Fantasy Wargaming

Another encounter between the Brigands and Orcs inhabiting Hex 45:47 in sub hex 4.  They met on a battlefield of general Scrub Terrain.  Rolling for the 16 sectors of the battlefield, resulted in just three alternate terrain features:  a marsh in sector 9 and woods in sectors 2 & 10. The Brigands arrived with 110 regular troops from the Southwest (which gives them the option to enter the battlefield from sectors 9 or 13) vs. Orcs numbering 140 strong which enter from the South (sectors 14 or 15). Time of day (1d6: 1-3 am / 4-6 pm) (1d12: hour) = 8:00 am.  Early 8n the morning, this will benefit the Brigands, because Orcs suffer a penalty in daylight. Checking for surprise Brigands (5) gain 3 surprise rounds over the Orcs (2). The distance is rolled as 10" (6d4 - 2+4+3+2+1+4, reduced by 3 for the Scrub terrain, reduced another 3 for surprise).   Since the Orcs are surprised, they deploy their troops first.  The Orc commander arranges his...

Men-at-Arms, also known as Mercenaries, are a main stay of any in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons campaign. (DMG 29)  The various types are listed in the following table in the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) page 30: Note the hit point range for these soldiers, which lines up with them being zero level fighters. This is confirmed in the Players Handbook (PHB) on page 105: DMG 237 Non-Player Character tables give us more details about a Mercenary's Attributes: The Monster Manual (MM) page 66 confirms normal men have hit points in the 1-6 range, informing us Mercenaries are a more hardy stock. In case you were wondering, if Men-at-arms have more hit points than normal people, DMG 88 fills in that data on page 88: So it's probably fair to deduce some of the different in hit points is  from their training. So, how do they actually fair in combat? Not great considering their ability to attack is the same as any other typical human...I gues...