Friday, February 18, 2011

War Machine for Greyhawk?

Does anyone know if stats were ever produced for the armies of Greyhawk for the War Machine rules?  War Machine was published in the Companion rules for classic D&D (BECMI) and again in the Rules Cyclopedia.  The War Machine rules are quite a bit more abstract and simpler than Battle System.

Here's the need - there's a zombie/ghoul army raging across Sterich, and I'm starting to create troop ratings for the remaining Counties.  I had started this campaign with the idea of building towards Against the Giants, so it makes sense to create statistics for the Giantish armies, as well as the defenders in Sterich, Geoff, Keoland and the Yeomanry.  The instability created by the plague of undead will give Chaos the opening it needs to strike!

Here is a snapshot of a typical War Machine write up from back in the day.  A big part of the War Machine ratings involved knowing the leaders and officers within the force; I'm not sure that level of detail was ever presented in Dragon magazine, so it'd need to be made up whole cloth.  I recently discovered Grendelwulf's place and there are write-ups of some armies, though I don't believe he covers the countries I need.


I'll do some more poking around the internet, otherwise I feel a new project coming on.  I'll be glad to post War Machine stats here.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Beedo! Always good to find some Greyhawk interest out there. I am a huge fan of Warmachine and yeah Grendelwulf uses Fields of Glory(?) I believe for his army lists. I once extensively used WM for my Greyhawk campaigns but alas I don't have stats laying around to pass on to you. I'd love to do a smiliar project someday. Good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing more on this subject.

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  2. I love wargaming, but nearly all of my attempts to incorporate some level of mass combat into my campaigns has resulted in blank stares and excruciatingly slow games.
    WarMachine has always given the players just enough moving parts to keep them interested, and a cool resolution mechanic to simulate actual threat. It's not my favorite, but the only one I've actually gotten to work in game.

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  3. For now, my War Machine activities are confined to 'behind the scenes' DM stuff, as I chronicle the progress of the zombie war. War Machine does play very quickly at the table, so it will work fine for the players in the future, assuming they build their own armies.

    War Machine leaves a lot to be desired in terms of nuance, complexity, and tactics, but like Dreyrugr's, my group is more interested in the role playing and not the war gaming. It's a great bolt-on to classic D&D.

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