Trust me, I've tried. I've read through BoB and still can't follow it.

I understand how a skirmish works, and how Intensity works there. Unit Leader rolls vs. Skirmish Intensity; outcome of that roll dictates a bonus or penalty to PK actions. Got that part.

What I don't understand is the rest of it that comes along with actual battles. Army Intensity, Unit Intensity, etc. and especially how they affect one another. BoB is not very clear, and the tutorial (Battle at Mearcred Creek) is not useful if players don't follow the script or rolls don't go the way one would expect.

Is there any EASY way to follow how all of these moving pieces work together? I feel like I need a flowchart or something.

What I don't understand is the rest of it that comes along with actual battles. Army Intensity, Unit Intensity, etc. and especially how they affect one another.


I don't own BoB, so I am just reading through the Mearcred Creek...

The way I understand it:
1. You first calculate the Army Intensity.
2. Then you modify the Army Intensity by the Zone modifier (and whatever goes in there, terrain?) to get the Unit Intensity.
3. The Unit Leader rolls Battle vs. Unit Intensity to see what maneuver options the Unit has.
4. Fighting happens.
5. The results of the melee adjust the next round's Army Intensity -> return to 1.

Did this help?

I struggled through this too. Here's how I understand it. I've only done this twice though, so any vets please feel free to correct me where I'm wrong. :)

This ended up longer than I expected. It seems like a lot, but it's really pretty simple once you go through it a few times. There is a summary at the end. Hope it helps!

1. CALCULATE ARMY INTENSITY:

First the GM needs to figure out the health of the army as a whole for this round of the battle. This is called the "Army Intensity" score.


First Round Army Intensity = Opening Intensity + Starting Conditions + Battle Events (lower is better).
Subsequent Round Army Intensity = Last Round's Final Intensity + Battle Events (lower is better).


a. Army Intensity:

The GM keeps track of this value. I like to think of it as the *ENEMY* army's "morale" or their ability to stand and fight the battle.
I view Army Intensity as a game of "tug of war" of sorts. "20" is the middle, "40" is the enemy's side, "0" is the player's side. You want to get that intensity number as close to your side as possible! If this number is below 20, the Player's army is winning, if it is above 20, the enemy is winning.
The entire goal of the BoB combat system is to get the Army Intensity number as close to 0 as possible. If you can get it to 0 or less for two turns, the enemy routes!
The PKs can help lower the Army's Intensity by gaining triumphs (winning their individual combats). The BoB describes this process as "grinding the intensity down" and that's a very good description. Each triumph doesn't really make a huge difference on the intensity value (usually just a couple of points) so it takes quite a few triumphs to lower this score to zero. If a battle is short, there may not be many opportunities to affect this score.


b. Battle Events

The GM keeps track of this. I like to think of this as the overall "big picture" situation on the battlefield.
In my games so far, this roll has had a very big impact. A few "bad" rolls in a row can completely wipe out any successes the PK's have. I'm hoping that as we get more experienced with the system, we'll start to see the PKs have a bigger impact but as a bunch of newbies, this roll has been huge!
This is the area that has been the easiest for me as a GM to "fudge" the numbers. If the GPC says that Uther's army is supposed to get bogged down in a swamp, but they are currently dominating the battle, you can just say "the army got bogged down in a swamp, don't rolle for Battle Events, it's set to "7") and this will even things out.



2. CALCULATE UNIT INTENSITY:

After the GM calculates how well the army as a whole is doing, next the GM needs to figure out how well the Player Knight's unit is doing. Things could be going really well for the army as a whole, but the PKs could be in the thick of the battle facing the enemy's vanguard, so their experience may feel very different!


Unit Intensity = Army Intensity + Terrain + Battle Zone + Unit Cohesion


a. Battle Zone:

The Battle Zone represents how dangerous the battlefield position of the Player Knight's Unit is. It is all mapped out pretty well on the chart on Page 15. We use this chart as a play mat.
Basically, the middle "killing zone" represents the front line where the enemy has positioned all of its weapons and soldiers. I like to think of this as a giant shield wall a few ranks deep. If you are charging into the wall, you have guys with spears and weapons all around you. If you can break through "the wall" it becomes less dangerous for you. This is represented by increasing and decreasing the "Battle Zone" intensity as you move closer to the front line.


b. Unit Cohesion:

The PKs are not fighting on their own, they are part of a unit of Knights making coordinated attacks. No single Knight is going to be able to break open a well disciplined shield wall! Instead, the Knights charge together, creating a terrorizing mass of horses, bodies, armor, and spears/lances to cause massive impact and scare the opponent into leaving their wall and scattering (where the individual Knight becomes much more effective). How effectively the unit is able to coordinate this attack is represented in the "Unit Cohesion" value.
The values for Unit Cohesion are in table 4.2 on page 30. On the first turn, you start "disengaged." On subsequent turns, you look at the Unit Results in the maneuver table that matches the last maneuver the unit executed. Offensive maneuvers are on page 36, Defensive on 42.


3. SELECT THE UNIT MANEUVER

Once the GM has calculated the Unit Intensity, the GM (or Unit Leader when you get one) picks a maneuver. This is the "meat" of the BoB combat system and the area I have the least experience with. I think I have a lot of learning about when to pick which maneuver. Obviously as Knights the "Charge", "Pull Back", "Charge Again" methodology is pretty historically accurate, and seems to be rewarded mechanically as well. However, there are several other tactics that could also be appropriate that I have not explored yet. That could be an interesting topic though. :)



Unit Maneuver = Unit Commander's Battle Roll + Maneuver Choice (based on the results of the battle roll)


a. Unit Commander's Battle Roll:

This roll is the mechanical/gameplay reward for keeping unit intensity low. The unit commander (or GM) makes an opposed roll of his battle skill vs. the unit intensity number from step 2 (this represents the enemy strength). If the unit commander wins, the Unit Maneuvers he is allowed to select from are better than the ones he has to choose if he looses.
I like to think of this opposed roll as whether or not the enemy shield wall held its position or not. If you win, they probably buckled allowing you to chase them down or push deeper behind enemy lines. If the "enemy" wins, you have to face a line of spears and shields that your horses are simply NOT going to charge into. Now you are going to have to fight your way out of the mess so you can (probably) withdraw and try again!


4. MELEE COMBAT:

Once a maneuver has been selected, the GM must figure out which opponent the PK's unit will be facing. They roll on the army table and select as appropriate based on the unit's maneuver. Then the PK's and the enemy unit(s) fight! This is the main section where the PK's get involved.


Melee Combat = Determine Opponent + Calculate Melee Skill + Missile Phase + Melee Phase + Bodyguard Bonus Phase + Followers Phase
Melee Skill = PK's Weapon Skill + Immediate Conditions (table 4.13, page 64) + Unit Cohesion Modifiers (Table 4.14, page 64) + Battlefield Obstacles


This step is pretty self explanatory and to me, makes a lot of sense. With a few exceptions, it isn't too dissimilar from the core rules. The important thing to remember here is that the basic goal of this step is to figure out the number of successes, ties and failures your unit had so you can use that information for the next step in the battle (the End of the Round step).

5. END OF THE ROUND:

Battles in the BoB system are between units. The Player's unit succeeds and fails together and there are varying results based on the percentage of successes, ties, and failures all the PKs had during the melee phase. If everyone wins or ties their individual melee combats, the unit had a "Triumph." Triumphs are the main way the players can reduce the Army Intensity score so those are important! If everyone looses, the unit was crushed and the Army Intensity goes up.


End of Round = Unit Results + Glory + Squires = Adjust Final Army Intensity
Final Army Intensity = Army Intensity of Round (from Step 1) + Unit Results Modifier


Again, this step is pretty self explainatory. The main things I would add here are to not forget the Squire rolls (easy to do!) and that the final Army Intensity is very important. If the PK's units results had a modifier (usually a Triumph or a Crush) you modify the Army Intensity from Step 1 by this value and that is the Final Army Intensity value you'll use in Step 1 for the next round of combat.

Whew!

That seems like a lot, but really once you do it a few times, it's pretty quick. In summary:

1. Determine PK status (I didn't go over this, it's pretty self explanatory)
2. GM calculates Army Intensity and Unit Intensity
3. Unit Commander (or GM) Selects PK's Unit Maneuver
4. Fight the Melee Combat
5. Figure out the End of Round Results (including the Final Army Intensity that you'll use next Round).

There are a few other systems that layer on top of this, but the main thing is understanding the Army and Unit intensity values. Once you have this down, the rest of the system clicks into place rather easily.

I hope this helps. Keep in mind I've only run through this twice. I'm pretty confident that I've gotten it right, but if anyone sees anything wrong, please feel free to chip in!