Mass Combat

The standard Fate rules support characters as groups as easily as individuals. However, here are some house rules (loosely based on Exalted second edition Mass Combat rules) to allow PCs

to fight as part of a larger group as more than an anonymous member.

A Battlegroup is a single character in a combat made up of many individuals who are effectively the same (the “representative member”).

A significant character can join a Battle group as a leader; a hero; or a relay.

The leader (there can be only one) of a Battlegroup is the one who takes actions instead of (and enhanced by) the group, the leaders traits are often more important than the group's.

Any heroes embedded in the Battle group take their normal actions but as long as they stay with the group their defences are enhanced.

Relays do not take separate action, they are a part of the Battlegroup and enhance it in some way- such as pipers that relay commands and increase the Drill of the Battlegroup. Individually they may not be any more impressive than the representative member of the unit. Recruiting and embedding them in a unit usually takes roleplaying.

The most important traits of a Battlegroup are its Scale (now split into Might and Magnitude) and Drill. Might is the scale of the representative member of the unit (e.g. 2 for 5 bound Blood Apes) and will usually be 0 for mundane forces. Magnitude is Scale that comes from the size of the unit. Drill is an Ability that belongs to the unit as a whole and not to any of its individual members.

• Drill Developed by training and discipline this ability represents how well a battlegroup works together and manoeuvres under orders. The effective Drill of a unit is the lower of their Drill and the Leader's (if there is one) War rating. If a Battlegroup's Magnitude exceeds their Drill +1 then they operate as a Mob-they must succeed at a Drill roll before following a command or taking an action beyond defending themselves or attacking a character that has attacked them. Whether or not they have a leader, they also will always use any advantage in Scale for +2 after the roll or extra invokes, never + 1. If the composition of a Battlegroup changes, so might its Drill rating.

If the number of Battlegroups in a battle without leaders exceeds the overall Commander’s War rating then they all act as Mobs for the battle.

Hero

A hero can use their action to give a + 1 to one of their units or Leader’s Abilities, as long as their own rating is higher. They can choose to do this on their turn or when the unit uses the ability, whichever comes first in the exchange. Otherwise they can leave the unit by moving away or taking any action without benefitting from the unit Scale. They add the units Scale while defending.

Leaders

the Leader’s action replaces that of the unit. They can use any Ability they and the

Battlegroup has at rating 1 or higher, using the higher of the unit rating or their own.

Charms

Heroes and Leaders can use Charms that would have a meaningful effect on the battle-eg Heavenly Guardian Defence might keep the character alive but will not protect the unit as a whole unless the attack was a single large effect (such as an Essence cannon or the Realm Defence Grid).

Duels

As their action any Leader or Hero can attempt to start a Duel with any enemy Leader or Hero in the same or adjacent Zone. If the defender accepts the "duel" commences, otherwise it requires a roll of the attacker’s War vs the defending units Drill. The duel lasts as many exchanges as the shifts on the roll (either side can decide to try to withdraw from a willing duel later, if so roll as above, treating them as the defender and counting that exchange as 0 on the clock). At the GMs discretion some of the members of each Battlegroup will also be involved as units or individuals (if they could reach the fight), these are mobs if the parent unit is. Any Leaders or Heroes in either unit can decide to join the Duel on any exchange if they could reach it, but cannot leave until it ends. If a leader is involved their unit can only attack and defend until the duel ends.