This Monday, my playgroup will continue to bring our Savage Worlds Fantasy Game to a close. We've been playing with the Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition rules using the Shaintar Immortal Legends setting. The party has been building up to a big war between the "good" Southern Kingdoms of humans, dwarves, orcs, goblins and ogres against the nation of Shaya Nor, which is chock full of dark elves, lycanthropes and the undead... lots and lots of undead (plus a great dragon, cannot forget him). In last week's game, the party agreed to travel with the main army up to the border nation of Olara and march into Shaya Nor with the largest army assembled in the Southern Kingdoms in millennia. The party's goal is to push their way north through Shaya Nor to find a forgotten dwarven clanhome so they can destroy a couple magical items and prevent the return of an exiled god.

I'm already planning on mixing in the Legend of the Five Rings Battle System to give some player character variety within the battle - if a PC has a few raises in their Fighting/Shooting/Arcane roll during a round of battle, they get a heroic opportunity (which is lifted straight from the L5R book... because why change awesome?).

I want to play through three battles before the party reaches the fortress. In one or two game sessions (our sessions last a couple hours)... and I have two players who are not super excited by big war battle stuff.

My question is: using the Savage Worlds rules, I know it is pretty simple to stat up honking big armies and throw them together. But I'd like to have some color and to give the illusion of some strategory (which I don't actually possess). I was hoping to have a series of battles as the forces of Shaya Nor throw up a quick defense at the border, then hit the Southern Kingdom army a second time as they push into their territory, then a third and final time with the big dragon.

What suggestions for army makeup on both sides would be cool? I'm talking squads to war machines to types of forces. Big ideas within the fantasy and Savage Worlds milieu are welcome. In the end, I'm only going to be doing a single roll per battle round by each PC and then a big roll for each side, so I have no desire to ramp up complexity, just to make it seem epic and exciting and fun.

The first game of this leg of the story is Monday night.

Help.

(crossposted on youmeetinatavern.com)

This sounds pretty epic.

For the baddies, it seems you've got tons of potential. How about squads (packs) of elite werewolves that roam outside the main battle lines and do special missions to take out enemy leaders or strategic points?

How about a battalion of skeletons that sneak into a future battle point and bury themselves in the ground. At some point during the battle, they come up out of their graves amidst the enemy troops. A magic-user looking for metal may be alerted to their buried presence by the metal in the shovels lying next to them.

Thanks, walkerp. Your suggestions are great, keep 'em coming.

I figure the first battle is wading through hordes of undead hastily thrown up in defense to weaken the Olaran and Galean army at little cost and to buy time for Shaya Nor to respond. I will employ your buried skeletons idea, perhaps set the battle on an open "farmland".