So, after a rather successful prologue set on 484 where I GMed 5e's introductory scenario, this Tuesday I'm effectively starting the KAP in 485. And since the Battle of Meardred Creek is the campaign's first big event, I've got a couple of questions about the battle rules I hope my fellow Round Table knights can help me with:

For starters, I'm really confused on how you resolve the normal fights with enemies generated on the random tables. Do you just make a single opposed combat roll per battle round against the stats found on the tables (in which case the players rolling for damage seems a bit superfluous), or do you actually have a little full-fledged combat against those opponents (in which case the stats on the tables aren't that useful, since they lack essential combat stuff such as Major Wounds, Knockdown values, Hit Points etc)? I'm pretty sure that doing it the full-fledged way is meant to be done only on special events, but again if that's the case and normal results are just a single opposed combat roll, I don't see the point of players rolling damage and the table giving us the armor values of opponents, since the GM won't be keeping track of their (unlisted) HP anyway.

Second, is it just me, or in KAP we're missing the battalion commander's Battle skill value? We know army commander's (Uther) value (19), and the PCs unit commander's (Sir Amig) value (again 19), but the book doesn't mention who commands the PC's battalion and what his Battle skill value is. I could just roll 1d6+15 and be done with it, but I'd rather have the Earl of Salisbury (which I know has a Battle skill of 19, too) command the PCs' battalion. Would that be appropriate, or are there other nobles present with higher rank that would take charge of one of the two battalions left (since I assume Uther commands the main one himself)?

Eduardo Penna

For starters, I'm really confused on how you resolve the normal fights with enemies generated on the random tables. Do you just make a single opposed combat roll per battle round against the stats found on the tables (in which case the players rolling for damage seems a bit superfluous), or do you actually have a little full-fledged combat against those opponents (in which case the stats on the tables aren't that useful, since they lack essential combat stuff such as Major Wounds, Knockdown values, Hit Points etc)? I'm pretty sure that doing it the full-fledged way is meant to be done only on special events, but again if that's the case and normal results are just a single opposed combat roll, I don't see the point of players rolling damage and the table giving us the armor values of opponents, since the GM won't be keeping track of their (unlisted) HP anyway.

Page 211.
b. Melee: Bttle melee is handled just as a single melee combat round, applying only to player knights."



Second, is it just me, or in KAP we're missing the battalion commander's Battle skill value?



Missing from what?
There is no Battalion commander roll in the battle system in KAP5.



We know army commander's (Uther) value (19), and the PCs unit commander's (Sir Amig) value (again 19), but the book doesn't mention who commands the PC's battalion and what his Battle skill value is. I could just roll 1d6+15 and be done with it, but I'd rather have the Earl of Salisbury (which I know has a Battle skill of 19, too) command the PCs' battalion. Would that be appropriate, or are there other nobles present with higher rank that would take charge of one of the two battalions left (since I assume Uther commands the main one himself)?


You are describing the function of the Unit Commander.
Make the Earl the Unit commander, and your desires will be met.

--Greg Stafford

There is no Battalion commander roll in the battle system in KAP5.



Yes there is.

Pg 206
"The battalion commander is one of three such officers. Each battalion commander's Battle roll is important only once, the first time his battalion enters combat. This usually occurs during the First Charge, and is midified by the army commander's Battle roll result."

Then it is listed as step "A" under "II. The First Charge" on page 208. Complete with a little table and everything.

Page 211.
b. Melee: Bttle melee is handled just as a single melee combat round, applying only to player knights."


That being the case, am I right assuming that rolling damage for players is done just for entertainment purposes ("35 damage! Yeah, that Saxon is toast."), since the GM is not keeping track of the opponents hit points during that single round of combat?



Missing from what?
There is no Battalion commander roll in the battle system in KAP5.





You are describing the function of the Unit Commander.
Make the Earl the Unit commander, and your desires will be met.


As mentioned by SirDynadan, KAP5 does use batallion commanders (three per army, and the army commander can be one of them). And I don't want to put the PCs under Earl Roderick's command yet (let them have some adventures and gain some Glory to earn it), but it would make sense for them to be in his battalion (not his unit), if he is a battalion commander, which would happen only if he's one of the two more important nobles sworn to Uther present at the Battle of Meardred Creek, since Uther himself probably commands the main.

Eduardo Penna

Page 211.
b. Melee: Bttle melee is handled just as a single melee combat round, applying only to player knights."


That being the case, am I right assuming that rolling damage for players is done just for entertainment purposes ("35 damage! Yeah, that Saxon is toast."), since the GM is not keeping track of the opponents hit points during that single round of combat?

Not quite - don't forget that the damage you cause is related to whether or not your lance breaks in a lance charge.

You might find some other usegful clarifications on Greg's page covering Q&A about KAP, incluing battle here: http://www.weareallus.com/pendragon/questionsanswers.html

So, we ran our first battle last night, and I think it went really well. :)

For the record, I started the campaign in Spring 488 and the PCs didn't fight the Franks with Madoc, so Lindsey in 490 was the first battle the PCs were a part of. They actually fought quite well; only my NPC character (a young, poor, pious knight who is a close friend to the PCs) took significant damage -- the dice were on the PCs' side last night, overcoming bad Battle results by their battalion commander (Duke Ulfius; the PCs are knights and officers in Silchester County).

Their flank took heavy losses (thanks to Ulfius' Battle skill of 10, I had 4 failed followers' fate rolls out of the first 8 rounds, with no criticals, so the right flank suffered through nearly 80% casualties by the end of round 8), but I decided to go with the script and have the battalion finally rout the "equally-depleted" Germans, especially since the rest of the Saxon line broke in the previous two rounds.

I'm sure I made a couple mistakes running the combat, so I wanted to verify a couple things:

1. I went ahead and just used Ulfius' Battle skill, not bothering to come up with the Earl of Silchester's subordinate skill (just being lazy). However, in most battles, would the player knight's immediate commander be the fellow responsible for making the unit battle rolls before each round, or do we use Ulfius' roll, since he commands the entire battalion? (The follower's fate roll would be done for the knights and footmen directly under the commander's responsibility...so, the Earl of Silchester would make the rolls for the PCs' unit NPCs, since the PCs were not unit commanders. Is that correct?)

2. Can you make a lance charge after the First Charge only when the commander's battle roll is a critical success? Or is that more a GM determination?

3. Can you capture prisoners only on a critical Followers' Fate roll at the end of the round, or is the ability to capture a "ransom worthy" foe at the GM's discretion?

I think that's it for now...though I'm sure I'll come up with more questions after the next battle... :)

1. I went ahead and just used Ulfius' Battle skill, not bothering to come up with the Earl of Silchester's subordinate skill (just being lazy). However, in most battles, would the player knight's immediate commander be the fellow responsible for making the unit battle rolls before each round, or do we use Ulfius' roll, since he commands the entire battalion? (The follower's fate roll would be done for the knights and footmen directly under the commander's responsibility...so, the Earl of Silchester would make the rolls for the PCs' unit NPCs, since the PCs were not unit commanders. Is that correct?)

The unit is normally a pretty small unit.
Let's say you have a battallion commanded by Ulfius.
Then you have various barons each bringing a bunch of troops to the battle which they command, like the Earl of Silchester.
The Earl may have say 30 knights and may try to personally lead them all, but he is more likely to, say, give 10 of them to his castellan, another 10 to his marshal, and command the last 10 himself.
Those groups are your units, and the commander of that group is the one who makes the battle roll.
Also, some of the earl's men may be bannerettes who bring some men of their own to the battlefield - those could be separate units too.


2. Can you make a lance charge after the First Charge only when the commander's battle roll is a critical success? Or is that more a GM determination?

The First charge is always a lance charge.
In subsequent rounds, you get a lance charge if that roll is a critical.


3. Can you capture prisoners only on a critical Followers' Fate roll at the end of the round, or is the ability to capture a "ransom worthy" foe at the GM's discretion?
Both.
The GM can create opportunities for players to capture prisoners, and the players themselves can try to as well, by disengaging, saying they are looking for someone important (and harder to fight), and the GM coming up with some roll to give them a chance to get it if it seems appropriate.

Thanks, Darren, I appreciate the response. :) It really clears things up for me.