Three Stratagems: The Puzzle of Combat

I have been playing a lot of Age of Iron (my WIP medieval fantasy TTRPG), thanks to my "Black Company" campaign continuing to go quite well. I haven't posted and session reports of that since transitioning to a West Marches campaign, since this is partially an experiment in letting my players do the session reporting (in their Company Book) and test their note taking skills. It has drawn out a lot of development effort and game design thought from me though, and I have several topics I'd like to blog about. Today, combat tactics!

One of my GM habits I have worked for years to curb (with middling success) is feeding ideas to the players. It can be hard to sit quietly and watch someone struggle when you have a good idea! Having the GM backseat gaming for you is rarely fun though, and at that point they're just setting up dominoes for themself to knock over. The better way is to show your players things they can do and then give them the freedom to adopt and appropriate strategies they have seen. One of the pleasures of many TTRPGs is the freeing feeling that if you see someone with a cool weapon, you don't need to go do some lengthy quest to "unlock" it. You can just go take it (and any other interesting gear they have) from them right now! It can be the same with tactics, but for that to be the case you actually have to show the players some tactics worth stealing. Here is the advice I have written about tactics and combat strategy in the Warden's Guide for Age of Iron I am developing:

Combat Tactics

Combat may be a puzzle, but in the meta sense. The puzzle is what sort of strategies beat what sorts of opponents with minimal risk, and you are ideally not solving this puzzle in the middle of a fight you are already engaged in. Fighting an opponent you do not understand is a highly dangerous proposition! There are three main categories of stratagems relating to combat:

Trump Cards

These are stratagems which instantly neutralize one or more foes and can end combat outright or skip what would otherwise have been a combat. Usually they bypass traditional damage (Guard and Body), or deal massive damage all at once. Initiative might not be a factor: these are all about setup or preparation before combat begins.

The classic portable mundane example is a sniper: if you have at least as many prepared/positioned snipers as there are opponents, the opponents are mostly still, and the snipers have weapons which could kill this type of opponent with a well-placed shot, then you can take out all foes instantly. This is absolutely possible with crossbows; the effective range is just less than a rifle would be.

The classic non portable mundane example is dropping enemies into a pit or dropping lava on their head. You won the combat through setup, and baiting opponents into a certain location.

The classic magic example is a Sleep spell: if you have a spell which neutralizes an opponent (makes them a free kill), you can affect all present opponents, and the opponents do not have magical defenses or their own mage, you win. Fireball is a messier, but perhaps even more classic example. If they were looking at you and expecting magic you might need to roll initiative to try and get the spell off before they jump you, but players should not be overly hassled for using magic as a trump card. That’s kind of the point of it. It’s a powerful resource to use sparingly.

Trump cards can be used against PCs, but be sure to telegraph them. PCs should fear enemy mages, and always have archers in the back of their mind!

Takedowns

These are stratagems which can take down an opponent in a single round, usually from coordinated attacks. They are different from Trump Cards because they typically require multiple, cooperating parties, and they always happen in combat (so initiative is a factor). Typically, they involve at least two parts: a disabling/distracting technique (the anvil), and a powerful finisher attack (the hammer).

This usually involves causing an opponent to become Exposed (Guard temporarily set to zero) and then striking them with an attack powerful enough to deal a Mortal Wound (half or more of their current Body stat) at the same time/same initiative step.

The anvil (exposing technique) can be anything which makes it really hard but not impossible to defend yourself. The hammer (finishing attack) can be any weapon or damaging effect capable of dealing a Mortal Wound to the given opponent (a d10 weapon will down a 10 Body target in one hit on average, since losing half or more of your remaining Body score is a Mortal Wound).

A classic example is a gladiator tag team, one with a spear and one with a net. If the net is thrown on you and you fail a save, you are Exposed. The other fighter runs you through with their spear at the same time. A scrappier example is simply having one or two people hold onto an opponent's arms while an ally stabs them.

A magic “anvil” example could be a Mage casting a spell which makes an enemy vomit uncontrollably, or makes their gear suddenly heavy (Exposed in either case).

Takedowns should be common unless fighting a single opponent or mindless ones. Even wolves will try to pull prey to the ground while other wolves go for the throat. A simple takedown human peasants can attempt is having a couple peasants attempt to grapple or knock opponents prone as a Desperate Gambit, since opponents are Exposed while grappled or prone. The rest of the peasants attack at the same time with knives, pitchforks, whatever.

Takedowns illustrate the strength of group tactics and coordination in a much more interesting way than simply bumping up average damage per/round.

Buffs/Debuffs

These are stratagems which enhance or impair one side of a combat. They do not end a combat or bypass an opponent’s Guard on their own, but they complicate the tactical situation and put the opponents in a worse spot. They come in all sorts of shades and types, but generally they are some sort of multi-round effect that does one of the following:

• Improve or decrease Armor (e.g. Iron Blessing spell, Cloud of Rust spell)
• Armor is very effective, and often worth mitigating rather than powering through
• Impair attacks or grant Bonus Dice (e.g. Darkness, potion of Frenzy)
• Impaired attacks roll only d4, and Bonus Dice can vary but are often +d8
• Restrict or enhance movement (e.g. Slow spell, Fly spell)
• Slow is as per the weapon tag (cannot move and attack), flight would expand possible move options
• Improve or decrease ability to withstand damage (e.g. berserker potion, poisoned weapons)
• Berserker potion as per Die Hard ability (Body Save to stay up when taking a Mortal Wound), and deadly poison is the opposite (Save or collapse even from a single point of Body damage), though only very strong poison would take effect same round

Bonus: Anti-Mage Tactics

Magic is extremely powerful in Age of Iron. Spells do not allow a Save by default, and there is no commonly available magic blocking substance or anything like that. The main limitations of most magic are: limited uses and casting restrictions. The default casting restrictions are: one hand free, able to speak, and line of sight.

Breaking line of sight is a big one. Smoke followed by a rush of multiple attackers to tackle the mage is probably the single most common anti-mage tactic. The spell “Sphere of Silence” is a popular anti-mage spell where available, as it’s indirect so enemy mages don’t get a Save, and it forces them to waste Magic Dice counterspelling or move out of the (usually quite large) sphere. The downside is making sure you are not also in the sphere if you want to cast more.

Smart enemies will bait out spells with attrition, weaker forces (attack dogs for example), and illusions.

Tactics Summary

Let me be absolutely clear: preparation, preparation, preparation! Prep being rewarding and combat itself being brutal are two design goals of Age of Iron. If you have perfect prep, the fight should be an instant win (you have a Trump Card). Short of that, and you should at least have some Takedown options practiced with your allies, and be forewarned about what sorts of Takedowns the opponents are likely to attempt. Are there certain buffs or debuffs the enemy is capable of? Best to know that in advance and have a countermeasure!

Prioritize targets. If the enemy has only one “anvil” (Takedown setup) user enabling several “hammers” (Takedown finisher), then taking them out guts the strategy. As the Shadowrun adage goes, “geek the mage”. Spells on their own, can be buffs/debuffs, anvils, hammers, or trump cards, just depending on the effect and how many Magic Dice the mage is willing to splash out. If you don’t know what sorts of spells this type of mage is likely to have, or how many Magic Dice they potentially have access to, then that mage had better be knocked out before they ever see you. Anything short of that and you are possibly toying with a TPK. Consider them “guy with the radio that can call in an airstrike”, except the airstrike could be mind control or warping in a demon.

Keep these three types of stratagems in mind when designing encounters or what combat detachments of enemy factions would be composed of. You can think of them as a hierarchy if you like: basic grunts should have access to some sort of Buff/Debuff, elite enemies should have at least one type of Takedown ready to go for the types of enemies they are trained to fight, and boss level enemies should have one or more signature Trump Cards that highlight how dangerous they are.

Use them effectively and your players will start copying or pursuing the mastery of them very quickly!