slowly losing ground in another front.

Transferring Troops and Collapsed Fronts
After any round of battle, troops can be transferred between fronts freely. If less than a quarter of the front's previous round's TS is added or transferred to another front, the front's casualties do not change. Otherwise, average the front's casualties with the casualty value of the front of the new troop's came from. The PB does not change.

Troops can also be transferred into or out of the reserve. Moving troops from a front to the reserves requires the front commander to make Leadership roll, at -1 per -10% casualties suffered and an additional penalty equal to the enemy PB. On failure, the front is Confused on the next round and can only choose the Rally or Full Retreat strategies. On success, the troops move to the reserve, which counts as a Retreat for casualty purposes. Moving troops from the reserves to the front requires the same Leadership roll with same effect, and a front that transfers some troops into the reserves and replaces them with troops moving from the reserves to the front only makes one Leadership roll. Troops moved from the reserve into a front are treated as troops moving from another front for casualty purposes, but reserves usually have 0% casualties so rotating troops in and out of the reserves is usually more helpful than transferring them between fronts.

Hero elements, PCs, and significant NPCs can move freely between fronts and the reserves. If only hero elements or significant PCs and NPCs move to or from the reserve, the front commander does not need to make a Leadership roll and the front cannot become confused.

After all troops and hero elements are transferred to a front, recalculate TS and special class bonuses based on the current troops in the front, regardless of their casualties. Casualties still give a -1 penalty on the Battle Strategy roll per 5% casualties.

A front is collapsed if it has taken 100% casualties, or has won or tied after choosing the Fighting Retreat strategy, or has completed a Full Retreat strategy. An enemy with a collapsed front MUST reinforce it with fresh troops, since there's still a PC that needs to fight. The reinforcing troops calculate casualties and PB normally, but reinforcing a front with troops from the reserves doesn't require a Leadership test. A PC with a collapsed front can either get reinforcements, using the above rules, or sit out the rest of the battle in which case any enemy troops in his former front can be moved to other fronts. If a front collapses from casualties before it successfully retreats and there are troops available in the reserves, enough of those troops must be moved from the reserve and other fronts to the front to reduce the casualties below 100% if possible.

If all of a forces' fronts are collapsed at the end of round because of retreats, or because of casualties and there aren't sufficient reserve troops to reduce each front's casualties below 100% in the next round, the force has been defeated and the enemy force is victorious and must make the decision to pursue or hold the field.

It is legitimate to have multiple fronts Retreat while one front remains fighting a rear guard action to hold up pursuit. This is generally pretty rough on the troops fighting the rear guard.

Parley
Any commander on any front may start a Parley, but the Parley only occurs if all commanders on all fronts agree to it. If a Parley attempt fails, only the commander who started the Parley takes the penalized Defense strategy, not all commanders on his side.

Sieges
In a multifront siege, some fronts may be involved in Deliberate Attacks against Deliberate Defenses (called "siegework") while other fronts may choose different strategies (called "activity"). Split each siegework battle round into 6 segmented battle rounds during which activity can take place on other fronts. Roll for the siegework battle strategies at the end of the 4th segmented round. Other fronts may not choose Deliberate strategies after the third segment, as there is no longer time to act deliberately.

### Additional Options During Sieges

Fortifications have outer defenses that are weaker defenses outside the main fortification. These represent picket lines, observation posts, improvised defenses, and the like, and have half the effective DB (rounded up) of the fortification when held by the defender or half the DB (rounded up) -1 when held by the besieger.

A force encamped and patrolling, but not bunkered, at a fortification can choose to hold the outer defenses if they win the Reconnaissance Contest against an approaching besieger. The battle is is an encounter battle, though Artillery, Cavalry, and Engineering elements treat it as a siege and each round is six times as long, like a siege. The encamped force gets DB of the outer works and may use any strategy legal in an encounter battle.

If the besieger force accumulates PB more than half the DB of the outer defenses, the encamped force is forced to abandon the outer defenses and moves into the full fortification. If the encamped force chooses a Mobile Defense, it falls back into the fortification. If the encamped force chooses a Fighting Retreat or Full Retreat, it can retreat either into the fortifications and continue the fight or away from them, ending the battle. When the encamped force abandons the outer defenses for any reason, the opposing force occupies them and may use their DB when defending on subsequent rounds. All battle rounds after the encamped force abandons the outer defenses are standard siege battle rounds, not encounter battle rounds.

Holding the outer defenses is mostly useful for achieving surprise (MC 30), to force an enemy to fight instead of avoiding a fortification, or to spoil an enemy force's ability to set up Deliberate Attacks.

In a multifront battle, if one or more fronts are holding the outer works while other fronts have moved into the fortification, enemy fronts facing the fronts inside the fortification may choose to attack the fronts holding the outer works instead of engaging the fronts in the fortification. The fronts inside the fortification may force force the opposing front to engage them by choosing the Raid strategy (and if they do so, the opposing front suffers a -2 Strategy modifier).

A besieged force inside its fortification may attempt to regain the outer defenses. To do to so, they must attack and may use any attack strategy. The opposing force gets the DB of the outer defenses, even if it chose an attack strategy that round. The besieged force must have PB after attacking to regain the outer defenses; otherwise it is outside the fortification but not in control of the outer defenses. It only gets only 1/2 the outer defenses' DB on subsequent rounds until it returns to the fortress or regains control of the outer defenses. The besieging force may use the outer defenses' DB on as long as they control them.

A besieging force that wins or ties initiative in the Reconnaissance contest may choose not to battle the encamped force, but instead make a camp of its own out of combat range of the fortress. Either side may initiate a battle at any time: the defenders can launch raids or attacks from the outer defenses or the besieging force can launch an attack; in either case, the resulting battle is pitched. Until a battle starts, either side can leave at any time: the encamped force can abandon the fortification and the besieging force can just move away. Both sides can receive reinforcements or supplies at any time. Approaching or departing forces are visible to the opposed force unless the moving force wins a Reconnaissance Contest by a sufficient margin to achieve surprise. Either side may attempt to intercept any movement by an opposing side that they are aware of.

### Victory?

If both sides choose Retreat strategies on the same round, both sides lose for the purpose of determining casualties, pursuit, and holding the field. Neither side can loot the battlefield until one of them returns to the battlefield.

Retreating forces move 1/4 their normal daily movement away from the enemy.

### Casualties

A force that chooses a Retreat strategy (Fighting Withdrawal or Full Retreat) while it is at 40% casualties or less halves its casualties after the fight, including casualties sustained during the retreat, but not including bonus casualties from any desperate strategy used during the retreat or casualties from enemy pursuit. A commander still needs to win the battle and hold the field to take advantage of Triage Focus.

### Misfortunes of War

Injury caused by Misfortunes of War is assumed to be the remainder after quick magical healing was applied. Forces in Low Maintenance due to lack of supplies or fighting in Twisted or Low Mana Zones take an +50% injury from Misfortunes of War; forces fighting in No Mana zones or in No Maintenance due to lack of supplies take double injury from Misfortunes of War.

### Looting

Looting a battlefield takes a a total number of element-hours equal to the total of the initial number of elements in both forces, multiplied the worst post-pursuit casualty rate, multiplied by the normal round length for the size of the combined forces. The total value of the loot is the sum of 20% of the raise value of each force, multiplied by that force's effective casualty rate. Each element devoted to looting a battlefield produces one element-hour of work for every hour spent looting and recovers a proportional amount of the total loot to the work done.

Unlooted or partially looted battlefields will be looted by other scavengers such as local peasants, at a GM defined rate, but roughly 2d% of the value is lost per day. Friendly civilians in an already controlled territory can be hired to salvage a battlefield. They complete the job in a week but take 30% of the value of the loot in payment.

Recovered loot has to be sent to a friendly population center via a supply caravan. Supply caravans are normally sent on a daily basis, but whoever is overseeing loot operations can opt to send them less frequently in order to provide stronger escorts or whatever.