This is a good point - in fact it's one of my pet arguments that we don't take enough account of how magic affects what goes on in warfare in fantasy worlds.
> As an example, I had my players attack a Hoplite unit, using primarily the
tactics and magic of the Granite Phalanx cult (except the bits I don't like,
of course).
What write-up were you working from here? The only detailed stats I have here are the ones for the Lunar garrison units in the Cradle scenario in 'Big Rubble', and the thing about those is that they only describe the rank and file, not the NCOs and still less the (possibly rune-level) officers.
In my game your Sword would chew his way through the first couple of ranks without much difficulty, but around then he'd discover that the file leaders and file closers have a selection of useful spells, allowing them to combine magical efforts on a single target. By the time his Truesword, Bladesharp, and Protection spells have gone down to a Dispel Magic 4 each he won't be finding the going so easy.
In my view, GMs have a lot of freedom in handling large-scale actions as they want to, because the kinds of magic that can be cast by large groups of magicians on critical occasions are in a different league from the effects detailed in the rules, which are aimed at the small-scale fights that occur in adventures.
Andrew
Powered by hypermail