I was honestly a bit surprised that the book didn't have this.

Any chance of the beta integrating battlefield events with mass combat rules from Death Watch?

Or atleast bringing back Hordes?

I don't think your average group of guardsmen will last long against a horde of any serious magnitude, unless it has some serious ordnance (of course, if they do, then they probably have bigger problems than a swarm of mooks to worry about).

As for mass combat rule, I would also like to have a least an abstract version for them, like the ones in Battlefleet Koronus.

Depends on what kind of horde.

I kind of prefer using hordes since they're easier and more streamlined to deal with once you get past having them face more than four or five of any type of enemies.

Because that way, you have one wound pool to worry about and combat will just move faster.

Yes, if you ask me this book NEEDS massive combat rules (but not really "horde rules", after all you ARE the horde) but the lack of mass combat kind of upset me… we already have rules for it in another book, why not just copy and paste from that one rouge trader book?

I imagine that such rules aren't included for two reasons; they'd take up space and they're not the sort of things that the players would actually use, at least not within the scope of play presented in the core book. They're a band of brothers in the thick, skulking about on some important mission or fleeing inevitable doom. They're not the ones handing down the orders to vast hordes of faceless mooks. As such mass combat rules would largely be there for the GM and the GM alone. Far better for the GM to simply decide what happens, or make a few simplified rolls to determine the outcome, and focus the time and energy of the group on events that directly concern the PCs.

Well the massive battles are more narrative, but it's more to set-up the scenes. for example you roll around in your chimera, scan something with logic or tactica knowledge, , then proceed to flank/charge/bombard it with command and into initiative when you pour out of your transport to assault/attack up close and personal.

Of course if you're doing the classical "Stand and shoot and die" tactic due to defence or last stand, that's why you got -30 to move around.

I'm sure one of the supplements will have something a little more in depth for mass combat. Battlefleet Koronus provided mass combat rules for RT, even had Space Marine units and Titans, although it was REALLY abstract. Like Titans are 40 to 60 Strength, tanks are 10 to 20 strength. The numbers might be wrong, but it felt about that basic. Hopefully there will be a bit more for OW. At least more than I recall for RT.

Easy way to add waves of dudes without including hordes (which should justifiably murderize a puny squad of guard); give the bad guys comrades!

Giving troop opponent a bunch of comrades each (who will always be hit first), but who are easy to kill, allows for famous last stands against large (but not ridiculous) numbers of enemies who won't destroy you in a turn.

Mass combat rules are nice, but really belong in rogue trader - a mass battle is, after all, just background wallpaper unless you're actually controlling the units, which a half-dozen guardsmen won't be.

The thing is that the logistics are set up, and fact you can have tons of XP means that it wouldn't be unheard of to have a campaign lead to a party becoming officers.

Chiming in on the disappointment at no mass combat rules. I feel like Only War only makes sense as a mini-campaign game without them.

So…. p. 223-225

Not the rules people were looking/hoping for? It does mean that combats will still be pretty small scale, GM controlling each NPC, etc. but it certainly can help get a sense of the scale.

How good/bad would hordes work if you took out the unable to dodge attacks mechanic, as well as the +1d10 scaling damage mechanic?

I'm going to use BC Hordes, but since alot of them won't be higher than magnitude 20, I'm going to let PCs dodge. A magnitude 10 horde is easier to deal with in general versus having 10 separate NPCs who each get their own Action, Reaction and wounds.

What's the thing with the +1d10 scaling damage again?

Normally with hordes, every 10 points of magnitude increase their damage by 1d10, for a total of like +2d10 or +3d10. Fine against space marines, but not quite against the men and women of the imperial guard.

I am not so sure you need mass combat rules - after all isn't that what the W40K battle game is about?

If you have read through gaunt's ghosts or ciaphus cain there is relatively few huge mass battles - mostly piecemeal skirmishes, which as it is a roleplaying game is what makes it more interesting than mass battle/BG style games

People aren't looking for a (extremely expensive) wargame to use with their RPGs, just mass combat rules when they want alot of people around without just BSing it or having combat take forever.

@Frankie

Considering the low rank of the guardsmen: What influence should they be having on mass combat? As long as there's no PC involved, I personally don't see the need to roll a single die to have my NPCs face off against each other. Right now, chances are the PCs will never have the bird's eye view on situations that would make them appreciate a larger picture.