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HILLTOPS + HIPPOGRIFFS
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Version 0.35 - Foam Elephants.
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By Nikoline and friends.
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CC-BY-SA 4.0
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1. INTRODUCTION
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This rulebook is divided into eight sections as follows:
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1. Introduction: This overview of Hilltops & Hippogriffs.
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2. Combatant Rules: Basic rules for interpreting unit statistics and Expert rules for creating or converting units.
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3. Tactical Rules: Basic rules for playing out Tactical Battles and Expert rules for using terrain, heroes, and determining post-battle effects.
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4. Strategic Rules: Basic rules for resolving single-roll Strategic Battles, Expert rules for resolving larger battles and determining persistent casualties, and Advanced rules for playing multi-engagement Operational Battles.
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5. BV Calculator: Calculator for automatically determining unit Quality and Battle Value.
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6. Unit and Force Lists: Pre-made units and forces for quick-play or as guides for making new combatants.
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7. Spell Lists: Pre-made Cleric and Magic User spells. TO BE COMPLETED AT A LATER DATE
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8. Benchmarks: Simulated engagements between units and forces as a general balance guide.
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Overview
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Hilltops & Hippogriffs (H&H) is a framework for playing out mass combat in B/X and similar old-school games.
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It is designed to enable the same combatants to fight across individual (B/X), tactical (hundreds a side), and strategic (thousands a side) battles, with the consequence of any of one these scales reflected in the others.
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To support this, it provides rules for two new kinds of combat resolution:
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Tactical Battles: A lightweight wargame played using units converted directly from B/X statistics.
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Strategic Battles: Single-roll resolution of tactical-scale or larger battles, either as a one-off roll or as part of an operational battle.
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As far as possible, H&H uses a permissive rules structure:
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Combatants may only take actions explicitly permitted by the rules. Unless a rule grants permission to perform an action, that action cannot be performed.
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Specific rules override general rules where the two conflict.
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Hopefully, this makes the rules simpler and easier to interpret by removing possible ambiguities: if in doubt, read literally.
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Basic, Expert, and Advanced rules
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Rules levels
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Rules are included for both Tactical and Strategic Battles at three levels of complexity:
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Basic: Rules for playing battles at either scale from end to end with a minimum of rules interaction.
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Expert: Customising battles to better represent the combatants, location, context, or consequences.
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Advanced: Rules for playing out manoeuvre and battle across multiple operational rounds.
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As a general rule, Expert and Advanced rules are modular and can each be used or not at the players' (or DM's) discretion.
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Start with a few Basic battles at your chosen scale, then introduce enough Expert or Advanced rules to customise it to suit your campaign.
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Tactical and Strategic Battles at each rules level
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Both types of battle include rules at each level:
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Tactical BattlesStrategic Battles
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Basic
- Unit statistics and special rules.
- Single-roll strategic battle resolution.
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- Force construction.
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- Tactical time, distance, and movement.
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- Phases of the tactical round.
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- Victory conditions.
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Expert
- Creating or converting units.
- Resolving larger battles.
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- Determining Battle Value.
- Persistent force statistics.
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- Heroes and spellcasters.
- Determining casualties.
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- Terrain.
- Assigning casualties to individual tactical units.
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- Post-battle recovery.
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Advanced
- Alternate victory conditions.
- Playing multi-engagement Operational Battles.
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- Battlefield events.
- Army construction.
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- Scenario design.
- Operational time, distance, and movement.
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- Operational terrain.
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- Phases of the operational round.
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- Victory conditions (base and alternate).
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