Sins of the Crusades Notes on Army Organization

Sadly its really hard to research Komnenian Armies. This is because of the haphazard situation and the constant conflicts unlike Justinian/Belisarius and Maurice's time as well as titles being a tool of manipulation (an arbitrary manner to move people up or down the pecking order). Then there is the adoption of Western organization, which is simpler and more useful given the constraints of the time. To make it easier and more intuitive I will limit the terms used with those that are more modern and easier to follow.

This is also from my experience in fighting in groups, and how challenging it is to coordinate as well as some management science insight. I've noticed the Military Fiefs determine how things are organized because these are the simplest ways of disseminating resources.

This is meant to make it easier to understand military organization. For the non-military characters in the game, this is to understand the logistics - that a soldier = a household, typically with a tenant farmer attached (I was not able to assemble these into a proper thesis but reading up on Byzantine Economics by Kenneth Harl is where I got this). That their leaders have greater and greater households awarded to them, and it is up to their virtues or vices how these resources are spent. As you can imagine, the higher up the chain, the more they need specialists and administrators and how limited they are in recruiting skilled talent, or how fortunate they are to have any skilled administrators.

Military Terms

Komnenian Army
Byzantine Army

• A Squad is 10 men, with one of them leading them called a Sergeant (Dekarch).
• We will use Companies (Pentekons and Hekatons), lead by a Captain (aka Pentatonarch or Hekatonarch), to call a group (of typically 5) Squads. So this is typically 50 men average mode (100 an uncommon number and a mark of a upward climbing military career).
• We will use Bandon, lead by a Commander (aka Companions or Komes) to call a group of Companies (typically 3 to 10). 200-1000 men.  
• We will use Army (Tagma), lead by a General (Strategos), to call a group of Bandons (2 to 10). Generals and their Armies vary greatly and posturing makes it hard for us to tell how many is an army. Which is not a bad thing because that is part of the game, the confusion sowed by the differences in organization.   

In the mindset of the time grouping focused on having more maneuverable units which needed competent leaders as well as awarding Households to compensate and support the soldiers. So the Army had a tendency to break up into small subunits of Companies in order to make it easier to coordinate and maneuver. A fairly experienced captain can organize up to 50 men within the parameters and expectations of the time. So most grouping is having as many Captains as possible. Captains get a large household, while his sergeants and soldiers get a household with tenants. Gaining men and resources is up to the ingenuity and aggressive manner of the Captain and his posse.

When a captain is sufficiently skilled and experienced his men grow to 100, and he moves up to be a Commander when he can organized more as he promotes within his Company his own sergeants. Commanders aka Counts, who are typically given estates of a fifty to hundred households, organizes their assets in Companies, while his whole strength is called a “Bandon” or “Band”.

A General, typically gets a vacated or recaptured Fief or Provincial Estate worth hundreds of households. If held and maintained, the succeeding generations become Dynasts themselves. Wealthier generals have been in the military for generations and have a much larger army, they stylize themselves as Dukes (Doukas) or Princeps or what ever title the Emperor will give them. the Appearance of strength and power is important so they tend to look for titles and estates to gain. You will notice that the Byzantine/Roman Imperial bureaucracy allows for this, rewarding titles, and to make it easier for the players and myself I'll simplify this with small notes on how many titles or households or soldiers instead of remembering or researching every single title.

Households and Soldiers

Note that Soldier = Household is a very typical formula for thousands of years. Also note that the more mobile, or farther from the household the soldier operates, the need for multiple households per soldier to support him. The longer the operation the more households is needed. Its from my chinese studies that about 10 households per soldier was about the cost of the border operations of various Dynasties in China. You think in households because you think in how to make it ongoing. Sun Zi had a formula for it in ounces of silver and Chinese miles, the romans I'm sure had such rules of thumb but it wasnt as widely adopted and evolved as the Chinese.  

A household is the soldier's household, and plus that of its tenants. This is a fluid number and not necessarily 1+1. The soldier can have slaves, and they provide the labor or tenants farmers who have migrated or have been captured.

Low Tech Education Notes - The Cost of Education

I don't really enforce these rules and details, that would be too much of a buzz kill for a game. Still when I tinker, I am aware that the world view regarding the details that go into education and how we are able to think and process ideas and experience.

Being educated in Low Tech eras in GURPS is expensive. 

• 3 points for being able to read and write, 
• 5 points for being able to do arithmetic past single digits. 
• 3 points to be able to speak and comprehend the lingua franca, and being skilled in the language of every major cultural and trading partner is another 2-3 points. 
• If you study and practice your language skills you will need research and writing. 
• Savoir-Faire at least 1 point for decent manners. 
• When addressing a crowd or speaking in public, you may want to have Performance or Public Speaking. A low skill may show as lack of confidence (a lot of those who shake and are visibly nervous when speaking in public)
• You have to be versed with all the religious practices and various superstitions of your people, like how many angels dance on the pin of a needle. Theology 1cp for the faithful with optional specialization as Devotee (all the stuff you have to take on faith). The purpose of deeper religious education is fulfillment in lives of Sacred people and their practices, as well as dogma and teachings. If your pragmatist, it becomes a Political Tool allowing you to manipulate interpretations to suit your purposes.  
• You would be marked as an outsider if you don't know the legends, myths, and stories and histories of your people with Literature and History. 1pt is every wive's tale, as you reach 4pts you can recite verses of these epics (since they usually in a form of a song or poetry). It should allow allow you some history rolls OR storytelling public speaking rolls at minor default. Also many sayings and expressions will draw from this. 
• If you are in court or dealing with a lot of high status people you will need to be versed with History (dynasties) and know all your relatives and feuds and alliances, and so many juicy gossip to entertain you hours without end. Heraldry could be an Optional Specialization of this kind of History. 
• Sometimes you are taught law if your family and people follow Roman traditions or Something Equivalent, especially if you are of a High social status where you are expected to play judge. Norse, Gothe, and Ethnic Traditions of Law can be useful because its knowledge of precedents. Consider these ethnic laws and traditions as optional specializations.
• If you're really lucky, you'd have a Science teacher, Aka Natural Philosophers, who will teach you philosophy of the great masters, Natural Philosophy (what passes for science), Geometry, and Naturalist. 
• Socratic, Platonic, Aristotelian, Hipocratic system, Pythagoras, Stoicism, etc....
• Arthashastra, Bhuddism, Moizm, Confucianizm, Legalism, Logicians, School of Diplomacy, etc...
• This does not include the training expected of a Warrior. It it is anything like boot camp, about 4 hours a day 6 days a week with a teacher from 6-8  on wards. The hours and teaching can be up to 70cp at just 16 in Physical conditioning and skills. 
• In the East you are required to learn Divination (Religious Ritual and Fortune telling), and you are required to know all the ancestors and all the legends and stories. Your mastery of this colors your mannerisms and tastes, and marks your status. This is an important skill, because legitimacy hangs on it - at least at levels of IQ+2.
• Politics and Current Affairs Politics would a more refined art and more of a requirement as part of education since there are many many vassals and lords and relations. 
• Administration, Accounting, and Merchant are important skills since management of estates and holdings keeps many noble families busy and shorthanded. The threat of Scholar Administrators deposing Noble families is always a contentious matter in court, and the Noble families have to outshine the common born scholars as well as rise to the heights of Kingship amids the weakening Zhou. 
• If fortunate, the education is well rounded thanks to the Hundred Schools of thought that debate and compete to be the formost school of thought in Zhongguo. 
• If you're lucky you would learn Logic with the Logicians, Geometry and Engineering with the Moists, Psychology and Diplomacy with the Confucians, Law and Administration with the Legalists, Farming with the Agriculturalists, The flow of Heaven from the Daoists, Natural Sciences with the Yinyangjian, and if you are really Lucky (unusual background) probably meet a strange man from the far South west and tales of Inner Peace etc... 

Your teacher counts as a Contact or Ally and you really don't stop consulting him and your fellow students, your fellow students are also Contacts or Allies, and you have to come from money to afford an education (unless your parent is the teacher, or you are a ward or a household vassal family). 

If you didn't invest in an education, you don't have the basic critical thinking skills of 5th grade level we take for-granted in the present day (assuming your education was not replaced with BS).

Note that Ignorance is a tool of the powerful.

In the Modern World much of these hours our built into our life style and by the Infrastructure laid down by wiser people. The infrastructure of Education serves to bring the cost of education down and make the pursuit of knowledge a natural part of our daily lives (see the internet). All these points are "free" in an era. In later Eras Healthcare (through augmentations) may also be "free" in the same way, so will the tools to make for a dignified existence (IMTU the gov't subsidizes ship creation for this purposes, everyone is part of a ship to participate in inter and intera stellar trade)

Roll20 Optimized Combat Mapping

First you have to Roll20 Best Practices

• Gif is the Smallest, and has some lost detail. Comparing the same file from PNG to Gif at the same px the Gif is 1/4 the size. 

1028x1028 is the optimal size for a combat map. By Combat map, I mean the map you are going to move around in with a number of tokens. I run gurps and I can be a combat heavy GM, and I like the Mass Combat rules and allow large number of units to participate.

This does not prove the same rule or standard for overland maps which is not token/asset heavy.

Sample Optimized Battlemap

At 70px per Hex, 1027/70 = about 14 hexes.
14x14 is the optimal. But thats pretty clear, I can suffer some pixelation to have more playing space. I experimented with 0.7 enabled grid unit size and 0.2. I looked at the pixelation of 1028x1028 (~700kb).
In the end I need the following details:

1. Bad Terrain
2. Cover
3. Visibility
4. Line of Sight
5. Visibility Fall-Off. (Select the Token and press "L" to see what ithe token  can see). 

In combat I opted not to use COmbat Maps made in GIMP. Instead I made maps with 256x256 Gif Assets (4kb each). Will make prettier assets in the future. Again they will be drawn with GIF as the intended output for combat maps. 

2kb

2kb

4kb

You will notice this terrain has a lot of trees and cover. Its a more open era for combat, as forests go.

so basically IF I littered a scene with 20 4kb, and 40 2kbs I'd have a total of 1.600kb scene. Still smaller than most scenes with a map. And it depends on the density. 

Some OSs allow you to Zoom different from the Ctrl+Mouse wheel. My PC used to be able to do it, now I dont know what happened


Lesson: this means breaking up a beautifully detailed map into 1028x1028 chunks or planning your map making around this size. Which is not so bad. Crop up a map, and place it in your drawing space and work on the sections.

Quick and Simple Method

Combat maps lack a lot of detail, the area is so limited what matter are the terrain, its effects and Information asymmetry (for tactical decision making). In this method I can quickly make a map and even make one on the fly. 

All my units have lighting so I can see what they can see. Beyond their visibility and enemies behind cover the PCs have to make listening and observation checks and I can "Ping" where. 

Information Asymmetry - PCs or the Players can develope good protocols and rules of thumb to work with limited information. This also allows Biases and Disads to come into play. Aggressive, Paranoid, Cautious, Level Headedness, etc... are accentuated with Information Asymmetry. 

Lightening Assets

you will notice the asset below. The Spear wielder is 590kb (1500x1500px) vs the smaller one at 32kb (258x258). That adds to the load. I will have to reduce all that very nice detail into a more playable size. 

1500x1500 PNG 357kB 

256x256 31kb PNG

256x256 9kb GIF

* You will have to adjust the visibility. I use 20/10 for how far the character can see (simulating Combat Awareness and information Asymmetry), but at 0.2 this is screwed up. So from 20/10 it becomes 4/2 and 22/11 becomes 4.4/2.2 

Lesson the GM who wants to cram as much assets and terrain into his play space and he has limits in screen size and bandwidth he has to work with Optimized Asset Sizes. Basically work on 258x258, png for tokens, and Gif for Assets, and a map of 1028x1028 or No Map at all..

A map I recently finished, I'm learning to paint maps and terrain slowly a lot of lessons learned. Infinite Painter with Note 10.1, probably took me 3-4 hours (redoing many things, a lot of trial and error, and still many errors).

Very Quick Roll20 Tokens for my Warring State Game.

Here is my non-professional work lolz. Hope you can find it useful. Some notes on the scale I use which I had to resize to fit in properly (and to flip around because their handedness keeps gets screwed up)

This is for my Warring States Game which still has a slot-ish open. The party needs Muscle so warriors are especially needed. 

Redoing these below.

Note 10.1 (2012; 4.4), Infinite Painter for Note.

Warring States Pilot Episode

Characters

Thanks to:

• Zhaoze Zhexue +Steven Donaldson 
• Yi Qin +Filip Vukanovic 
• "Da" Yuan +Dan Mungham 
• Anguo Aiguo +Daniel Tallor 

Summary

• The party begins in Hebi, a fortified village that serves as a way station for Zhao goods travelling from Nao to Zhao and Zongshan Lands. Their Patrons, the Zhi and Jin, were killed and dispossed but they still had some contacts that arranged them to own a warehouse where they can try to move goods to Nao or Zhao lands. 
• Hebi is quaint with many small farms, more than what is needed to support the 50 Zhao troops (up to 300 soldeirs because many are on patrol) who protect the river from pirates. The town is run by a lady named Zhuyi who manages the farms for the Soldiers. The captain is Dongming, who doest like the look of the characters. 
• When the PCs get their warehouse and bill to trade, Dongming opposes it and says he does not serve anyone but the Zhao. He points at the old seals, which were until recently (this year), the authority of the Zhou - but now the Zhou are puppets of the Wei and this well decorated Zhao commander knows his loyalties very well. He punished the soldier who let them in, and punished him again for trying to make an excuse. 
• Well Yuan or Zhexue, would not stand for this crap and offered to read it to the Commander, who calmly asked his soldiers to draw their spears, escort them out, and stab them if they resisted. 
• The group escorted outside had to make their own way. They surveyed the land, they had supplies and was able to find out a lot of the farms were squatting and were not really "assigned" to them. Farther from the Hebei irrigation, they were not as productive. They moved further noth and found an abandoned manor, and what remains of a modest fief. Struggling farmers with poor irrigation. Donghua was their head man, he was in Hebi earlier asking for aid but turned down. The Party offered their aid in return of getting the land they can farm. The party was not made up of farmers, so what happened is that they ended up bartering their civilization building skills for improving the life of the farmers. In time they did improve the lives of the farmers but the threat of raiders eventually materialized.  
• Donghua has brought the problem before, and the team hastened to fix it. YiQin was quarrying for materials when he found a limestone cave suitable for defense. It is about 6 miles from the town. Aiguo patrolled and was able to spot a scout. When Xiao-Xiao was this scrawny orphan who helps him out and messages "Big" Yuan and Zhexue to follow. They were surprisingly able to stalk the scout when Aiguo alerted him, and DaYuan chased the scout down. 2 minutes of running and the big man caught up, causing the Scout to turn around and draw his hatchet. The pause allowed Aiguo and Zhexue to catch up. Zhexue grab scout and managed to hold his weapon arm when the others tried to pile on. It was easy and they had managed to capture the scout. 
• So they proceeded to torture the scout and get information from him. Being a scout, he does have a lot of information. The scout had no clue that, "Da" Yuan hacked the head off and put it on a pike which rallied some of the villagers. Its 60 men, mountain folk that live by raiding and their own small farms and foraging. When its cold enough to travel south, they raid to supplement their stores and grab some booty along the way. 
• Xiao-Xiao and Da Yuan decide to scout and try to pick off the bandits, even though they are poorly skilled for the task and the odds against him. The rest had to focus on rallying the villagers and only 15 of the adults decided to join, among them farmers who have nothing to lose, and aid Zhexue and YiQin. Aiguo maintained the perimeter.  
• Xiao-Xiao and Da Yuan made some smart decisions, and were able to catch a small flank guard of 4. On their prowl, they were discovered and Da Yuan, closed in against them. Untrained in warfare the Big merchant cut off the arm of the first man, and staggered the second. He had the benefit of a heavy cuirass and a good bronze axe. He took many wounds, hatchets cut muscle and hit bone, long knives went deep but fortunately avoided arteries. The huge man was so muscled that mass buffered what would have cut down any normal man. Xiao-Xiao stabbed at those stunned by his great blows, they were more worried about the aggressive warrior. (random hit location rolls). After cleave the head of the last opponent, (failed HT to recover from stun for the others), Da Yuan collapses and barely able to tend to his wounds the little orphan struggled with the man three times her mass. Fortunately Zhexue, in his medical and meditative haze had the inspiration to seek them out and found them through Aiguo. They all brought him back, while leave calling cards of their butchery.  
• When they returned, the village is estatic, they have arms but their biggest asset is wounded and need of bed rest (-14HP, ST14). So near death, and covered with wounds staving off infection would be the first threat they experienced.

Session End

• I will need to make a map of the village. Similar to those Harn Maps. Terrain, irrigation, and farms. The traps as well. Good thing I have some time. 
• everyone got 2cps and 3 which they decided how they are granted to the other PCs. Example is Steve gave 2cp for Dan, each for a leg, which will go into his rolls against infection and crippling (Dan has HT14). 
• We have one new player and will have a session two weeks from now, 18th. 
• I use the Optional Rule: Influence Success Rolls in B347 which allows them to spend CP (which they have a short supply of) to alter success. 
• All players are new to gurps. 
• I will need to make merchant professional template, since a result of 12 seems to occur a lot in the background roll. 
• Next time I'll try to have roll20 on screen share so that my mug is not whats on the video most of the time. 
• This is very sandbox. I had many things prepared, but not so much where the PCs wanted to go. My preparation there was my extensive knowledge of logistics (from the industry I work in, construction and manufacturing, and other related hobbies and interests). Good thing I prepared  - the Seasonal length, and the activities per season of farmers, then there are the farming activities and how many acres/hectars that can be processed (the basics from Low Tech companions 3). It gave a sense of what resources the PCs had to build their civilization. The path they decided is taking a fallen manor and build their own estate from there. Far from other lords, but with a river that lets them come close to Nao and another major place to trade. The scale of time will definitely be in seasons with points of intense activity and problems. 
• Here is something to consider, the problems that go to them, the more they dont have to go to these problems.
• I have a lot in store for this kind of adventure path. 

Dwarven Loadouts, Encounters, and Mass Combat Encounter

My dwarves are a bit shorter, but wider in proportions compared to humans. So they even out a bit but clothing and armor that has a "dwarven" descriptor cannot be worn by humans, but have enough material to be adjusted for humans. Evening-out is important because it saves the GM tons of calculations.

Dwarves

Dwarven template plus social background even out to zero cost template.

Dwarf Template

-15 points

• Slow Move - They begin with Move 4 instead of Move 5
• Lifting  Strength +3 – Calculate Basic Lift for Dwarves, as though they have 3 levels greater ST.
• Night  Vision 9 – Dwarves have excellent night vision, negating 9 levels of darkness penalties.
• Extended Lifespan – Dwarves are long lived and slow maturing, they become a young adult at around 36 years, an adult at around 60 years, middle aged at around 100 years, old at around 120 years, and Venerable at around 140 years.
• Workaholic – Dwarves are hardworking to a fault, they are so single minded with their work their relationships suffer. They suffer -1 reaction penalty with those who are affected by it.  
• Stubborn – Dwarves unusually stubborn people, it takes a great amount of effort to change a Dwarves mind. Double the time and resources it takes to argue an opposing point across to a Dwarf. Because of this inherent nature Dwarves are get along better with each other intoxicated or not minding the business of others. Often the Dwarf suffers a -1 reaction penalty to anyone affected by their stubborn nature.
• Taciturn – Dwarves are a naturally grumpy, cranky, and taciturn people. Other peoples find these offensive and rude. The Dwarves suffer a -1 reaction penalty to other races.
• Elven Ire – Dwarves have don't get along with Elves in many levels.
• Social Stigma: Minority Group – Dwarves are a Minority Group, they suffer -2 reaction penalty to other races and +2 reaction bonus to their own.
• Features:
• Stocky and Heavy Build (Height x0.85, Weight x1.3 of a human of the same strength).
• Male facial hair grows faster than head hair.

Dwarven Social Background

15 points

• Language Speak/Comprehend Dwarven (Native) [0]
• Cultural Familiarity: Dwarven (Native) [0]
• Literate in Dwarven (Native) [3]
• Cultural Familiarity (Imperial) [1]
• Language Speak/Comprehend Common (Fluent) [3]
• Language Read/Write Common (Fluent) [3]
• Numerate [5]

These dwarves have all the traits of a strong culture, that is destined to self destruct lolz. Because of magic, consider them at TL3+2 economically and infrastructure. In this setting dwarves have evolved separately from humans but can breed with them (the evolutionary difference between neanderthal and humans, you can say that dwarves are more neanderthal like descendants with their obscene strength that it bends/deforms their bones - hence the squat nature of dwarves). 

In this setting elves are superior because of magic and intelligence, and humans are their vassals, slaves, and playthings (the way modern fantasy gamers would see goblins and kobolds). They interact so much that some humans can "appear" attractive to elves. Elves in this setting are Iron alergic, and they use their magic to affect the economy - banning the use of Iron and lead and requiring all metal to be bronze and copper (see GURPS magic notes: earth spells; its possible to have a high tonnage bronze industry see Chinese dynasties before Qin and add magic) and have TL2+4 level of economy and quality of life because of their magic. (the elves are inspired by John Wicks' Ven)  

Dwarven Archer

Equipment   $7,061,  59.65lbs lbs

• [Body] Winter Clothing DR0 (+1 vs cut), $90, 5lbs
• [Skull 3-4] Med Plate Helm DR6 $600 4.8lbs 
• [Face 5] 1d6 
• 1-3 Nasal, Cheek and Ear Guards DR6F
• 4 Fine Mail Ventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $27, 0.45lb
• [Neck 17-18] Fine Mail Aventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $45 0.75lbs (covers the rear of the face) 
• [Torso 9-11] Medium Lamellar DR4F (-1 vs cr) $275, 12lbs
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12] 1d6
• 5-6 Medium Lamellar Pauldaons  $110 4.8lbs 
• 1-3 Medium Lamellar Vambraces $137 6lbs
• [Hands 15] Gloves and Light Mail DR3 (-2 vs cr) $80, 1.2lbs
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] 1d6
• 5-6 Medium Lamellar Fauld DR4F (-1 vs cr) $69 5.4lbs     
• [Feet 16] Shoes DR2, $40, 2lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 3lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Composite Bow $4,500 2.5lbs 
• Bow-14, Acc4
• Dmg 2d-1 impaling 
• 60 arrows, $154 8.5lbs (Quiver is 2.5lbs see LT34 containers)
• Bow Holster $34 2.5lbs (Quiver is 2.5lbs see LT34 containers)
• [Secondary] Fine Balanced Axe 
• Axe-12, Parry-11U (3base, 6skill, 1cr, 1db) $750, 4lbs
• Axe Dmg 2d+2 cutting

Dwarven Horse Archer

Equipment

$10,017,  45.65 lbs

• [Body] Light Leather DR0 (+1 vs cut), $360, 5lbs
• [Skull 3-4] Light Plate Helm DR4 $240 3lbs
• [Face 5] 1d6
• 1-3 Nasal, Cheek and Ear Guards DR3
• 4 Fine Mail Ventail $27, 0.45lbs
• [Neck 17-18] Fine Mail Aventail $45 0.75lbs
• [Torso 9-11] Light Lamellar DR3 (-1 vs cr) $160, 8lbs
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12] see body
• [Hands 15] Gloves and Light Mail DR3 (-2 vs cr) $80, 1.2lbs
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] see body
• [Feet 16] Boots DR2, $80, 3lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 2.5lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Composite Bow $4,500 2.5lbs
• 60 arrows, $34 8.5lbs (Quiver is 2.5lbs)
• Bow Holster $34 2.5lbs
• [Secondary] Fine Balanced Axe and
• Axe-13, Parry-11U (3base, 6skill, 1cr, 1db) $750, 4lbs
• Axe Feint-17
• Axe Dmg 3d-1 cutting
• [Shield] Metal Heavy Small Shield $160 4.5lbs
• Shield-12, Block-11 (3base, 6skill, 1cr, 1db)
• Shield Dmg 1d crushing DR4/HP15/OP7

War Pony $1800 (Move 6/12)

264lbs Carrying Capacity (Move 3/7)

Rider 180lbs, Rider Gear 51lbs, Horse Gear $425, 27lbs, 258lbs/264lbs

Stirrups $125. 5lbs; Horseshoes $50, 4

lbs; Riding Saddle $150, 15lbs, Saddlebags $100, 3lbs

Dwarven Scout

Equipment: 

$2,778; 45.7lbs

• [Body] Winter Camouflage Clothing DR0 (+1 vs cut), $360, 5lbs
• Camouflage Cloak $40, 2lbs
• [Skull 3-4] Light Plate Helm DR4  $240, 3lbs 
• [Face 5] 1d6 
• 1-3 Nasal and Cheek Guards DR3F
• [Neck 17-18]  Fine Mail Aventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $45 0.75lbs
• [Torso 9-11] Fine Mail DR4F (-2 vs cr) $450, 7.5lbs
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12]  see body
• [Hands 15] Gloves and Light Mail DR3 (-2 vs cr) $80, 1.2lbs
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] see body 
• [Feet 16] Shoes DR2, $40, 2lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 3lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Composite Bow $900 2.25lbs
• Bow Case $34 2.5
• Quiver of 60 Arrows $154, 8.5lbs 
• [Secondary] Balanced Axe $200, 4lbs
• [Shield] Heavy Small Steel Shield $220 4.5lbs
• DR4/HP15/OP7   
• Rim Edge Cutting Sw-2

Dwarven Heavy Infantry

Equipment  $5,268;  71.7lbs

• [Body] Winter Clothing DR0 (+1 vs cut), $90, 5lbs
• [Skull 3-4] Med Plate Helm DR6 $600 4.8lbs 
• [Face 5] 1d6 
• 1-3 Nasal, Cheek and Ear Guards DR6F
• 4 Fine Mail Ventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $27, 0.45lb
• [Neck 17-18] Fine Mail Aventail DR4 (-2 vs cr) $45 0.75lbs (covers the rear of the face) 
• [Torso 9-11] Medium Lamellar DR4F (-1 vs cr) $275, 12lbs
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12] 1d6
• 5-6 Medium Lamellar Pauldaons  $110 4.8lbs 
• 1-3 Medium Lamellar Vambraces $137 6lbs
• [Hands 15] Gloves and Light Mail DR3 (-2 vs cr) $80, 1.2lbs
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] 1d6
• 5-6 Medium Lamellar Fauld DR4F (-1 vs cr) $69 5.4lbs 
• 1-3 Medium Lamellar Greeves DR4F (-1 vs cr) $69 5.4lbs 
• [Feet 16] Shoes with Lamellar Sabatons DR4 (-1 vs cr), $95, 4.4lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 3lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Very Fine Balanced Axe $2,700 4lbs 
• Axe-16, Feint-20, Parry-U
• Dmg 3d-1 cutting  
• [Secondary] Fine Balanced Large Heavy Steel Shield $1035 15lbs
• Shield-13, Block-13
• DR4/HP22/OP9   
• Rim Edge Cutting 1d+2 cutting

Dwarven Sapper

Sappers are not supposed to be near the front lines. No armor to conserve fatigue which is their most precious asset to activate their gauntlets of shape earth and stone. 

Equipment   14lbs

• [Body] Winter Clothing DR0 (+1 vs cut), $90, 5lbs
• [Skull 3-4, Face 5] None
• [Neck 17-18] Beard Notch of Earth to Stone (M51)
• [Torso 9-11] see Body
• [Arms Right 8, Left 12] See Body
• [Hands 15] Gauntlets of Shape Earth and Shape stone  4lbs (M50-51)
• [Legs Right 6-7; Left 13-14] See Body
• [Feet 16] Shoes 2lbs
• [Pouch] Wooden 1 Quart Water 2.5lbs $15
• [Primary Weapon] Gauntlets
• [Secondary] Very Fine Balanced Small Knife $720 0.5lbs

Dwarven Encounter

Maul'doon's Mountain

Appearance: Heavily terraced mountains, sculpted with decades of work to serve as a stronghold and home. 

Population: ~100,000 or ~20,000 dwarven families. 15,000 human servant and slave population. 

Land: 8,000 Mountainous Acres (3,200 ha)

Economy: Annual Administrative Revenues of $72M; 15% is in reserve, 40% is in military upkeep, 20% is Administration and the rest is maintenance and public services (25%). The treasury has $42M reserves in gold surplus for the past 10 years. 

Because of earth spells, the dwarves have made the mountain into a kind of Arcology. The level of agricultural productivity and the population need to support this is similar to TL3+2 despite terrain (the food technology would be considered TL3+4), with a large specialist, merchant, and military population. This is effectively a city, drawing raw materials in human settlements and cities, selling high quality durable hard goods to humans in return for slaves (human cast-offs), fodder, hardwoods, metal ores, textiles, and surplus food. 

of the 5,000 dwarves standing force the mountain can mobilize 5,000 reserve and 2000 support personnel. 

of the Standing 5,000 force they are divided into bands/battalion of 500 and rotate paroling operations.  

A battalion of 500 dwarves is made up of 10 50-dwarf companies. 10% of the force is made up mountain horse archers (mountain ponies), 40% Scouts, 20% Archers, and 30% Heavy Footmen. All of them are Mountain Terrain feature and the Scouts and Horse Archers have Woods terrain feature. Among the reserve force are the Sappers - which is a humble term for Engineers who are armed with Gauntlets of Shape Earth and typically do full time work building and maintaining infrastructure. 

A Battalion is made up of men and women of a clan, who typically have steadings, terraces carved out of the mountain or large cave complexes, to oversee when in reduced readiness.  Dwarves use human servants and slaves as sharecroppers and factory laborers. 

Mountain Pony - this is not a horse, but a large Goat able to bear a rider and gear that has been domesticated. It has lost its horns in the domestication but most of its instincts are like those of goats, but its size and strength are comparable to ponies. Its called a mountain pony because of their appearance from a distance, but up close the goat-ness is unmistakable. 

The Hook

The dwarves of Mauldoon have made a few human settlements near by practically economically dependent on them. It has brought these settlements wealth and population, growing to small towns and the dwarves even helped them build their roads and walls. This is pissing the elven overlords mightily. 

Elven overlords have found dwarven trade disruptive to their economy, and despite treaties dwarves continue to circulate Iron and Steel into their Vassal economies (Iron is banned).  The town of Versef, a mere 60 miles (100km) away is being audited, and the Elven auditor is not satisfied with the results - this "village" is as wealthy as a town and should be taxed as such. Many of the stead holders are contesting as they have lived to the letter of their oaths and the dwarven merchant families who have their second home there are caught up in the argument.  In the middle of the auditor and its arguments, is a dwarven canal carved into the mountains (built to bear to bear 10dton flatbottom boats) that lead to the Versef. Once finished will give the Versef more access to dwarven goods which they can resell to its neighbors. 

The sides are - the Auditor (elves), The humans (who may want no trouble or want more prosperity), the Dwarves (who want to keep their trading partners) . 

Dwarves

5 Fine Horse Archers TS20 (F, Rec, Cv, Wood, Mountain)

20 Good Scouts TS30 (Rec, Wood, Mountain)

15 Fine Hvy Infantry TS120 (Mountain)

10 Fine Archers TS40 (F, Mountain)

Dwarven Mass Combat Encounter

Crap has hit the Fan and the Imperial Elves mobilize human vassal armies against the dwarves. The dwarves have holed up in Versef and a relief force is being assembled. Still a vasal human brigade of 3,000 men (20% light cavalry, 40% heavy infantry, 20% archers, 20% light infantry) have camped nearby.

60 Light Cavalry TS120 (Cv, Rec, Wood)
120 Hvy Infantry TS480 (Wood)
60 Bowmen TS120 (F, Wood)
60 Scouts TS120 (Rec, Wood)

GURPS Low Tech Notes: Galleys, Naval Encounters,

Galleys

Galleys are long narrow oared boats, sometimes with sails. They were used from BCE to the 1500CE. They were measured in total number of oars, and rarely by their dtons (which should have been noted), so you can expect them to be even and rounded numbers. You will find 20, 30, 50, 100, and 200 oars. Rare capital / flag ships being more than 200 oars. Ships are measured in Displacement Tons, Oars and Masts.

In the course of the centuries, these galleys evolved from simple square Sails, to multi lanteen or triangle sails. Ship engineering tried to solve many puzzles: height of the mast vs the capability of the foundation to sustain and the forces that affected it, size of the ship, carrying capacity, limitation of building material, turn around time,  storage of provisions, war-augmentations, navigation, etc... The increase of speed was about 20% in about +1500 years, but naval traditions and additional ports allowed farther and farther ranging.

Galleys follow a Beam to Length ratio of about 1:8+ because of the nature of its propulsion. You will know the era of the galley by the shape and type of sail, and the number of masts. The older the model the more reliant of oars and only one mast, near the emergence of the age of sail they are multi-masted with lanteen sails. Shipbuilding peoples made ships based on the wood they had, and they exported this ships to various nations that could not produce it themselves. Certain ports had to have everything just right: a river to feed it logs, plenty of trees along this river (ideally on hills to roll it down), and a good harbor from weather. Once you identify the shipbuilding ports, you can sketch the economics of ship building of various factions and powers.

Galleys are a coastal ship and was always sailed close enough to shore because it had so much man power to feed and water. The more oars relative to dtons the faster they become but the shorter their endurance. 30 oar ships, like the Viking ships can have 15 days of supplies if they were 15dtons (less if they bring armor and weapons), while 50 oar ships have 7 days of supplies at 20dtons (both assuming passengers). This meant wasting a two days provisioning and basing your navigation on how many "port" hops you would have to take. Seasons determined how many days it took for one particular direction. Ancient era ships used earthen jars, added about 30% to the weight and bulk of the supplies. You can say it removed the same proportion to its supply range.

What I love about galleys is the human heuristics that limited it. Rowing despite many idealizations from armchair historians or gamers worked with very very finite resources. It doesnt help that its an upper body exercise, which the human body had efficiency limitations compared to running. These Rowers will be needing more than the +2000 cal per day diet and a generous amount of protein (typically from wheat and fish) if their captain wanted his "cogs" to be working better longer. Wheat crackers which have the calorie density of x8 of oats (calories per grams)

One more important aspect of sailing is Navigation, you can't have just ONE navigator. You needed 3-5, for shifts and incase one gets injured. Navigators are scarce, you can imagine a captain having apprenticeships if he wants to maintain a steady supply. There are only stars, landmarks by day, and the sun, to navigate and you need a ton of experience measured in the number of sailing seasons and trips the sailor has made. Until the compass found its way west, you will be at the mercy of manpower scarcity of good navigators or you will have to delay and delay until the season changes.

3-5 Navigators with some crew still awake and available 24 hours meant being able to travel 24 hours instead of anchoring near land at night. When sails improved much during the medieval era, you have more and more productive sailing ranges. In clear night skies with so many stars, Sailors are guided with much greater precision. An asset is a Sailor with some Astronomy, Mathematics, and able to write, and a crew literate and able to learn and apply.

War Ships can be distinguished from Non-Warships by skilled sailors. Warships have castles, ramming prow, and fortified. Warships are more evident from shields along its side OR if disguised, will be evidence once you glance the inside, in allocation of supplies and the dedication for rowing seats. 20 dtons with 30-20 oars are optimal for trade in relatively secure waters. 50-80 oars are for long distance trade and security against attacks.150- 200 oared ships would have be at 90-130 displacement tons and designed to carry 100-350 elements for the same duration.

Naval Combat. 

Elaborating Naval combat,

• Map Preparation. 
• Various time scales maintain a number of hexes of movement. Shift scale if the ship is 1 turn away and gaining.   
• An hour Scale is 1.6km or 1mi per hex. Note the Ship's visibility range, once out of visual range and with an hour and cannot catch up, the ship is considered to have escaped. 
• A 15 minute Scale is 0.9km or 0.55 mi per hex.  
• 5 minute sacle per turn would be 0.3 or 0.2 miles scales. Shift to this scale when the 
• 1 minute scale is 60m or 66 yards. 
• Token Visibility ranges remain the same.  
• Visibility. The mast is what determines the visibility. the bigger the ship the taller the mast and the farther a crewman can peer over the horizon. (the Mast in Meters^0.5)*2.57km. 
• The Ship Token 
• Maneuvering and Positioning. 
• Movement
• Steady Pace (like Hiking) - Ship Move * 1.6kph or 1mph at 1FP per hour. 
• in 1 hour, cover a distance equal to a number of 1.6km or 1mi Hexes equal to the ship's move. That would be hexes with an area of 0.55 sq. km or 0.21 sq mi 
• Fast Pace (like Paced Running) - Ship Move * 3.6kph or 2.25 mph at 1FP per 15 minutes. In 15 minute travel a number of 0.9km or 0.56mi hexes in 15 minutes. 
• Tide and Wind direction (penalizes movement towards a particular direction). 
• simplify by adding or subtracting 1 hex of move per direction. 
• Time, Distance, and Arc of movement covered by the Ship.
• Sail, Oars and Both move *   
• Engaging: Resolve as Mass Combat or Below

Alternative to Resolving it as Mass Combat

• Ramming. 
• you need a ramming prow. Getting into position is contests of Shiphandling with ship handling modifiers.  
• Ranged Attacks. Side facing you get the total Size modifier of the ship, front or rear, -4 to SM modifier (these ships are very narrow, of 8:1 beam to length ratio). 
• Archers (note number of Volleys) 
• B557 for vehicle hit table, 
• Fire Arrows B410 very low chances to start a fire, penalty to hit. B433 Catching Fire Rules, basically you need to deal 10+ points of fire damage to catch fire. Crewman check to douse a fire. So multiple fire attacks has the best chance of burning a ship, fire attacks is really to shake up the crew and sow confusion and disorder as they try to put these fires out. Crewmen busy putting fires out means, crewmen who cannot row to maneuver the ship.  
• LT84 Incendiaries. Large Fire Arrow bolts more Fire. Fire arrow is 1 burn / sec. larger and larger arrows can do more damage. The square root the number of times heavier the fire projectile is to get the new fire damage. 
• A 1lb ballista would be x10 heavier than an arrow for 2x the damage. 1d-3 damage (1 dmg)  is  now 3 for 1d-1 burning. 
• An Arbalest is at x5 the weight would deal the 1d-2 burning but have the best range of delivery. 
• A 180 ballista is 1800 heavier for 2d x 5 burning damage which can only be placed on Naval defense wall or on a 200dton ship. 
• Ballistae or Scorpions (note number of Volleys and the time scale)
• Boarding Actions. Its best resolved via GURPS mass combat at this point. Although the GM can always quickly draw up the two ships if the players are not picky and run the combat. 
• Pulling in the enemy ship. Opposed Shiphandling check, the instigator with the right tools get '+2.
• Fighting on board. resolve as a mass combat small skirmish. (hella faster and simpler)
• Fighting adjacent. resolve as a mass combat small skirmish. (hella faster and simpler)

Ship Notes

• Oars and Size. Not all ships with a fixed number of oars are the same. Some are up to 100% in volume (you will notice that its not struggling for space for its oarsmen) but are slightly slower because the added volume allows it to support greater and greater sails. 
• Simply Use descriptors of Light (minimal tonnage/displacement, will be noted), Heavy (50% heavier), Very Heavy (100% heavier, typical merchant ship). 
• Ancient Vessels are typically Light when below 30 oars, and Medium Frame at 30 oars and up. Often they are Heavy Frames.  
• Viking Ships can be Extra Light and Light Frame in larger sizes, but they only have a maximum of 80 oars galley size and with only one square sail. This means they can carry more as their empty weight goes down, and their Loaded weight becomes unchanged.
• Extra Light Ships have about 50% lighter empty weight.    
• TL3 Medieval Galleys below are Medium Frame and Standard Materials. Venice and Byzantine Ship builders learned to use Lanteen Sails (up to 3 masts) and Extra Light Frames for up to 100 oar galleys. Merchant City State can make similar ships up to 70 oars.  
• Mixed Fleet. Slower moving Supply ships with a higher Displacement to Propulsion ratio compared to Faster ships which has more Propulsion vs Displacement means you can have a fleet of small fast ships accompanying larger ships which allow these smaller ships extended range. 
• 50 oar ships with only 13 displacement tons have a move of 4.75 vs a 50 oar ship with 50 oar ship with 26 displacement tons which have 4.16 move. Combined they have a shared 9 man day range but travel at the pace of the slower ship. When there is a need the lighter ship can pursue slower quarry or recon for the larger ship!  
• Mass Combat, the minimum Maintenance Cost of the Ship is the number of Crew calculated as  Sappers (which are the same). The Crew, when fighting on land is calculated as Sappers and use Sappers to calculate the cost of training more crew. 
• I've included Mass Combat Stats in this article because the differences are very remarkable. 

Crews and Passengers

• Assuming 160lbs or 73kg per person. 
• Rower with just Light Enc. worth of possessions is at 82kg or 180lbs.
• Passenger with just Med. Enc. worth of possessions is at 100kg or 220lbs.  

Supplies Breakdown. 

• Largest Earthenware Jars with packing material (LT34). 14lbs or 6.4kg per gallon (or one man day of water) and $2.5. 
• Large Water Barrels with packaging material (LT34).  11.6lbs or 5.3kg per gallon (or one man day of water) and $10.5. 
• Food plus packaging (4 meals) 2lbs or 1kg; $8 per Man day.
• 15lbs or 7.4kg per man day in TL1
• 13lbs or 6.3kg per man day in TL2-3
• Ship - Crew and Passenger Weight. Allocate other supplies, and divide the remaining weight according to the 

Every Navigator is 6 hours of good Navigation, or 8 hours of -1 navigation, or 10 hours of -2 navigation, or -4 penalty for 12 hours. 

Assume each Rower is 160lbs or 73kg

Rower carries possessions of about Light encumbrance 20lbs or 9kg. 82kg per Rower. 

Marines and VIPS carry posessions about medium encumbrance or 60lbs or 27kg. 100kg per Marine and VIP. 

Light Dromon (13 dtons, 50 oars)

Visual references of the Dromon makes it really a "destroyer" moving quickly to intercept and swarm slower enemy ships. This ship has a range of 1 man days worth of supplies. It is really meant for defense of a port. If it will travel it will need to be accompanied by a supply ship. 

• ST/HP 52
• Hnd/SR: -3/3
• HT 11
• Move
• Oars 0.3 / 5
• Sail 0.05 / 6
• Oars and Sail 0.6 / 7
• Loaded Weight: 10 tons
• Empty Weight. 6.7 tons.
• 13 displacement tons. 
• Load: 6.3 tons
• Size Modifier: +7
• 30m (90ft) : 4m (12ft)
• Occupants. 
• 50 rowers, 
• 3 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 10 passengers 
• DR 2
• Range: 
• 2 man days (65 occupants in all). 
• Cost:  $22,000
• Cost to Raise +$180k / $36k
• Locations: 
• 3 Masts
• A ramming prow. Rowing the ship deals 3d cr damage.
• Notes: 
• Ramming Prow.  
• 5 km or 3.2 mi visibility

Heavy Dromon (20 dtons, 50 oars)

This Dromon is a proper fighting vessel with range, armor, and the ability provide Archers a platform to fight. Slower than the Light Dromon, this is still a fast ship, and difficult to mistake as anything else but a war ship (the Castle and the Prow). 

• ST/HP 57
• Hnd/SR: -3/3
• HT 11
• Move
• Oars 0.3 / 4
• Sail 0.6 / 6
• Oars and Sail 0.6 / 7
• Loaded Weight: 10 tons
• Empty Weight. 6.7 tons.
• 19.5 Displacement Tons
• Load: 8.3 tons
• Size Modifier: +7
• 37m (111ft) : 5m (16ft)
• Occupants. 
• 50 rowers, 
• 3 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 10 passengers 
• DR 5
• Range: 
• 7 days
• Cost:  $28,000
• Cost to Raise +$180k / $36k
• Locations. 
• 3 Masts
• A ramming prow
• Rear Castle (fits 10 Archers)
• Notes: 
• Ramming Prow. Rowing the ship deals 3d cr damage.
•  5 km / 3.2 mi visibility

30 Oar Small Trader (20dtons)

A ship of minor trading cities and of smaller merchant families. This is very efficient in Overhead to revenue output, this can make up 2/3 of all trading vessels encountered. 

• ST/HP 63
• Hnd/SR -3/3
• HT 11
• Move
• Oars 0.1 / 4
• Sail 0.3 / 5
• Oars and Sail 0.6 / 6
• Loaded Weight: 10 tons
• Empty Weight. 3.1 tons.
• 19.5 Displacement Tons
• Load: 11.9 tons
• 3.4 tons of supplies
• 5.17 tons of trade goods
• Size Modifier: +7
• 37m (111ft) : 5m (16ft)
• Occupants. 
• 30 rowers, 
• 1 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 6 passengers 
• Instead of Goods, additional passengers would be 0.1882 tons (including 14 days food and 27kg/60lbs of luggage). This translates to 27 people being moved for 14 days (or 32-40 slaves). 
• DR 2
• Range: 
• 14 days. 
• Cost:  $7,500
• Cost to Raise +$120k / Maintain $24k
• Locations. 
• 2 Masts
• Notes: 
• 5 km or 3.2 mi visibility

80 Oar Large Trader (40dtons)

A ship of more powerful merchant families. The additional oars also mean additional Security and a much farther 

• ST/HP 67
• Hnd/SR: -3/4
• HT 11
• Move
• Oars 0.1 / 4
• Sail 0.4 / 6
• Oars and Sail 0.5 / 6
• Loaded Weight: 30 tons
• Empty Weight. 8.5 tons.
• 39.5 Displacement Tons
• Load: 21.5 tons
• 6.8 tons of supplies
• 6.76 tons of trade goods
• Size Modifier: +8
• 40m (120ft) : 6m (18ft)
• Occupants. 
• 80 rowers, 
• 5 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 16 passengers 
• Instead of Goods, additional passengers would be 0.163 tons (including 10 days food and 27kg/60lbs of luggage). This translates to 41 people being moved for 14 days (or 92 slaves). 
• DR 2
• Range: 
• 10 days. 
• Cost:  $20,000
• Cost to Raise +$270k / Maintain $54k
• Locations. 
• 3 Masts
• Bunks
• Notes: 
• 5.7 km (3.6 mi) visibility

Capital Ship (200dtons, 300 oars)

The capital ship able to support itself and flanked by many other auxiliary ships that support lighter and faster ships. This ship will plow through an enemy fleet knocking aside smaller ships. If it is not carrying any troops it can stand to have 4x 180lb ballistas burning down smaller ships with relative ease at a range of 430 yrds or 10 elements of Arbalests with each castle firing 20 firebolt volleys per minute at 450 yards.  

• ST/HP 95
• Hnd/SR: -4/4
• HT 12
• Move
• Oars 0.1 / 5
• Sail 0.2 / 6
• Oars and Sail 0.3 / 7
• Loaded Weight: 30 tons
• Empty Weight. 8.5 tons.
• 39.5 Displacement Tons
• Load: 21.5 tons
• 6.8 tons of supplies
• 6.76 tons of trade goods
• Size Modifier: +9
• 70m (210ft) : 10m (30ft)
• Occupants. 
• 300 rowers, 
• 59+1 crewmen, plus captain. 
• 60 comfortable passengers 
• 350 cramped accommodation passengers
• DR 7
• Range: 
• 8 days. 
• Cost:  $1,500,000
• Cost to Raise (including oarsmen that fight) + $1,080k / Maintain $216k
• Locations. 
• Ramming Prow 5d+2 damage
• 3 Masts
• 60 Bunks
• 14 Cabins
• 8 Luxury Cabins
• Notes: 
• 7.2 km (4.5 mi) visibility

Naval Encounters Table

This is only along "Sea Lanes"

3-4 - 1d6 80-Oar Large Trader, with 2 30-Oar Small Traders per larger Trader.

5-6 - 1d6 30-Oar Small Trader

7-8 - 80-Oar Large Trader

9-12 - 30-Oar Small Trader

13-14 - 1d3 Light Dromon/War Galley, if there are 3 Light Dromons, roll 1d6 - on a 1. Add a 30-Oar Small Trader acting as auxiliary.  

15-16 - Heavy Dromon/War Galley, 

17-18 - 1d6 Light War Galley, 1d6 Heavy War Galley, 1 30-Oar Small Trader (serving as auxiliar) per 2 war ships or 2 Heavy Trader for every 3 war ships.

Note that Dromons or Light War Galleys are Fast but have Low Range! They may force an encounter if they have the wind, current, and visibility advantage.