Working on a game you know the drill.
Two main things.
First I'm using opposed 2d10 rolls. Both players roll 2d10 Add bonuses and compare. High roll wins, the margin they win by is compared to a CRT (I think thats the right terminology)
10+ Unit killed: 1%
8-9 Unit Hit:10 %
6-7 Forced retreat 15%
4-5 Hit or Retreat 48%
0-1 No effect 28%
The game covers ancient rome around 100 bc. So I wanted relatively low casualties, and lots of retreats and such.
The percentages given are the general spread for two units of even strength. and apply equally to attacker and defender. (so the attacker has a 5% chance of getting an 8-9 result, as does the defender.) I got the percentages by brute force. I would like to know if there is formula that could help me get percentage chance of results for 2d10+2 Vs 2d10 and such. My probability could be better :)
I like the fat bell curve that 4d10 gives, but is it too cumbersome?
Second: combat set up
Chits have a value on them running from 0-4, with 0 being green concripts up to 4 being Romes professional legionares. All units have two values, a healthy and a wounded. If a unit takes a hit, it flips over to the wounded side. This is generally a 1 point penalty. Another hit kills the unit. So a unit may be a 3 combat value when healthy a 2 when wounded.
When a stack of chits moves into an enemy stack that initates a combat, the person who moved is considered the attacker, though both sides can take damage.
First the defender lays out one of the engaged units in the 'center' If this unit retreat or dies the attackers win, and any other troops remaining retreat.
Then the attacker lays a chit directly against the defenders Center chit. similarly if the attackers center dies or retreats the attack is broken.
Then if the defender has another unit, he puts it to either side of his center, making a Left or Right flank.
Next the attacker lays a flank chit if he has one available.
Then the defender puts down the other flank, followed by the attacker again.
The front is only three chits long. LEFT CENTER AND RIGHT. If there are still more Chits available they may be placed behind any of these positions to replace them if they are killed or retreat.
If there is no opponent on a flank to face, you push that unit up and it is considered 'flanking' the center battle, giving a +1 in your favor.
So a typical battle looks like this. Numidians in Blue, Romans in red.
0,2,1
1,3,2
Combat is resolved for each front, in this case, on the left Rome rolls 2d10+1 agains Numidia's 2d10. Center 2d10+3 against 2d10+2, right 2d10+2 against 2d10+1.
Lets say Rome kills the left flank unit. The second of three rounds looks like this:
1,2,1
X,3,2
The X being an empty space. This next turn Rome gets a +1 flanking bonus for the center battle. The flanking bonus is always +1 regaurdless of unit strength.
All battles must fight the first round of combat. After that either side may retreat, with the attackers declareing first if they are retreating or not.
I guess my questions on this are, is a 3 round limit really needed?
I haven't played many hex and counter wargames, so I don't know lots about them. Am I making any big mistakes? Am I reinventing the wheel when there is an elegant tried and true solution?
Just looking for thoughts comments etc... Apologies on spelling and gramar errors.
I am looking for a middle ground. There aren't a lot of units in the game, so the combat should have some choice point involved in it. But not more than one or two. (in the current system the big decision point is whether to take a hit or retreat.)
So in the combat system, I am looking for light, relatively quick (1-5 min) with 1-2 descision points per combat.