I think I finally understand how mass combat works. A unit gets a few different stats associated with it:
Close Combat (or Ranged Combat) Attack- weapons and weapon skill of the rank and file, adds bonus attack roll successes
Close Combat (or Ranged Combat) Damage- weapons and strength of the rank and file, adds bonus damage roll successes
Might- magical powers of the rank and file, adds extra damage successes
Magnitude- minimum damage for the unit, difference in might adds or subtracts damage successes up to +/-3
Armor- average armor of the rank and file, bonus added to the unit commander's soaks
Drill- training level of the unit, determines how well they take orders and what formations they can take. Formations change how CCA, RA, CCD, and RD are added when relevant, and they also change the difficulty of hesitation rolls.
Morale- derived number determining how likely a unit is to lose magnitude from desertion or suffer from hesitation. Checked every time a new development occurs in combat, like when a new supernatural combatant arrives or the unit engages in combat with another unit.
Endurance- derived number that determines when the unit starts getting stupid penalties for being tired. Checked with annoying frequency
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Some interesting facts:
A unit commander can choose to not lead his unit in an attack, instead commanding them to follow a special character within the unit. This gives the special character the bonuses of the complementary unit for as long as the leader allows, as long as the special character is willing to wait for the unit's turn to come up before acting. This applies to both close combat and ranged attacks. So for instance, I could have let Scarred Bear lead the attack for the Great Forks Expeditionary Assault Strike Force Team, and he would have gained the damage bonuses from the unit while using Golden Pike's War ability instead of his own, at the price of Golden Pike effectively losing his action.
A character's contribution to a unit's Magnitude is determined by his health levels. Every three health levels equals one extra-level troop for the purposes of magnitude. Three Solars, each with one -1/-2/-2 Ox-Body Technique, have 30 health levels total, and so constitute a Magnitude 2 unit (probably with Might 3-5, too), provided they are willing to act in the background as rank and file troops (at least I think, and I think that the leader doesn't count for this total either). This unit would be strong, but the rank and file would be susceptible to dying horribly if the unit lost any magnitude.
The health that a unit needs to lose before it loses a magnitude level is the number of health levels the leader has. This means that a leader with Ox-Body Technique has a correspondingly tougher unit.
Most troops do not die when a unit suffers magnitude loss in typical situations; they desert like cowards. A charismatic leader can rally his troops to restore lost Magnitude if there are enough allied troops still scattered about.
In mass combat, you can use reflexive charms as much as you please. This applies even if you are not playing a Dragon Blooded character. For characters without many combos, this is significant.
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Important: when attuning to artifacts constructed of the wrong magical material, you have two options:
1) Attune minimally, without receiving bonuses for the magical material of which the artifact is constructed. The attunement cost is normal for this, and I believe no special attunement roll is required.
2) Attempt to attune fully. You make a roll, and the artifact (or your character) might asplode if you fail. If you succeed, you get the full magical material bonus for the artifact. The attunement cost is also doubled.
So it looks like we can actually use those jade artifacts we "found". Randy, do you feel like telling us what they are so we can argue about them on the internet?
