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Yes, yet another combat resolution mechanic

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Browncoatone
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Joined: 01/15/2011

Two forces, Red and Blue, want control of a strategically valuable location. Blue has 5 generic units in control of the location and Red has dispatched 9 units to take control of it. 5 Blue tokens (dice, chips, whatever), 9 Red tokens and 1 Black token are placed into an opaque bag (or similar functioning device) and the tokens are stirred to everyone's satisfaction. Then a token is pulled from the bag. The color of the token drawn indicates the victor of the battle. In this case a Red token is drawn indicating that the Blue forces have lost control of the strategically valuable location. This token is put back onto the board. The next token pulled is also Red indicating that it also survived the combat. A third token is pulled from the bag and it is also Red and it is also placed back onto the board as a survivor. The next token pulled is Blue indicating that no other Red tokens survived combat. Another Blue token is pulled, followed by the Black token which indicates there are no more surviving units. The two Blue tokens are placed back onto the board in an adjacent zone to where the combat took place indicating where the retreating Blue units regrouped. The remaining tokens in the bag are returned to the respective player's reserves.

So in short (too late I know):

A. Place 1 Black token, X Player 1 tokens & X Player 2 tokens put in a bag.
B. Mix until all parties are satified.
C. Draw a token to determine the battle's winner. If the first token drawn is Black then there are no survivors and the territory becomes uncontrolled.
D. Draw another token if necessary. If it is the color of the already established victor then it also survives combat and is placed with the first token into the recently disputed zone. If it is the loser's color then the victor has no more surviving units and this is the first retreating unit.
E. Continue drawing units until both the victor and the loser have no more survivors. Remember that anytime the Black token is drawn there are no more survivors.
F. Place all the retreating units into an available adjacent zone.
G. Return destroyed units to the player's respective reserves.

Looking for input. What do you like? What do you hate? What would you change?

eiopqrtuwy
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Joined: 02/08/2010
needs some work

The main problem with this system is it strongly encourages spreading thin and lots of small attacks. Just initiating a combat inflicts heavy casualties (~2/3), even with just a single scout. Thus, if my opponent has a territory with 10 units defending, attacking it 4 times with one unit each would be MUCH more effective than attacking once with all 4 units at once. (which is strategically unintuitive)
I feel like Lop-sided battles should have more lop-sided results.

Also like you'll run into a lot of scenarios where the winner of the combat has less survivors than the retreater, which doesn't make much sense either.

In what context to you envision this system being used?
Some additional game mechanics or restrictions might make it a more usable system.

Browncoatone
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Joined: 01/15/2011
Hadn't thought of that. I was

Hadn't thought of that. I was looking at the proportional victory to loss odds and not the casuality probabilities. To answer your question it was for 'Jovian Wars' a light wargame I've had on the back burner for a while. Thanks for the input!

scottbalmes
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Joined: 12/22/2010
Streamline?

When I first read the post, this is how I understood the combat to work:

1. Both players place the troops they wish into the Bag.
2. Add 1 Black Token
3. Mix Well
4. Draw until the Black Token is drawn

The Results:
A. If Black Token Drawn first = Massacre, both sides tie, nobody wins, all troops are lost
B. After Black Token is drawn, the color with the majority of the tokens wins the territory. All tokens of that color drawn are left in the territory. The other color tokens are discarded. All tokens within the bag are lost. (In the event there is a tie between the two colors, draw 1 more token to resolve tie)

To me, that seems a little more streamlined, but playtesting would be required, of course.

Overall, I like the "Bag" concept, but my only thought is the length of time this might add. Rolling dice is quick. This method could lengthen the game and become tedious, depending on how often battles happen. Have you tried it out to see how it works within the game?

Just some thoughts. Cheers.

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