You are a wise man with many talents.

I think this means we need more battle reports, right?  esp with shiny pictures.

Would you also like the hexless rules we developed and/or would you share what you've got that is working for you>

Well, I know in practice that once the commanders get surrounded they die pretty quickly.  So maybe you ended up with a fluke or something.

As far as hesitant archers, I guess any point system can be min-maxed until it fails.  We'll always be fixing things and working on tweaking the points system till we reduce the problems with the points and the specials.

Bonus points to you for finding these issues.

You are very welcome.

What a great time that was.

piercing should not be in the list.  Doh!

Keep whichever ones you want, I'm just giving siggestions to those afraid a .75 modifier will "cheese" up the arty too much.

Also, do not lose sight of the fact that this is a "Mass" combat game.  i.e. thousands of warriors duking it out for control of the battlefield.

With the prevalence of "heroic" mass combat systems, people sometimes think. "I've got Aragorn on my side I should be able to kill everything you have with one guy.  Well, that's unrealistic even for a fantasy game

I think Noel put it best when he said You may have already killed 10,000 orcs, but if the 10,001st kills you, you're still dead.

We played 3 times each with a unit that had the ability versus one that didn't and then made an educated guess.

1) Technically, units of monsters are still illegal, but I can't find the rule that says so. Darn.

I'd say it would be legal to put monsters in units only if they have morale.

2) Darn, you caught me.  I honestly didn't mean to cheat. But use the 3+ Def rule.

3) dang it! I forgot to add rabble!

4) yikes, I like the new numbers for the most part.  But in my defense, if you notice, the whole thing is just a giant product anyway, so the 2x multiplier for undead does double the initial worth of the wounds.

yup, basic rules are at the link below

and a review here:
http://gamingreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=934

I will try to address what you se as flaws individually.

1) Expensive it is, but worth it. I think...We have some knights in the book that are upwards of 600pts per element and they seem to be fairly well-balanced.  You can't bring a lot of them, but then, you don't need to.

2) Monsters cannot be grouped into units at this point. If they get Morale, then they become a unit and thus have morale.  A non-issue, I think.

3) Well, you've found something we need to address.  I would say at this point that the following special abilities may not be given to artillery.

Banner, Frenzy, Hesitant, Horde, Impetuous, Irresistable Charge
Piercing, Quick-Firing, Reckless, Slow-Moving, Steadfast, Steady
Swimmer, Trample, Undead, Undisciplined, Veteran

Here's a little math (which Dan can "fix" if I'm wrong.

Given a 6-element unit attacking

Given a defending unit:
Def 3 Wounds 3 morale 6+
On average you'll hit about 1/3 time against that enemy.

 d4         d6        d8        d10       d12    
1.6%  16.7%  37.5%  50.0%  58.3%  average=32.8%

That means, you'll generally have to attack with
1728d4 or 162d6 or 72d8 or 54d10 or 46d12
to kill the unit

Given a defending unit:
Def 0 Wounds 12 morale 6+
On average you'll hit about 3/4 time against that enemy.

 d4         d6        d8        d10       d12    
50%  66.7%  75.0%  80.0%  83.3%  average=71.8%

This time, you have to attack with
108d4 or 81d6 or 72d8 or 68d10 or 65d12
to kill the unit

2.5% of the dice for the d4
50% of the d6
exactly as many d8 (wierd)
125% of the d10 and
140% of the d12

so, finally, the cost to kill the units goes like this

Attacking the Def 3 unit with:
2d4 takes 144 attack commands
2d6 takes 14 attack commands
2d8 takes 6 attack commands
2d10 takes 5 attack commands
2d12 takes 4 attack commands

Attacking the Def 0 unit with:
2d4 takes 9 attack commands
2d6 takes 7 attack commands
2d8 takes 6 attack commands
2d10 takes 6 attack commands
2d12 takes 5 attack commands

hmmm. just a tiny bit cheaper, no?

We aim to please!

I think the new slogan should be

"If it aint' got a square root, it ain't fun!"

okay that last one, I have had time to cogitate upon.

First off, the boards are generally less than 30 hexes wide, but I understand why you used 1000 range.

You are correct in thinking that you would get a bonus if you regrouped those two units.  However, your opponent would be a fool to allow that unit on the board.   If you don't like the regroup command, just eliminate it. Our rules are built for tweaking!  We just ask that you tell us how it works out.

There are some holes in the point building system which we are addressing  so any help with the balance will get you a free copy of the second edition (no there's no release date) and our undying gratitude

we'll probably re-do the points system before the next edition, and provide it as a free download along with the spreadsheet to re-cost the units.

By the way, I am really liking these questions, you've hit on some things we've been talking about now for some time.  I hope you get a chance to play a game, the mechanics work really well and almost everybody has a blast when they play.

first of all

[size=150]HI[/size]

now to the questions:

1) well, heck.  I never noticed that it doesn't specifically say you can't put monsters and arty into a unit. Sorry about that.

The "official" position is that you cannot put monsters or arty into a unit.  However, my inclination would be to allow them to gang up a little more. I would allow no more than 6 hexes worth of monsters or artillery to gang up, that is to say:

Monster Size   # allowed
    1                   6
    2                   3
    3                   2
    4                   1

2) Well, there used to be a FAQ entry on that.  It has to do with the Defense value 2.  Right now, I can't for the life of me remember why it is wrong for some and not others.

I believe the spreadsheet is correct.  And I am really sorry about that.

3) Well, that one is easy to miss, it is on p6 and it reads

And do tell, please, what brought you to FtM and show off some of your troop designs as well.

well, crap. 

sorry man