Hi

as the topic says: Do mass combat rolls count as leadership rolls (regarding talents) when you are the acting forces commander?

Generally speaking I would say so.

Yes, unless of course your PC has one of the talents that allows a different skill to be used.

Edit: read question wrong. Yes.

Mass combat checks are only upgraded by the character's ranks in Leadership (by default). The ability of the check is determined by the magnitude of the forces being commanded, not the characteristic of the character. So it's not quite the same as a regular skill check.

I suppose how talents like Command and Commanding Presence would apply would be up to the game master.

Like Blackbird888 said, Mass Combat checks are a category unto themselves. Only talents that specifically adjust Mass Combat check, like the Strategist's Ready for Anything talent, alter a Mass Combat check.

"Knowledge Specialisation (Warefare)" could be used with "Clever Commander". But it seems I stand corrected about other talents.

It's a pretty easy mistake to make, since the Leadership skill upgrades the ability of the Mass Combat checks. But since FFG consistently capitalizes the phrase "Mass Combat" I feel certain it's meant to be its own category.

I thought as you, Krieger22, but hoped for another answer ;-)

Thanks

Ok... another thought: Why does the Tactical Droid from LbE give a Bonus to Leadership and Warfare Rolls, but not to mass combat - why can´t it assist the commander during mass combat?

Ok... another thought: Why does the Tactical Droid from LbE give a Bonus to Leadership and Warfare Rolls, but not to mass combat - why can´t it assist the commander during mass combat?

I think this is because most boost- and setback dice as well as upgrades during Mass Combat come from events and conditions in the field and not the skill of the commander (apart from the Leadership upgrade, obviously). If you could pile on with droids to get bonuses you'd end up with some pretty insane dice pools.

Ok... another thought: Why does the Tactical Droid from LbE give a Bonus to Leadership and Warfare Rolls, but not to mass combat - why can´t it assist the commander during mass combat?

I think this is because most boost- and setback dice as well as upgrades during Mass Combat come from events and conditions in the field and not the skill of the commander (apart from the Leadership upgrade, obviously). If you could pile on with droids to get bonuses you'd end up with some pretty insane dice pools.

Plus, you never know when a bunch of Ne'er-do-wells will fly up and pull off the head of your tactical droid.

All this being said, in certain cases, especially if you had enough boost-dice-giving talents/equipment/abilities/etc., it probably WOULD translate to a boost on your Mass Combat check. I haven't really used them yet, so I might be wrong, but I figured that boosts/setbacks are used the same way as in everything else; if you can make a case that it would give you/your enemy an edge, it's fair game for the GM to add as appropriate. So, I wouldn't necessarily let a commander with Leadership say, 4, and a talent that provides 1 boost die to add that die to the Mass Combat check, but if he had like, 4 boost dice added to his skills from various sources, I would probably translate that to a boost on the Mass Combat check. Am I making sense?

I recently played with a Strategist character and several doubts arised, mostly with the "CLEVER COMMANDER" and the "COMMAND" TRAITS.

1.- Command trait starts: Add a blue per rank of "Command" when making leadership checks.

- Do these bluedies add in mass combat checks?

- Do these bluedies add in mass combat checks (Warfare Skill) in case Clever Commander is used?

Then, the trait goes on: Affected targets add a bluedie to discipline checks for 24 h...

- What is exactly a Leadeship check? Can we prepare a Leadership check every morning (as it has a 24 h duration), is it a Maneuver, an Action? It has no difficulty?

- In case this trait affects mass combat, can it be rolled using Warfare instead leadership?

2.- Clever Commander says Warfare can be used instead Leadership in Mass combat checks:

- I have 3 ranks in "Knowledge Specialization: Warfare": Does a Critical dieroll using Warfare ranks upgrade a Mass combat check? So I add 3 successes to the mass combat total?

- Lets say I strain myself while leading an ... Imperial unit using the "Intense Focus Maneuver"

Does this maneuver upgrades a rank the mass combat check?

The mass combat rules have to be used very carefully, because you really have to describe a major battle for them to make sense. I once made the mistake of saying "Ok, there is no way you guys will lose while sweeping through the ship room by room looking for technicians and scattered stormtroopers, so let's just do a mass combat check instead of wasting an hour doing multiple combats." Suddenly the players were getting their ass kicked, because 4 player characters without a rank of leadership between them lose badly to a dozen minions with a semi competent commander if you try to use mass combat rules. Of course they would have absolutely annihilated those enemies in a regular combat.

We recently played a battle using mass combat rules.

The rebels had a few infantry companies, an AFV platoon, a couple fighter squadron and a small frigate force fighting a similar imperial force. Of course it was not a platoon sized battle...

Each was leaded for a Player on NPC using his ranks in leadership. Each one had to fight to an enemy, sometimes overwhelmed, others with superiority. Lets say the inf coys had to delay a battalion of stormtroopers, The frigates had to evade the Tie bombers, the Z95s had to destroy the Tie fighters in order to chase the Tie bombers... Each one was a different check; success allowed partial destroy, retreat, or whatever...

Meanwhile, a few players were preparing to launch the main mission. The battle had to go well in a specific part of the battle, the others were distracting ermm... just cannon fodder...