Armed Conflict

Wars/Armed Conflicts:
This is the war/armed conflict system in its current form. While those who know me well know that I would love to play out the battles in a war game or program something, we'll consider that for later and more important wars - to give them more of a dramatic sense of scale.

Instead, the current solution of an armed conflict is based on the strengths and weaknesses of those involved.

Example Henchmen
Let's make some simple example Henchmen groups:

Peasants
Strengths: Crafty. Weaknesses: Unorganized, cowardly, no combat training.

Knights
Strengths: Mounted, heavily armored. Weaknesses: Religious, conservative methods.

Harpies
Strengths: Flying, evil intelligence. Weaknesses: Easily distracted, undisciplined.

Peasant uprising: Knights (-) vs. Peasants (+)
The peasants can make use of their craftiness to play on the knights' fanatism and heavy armour - what good is a courage and a cavalry charge when running into a wall of sharpened stakes (++)? The peasants are however too unorganized to use their craftiness to full effeciency (-). This could mean that they leave gaps in their wall of stakes. Once some of the knights get through, their armour will protect them(-), being mounted grants them mobility and a deadly weapon in the shape of hooves(-), the knights are far superior fighters (--), and the peasants cowardice sees them falter easily(-). While the knights adhere to the war traditions of old, the peasants don't even know those, actually making it a strength for the knights - because having some idea of tactics and strategy is better then having none (-).

So in this case, the peasants receive 2 +'s, and the knights receive 7 -'s. So the knights win by a lot, and the peasants are forced to withdraw. Furthermore, they might think twice about going up against the knights again, and gain Weakness: Fear knights.

Militia on the walls: Peasants (+) vs. Harpies (-)
Now we've added Strength: Fortification and Strength: Militia training to the peasants. These are temporary strengths, because it only exists because of the area they are fighting in: A walled city, and the gear they've borrowed to serve their duty.

While fortifications are great, flying is a good counter (-). But expanding the parapets with wooden extensions could give some much needed protection from above (+). Both sides lacks discipline and organization, making it an every man/harpy for him/herself battle. While cowardly, the peasants can get security from being on the defensible walls, where their militia training can carry the day (+). The harpies are also easily distracted by the civilians inside the city, prefering easier prey - while losing civilians is bad, it can give the militia a temporary advantage in numbers, which will only grow as they kill more of their enemies (+). That does not eliminate the possibility that the harpies use their attack on the civilians as a clever ruse, and when the militia comes down from the walls, they pick them off on the undefended staircases (-).

The peasant militia win by 3 +'s to the harpies 2 -'s. Not a big victory, and there were civilians casualties, but now the harpies know that they are not welcome inside the city walls.

Knights on the walls: Knights (+) vs. Harpies (-)
Now we've added Strength: Fortification to the knights.

Again the fortifications are countered by flying (-). The knights' armour makes them impervious to attacks from the harpies' claws (+). The harpies may use their evil intellect to start throwing the knights from the walls, negating their armour (-). The knights may however leave the walls to defend the civilians - and do so in tight formations - making it impossible for the harpies to cause damage, but walking in formation is too slow to catch the easily distracted and disorganized harpies. The knights will have a hard time with capitalizing on the harpies' distraction, but they can mount their steeds and all of a sudden, the knights will have a surprising amount of speed (+).

The combat could go either way, depending on whether the knights stick to their positions on the walls or not - but that would most likely result is a draw. The knights cannot bring the harpies down to cause any considerable damage, but the harpies generally cannot touch the knights once they leave the walls, as their formation makes it impossible to pick them off. The end result is both forces being weakened, but with no victor, and both groups remain on the field.