Hello, we have been playing a few mass battles in our campaign using different systems to model it. Now we are using a modified Warhamster to model the battles. My question is, however, more about the world itself, that’s why I started this new topic here (there’s an ongoing discussion about Gloranthan battles in Runequest-subforum).
My question is: What is the casualty rate in Gloranthan battles? By casualties I mean death or severe injury.
This depends of course of few things: what kind of battle we are fighting (a small clash between clans vs Battle of Heroes), who are fighting and against what kind of opponent, what is the purpose of the battle etc. Just to mention few things...
And I’m interested about "casual" fights not involving Harrek, Crimson Bat or other "nukes".
I also did some internet research about the matter:
-Historically the casualty rate has been something like 5-50% depending much of the battle.
-Casualties for the losing side are 2-4 times the casualties of the winning party
-Historically diseases killed as much or even more than the actual battles
-More advanced military technology results more casualties
-There is a huge difference in casualties between different types of battles: the small scale fights of the early Middle Ages were relatively safe for both sides, the huge battles of the late Middle Ages were much more dangerous
See for example:
Glorantha is a magical world, how does magic effect the casualties in battles? On the other hand there is healing magic, and on the other hand there is some hardcore war/killing magic.
Morale certainly plays a very important role in battles. In our games for example, it is usually the morale which is kind of resolving the battle.
Then there is a type of a fighting force: I guess trolls for example, try to catch some of the opponents alive to eat them later, Praxians might also try to get some prisoners as slaves etc. And on the other hand, Zorak Zorani berserks would just kill everyone and maybe raise few as zombies later.
Any ideas?