I'm working on a simple campaign system for some new players. Whenever a force makes planetfall, both attacker and defender give orders to the three or so lances under their command. Depending on what units are Diverting, Patrolling, Advancing, or Guarding, units meet in several different ways. In a given round, there can be anywhere from 0 to 3 opposing units mixing it up, but only the most important battle is played out.
The rest are handled as skirmishes, and I'd like them handled with as little trouble as possible. Ideally one roll, but it's hard to suss out damage, victory, and ground control with just one roll. I thought about letting each unit take a shot at the enemy with a random set of modifiers until one player withdrawals his forces, but that's a lot of die rolling. Then, I thought about each side rolling a D6, multiplying it by a fraction of the lance's tonnage, and turning the result into critical hits and measures of victory. That involved a lot of rolling for critical locations. Another idea would be measuring the battle's outcome in Warchest Points lost, with any unmet losses paid in destroyed units.
Has anyone ever had to drastically simplify a whole match for their strategic games before? Any success? Suggestions?
