I’m working through Campaigns, and trying to understand a few things:
First, why unit HP are different between Battles (Page 77) and Campaigns (Page 27). Battles has Chapter 8: Conversion, which I presume Battles Page 77 is based on. Where do the HP in Campaigns come from? They are typically lower than in Battles. Given that Campaigns resolves battles based on Battle Rating, and that is provided for units in Campaigns Page 27, do the HP on Campaigns Page 27 actually get used?
Similarly, why does Campaigns Page 27 include things like Damage when it doesn’t appear to be used? Is it just so one can follow the bouncing ball and see how Battles’ Battle Rating calculator works?
Calculating wages (Battles 95). The second example, discussing reduction of an ettin’s wage due to its supply cost, suggests a reduction of [(12x4)-2]. Where does this come from? The 12 is the actual supply cost and the 2 is the threshold above which wages start reducing, but what is the 4 multiplier?
Calculating supply cost for creatures. I note Campaigns Pages 29-38 list supply cost for pretty much everything imaginable, but what if I crossbreed my own creature?
The more I read, the more I think Campaigns and Battles don’t rely on the same statistics for various individuals and units thereof. Am I right, or just very confused?
I’m sure I’ve just missed something, given that every other question I’ve had I’ve managed to answer for myself by scouring the books. Appreciate any advice!
3 - The 4 multiplier is because Battles is talking about monthly wage and monthly supply cost, while the Campaigns table shows us the weekly supply cost of an ettin. Thus, four weeks in a month.
4 - If you want to know the supply cost for a new creature, you’ll have to figure it out based on existing creatures. In the specific case of a crossbreed, I would assume it eats as much as the component creature it gets the size from, and thus has the same supply cost.
5 - It’s definitely the same stats underpinning it; both are based on the ACKS stats for the creatures in question. They use different formulas to calculate their relevant things, though (and has been previously noted, I have no idea where the damage/HP numbers in Campaigns game from).
I have a theory for why they have HP and AC and they are different from Battles, but I am not 100% sure. I believe that the Campaigns stats tell us what the ACKS stats of one of that creature is.
Thus, a single dwarven heavy infantryman has 5 hp, and deals damage by weapon +1. These stats are used to calculate his BR, though they are not directly used in campaigns, it tells us what their stats are for the purpose of heroic forays (when you might find yourself facing, say, a dozen of these jerks, and thus instead of having to look them up in ACKS Core, you can just check them in the book you’re already using).
Thanks, that makes a bit more sense to me, especially regarding the different stats between Battles and Campaigns. That does make a lot of sense.
On that note, while investigating the monster entries for Elves and Dwarves in ACKS Core, I noticed that they respectively have saving throws of E1 and D1. I couldn’t find these in ACKS Core, and the demi-human classes don’t have consistent saves (e.g. the Craftpriest and Vaultguard have different saves, so D1 can’t just mean “dwarven” saves).
Also similarly, Campaigns lists the save for men as “NM”. I assume this is Normal Man or something to that effect. Would that be a Level 0 fighter?
It looks like most of your questions have been correctly answered already. Yes, the Campaigns stats are for individual ACKS characteristics while the Battles stats are for unit-level battle stats.
E1 is Elven Spellsword
D1 is Dwarven Vaultguard
NM is Normal Man, e.g. 0 level Fighter