Mass Combat Not Ready for Dungeon Master’s Guide
In his reddit AMA today Mike Mearls posted:
“Mass combat is not in the DMG – we decided that the system needed more playtesting. So, we’ll be conducting open testing of that material and releasing it as part of Basic D&D once it is complete.”
So the good news is that mass combat will be part of the free rules. The bad news is we’re all going to have to wait until after the 5th edition DMG comes out.
Here’s a link to the Mike Mearls AMA on /rpg.
We posted what Mike Mearls and WoC revealed about the mass combat system details back in April…
“Fantasy novels and movies often end with huge fights, as two armies representing the forces of good and evil face off in battle to determine the fate of the world. Though D&D has always been focused on individual characters, the game has taken a number of different approaches to rules for mass combat over the years. (In fact, the Chainmail rules for fighting medieval battles with miniatures were one of the key inspirations for the original D&D game.) When we’ve talked to players about the options they’re looking for in D&D Next, a set of rules for mass combat has been at the top of many gamers’ wish lists. Battlesystem, a set of rules for pitting D&D armies against each other, is our response.“