What is the largest military force your players have ever commanded?

[Golan2072]

What is the largest military force your players have ever commanded in a Traveller game (again, in a Traveller RPG game, not in a "pure" wargame set in the Traveller universe)?

The biggest difference between this poll and the previous one is that now I'm asking about forces commanded by the PCs, not just forces involved in the game.

 

[deadlock]

Greetings and salutations,

I let my players command a platoon (depending on their mission. There are a couple of players with actual marine and army experience.

 

[soloprobe]

I once let the players be senior officers of a Broadsword class cruiser....

 

[Golan2072]

I once played the captain of a 1,200-dton Solomani warship in a PBEM - though my XO (another player) did most of the commanding of ground combat (I dealt with the bigger scope of things as well as with space combat).

 

[Jame]

I've never run a game where the players commanded anything other than their PCs.

 

[The Oz]

I once had my PCs commanding 1/3rd of the entire Rebel Alliance fleet.

 

[Wm_Humphrey]

Long ago, in a CT campaign far, far away... my PCs hired on as NCOs on a Broadsword. Several game years later they were not only in command of the "Claymore", but owned three other ships as well. They set up a "secret base" (had seen Star Wars a few too many times, I suppose) on uninhabited 728-907 (Spinward Marches 1214). Two campaigns and a Rebellion later, "Crusader Corp." has expanded to a reinforced brigade with several special ops units and a Starmerc operation and is a permanent fixture IMTU.

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

My PC group has two of us who served in the Army and a couple of folks who are 'read up' on it.

In the campaign we were helping the Church of Stellar Divinity operate a refugee camp on Aleif. We ended up as cadre with something like 200 refugees under arms to protect the campsite against a bunch of raider/bandits.

Much fun and a VERY scorched Vargr then ensued...

 

[Paulsnow]

In my first CT campaign, my players' characters headed the opposing forces in a game of OGRE (Ancient battle tank comes to life). Their characters were secretly asigned (by them) to one unit as a command vehicle and I couldn't help but notice one GEV avoiding the main fight.

 

[BetterThanLife]

The most I have ever let players command is a Company. (Worked out at 150 men.) As a player I have commanded quite a bit more. (Former Grand Admiral, Subsector Duke, and primary sector military adviser to the Sector Duke that tended to believe in a hands on approach in a campaign that took place in a war zone.) So for that character, a couple of Divisions carried aboard a Task Force, was about the limit for real time control. (Though he was smart enough to let the Generals do their job and he didn't actually get down in the "mud and the blood.")

I have run a few Mercenary Campaigns. Generally starting the characters off with a Platoon or as part of a unit, eventually over time they get to the point of commanding a Company. (Which is about as big as I have found practical for a Traveller campaign.) Much bigger and you are doing more roll playing than role playing.

 

[Chuck Anumia]

I put my players in charge of a company (each player lead a platoon).
I thought they did well and used proper tactics to manuever with fire support from each platoon.

 

[aramis]

While I listed Battallion, in two different cases, it's been regiments with about 800 men. Reduced manpower due to vehicle based units.

 

[Straybow]

"Platoon"-ish: 2 PCs running a ship with 6 NPC officers and 36 crew and marines.

 

[robject]

Also platoonish. Three PCs captaining three gunned Solomani merchantmen with a squad apiece, IIRC.

 

[Psion]

I played the captain of a IIRC 50kton battle-cruiser. Albeit briefly.

 

[Merxiless]

Huh, good question.

Type S scout courier, and crew (I.e. themselves)

I feel it's more an individual RPG, and breaks down at the larger scales.

Now Battletech? A whole regiment, every one of 108 'mechs on the (3 picnic) tables.

 

[aramis]

MT lends itself quite well to all scales.

 

[zacharythefirst]

In one or two cases, my players have commanded "armies" of about 600-800 natives (roughly battalion size, but definitely not with the same structure).

 

[Redleg58]

The largest military force my players have ever commanded has been a platoon in a few games usually at the end of a campaign after working their way up.

 

[beeber]

i never trusted my players with troops!

actually, they never showed an interest in hiring on additional soldiers. probably a holdover from our ad&d days, when i really didn't trust them with hirelings or henchmen. somehow they always wore red shirts. . . .

i did want to run a campaign with the players as a crew of a close escort. never came to pass, tho.