Cry Havoc

[Messageboard Golem]

Of all the events that can affect a campaign, war is perhaps the most complex and deadly. It also proves a boon to DMs and players alike, who find new adventures, intrigues, and opportunities on the battlefield. When armies march, nations tremble and heroes come to the fore.

The Essential d20 Guide to War
Following the model of the popular event book Requiem for a God, 3rd Edition codesigner Skip Williams brings you Cry Havoc.

This book examines all aspects of war in a d20 fantasy setting: From its political causes to grand strategy... From battlefield maneuvering to raising armies... From prolonged sieges to lightning commando raids. And of course, Cry Havoc includes a sampling of new spells, feats, and prestige classes as well.

Last but certainly not least, this book offers the definitive d20 System rules for mass combat—straight from the pen of The Sage!

 

[GruTheWanderer]

Cry Havoc is an excellent value for DM's and players who have been waiting to send their campaigns and characters to war. Although it is marketed as the Malhavoc's third event book, Cry Havoc goes beyond its predecessors by presenting detailed yet accessible systems for unit combat and army combat fully combatible with D&D 3.5.

This is not a playtest review, but I look forward to playtesting it when my game resumes in August.

The Event
The first two chapters of Cry Havoc (Preparing for the Event and Integrating the Event) are identical in nature to those in Requiem for a God and When the Sky Falls. They help the DM add a war to his campaign by considering where to place it, what countries or forces to involve, what type of war is being fought, and what role the PCs will play in the conflict. Like the other event books these chapters include sidebars with checklists and key terms.

It's worth noting that these two chapters together are only 8 pages long. Chapter 8 (Adventure Ideas) adds another 2 pages with similar content. Combined with 2 pages of new spells (Chapter 4) and 6 pages of prestige classes (Chapter 7), these chapters are all about Cry Havoc that resembles the other event books (18 pages compared to the 64 in Requiem and Sky). One might also consider include the treatment of army combat (Chapter 6, another 18 pages) in this category, but the vast majority of the book (96 pages) is devoted to the system for unit combat.

The initial chapters are worth reading, but they seem like little more than appetizers before the main course.

Unit Combat
In terms of pages, Chapter 3 (Unit Combat) takes up about half of Cry Havoc, for good reason. It presents rules for running unit combats ("from several dozen to a few hundred troops") in a manner which is very similar to standard D&D combat rules.

Battles take place on a one inch grid where each inch equals a fifty foot square area. Each battle round lasts one minute rather than six seconds. Stats for units (groups of 10 or more creatures) are written out before the battle on unit record sheets, and units are represented by a single token or counter. During the battle both units and individuals move about attacking, casting spells, and so on. Individuals operate as they please, but units follow general strategies (attack the nearest enemy, move toward the rendezvous point, reatreat to the base line) unless they receive orders from commanders. Units must make morale checks when they take damage (and in certain other situations). There are also sections dealing with siege weapons, cover, concealment, terrain.

The treatment of units is both balanced and easy to understand. Units have statistics just like characters (attack, AC, saving throws). They also have skills, feats, spells, and special abilities (if the majority of the creatures in the group have those things). Sample units have been posted on montecook.com as a web enhancement. Units make single attack rolls (rather than rolling for each member of the group, and the result is a number of hits (rather than all hits or all misses). Units also roll saving throws and skill checks as a group. Units can be combined into formations and divisions.

Despite the attention given to units, individuals are no less important on the field. The results of PC's, NPC's, and individual creatures like dragons can have a large impact on the combat. Individuals can do almost all of the things they could do in standard D&D combat, but Cry Havoc also adds the option of command. While giving commands prevents an individual from using their own combat abilities to the fullest extent, it does allow them to maximize the effect of allied troops. There are seven pages worth of orders that allow units to undertake special actions or gain combat bonuses.

Overall, Chapter 3 is quite thorough. Important rules are stated more than once, useful information in presented in tables, and example diagrams are sprinkled throughout the chapter to demonstrate relevant rules (attacks of opportunity, cover, morale failure, etc).

Battlefield Magic
On the one hand, Chapter 4 represents an incredible effort. Part of the chapter gives the battlefield rules and uses for more than 120 of the spells from the Player's Handbook. Several pages are devoted to handling monster special abilities. Every element of spells is addressed, from the area of effect to durations to the particularities of the different schools of magic.

On the other hand, the rules for units of spellcasters is one area where abstraction interferes with the imagination. When a unit of spellcasters casts, they all cast the same spell. When they need to make a Concentration check, they all save or they all lose the spell. When another unit is hit by a spell which does not deal direct damage, they all save or they all fail their save. While the melee and ranged combat rules allow for partial effect (even the unusual melee actions like disarming, grappling, or tripping), the rules for spellcasting are all or nothing.

There's still potential for spellcasters in unit combat, but it seems like spellcasters (characters and monsters) lose a lot more in the transition from individual to unit than other creatures.

Army Combat
Chapter 6 presents a completely different battle system, this one capable of handling armies with millions of combatants and wars which last for months. This is very useful for DM's who want to handle the results of battles or wars where PC's are not directly involved or are only involved in the periphery. The chapter also includes rules on raising, supplying, and moving armies.

For each army involved the DM generates army statistics (defensive power, offensive power, manuever rating, command rating, scout rating). The statistics are modified by factors like weather, terrain, fortifications, and how well supplied each army is. The statistics can then be used to determine the results of combat at three levels (an entire war, a single battle, or each hour of a battle). Each combat is resolved with a series of dice rolls, the outcomes of which determine which side got surprise, how long the fighting last, how many casualties were suffered, etc. The rules of individual battles also allow the sides to chose tactics and account for player actions (killing enemy commanders, etc).

Miscellaneous
Chapter 5 presents rules for using skills and feats in unit combat. It introduces the skill Profession (Military Commander) and several feats. Chapter 7 introduces three excellent prestige classes (Death Dealer, Knight Commander, and Shield Mate) which are useful on and off the battlefield. They are powerful in certain situations, but their requirements are also high. Both of these chapters are well written.

Overall
After reading Cry Havoc once and reviewing several sections for clarification, I have a very good feeling about this book. I am preparing to reenact the War of the Lance in my campaign, and I believe these rules will make it easy to involved the players in a number of battles, from small unit skirmishes to the assault on the High Clerist Tower. While I have some concerns about several sections (morale and the DC's of certain unit orders), I am fairly confident the author will respond to questions.

The artwork and layout are excellent, similar to the other products from Malhavoc Press. At the current sale price of $10 for 136 pages, this is a fantastic value for anyone interested in incorporating unit and army combat into their D&D game.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

What I found interesting was that the attack rolls and damage done by units was averaged and then modified, whereas the spell results were all-or-nothing and not averaged at all.

There were also some key missed spells in the Battlefield Spells section: its a real shame when something tries to cover all the bases and leaves a few very important items out, like Insect Plague and Hypnotic Pattern.

All in all, still good value for money by far.

 

[GameWyrd]

Cry Havoc isn’t what I had hoped a War Event Book would be. That’s my bad news. I was hoping for a nicely abstracted system that could quickly handle any numbers of creatures, in a magic wielding fantasy battle and allow the PCs or important NPCs to stand out. I wanted to know what the side effects of a magical war might be. The good news is that Cry Havoc doesn’t mess up any attempt to deliver this because it doesn’t make the attempt. Cry Havoc takes the harder approach for a War Event Book and soldiers on with that instead. If you want to convert your d20 roleplaying session into a d20 wargaming session then you’ll benefit from the bulk of the 140 pages of this PDF supplement. Roleplaying isn’t forgotten entirely, Cry Havoc takes a little time to discuss different types of wars and the resulting campaign effect.

Cry Havoc is a pain to review. I don’t think it has made the best choices, this isn’t how I’d run battles and so in that respect the supplement rates poorly. On the other than, once I accept the product the PDF wants to be in its own right then it’s quite good. If you want to run battles like this then these are the rules to use. The mechanics in Cry Havoc like to take the average value for things, I’ll copy that and this review will offer an average numerical score after discussing the pros and cons.

The first tenth of the supplement discusses the likely effects, reactions and even reasons for a war. It does this with typical Malhavoc clarity. It explains the difference between a "civil war" and an "international war". Oh dear. If you don’t know basics like that then you’re not going to cope with the combat rules later. One strength in this section is the discussion on how clerics and gods might react. Similarly successful are the comments on how a state of war will affect different classes of people on the land. It’s the "lower", "middle" and "upper" social class, rather than the character class, that’s talked about in this way – and rightly so, anything else would be laughable. The poor will find it next to impossible to buy exotic important goods. This leads naturally on to the economics of a war and here I felt Cry Havoc fell short. Wars are expensive and get in the way of trade – duh. The supplement bases its observations on old medieval wars but that’s easy, I wanted help with the hard fantasy equivalent. In a medieval war you need to pay your troops; but they spend that money again, it doesn’t vanish, it goes back into the economy. In D&D fantasy you could have an army of wizards who do literally vanish money as they burn through their components. You need bat naughty word and sulphur for a fireball. In a time of war perhaps the local lords make it illegal to kill a bat. I think the other event books, Requiem for a God and When the Sky Falls would have explored these campaign related issues by Cry Havoc really wants to get on to the mass combat mechanics.

The meat of Cry Havoc begins with the Unit Combat rules. You’ll be using these if you want to run a large skirmish with miniatures. The suggestion is that the rules are suitable for several dozen or a few hundred individuals. The system works by grouping individuals together into units, working out the units’ attributes and then controlling them as you would an NPC. Perhaps in a slightly more abstracted way. A unit has its attributes largely calculated from the average values of its members. The unit’s Base Attack Bonus is the average BAB of its members. The full melee bonus is that average BAB plus average strength bonus, size, weapon damage modifier and other miscellaneous modifiers. Saving throws are worked out in a similar way. Hit Points become damage factors. There are plenty of examples, Cry Havoc oozes examples and although I began by scoffing at examples of how to calculate the average, I quickly came to appreciate the movement diagrams. Oh yeah: Attacks of Opportunity, they’re simplified (you can march past other units) but most people will thank the presence of the grid diagrams.

The whole battle takes place on a grid. I do think you need miniatures, paper counters, Cluedo tokens or even coins to keep track of where the units are and who they can fight, shoot or blast with magic. The alternative is horribly messy.

Given the need for some sort of battle grid, miniatures and dozens of calculations for each unit (which may spawn from dozens of different stat blocks) it’s safe to say these skirmishes require a lot of preparation. If the players provoke a battle that the DM didn’t expect – you know, leading the villagers out to meet the goblins head on rather than going down into the nearby abandoned mine to kill the gobbo boss – then there will be need for a substantial break in order to prepare. If you’re DMing and are faced with this situation what would you do? Call for the break and use special Unit Combat rules? Concentrate on the players’ successes in the thick of the battle and extrapolate the overall results from that? If you’re comfortable with the latter than Cry Havoc losses some of it’s appeal.

Cry Havoc does allow for the actions of important individuals in the melee. Huzzah! This is just the most important factor in any unit abstraction. Individuals can be commanders or heroes. A hero is someone or something powerful enough to stand out on its own and a commander is someone who is able to give units their orders. Units tend to require orders before they can be very effective. For example, to counter a spell the unit needs the counter spell order. If your PCs aren’t powerful enough to be a heroes holding their own individually or as a PC unit then the can (and there are rules for) joining another unit. On the other hand, if your PCs are easily strong enough to be heroes and in a position of command then Cry Havoc deals effectively with hero commanders. This was an important test for Cry Havoc and providing you’re happy with the mass mechanic system then the supplement passes.

The other stern test for Cry Havoc – ten-times more given the supplement’s wargame style approach – is magic. If the majority of a unit can cast magic, then the unit can cast magic. If the unit fails its Concentration check then there’s no spell. If the unit needs to bounce those dice and manages to make its collective Concentration check then we have magic. Chapter Four is devoted to Battlefield Magic and it’s 24 pages long if you count the new spells. Battlefield Magic is such a substantial chapter because Cry Havoc runs through a large whack of spells (including 3.5’s mass healing) and discusses their battlefield implementation. The mass healing or harm spells use damage factors instead of hit points. Not all the spells mentioned are re-written with new mechanics, for example you don’t get a damage factor for Call Lightening, it’s one the spells which would use the general translation table for damage dice to damage factors. We’re reminded that there’s one bolt per caster level (up to 10), that each bolt affects a single target but if used against a unit of small or tiny creatures then it can actually hit more. It’s worth remembering that units’ attributes are worked from the average value of the composing soldiers’ stats or the average value of the dominant troop type. So zapping a hobgoblin from a unit of hobgoblins won’t really affect the unit. Zapping a hobgoblin from a unit of hobgoblins and ogres could actually –improve- the unit’s attack value. Oops.

I wouldn’t want to use these rules with too many troops. Fortunately Cry Havoc has a second set of rules – and it’s here that I find my happy middle ground. These are the rules that I’d use. It’s this later section of Cry Havoc that moves the supplement up from "good enough if that’s what you want" to stand alone "good" in my mind. You can abstract a whole battle down to just a few dice rolls. You can abstract a whole war down to just a few dice rolls too. Excellent.

The "Strategic Conflict" rules represent a whole war - a war that should take months, years or decades to fight. This is one heck of an abstraction and Cry Havoc points out it should therefore be used wisely; perhaps only for a distant war which doesn’t really impact the PCs very much.

"Quick Army Combat" reels in the scope a little and reduces a single battle to a set of dice rolls. This is much more my level and is something I think the DM can cope with without too much preparation.

There’s a third option for the rule set, you can run a "Tactical Army Conflict" and reduce the abstraction to an hour-by-hour battlefield clash. Unlike the Unit Combat system, however, these Army Rules can’t cope with any special impact the players may cause and that’s a shame.

Each of these options actually has a different set of rules. I’d accept it’s correct to say that Cry Havoc offers up four different mass melee systems rather than just two. There are two distinct styles though; the first is the wargame and the second a set of mechanics used to handle battles in a roleplaying game.

If all this talk about mass battles, units, calculating averages and damage factors is all to alien for you and you’re beginning to desperately desire typical and uncomplicated D&D again then fear not – Cry Havoc has prestige classes!. The Death Dealer, Knight Commander and Shieldmate are the sort of mechanically polished prestige classes you’d expect to come out of Malhavoc

The supplement concludes with army record sheets and even terrain features to print off and use on your battle map. The inclusion of terrain illustrations must be the final proof of Cry Havoc’s wargaming crossover for a roleplaying supplement.

A "War Event Book" could mean many things to different gamers. Such a product could focus exclusively on the impact a war or succession of battles could have on the local economy and ecology. A War Event Book could even offer wholesale wargaming rules with re-prints of spells, units of character classes, battlefield monster mechanics and a new magic system. Cry Havoc is somewhere in the middle but with a leaning towards the latter. If you want a systems that’s as much a wargame as it is a d20 mechanic (and I think that would appeal to very many D&D players) then that’s what Cry Havoc does.

* This Cry Havoc review was first published at GameWyrd.

 

[pogre]

Funny how expectations work, eh?

I was hoping for even more of a d20 wargame.

A battle grid for mass combat just does not appeal to me. I was hoping it would demand even more miniatures - hordes and hordes.

Thanks for the review!

 

[GameWyrd]

The battle grid doesn't appeal to me either - but for entirely different reasons!

 

[Krellic]

To be fair I think that with Skip Williams at the helm this was always going to be a more hard rules flavoured system. It's what he does best.

I'm sure that if you're going to do a big set-piece battle,then this is a fine set of rules. Many such encounters in a game are going to be just that, if the campaign is set around a war.

Personally I would have liked something more abstract and fly-by-the seat-of-my-pants than this otherwise worthy tome. I think there's still room for something to help out a more story-based DMing style.

 

[Psion]

Cry Havoc

Cry Havoc is a book in Malhavoc Press's "event book" series that describe how to integrate world shaking events in your game. The prior two book discussed how to integrate the death of a god and meteor strike into your game. Cry Havoc, on the other hand, introduces a more commonplace but still significant event: war.

Cry Havoc is written by Skip Williams (the so-called "Sage" that had a hand in designing the 3e rules and is responsible for the monthly rules clarifications article in the Dragon) and does take into account the revised edition rules.

A First Look

Format: This review is based on the PDF distribution, which is 140 pages, include the front and back cover pages and a few ad pages. The PDF has a "cover price" of $13, but is available at RPGnow for $10.

Layout: Typical for malhavoc PDFs: ink-conservative pages, conservative body text font, two column layout. Makes good use of sidebars and has some convenient "checklists" like the prior two books.

Art: Cover art by WotC alumni artist Todd Lockwood, depicting an armored warrior bearing a banner, standing over the corpse of some inhuman creature. The interior is black and white, with art by Eric Lofgren and Kieran Yanner. Overall, the art quality is good. Though I am generally a fan of Yanner, I think I liked his work in Mindscapes a bit better.

A Deeper Look

Cry Havoc does have some normal event book sort of stuff in it that address changes in the campaign, implementing the event, and that sort of thing, but a lot less than the prior event books do. This could be good or bad, depending on your persepective; people slammed AEG's war for telling them stuff they already know; Cry Havoc presents these sorts of things more as a useful laundry list of things to consider rather than a wordy retelling of why people might fight.

The bulk of this book is the combat system and permuatations and additions to it.

Just like most other mass combat systems for d20 (be it Mongoose's Quintessential Fighter, AEG Swashbucling Adventures and War, Green Ronin's Testament, etc.), it handles mass combat by creating statistics for units and treating them as individuals and running them much as a single character in d20. Also similar to many such system, it adds a morale mechanic to the game.

The two notable differences from the pack of these types of systems in Cry Havoc seems to be:
1) It drifts a little further from an analog of individual combat than most others. For example, instead of keeping weapon damages, it converts them to points, and then instead of simple to-hit rolls, you roll a d20 and add modifiers as normal, but then you cross reference it with AC on a table that might remind you of AD&D 1e.
2) It handles a lot more details. For example, it addresses things like terrain, combat engagement, etc. In fact, it is these extensive details that make the combat section as large as it is.

However, despite the level of detail, I frequently see it cutting corners, like rounding off in unit calculations before adding, having a linear increase in unit size result in a linear increase the facing of the unit, which results in a more than linear increase in AREA.

The book also has a larger army combat type of resolution system. It is more abstract, and the kind of thing the market is more lacking (as noted above, there are many sets of skirmish level rules out there already). However, it doesn't utilize the familiar d20 combat tropes. Instead, it lets you crunch the numbers regarding d20 statistics of your army and turn them into a more general combat power number, modify it according to factors like morale, fortifications, and other tactical advantages and drawbacks, and then has a simplified system for determining victory, casualties, etc. (Which does use the basics of the d20 system, just not the combat mechanics.)

Of course, it has the usual bevy of feats, spells, and prestige classes you would expect in a product like this... done with the usual level of precision you would expect from the man who is regarded as the "Sage" of the d20 system. The battlefield magic chapter, in addition to notes describing how magic affect the unit combat system, introduces a few spells affecting morale and protecting characters on a unit scale. The feats and skills chapter includes feats that assist in leading or fighting alongside members of a unit, such as infectious courage.

The prestige classes are particularly suited for large-scale combat. The Death Dealer revels in the gore of mass combat, and gains abilities that make it closer and closer to some sort of manifestation of death, such as death blow and frightful presence. The Knight Commander is a more typical warrior-leader type that gains abilities to inspire those under his command. The Shieldmate favors offense over defense and are intended to be reliable shield men who protect the flanks of their leaders.

Conclusion

The heart of Cry Havoc is the unit combat system. It is the most detailed unit combat system of this sort I have seen to date, taking into account many aspects of combat that similar systems gloss over. Personally, I think that the unit combat system would not be the one I would choose to run mass combats in D&D, leaning towards the OMCS (from the Quintessential Fighter) or the Mercenaries system instead. The lavish details Skip provides are exhaustive, but are a bit wargamerish and has a level of detail and required attention beyond what I would really want to consider in a D&D game. However, if you like such details, you may find Cry Havoc to be just what you are looking for.

However, the Army combat system is just what the doctor ordered and I will be using it should I decide to start another war based campaign. Unlike the unit combat system, there are few systems on that handle things on this scale, and I think that many DMs will find it of benefit if they wish to randomly determine the outcome of major conflicts without going into too much detail and still factoring in the relevant abilities and tactical conditions that face the involved armies.

The classes and supporting material are well put together, but are not nearly as inspirational or unique as the same sort of materials in the previous two event books.

Overall Grade: B-

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Cry Havoc is an event book that allows a GM to introduce a war into his campaign. All aspects of war are covered here, from small unit combat to the fielding of mass armies. The majority of this book covers small unit combat. Cry Havoc is broken down as follows.

Introduction “War in your Campaign” describes what an event book is, why a GM might want to introduce a war into his campaign.

Chapter one “Preparing for the Event” goes into detail about where to place a war, reasons for nations to go to war (religious, economic, etc.), who’s fighting in your war and how to end the war you have started.

Chapter two “Integrating the Event” describes how to involve the PCs in the war, even giving a way to make the PCs the reason for the war. How the religious leaders and common men see a war and how they react to it are also covered in this chapter. Following this are the economics of the war and war induced disasters (common disasters that happen because of the war- famine, plague, etc.). While some of these things are not used for combat they help the GM enhance the feeling of a war. For instance, the economics section gives some ideas about what would happen to the cost of items in a war torn nation.

Chapter three “Unit Combat” is the meat of the book. This is where the main use of the book comes into focus: All the information that is needed for running small unit combat (generally ten or so creatures to a unit) is located here. Combat is run using most of the standard D20 rules with a few exceptions. The basics of unit combat are simple, each unit has a average base attack bonus, AC, saves and damage. Damage is done a little different, units suffer damage in what is called Hits, Each hit is equal to five hit points. Another difference that might take some getting used to is that each unit takes up a fifty foot square (if you are using a battlemat than each square is fifty foot instead of five feet). Determining the average BAB, AC, etc. requires a little math. All you have to do is take the number that you are looking for multiply it by the number of creatures and then divide that number by the number of creatures (example: if you have ten human fighters with a BAB of +1 then you would take that +1 and multiply it by ten giving you ten, then take the number you just got and divide it by the number of creatures in the unit which once again would give you a +1 for their BAB). As you can see it is simple for units of the same type. This formula works for units of differing types it just takes a little longer because you have to figure out each set of combat bonuses for each set of different creatures. Although the math is not hard it will add a little more preparation time for the adventure. Also included are rules for unit versus individual combat and a section for issuing orders from commanding officers. Orders from a unit commander allow the unit to do certain actions that they normally can’t (things like repositioning themselves after they have engaged the enemy without provoking an attack of opportunity, etc.) A few other differences between individual combat and unit combat are that a round for unit combat takes one minute instead of six seconds and just because a unit is next to another unit does not mean that they are attacking each other, a unit has to attack another unit to be considered in hand to hand. Even though a unit is next to another does not mean they can’t use missile combat, this is because of the difference in the distances (fifty feet compared to five feet) each square are considered.

Chapter four “Battlefield Magic” converts some of the standard PHB spells for unit combat. While most spells are covered I did notice a few missing. An example would be that Delayed Blast Fireball was here but Fireball was not, while not a big problem it does annoy me when simple things like this are missed. The PHB spells have had their range, duration and damage changed to fit in with the rules presented for unit combat. Also included are five new spells specifically designed for the battlefield, and with a little modification they could be used in a regular campaign. This chapter also covers turning and rebuking undead as well as monster special abilities.

Chapter five “Skills and Feats” introduces one new skill and eight new feats. The new skill Military Commander allows a unit commander to issue more orders than normal. Out of the eight new feats the metamagic feat War Spell is the best one in my opinion it puts magic users and spells back in power. The feat allows a caster to enhance the area of effect, creature’s affected, etc. by ten times (a fireball enhanced by this feat affects a 200 foot radius instead of a 20 foot radius). Now as for the draw back two feats are required before you can take this one and the spell is cast as one level higher, now for the biggest hindrance to this spell being used, it takes ten times as long to cast meaning that fireball will take one minute to cast. Like I said great for the battlefield but pretty much useless for normal combat.

Chapter six “Army Combat” takes the rules for small unit combat and expands them for use with armies. The math is a little more complicated but the overall effect is the same, to allow the GM to run an army battle with relative ease. The biggest difference is that army combat is based on the overall power rating of the army. A armies power rating is broken down onto various categories (Defensive, Offensive, Scout, etc.). There are three types of army combat. First is Strategic combat followed by Quick combat and finally Tactical combat, each type is designed so the GM can run an army battle with ease. Strategic combat provides the GM with a way to resolve an entire war in just a few die rolls, Quick combat is used when a GM wants to find the outcome of certain battles and
Tactical combat is used when the GM wants to run a battle hour by hour. All of the different types of combat presented here use power ratings to determine the outcome of a battle. Following that come information on raising armies, costs of fielding an army, and similar things dealing with huge armies. The fact that the last few things are included help to make the book great, the rules are not too complicated and are easy to use making them a GMs best friend. While these sections are not required they add a lot of flavor to the whole book.

Chapter seven “Prestige Classes” details three new PRCs for your players and NPCs. The classes are the Death Dealer, Knight Commander, and the Shieldmate. The Death Dealer gains abilities towards killing single foes. His deathblow ability forces a single opponent to make a fortitude save or die, if the save is made the opponent suffers an additional amount of damage. The problem I have with this class that is this is a mass combat book- why include a single opponent specialist? Overall the class is balanced and of more use to NPCs than PCs with the certain requirements it has. The Knight Commander will be of the most use if you plan on using this book due to the fact that he gets abilities that help troops instead of individuals. The Shieldmate is a PRC that will most likely be an NPC due to the fact that most of her abilities are defensive. Her improved defense ability allows her to increase her AC when using the total defense option and fighting defensively. Also while doing this she may add some of her bonus to her AC to an ally adjacent to her.

Chapter eight “Adventure Ideas” raps up the book with eighteen adventure hooks that all have to do with war. These ideas while not fully developed will help a GM in a tight spot for a single night’s adventure. With a little work these ideas could become an adventure that lasts for a while.

Overall this is a great book that gives a GM the ability to bring war to his campaign. The information presented in this book make unit and army combat easy to do. I have played using some of these rules and while it will take some getting used to they are simple to use and add a lot to the game. I have always liked mass combat and thought that there should be a book about it and I have found it. So if you are looking for a book that goes into detail about mass combat and is easy to use, here it is. Sure it will take a little longer for the GM to prepare but if you want war it is worth it.