Raid Action
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:19 am
The original published rules do not have rules for raiding. From my perspective previous versions of raid were used to force units into lopsided battles without a chance for reinforcements (Especially naval). Leading to changes and the current version primarily used for loyalty hits rather than wealth accumulation.(superior to agitate in almost every way, especially when combined with a successful Espionage Theft.)
Resource raiding was added to this version, was it even used?
I have never been a fan of the action being a zero-sum proposal. Real pillaging a province does not rob a regent's treasury, I don't see how raid should do anything except maybe impact the taxes for the next season. It makes little sense to me, that loyalty drops if the treasury is being raided and not the populous. It makes little sense that the regent's treasury is emptied if it is the populous losing their wealth.
I would propose eliminating Raid as an action, and replaced with an additional option for Declare War, and Warfare Adventures.
1) Declare War
The declare war modifications allow for chevauchée tactics used to reduce resources available to the enemy and undermine the loyalty a support from their own lands. A raiding tactic used to draw the enemy out of their fortifications to engage in battle. It allows for quicker hit an run tactics to damage opponents without the need for thoroughly occupying then pillaging the entire province or holding.
Units can spend war moves to raid a target holding. This allows for a free contest action against unfortified holds, using the number of units using their war move as a modifier for the action.
Units can spend war moves to plunder a province reducing its loyalty and performing a light taxation on the province (less 1 GB per level of Castle). Any GB received in this matter reduces the amount received from the next collection of tax, or pillaging whichever is first. A province can be plundered once per season.
A plundered province would a lose loyalty, but not a second time if occupied.
*** In case I needed clarification, if the holding and province is being actively defended by a garrison they would need to be defeated before undertaking this action.
2) For those pursuing Viking style raids in search of wealth and glory, might be better represented as an adventure-style action. Balance and modifiers might need to be tweaked for hits to make this viable, given most units are destroyed by 3 hits. Perhaps the introduction of unit-level 'advanced potions' or magic banner/pennants might be introduced for this purpose.
Adventure Raid:
EPL = APL + Average Tier + ( 1 per unit type) + (1 per unit) + 2 (Potion of Warfare) + NWP Bonus
Hits
+1 hit per defending unit garrisoned in the province
+1 hit per terrain appropriate defending unit
-1 hit Healing NWP
-1 Hit Herbalism NWP
Stone skin potion reduces hits assigned to adventurers only.
Standard: Exploding D6
Treasure Roll
-1 per level of Castle fortification
-1/2 level of holding fortification
APL = Average Party Level is calculated as usual.
Standard GB & RP
Standard No Magic Items
If would otherwise roll for:
Minor item: Targeted province loses loyalty DC = 10 + Province + Law - GB&RP rewarded
Major: 2d6 2-4 Matter of Justice, 5-7 Great Captain, 8-10 Brigands, 11-12 Diplomatic Incident
Great: 2d6 2 Regent Captured 3-5 Lt captured 6-8 Important NPC captured (ransom or diplomatic incident) 9-11 2d2+ GB stolen & minor 12 2d4+1 GB stolen & major
Maximum units that can be used for the raid is:
-- (Max = The Regent/LT taking the action's number of WP from levels)
-- or (Max = Chosen DC , with +1 or +2 if Warrior class)
-- or (Max = 5, additional units do not improve success but can share hits)
Types of Units (Max +1 per unit, Max +1 per type)
-- Primary Melee (Irregular, Infantry, Pike)
-- Primary Missile (Scout, Archer, )
-- Terrain Appropriate (ie. Mounted vs plains, oared vs rivers, sail vs coastal, Elf/Halfling/Scouts any, Dwarf vs mountain, goblin vs forest)
-- Heavy/Elite (Med/Heavy Infantry, Knights, Ogres, Engineers)
-- Specialized (Reavers, Scavengers. Drakkar, longships)
Resource raiding was added to this version, was it even used?
I have never been a fan of the action being a zero-sum proposal. Real pillaging a province does not rob a regent's treasury, I don't see how raid should do anything except maybe impact the taxes for the next season. It makes little sense to me, that loyalty drops if the treasury is being raided and not the populous. It makes little sense that the regent's treasury is emptied if it is the populous losing their wealth.
I would propose eliminating Raid as an action, and replaced with an additional option for Declare War, and Warfare Adventures.
1) Declare War
The declare war modifications allow for chevauchée tactics used to reduce resources available to the enemy and undermine the loyalty a support from their own lands. A raiding tactic used to draw the enemy out of their fortifications to engage in battle. It allows for quicker hit an run tactics to damage opponents without the need for thoroughly occupying then pillaging the entire province or holding.
Units can spend war moves to raid a target holding. This allows for a free contest action against unfortified holds, using the number of units using their war move as a modifier for the action.
Units can spend war moves to plunder a province reducing its loyalty and performing a light taxation on the province (less 1 GB per level of Castle). Any GB received in this matter reduces the amount received from the next collection of tax, or pillaging whichever is first. A province can be plundered once per season.
A plundered province would a lose loyalty, but not a second time if occupied.
*** In case I needed clarification, if the holding and province is being actively defended by a garrison they would need to be defeated before undertaking this action.
2) For those pursuing Viking style raids in search of wealth and glory, might be better represented as an adventure-style action. Balance and modifiers might need to be tweaked for hits to make this viable, given most units are destroyed by 3 hits. Perhaps the introduction of unit-level 'advanced potions' or magic banner/pennants might be introduced for this purpose.
Adventure Raid:
EPL = APL + Average Tier + ( 1 per unit type) + (1 per unit) + 2 (Potion of Warfare) + NWP Bonus
Hits
+1 hit per defending unit garrisoned in the province
+1 hit per terrain appropriate defending unit
-1 hit Healing NWP
-1 Hit Herbalism NWP
Stone skin potion reduces hits assigned to adventurers only.
Standard: Exploding D6
Treasure Roll
-1 per level of Castle fortification
-1/2 level of holding fortification
APL = Average Party Level is calculated as usual.
Standard GB & RP
Standard No Magic Items
If would otherwise roll for:
Minor item: Targeted province loses loyalty DC = 10 + Province + Law - GB&RP rewarded
Major: 2d6 2-4 Matter of Justice, 5-7 Great Captain, 8-10 Brigands, 11-12 Diplomatic Incident
Great: 2d6 2 Regent Captured 3-5 Lt captured 6-8 Important NPC captured (ransom or diplomatic incident) 9-11 2d2+ GB stolen & minor 12 2d4+1 GB stolen & major
Maximum units that can be used for the raid is:
-- (Max = The Regent/LT taking the action's number of WP from levels)
-- or (Max = Chosen DC , with +1 or +2 if Warrior class)
-- or (Max = 5, additional units do not improve success but can share hits)
Types of Units (Max +1 per unit, Max +1 per type)
-- Primary Melee (Irregular, Infantry, Pike)
-- Primary Missile (Scout, Archer, )
-- Terrain Appropriate (ie. Mounted vs plains, oared vs rivers, sail vs coastal, Elf/Halfling/Scouts any, Dwarf vs mountain, goblin vs forest)
-- Heavy/Elite (Med/Heavy Infantry, Knights, Ogres, Engineers)
-- Specialized (Reavers, Scavengers. Drakkar, longships)